NAS / Home Server

[essjay]

I've been looking to buy a NAS (Network Attached Storage) box for a while. For those that don't know, essentially it's a very limited, low power computer that you attach to your network (in my case a home network) on which you store your music, movies, downloads, files etc. The idea being, in my case anyway, that I store all my movies in one place but I can access them from different media players around the house. So for example I have a small media player in my bedroom attached to the TV and one in the sitting room.

So as I mentioned I was looking at a NAS box with no disks and the one I liked the look of was over £200 (Synology DS212). I already have the spare hard drives.

I then stumbled on the HP Microserver N40L from Dabs for £239:

http://www.dabs.com/products/hp-proliant-microserver-g7-n40l-nhp-eu-svr-7RMD.html?q=n40l&src=16

So this is a low power, full blown computer on which I can install Windows Home Server 2011. The best bit is that until the end of January there's £100 cash back from HP. So £139 for a server is a great price. So not only am I getting a NAS, I'm getting all the additional functionality of WHS2011 for less than the price of just a NAS box on it's own.

From what I read it idles at a max of 40w so won't cost much to leave on compared to my current PC which is on 24/7 (i5, 16GB RAM, 1GB graphics card etc etc). I leave my main PC on for downloading stuff and that function will be taken over by the new HP. uTorrent has a feature to hibernate the PC once all downloads have finished so hopefully it will be drawing less than 40w a lot of the time.

Just thought I'd share the offer in case anyone was looking.

 

[shugie]

I've been looking to buy a NAS (Network Attached Storage) box for a while. For those that don't know, essentially it's a very limited, low power computer that you attach to your network (in my case a home network) on which you store your music, movies, downloads, files etc. The idea being, in my case anyway, that I store all my movies in one place but I can access them from different media players around the house. So for example I have a small media player in my bedroom attached to the TV and one in the sitting room.

So as I mentioned I was looking at a NAS box with no disks and the one I liked the look of was over £200 (Synology DS212). I already have the spare hard drives.

I then stumbled on the HP Microserver N40L from Dabs for £239:

http://www.dabs.com/products/hp-proliant-microserver-g7-n40l-nhp-eu-svr-7RMD.html?q=n40l&src=16

So this is a low power, full blown computer on which I can install Windows Home Server 2011. The best bit is that until the end of January there's £100 cash back from HP. So £139 for a server is a great price. So not only am I getting a NAS, I'm getting all the additional functionality of WHS2011 for less than the price of just a NAS box on it's own.

From what I read it idles at a max of 40w so won't cost much to leave on compared to my current PC which is on 24/7 (i5, 16GB RAM, 1GB graphics card etc etc). I leave my main PC on for downloading stuff and that function will be taken over by the new HP. uTorrent has a feature to hibernate the PC once all downloads have finished so hopefully it will be drawing less than 40w a lot of the time.

Just thought I'd share the offer in case anyone was looking.

Potentially useful, but it seems you have to buy Windoze Home Server at £39 to get the £100 cash back, total cost is £188, which is still cheap mind.

 

[rce]

Or for a really cheap way I have a Belkin Play router that does my internet connection and has a USB drive connected that anyone on the network can access for playing music, movies, pictures etc.

Low price, low power and easy setup.

 

[essjay]

Potentially useful, but it seems you have to buy Windoze Home Server at £39 to get the £100 cash back, total cost is £188, which is still cheap mind.

Nope... plenty of people buying them and installing FreeNAS, Openmediavault, unRAID etc using a USB pen drive attached to the internal USB leaving all 4 SATA ports for large capacity hard drives.

 

[essjay]

Or for a really cheap way I have a Belkin Play router that does my internet connection and has a USB drive connected that anyone on the network can access for playing music, movies, pictures etc.

Low price, low power and easy setup.

No redundancy though I'd say? Or is there? The HP Microserver can handle RAID 0 and 1 by default but I'll probably use FlexRAID or something similar.

Also for 1080p movies you'd need a wired network to make use of the Gb Ethernet port. (Don't know much about that router if I'm honest.....)

 

[Dansin]

Have a look at the Netgear Stora. I've got one with a couple of 2TB disks in RAID 1. Linux based so broken wide open for loads of applications on the Openstora forum - DLNA compliant, bittorrent client etc.

 

[DrogoNevets]

I went doen the POGO plug! i refuse to let anything that runs proprietary operating systems into my life!!

 

[rce]

No redundancy though I'd say? Or is there? The HP Microserver can handle RAID 0 and 1 by default but I'll probably use FlexRAID or something similar.

Also for 1080p movies you'd need a wired network to make use of the Gb Ethernet port. (Don't know much about that router if I'm honest.....)

No need for raid, I use a distributed system so the network drive isn't the only place files are stored. Stuff is produced/stored on my pc hard disk, then I run Synctoy which updates the files to my external drive and to the Belkin.

Trouble with raid is you are putting all your eggs in one basket, if something bad happens to the basket it can take out both drives. Raid 0 is just to lower access times, so no redundancy.

