Saturday 29 May 2010

Antec Titan 650 ExtendATX Server Case (Black)

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Titan Series cases are designed to meet the needs of today's server and workstation markets. Front accessible HDD installation is one feature that makes it easy to build and upgrade the system. The front double-hinged door opens up to 270 degrees to make accessing external drives a breeze. Titan's extra deep chassis creates better airflow and accomodates dual Xeon and Opteron based systems. The power supply is the potent and stable TruePower Trio 650 Watt. All of these features and more make the Titan an ideal case for professional system builders and power users.
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Technical Details

- Sold Individually
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Customer Buzz
 "Amazing" 2009-08-30
By Ralph Henderson (CO, USA)

Couldn't ask for a better case for the PC I have planned and am almost ready to begin assembling. I did upgrade the p/s, but that was because my plans changed slightly and I have another case that I want the 650w for. This product really is outstanding for just about any purpose and plenty of room to expand unless you are a high tech server.

Customer Buzz
 "Great pedestal." 2009-04-17
By TheShadow (Long Beach, CA)
Pros:

This is a very well constructed stand alone server case.

It's a bit larger than most.

It offers great airflow.

It comes with a high 650W PSU.





Cons:

1)The front cover takes a considerable amount of manipulation to remove correctly.

2) There are no air filters in this case.

Customer Buzz
 "Excellent value" 2008-07-15
By J. Robertson
This is a wonderful case, especially at this price. The included Antec 650 watt power supply alone sells for nearly the same as this case/ps combo. The case itself is very well made, with a convenient layout, tons of fan mounts, clearance for large heatsinks, and easy access points to all drive bays. The steel is a bit thinner than I'd expected for a server case, but it's still sturdy. The finish doesn't chip or scratch eaily either. Overall I'd highly recommend this for anyone looking to build a workstation or small office server.


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Thursday 27 May 2010

HP EX485 MediaSmart Home Server

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The HP MediaSmart Server is a home server that can automatically backup and protect your digital memories, centralize your media and content for sharing with friends and family, and enable you to enjoy your digital media while at home or away.
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Technical Details

- Intel Celeron 2.0GHz 64-bit Processor
- Network-Based Backup of Macs Using Apple's Time Machine
- Single SATA 7200 RPM 750GB Drives
- Photo/Video Sharing and Remote Access to Digital Media and Files on a Variety of Devices
- Automatic Digital Content Organization Across All PCs
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Customer Buzz
 "Beware: HP support won't last after 1 year" 2010-05-12
By
Did you know that HP dropped support of EX470/EX475 (earlier versions of MediaSmart) after the 1 year warranty, and they will not even repair it or provide spare parts? That's right - I was willing to pay HP to fix my unit, and they wouldn't... This may happen to your EX49x too, and you'll hear the same advice from HP tech support as I did: "Buy a new machine and plug your hard drives into it."

Customer Buzz
 "nothing but headaches" 2010-04-16
By Donald J. Yeager (lakeland fl usa)
I have had this server for 6 months now. The media collection hardly ever works. I have to reset the sever to factory settings remove the software and reinstall at least every 2 weeks. it is nothing more then a very expensive paper weight.

Customer Buzz
 "Great way to backup for those who don't like to." 2010-03-10
By Michael Newman (Greensboro, NC USA)
The unit was simple to setup. Some of the tools installed by HP aren't documented very well but a simple internet search will give you more info than you would ever need. Easy to add extra drives. Easy to manage. For those who are a little more experienced with servers, you can connect your printers to it and share them to every PC connected to the Server, which is great if you own a laptop and like to be wireless. (You have to remote in using the Start>Run>mstsc command on your Windows PC to install printer drivers/software to share them - a little extra experience is needed here, ALSO don't use this command to install a bunch of extra software unless you want your server to run slow or become unstable)



It has a Celeron processor but since you don't sit in front of it running applications you will never notice, it doesn't require too much power to backup files and share printers.



Overall, this is a very simple and reliable way to backup files and entire PCs, which nobody likes to do. It does it automatically while you sleep!

Customer Buzz
 "Frustrating experience setting it up" 2010-02-21
By Rebecca Li-huang
It's a good product once you installed the software on your computer(s). Everything seems to work quite naturally.



