Home Server

[LaTrine Jakscoon]

I'm thinking of getting one of these, but would like some advice on it first
I've been looking at these ones

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0867473493.122734989 5@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccedadefkgfgjggcflgceggdhhmdgml.0&category_oid=&sku=572903&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=803369&Product=Tranquil+PC+Windows+Home+Server+Appliance% 2c+Base+Unit%2c+1GB+RAM%2c+1x1TB+HDD

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=884978&Product=Thecus+N3200PRO+3Bay+SATA%2fII+Home%2fSoHo +All+in+1+NAS+Server

[NAACPtookmybabyaway]

what do you need it for?

[LaTrine Jakscoon]

what do you need it for?

Oh to store films and music so I can watch them around the house - I have 2 pcs and 2 laptops.

[103rapesAday]

I'm thinking of getting one of these, but would like some advice on it first
I've been looking at these ones

Fujitsu Server SCALEO Home Server 1900 External Network Hard Drive

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0867473493.122734989 5@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccedadefkgfgjggcflgceggdhhmdgml.0&category_oid=&sku=572903&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null

RS-T2-WHS-A3-003 - Tranquil PC Windows Home Server Appliance, Base Unit, 1GB RAM, 1x1TB HDD

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=803369&Product=Tranquil+PC+Windows+Home+Server+Appliance% 2c+Base+Unit%2c+1GB+RAM%2c+1x1TB+HDD

Thecus N3200PRO 3Bay SATA/II Home/SoHo All in 1 NAS Server

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=884978&Product=Thecus+N3200PRO+3Bay+SATA%2fII+Home%2fSoHo +All+in+1+NAS+Server

If I were to buy one instead of building one or reusing an old computer I would recommend option 3. The reason I'd go with option 3 is that the information is spread among 3 hard drives, when it comes to backing up information the part that appeals to me is "Home NAS with RAID5 Protection" which means you lose one hard drive worth of space (three 500 GB hard drives yields 1000 GB of storage with 500 GB used in parity stripping for data recovery, you'd have to lose two drives to lose your information) but if one of the three drives fail, replace the defective drive and it rebuilds and itself with no loss of information. If you notice the other 2 ran only one hard drive of 1 TB each, that's a hell of a lot of information to put on one hard drive, if that one drive fails that's 1 TB of information you lose unless you back it up as well (1 disc solution is okay for the occasional backup imho, but not a daily user over a long period of time like a home media server). I also like the fact it's lan port is 10/100/1000 (gigabit which allows a higher capacity bandwidth meaning faster backups and restores if the rest of your home network is up to snuff), two usb ports (for other drives, webcams, wifi usb, and printers (http://www.thecus.com/products_over.php?cid=12&pid=89)), and even an esata port (you can back this up once per month to a 1 TB single drive as a backup for quicker transfer if it allows it otherwise it might be for your home computer to connect to back up it's drive(s) quicker as well. Cnet has a reviewer talking about the device (http://reviews.cnet.com/external-hard-drives/thecus-n3200/4505-3190_7-33232666.html) and it seems they didn't like the backup software, the time it took to setup raid 5 (three 1 TB drives would take a while to format...), and unintuitive software setup but I like the fact it states it's fast, can be used to store/retrieve when not at home, and it's cheap (it doesn't come with the hard drives). Even though it runs some form of linux for it's OS, it's running an AMD geode processor which means you won't have the choice to change to Windows Home Server later if it strikes your fancy, and I don't think AMD has any quick and dirty processor replacement if you decide to do a home mod to improve it's performance later. This should also be the cheapest option to run for the long haul, I bet the wattage used on this one is going to save you on the total cost of ownership because other than changing drives there really isn't anything to upgrade on it.

Option 2 would allow you to add cards to the pci slots to run an external raid setup if you ever need it to make it a raid 5 server but it's not even setup to do raid on it's own chassis (bad idea for a server imho) though it's plus side is that it uses Windows Home Server software but unless the issue is resolved it can't back up 64 bit versions of Vista (the future of MS OS unless Windows 7 comes out which will most likely take 2-3 years to mature to stability) or XP. It uses the Intel D201GLY "little valley" motherboard (http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/2007/12/17/tranquil-pc-t2-whs-a3-harmony-home-server-hands-on-review/), not the better D201GLY2A (I actually own this version of the motherboard, it's actually quite fast for it's rating, I use it for file sharing because it supports raid 0/1, stripped for speed or mirror for redundancy, can't do raid 5 onboard, 10/100 network card, this is why I didn't use it for a home media server, it has a very limited growth potential). If you can find it I'd recommend this instead the dual core Atom mini-itx motherboard (http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/2008/11/20/hands-on-tranquil-pc-sqa-5h-home-server/), the advantage for you will be is that it can multi-task better (this way you can run an anti-virus while it's working with less lag), have a higher network card throughput (10/100/1000), and higher amount of memory can be used (it can handle 2 gb, the other board is limited to 1 gb, and we know how MS is with security patches, you'll need to add more memory later to keep the speed the same as it consumes more resources). In fact depending on the layout of the case and the wiring, you could for about $100 American pickup and maybe install a dual core Atom motherboard/cpu combo yourself if you want to mod it yourself.