The Belkin router has 10/100 wired and G wireless which suffices for our needs. Apparently you only need 9Mb/s for 1080p

 

[essjay]

No need for raid, I use a distributed system so the network drive isn't the only place files are stored. Stuff is produced/stored on my pc hard disk, then I run Synctoy which updates the files to my external drive and to the Belkin.

Trouble with raid is you are putting all your eggs in one basket, if something bad happens to the basket it can take out both drives. Raid 0 is just to lower access times, so no redundancy.

The Belkin router has 10/100 wired and G wireless which suffices for our needs. Apparently you only need 9Mb/s for 1080p

Sounds good.....

I currently have my media on my main PC which is left on so want to move them out of there. All my data (work files, photos, backups etc) are uploaded offsite to the Cloud using CrashPlan (something like £80 for unlimited Cloud storage for 4 years).

I'm not a big fan of hardware RAID unless there's a UPS there to cleanly shut down the server so that's why I'm looking at FlexRAID. It uses a parity drive so if you lose one hard drive you don't lose the data on that drive but even if the array colapses you lose nothing as each disk is only NTFS anyway.

 

[AberdeenAngus]

Can I ask why you are going for a file server rather than a network drive ?

 

[essjay]

Can I ask why you are going for a file server rather than a network drive ?

Few reasons for me:

• The main reason in my case is price. It's working out €100 cheaper than the Synology DS212.
• It has the potential to have up to 6 disks internally or 5 internals and then the external eSATA to run a drive cage.
• As I can install my own operating system (Windows, Linux etc), it has huge potential for other functionality (uTorrent, client backups, remote desktop etc). Essentially it will take over a lot of the roles my current PC is running 24/7 to do but at a fraction of the power drain.

It's not a file server as such. It's basically a network drive in a bigger box but with a massive amout of flexibility.

 

[AberdeenAngus]

Good answer, well put. Beautiful typing.

 

[essjay]

Good answer, well put. Beautiful typing.

I thank you....

 

[rc mad]

I have a couple of NAS set-ups running, one is an old buffalo linkstation which pulls double duty as a ftp sever for work and also as a backup drive, It's located out in the shed

I also run a Iomega iConnect with a couple of 500gb usb drives attached, just as file storage really. Sure it's not the fastest thing in the world when I need to transfer large files across the network but it handles streaming hd movies just fine, if I run out of drive space just add another drive

The iomega is a pretty cool bit of kit for what it cost. I've got it set-up to backup files to and from different locations and it also handles torrent downloads. Once set-up it's all handled automatically and without needing the computer to be on. Not bad for under £50

 

[essjay]

Just bit the bullet and ordered the HP Microserver. Found a code that gave me a further €10 off. Doubt it would work on the dabs.com site though but worth a try - IESALE10

Edit... might be a few UK ones here: http://www.everydaysale.co.uk/shop-merchant_id-307-discount-voucher-dabs.htm

 

[getalife]

I have just got Netgear ReadyNAS Duo . Comes with 1x2TB drive but carrier for 2nd for Raid 1.
3xUSB ports so you can plug external drives or USB printer in to share as well.
Also has inbuilt bitTorrent client for direct downloading from net without PC.
£210 from DABS.
Can access from any PC on network or remote via internet.
Don't seem to have them now but Ebuyer do with 'free' 2nd drive for £299.

 

[jonny5859]

I have the Synology DS212 myself, I only installed it last weekend with 2 x 2TB hard drives in it running on raid 1. I back up my Mac and pc to it over the home network all done through the BT home hub.

I think its a great bit of kit, it comes with its own operating system you install on it and can be accessed from anywhere in the world be simply logging in over the internet. As i sit here now in a hotel in Paris I can access it and see all my files, watch my video files or listen to music. Ive only scratch the surface with what it can do, for example, you can set up wireless i.p cctv cameras around your house and watch them through the NAS when your away and your pc can be switched off. You can also download an app for it for iPhone and android and watch it on your phone as well as your music and video files.

Like i said great bit of kit maybe you should look at it again

Good luck with whatever you go for

 

[jonny5859]

Just read your last post and you ordered the HP lol

Enjoy your new purchase!

 

[essjay]

I have the Synology DS212 myself, I only installed it last weekend with 2 x 2TB hard drives in it running on raid 1. I back up my Mac and pc to it over the home network all done through the BT home hub.

I think its a great bit of kit, it comes with its own operating system you install on it and can be accessed from anywhere in the world be simply logging in over the internet. As i sit here now in a hotel in Paris I can access it and see all my files, watch my video files or listen to music. Ive only scratch the surface with what it can do, for example, you can set up wireless i.p cctv cameras around your house and watch them through the NAS when your away and your pc can be switched off. You can also download an app for it for iPhone and android and watch it on your phone as well as your music and video files.

Like i said great bit of kit maybe you should look at it again

Good luck with whatever you go for

Yeah it looks a fantastic piece of kit but at the end of the day, the HP was €100 cheaper and I can do most of the stuff above with the various available operating systems. My heart was saying the DS212 but the head said no......

 

[essjay]

Just saw this.... handy if you have a few laptop drives hanging around