The problem and frustration? I have 4 computers at home. No problem setting up Windows Home Server on my two Dell laptops (like a breeze), but no luck trying to set up WHS on my HP laptop, even though it belongs to the same brand as the HP EX485 server! I called the tech support at HP perhaps 4 times already. To their credit, the tech support folks are very friendly, and tried their best to help. But after trying every trick they can think of, my HP laptop still cannot install the WHS Connector. And I do mean EVERY TRICK (from disabling/uninstalling firewall/antivirus to modifying NetBIOS to setting up new user account to changing registry). The same non-descriptive error message shows up every time I tried to install the software.



At this point, I don't know if the culprit is the HP home server or the Windows Home Server software (although I suspect the latter more). Either way, the experience has been decidedly mixed. I have never before had problem installing ANY software I want to install.



And by the way, my iMac with OS X 10.4 (Tiger) is not compatible with this server. You need at OS X 10.5 or higher.

Customer Buzz
 "Works great, no complaints" 2010-01-21
By Cowboy Bill (Omaha, NE USA)
I've been using this server to back up my digital files for about six months now. (I'm an illustrator/graphic artist and my work files usually get pretty big.) So far, I have no complaints.


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Monday 24 May 2010

HP ProLiant DL140 Dual Xeon 3.06GHz 2GB 80GB 1U Server w/Video & Dual GbLAN - No Operating System

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Get essential and affordable server technology with this HP ProLiant DL140 Dual Xeon 3.06 GHz 1U server! Featuring a ServerWorks GC-SL chipset and a dual-socket design, this server plays host to two Intel Xeon processors clocked at 3.06 GHz each and includes 2 GB of DDR ECC SDRAM. Install the Operating System of your choice to the 80 GB IDE hard drive. Expand this system using the PCI-X 64-bit/133 MHz expansion slot and utilize the four USB ports. This slim 1U server also features dual integrated Gigabit Ethernet LAN and a 325-watt non-redundant power supply! Expand your networking capabilities and get your HP ProLiant DL140 Dual Xeon 3.06 GHz 1U server! Order now!
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Technical Details

- HP ProLiant DL140 Dual Xeon 3.06 GHz 1U Server General Features: NO Operating System!
- ServerWorks GC-SL Chipset 1U Rack-Mount Server Two (2) Intel Xeon 3.06 GHz processors
- 2 GB of DDR ECC PC-2100 RAM (4 GB max. supported) 80 GB IDE hard drive No optical drive
- No floppy drive Integrated ATI Rage XL video controller
- Integrated dual Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet LAN
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Saturday 22 May 2010

Acer Aspire easyStore AH340-U2T1H Home Server

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The Acer Aspire easyStore Home Server brings your digital home together with an easy and reliable way to store, share and access files, photos, music and videos anytime and anywhere. Enjoy a centralized digital library of all your files from multiple PCs in one location where it is protected, organized and easy to access. The perfect solution for households and home-based businesses that have more than one personal computer or want a simple backup solution with anywhere access.
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Technical Details

- Enjoy reliable 24/7 protection with a McAfee total Protection Service safeguarding against intruders and viruses.
- Open the secure hard drive cage door to reveal 4 hot-swappable SATA hard drive bays for a no-hassle approach to increasing storage space.
- Experience around-the-clock reliability with the Intel Atom processor providing environmentally friendly, quality performance.
- This small form-factor server takes up little space and is perfect for any home with its trendy contemporary style, sleek black bezel and blue LEDs.
- With Windows Home Server it enables easy backup, access, sharing and storage of digital media and PCs.
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Customer Buzz
 "A very intelligent backup solution and a great fast network storage solution" 2010-04-27
By Amy
I bought this product, and 3x 2TB drives for a total of 8TB of space.



This product is very intelligent and quiet. It takes care of all my backup needs automatically and it even takes care of backing itself up to an external 1TB USB drive that I also had available. The approach it uses for backups if very smart, since if several computers on the network all have files in common (which is usually true since most of what is on each PC is the same as the rest), it only backs up one copy of the file, not one per PC.



The system responds very fast to media/folder browsing requests. I had a Linksys NAS 200 box before this, which was terribly slow to respond. But this box responds so fast that it seems like a local disk to me.