The first option, well it's similar to option 2 but I would destroy any rational budget and add three more drives (raid them), boost the ram, and change it to a dual core (e1200/e1400 or e2140/e2160/e2180 depending on your needs) or quad processor (it uses socket 775, the limitation will be the bios). This thing gives the most flexibility of the group and after seeing what it offers it would last in it's present state for more than a month in my home. It'd only externally look like the server you bought initially, revamping it would violate the warranty, and doing to it what I would do would make it more powerful than most website servers, in fact if setup correctly it could maybe host a site similar to chimpout though it'd lack the ddos protection (many sites rent servers of these specs to host several sites on). Of course if you aren't the type to mod a computer this would still be a good choice based on the ease of adding or changing a drive (http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/2008/04/10/hands-on-fujitsu-siemens-scaleo-1900-home-server/). Check out youtube, some people mod this to use as a home computer. :midget

The last option, you might want to either convert one of your current home computers to a server or build one from scratch, depending on the hardware matters how much mileage you may get from this.

[103rapesAday]

Hecate heads up, you might want to search for "HP EX470 MediaSmart Server (http://www.officemax.com/omax/catalog/sku.jsp?skuId=21512132&cm_ven=Performics&cm_cat=Ben%27s%20Bargain%20Center&cm_pla=Rubberband%20Logo%20120x60&cm_ite=Rubberband%20Logo%20120x60&affcode=performics&siteID=k9470&mid=)" or whatever model variant they have of it from your country because here in the USA it's being blown out at less than half of it's initial launching price. Unfortunately it doesn't support raid 5 but does support raid 1 mirroring. This server is "modable" as well, most people simply boost the ram to up it's performance and some of the others up the cpu to a dual-core as well (in case you want to host a website on it). Since it's initial pricing was about $700 and now it's $300, I assume it may be similar in your neck of the woods as well if you can find it online.

:think

[LaTrine Jakscoon]

Thanks for the tip, 103, I found it :geek

http://www.hp-sales.co.uk/products.asp?partno=GG795AA%23ABU

The price is almost twice as much as in the States, but we have a VAT reduction due to come into effect on 1st December, and hopefully it will go down a bit.

[103rapesAday]

Thanks for the tip, 103, I found it :geek

http://www.hp-sales.co.uk/products.asp?partno=GG795AA%23ABU

The price is almost twice as much as in the States, but we have a VAT reduction due to come into effect on 1st December, and hopefully it will go down a bit.

I noticed with your link this is quite a bit cheaper than your other options as well. :clap

I noticed you mentioned you also had two PCs as well (assuming one of them is rarely used...), that means if their spec is up to par you might can save more money by buying just the Server OS instead, here in the USA if you want to do MS home server I was able to find it online for $99.99 at newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116550) and I assume you may have similar vendors in your area as well with a similarly scaled price (twice ours :homer). Hopefully that link gives you some parameters to search with, of course you can always download and configure Ubuntu, CentOS, etc but they do have a higher learning curve. I'll need to go to MS's site and see what are the recommended specs to run it properly, we'll see how this might mesh with yours as well. aaahhh

PS: for anyone wanting to try it, Microsoft has a free 120 day trial (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/eval.mspx) where you can download it, install, and use it. This may allow many of us to unretire an old computer and get some use out of it. I was wrong, they'll ship you a copy.

PSS: To add more memory link (http://www.homeserverhacks.com/2007/12/upgrade-memory-in-your-hp-ex470.html), add a hard drive link (http://www.homeserverhacks.com/2007/12/add-500-gb-hard-drive-to-your-home.html), and change cpu link (http://www.homeserverhacks.com/2008/03/add-performance-to-your-hp-ex470-with.html) (Careful on this one, this is the only one that'll violate your warranty!).