I also like that this network storage solution is a real computer, which means you can actually log into it using windows remote desktop and do things (if you want to, and are computer savy). That means that if something were ever to go wrong on the box, you (or a techy friend) can actually login and install/run standard windows apps to try to correct things. Most other network storage devices are linux based and not designed for login access so if something goes wrong, you can't easily get into the box to work on it.

Customer Buzz
 "This Little Box is Sweet" 2010-04-16
By Sidney L. Vaught (Roanoke, VA United States)
I bought this little box so that I could centralize all my backups from about 5 computers in my household. I was getting tired of all these little external drives flying around so I decided to get this expandable home server. For the money, it's not bad. It's not the fastest backup server but it is quiet and the backups run with very little processor hit.



You can use Remote Desktop to get into the boxes operating system, which is a lightweight Windows 2003 Server. I wouldn't do this if you're just an average user. I've been developing and working with computer systems for 20 years so I know what I'm doing. Still, I make backups of the original files I'm about to change so I can put them back if I really mess something up.



Configuring the box for remote access was a bit of a challenge, not from the boxes end but from the routers end. I have an older router that does support UPnP but I had to manually open up the ports and also manually configure the server for a static IP address. Changing it off of DHCP did freak the box out a bit and I had to restart it but it was ok after that.



The server only has 2GB of memory so I wouldn't try to use it as a web server with high traffic but it's ok for your friends and family to go in, see your pictures and videos. I especially like this feature because I can keep some informational items I like to access on it and have some of my video podcasts subscriptions load to it too so I can merely access them on my netbook at lunch without having to remember to manually load it.



My main computer, which is a 2.5TB Quad Core system, does take a long time to backup. But I still can use the computer while the backup is running and I don't notice the processor hit. I wouldn't run a lot of music tracking software like Cakewalk or Pro Tools while backups are running but for normal use, images, watching movies, internet surfing, etc. is ok while it's backing up.



When I bought the server, I did buy an extra 2TB hard drive so I could have about 4TB's of space to start. After getting it set up, I can't wait to fill up the additional two drive bays with 2TB drives. That'll do me for a few years.



For the money, this is a sweet box and I'm very happy with my purchase. You get some decent server power for your home and it's just a little quiet box with flashing lights that sits on your desk.

Customer Buzz
 "Very compelling solution for backups, restores, media server, and remote access to data" 2010-01-29
By William W. Davis
QUICK SUMMARY: Acer's AH340 server, when configured correctly, provides home users and small offices a powerful solution for automated backups, restores, remote access and media server capability. However, configuring this server can be challenging, and Acer makes little effort to help its customers. Microsoft's Windows Home Server is a terrific -- and stable! -- operating system. Add a 2nd hard drive, too, and you've got redundant data storage. Cautiously recommended.



*** SPECIAL NOTE as of February 6, 2010: McAfee Antivirus automatically updated their software to Version 5, which totally screwed up my server! STAY AWAY from McAfee!! If you buy this server, immediately use Remote Desktop to open the server's Control Panel, choose Add or Remove Programs, and uninstall McAfee from your server! McAfee cannot be trusted! Read the end of this review to learn more.



What follows is my review of this Acer AH340 home server, based upon my personal experience with it since purchasing one in late June 2009. (Note: I bought the earlier Acer Aspire AH340-UA230N Home Server model, which came with a single 1TB hard drive. The AH340-U2T1H -- this model -- is exactly the same as the AH340-UA230N EXCEPT it comes with a *2TB* hard drive). If you read this very long review, you'll learn quite a bit about this Acer server and the Windows Home Server operating system. You'll also read about some minor issues I've run into, and how to workaround those issues. I've owned this server for six months now, and it's been a good experience overall. If you buy this Acer server, you're not going to get much help from Acer. So for any problems, your own technical know-how and the Internet community are your best sources of help.



In short, I bought this Acer server and successfully installed it on my home network. In very large part, it's doing what it's supposed to be doing, that is, it automatically backs up my four-computer home network, and it gives me remote access to my data, too. Thus far, I have only one small, re-occurring issue which I'll share in a moment.