[103rapesAday]

Though expensive, this also doubles as a backup computer, Asus D200 NAS (http://blogs.zdnet.com/soho-networking/?p=346) might be a decent solution for some members who might consider having a home/media server to backup their computers.

[bricks]

I use this: http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=587

[103rapesAday]

I use this: http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=587

Does the 2 TB version use any form of redundant raid (which to me is crucial for storing family photos and important documents) or is it just jbod raid only (adding two 1 TB drive spaces together, which to me is risky since you can lose everything this way, I'd rather that it keeps itself identified as two separate drives and copy to each of them)? One of the advantages of a server is expandability and when implemented a greater level of security (she could encrypt this drive as well if it's a simple NAS without enough security) and maintenance (it'll keep an "x" number of backups and discard any over a certain time back for being too outdated). Does it come with backup software or did you use what came with Windows?

I would recommend for those who use such a drive if you don't know about this to get synctoys (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c26efa36-98e0-4ee9-a7c5-98d0592d8c52&DisplayLang=en), it's a freeware apps by MS and even supports incremental backups (you backup your system fully once then you have it periodically backup changes made from that point), I don't use it myself (since I have a home server) but I have had a friend who has used it and actually had to implement the backup to restore his computer from it and the only thing it cost him was some time. The only problem I see with the software from reading on MS site is that there may be compatibility issues when upgrading from the prior version of it.

[103rapesAday]

I don't know if this can handle an usb hub but if it can and if you add a few usb harddrives this might be the cheapest home server you can buy, US $79 on preorder (http://www.pogoplug.com/) and most likely some shipping charge. With USB 1TB drives dropping down into the $100 range you can go cheap, big, and green. On their faq section it states you can hook this up to an USB hub and run multiple hard drives, if it supports software raid from the server and not onto the drive, then you should be able to set it up to mirror as well on the go.

[103rapesAday]

Microsoft is developing a new home server software platform (http://tech.yahoo.com/news/zd/20090224/tc_zd/237417) based on the netbook hardware (Atom class processor, and some of the newer ones coming out that are passively cooled) which they intend to call "Windows Server Foundation Edition". Such a big name for such a cheap small server, it's rumored to be out in about a month or two. .

[103rapesAday]

HP MediaSmart Server LX195 (http://www.chimpout.com/forum/redirector.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hp.com%2Funite d-states%2Fcampaigns%2Fmediasmart-server%2Findex.html%3Fjumpid%3Dex_r602_go%2Fsmart1 0%2Flink%2F3Q09mediasmartserver-lx%2Fkimcon%2FCapablenetworks%23%2FLXOverview%2F) is available for $399.99 from HP (you might can find it cheaper elsewhere online, for those of you who aren't too technical this machine is pretty easy to setup and use, it will allow you to setup an automatic backup schedule for all the computers on your home network (including Mac and time machine support), serve media to your Xbox360 and other computers in your home. It saddens when members disappear for a while when their computer goes down, this will help you to restore your computer quicker in the future if it does.

PS: If you want to see a review and an interior shot of it, click on this link:

http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/2009/04/30/hands-on-hp-mediasmart-server-lx195-2/

[103rapesAday]

Acer Aspire easyStore Home Server (http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/2009/04/30/hands-on-acer-aspire-easystore-home-server/) might be a better deal for most but less media centric than the hp options. Same price, more storage, and more usb ports plus available for the Europeans on the site (HP is restricting their servers for the North American continent).

[103rapesAday]

Another cheap option similar to the pogoplug this time backed by Seagate:

Seagate DockStar $99.00 (http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=7508)

http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/seagate_dockstar_01.jpg

While www.pogoplug.com once you buy the item it's free, it's limited by it's one port which you can buy a hub to fix (I also installed open pogo [literally turns it into a low powered server] on it as well and intend to run both a tor onion router and transmission torrent server/client on it in the future). This device that seagate has came out with is free the first year and $30/year after this for remote access to your hard drives. Seagate doesn't have much information so I don't know if they locked their's down and prevent you from installing open pogo on it or not. Main advantage helping seagate out of the box is that it will support SMB, which means live streaming on your network to media extenders (xbox360, ps3, etc). Not bad options for the $100 crowd plus the cost of an external hard drive(s) which many of us may already have.


Seagate says it will add SMB drive support to the DockStar in a future firmware update, which distinguishes it from Pogoplug’s own offering. That means DockStar drives will be accessible from non-PC DLNA-compatible network devices, such as Seagate’s just -announced FreeAgent Theater+.