The out-of-box experience is pretty good, but don't expect much by way of documentation. You'll need to look elsewhere to understand all the ins-and-outs of using Windows Home Server (WHS). Although the "Quick Start" booklet seems very thick, it's actually got the instructions in about five or six languages, and so when you read the English section (if you read English), you'll only see how to set-up the server with a little narrative and black-and-white screenshots that are difficult to read. Fortunately, the setup is pretty easy, and they do include a larger poster with just the absolute essentials (which is what I used), and the poster was good enough. In short, plug-in the ethernet cable from the server to your wireless router, and you're in business. The server is heavier than I expected, and *quieter* than I expected (much less noisy than my desktop computer).



Then, you install a CD in one of your available networked computers to install the Server Console on the installed-from computer, and to begin configuring your new server. One things stands out in my mind here...the instructions say turn-on your server and wait until the blue LED light is glowing steady. Trouble is, there are about seven or eight lights glowing at this point (one light for each of the four disk drive bays, a power-on light, a network light, an "information" light, and possibly a disk activity light), and some of the lights glow purple, not blue. Suffice it to say that you should wait a few minutes just to make sure everything is settled before you start server configuring.



The server configuration went pretty well, I thought. Do a Google search for "Acer Windows Home Server Review" and you'll find a website where someone has very helpfully documented the entire install process using color screenshots of each step. The installed server console program (running on one of your networked computers) is not resizeable and won't maximize, which is annoying. You can use Remote Desktop Connection to actually login to your new server (if you're not familiar with Remote Desktop Connection, it lets you connect to another computer from the computer you're using).



In a very short time, my old, quirky Gateway desktop computer (circa 2003, XP Pro, 2Ghz CPU, 512MB RAM, 80GB HD) was recognized by the new Acer server, and I was creating user accounts on the server that match my desktop computer (you should use a password on your user accounts, and be sure to specify the same password on the server as what you use for the desktop/laptop account).



At this point, I had my first problem -- the Gateway's connection to the server would get lost inexplicably during the first attempt at a manual backup. Long story short, I completely reinstalled Windows XP Pro SP-3 on the Gateway desktop, reinstalled the Windows Home Server Console, and was able to begin getting successful backups until I got to the point where I restored all my digital media files (using Acronis and an external hard drive -- not using the new Acer server) and then tried a WHS backup, which fails inexplicably. Could be my aging and quirky Gateway hardware, but it's a fresh install of XP and the error messaging is vague and unhelpful.



Notably, my three laptops (running XP Media Edition w/1GB RAM, Vista Ultimate w/2GB, and Windows 7 Ultimate w/4GB of RAM) backed up their contents perfectly -- no troubles at all, even backing up a very large VMWare virtual hard drive (which is a single, physical, 20GB file on my Vista laptop).



Very cool feature: This Acer will wake-up either a sleeping or hibernating computer to do the backup in the middle of the night! So, don't turn-off your computers, just put them in sleep/hibernate mode so they don't use much power, but will still get backed-up. (Note: WHS does *not* use Wake On LAN technology, which doesn't work reliably in all environments - the WHS technical strategy for waking sleeping/hibernating computers works much better than WOL). The WHS backups are incremental, so you can return to any previous point in time during a restore -- you aren't limited just to what was done last night. This is handy if you want to restore your computer to the way it worked one month ago, when it was working reliably (you'd probably do a 2nd restore, then, to load all your most recent data following the system restore).



To get remote access to work correctly, you need to modify your ISP's modem setups (your ISP's modem most likely has a built-in router, too). Choose "Bridged over Ethernet" protocol in the modem setups, and then configure your wireless router that's attached to the modem so it is a PPPoE connection (you'll need your ISP's account name and password for the router configuration). Once I got through this headache, I was able to gain remote access to my server -- very cool feature!! (BTW, don't count on any technical help by AT&T/Bellsouth - you won't get any that's helpful to you). You may also have trouble if your ISP blocks certain ports, like ports 80 and 443. One Amazon customer reported that Verizon blocks those two ports which are necessary to get remote access to your server. (ISPs generally don't like the idea of you running a server from a residential high-speed connection).



I did a successful restore of my quirky Gateway computer, just to see what that's like. Very simple. Install a Restore CD in the computer (which must be connected by ethernet, not wirelessly), and choose a backup on the server you'll use for the restore. I did this twice, and it worked perfectly and easily. A computer with XP SP-3, Office Pro and maybe 5GB of personal data was restored in about 20 minutes!



In short, it's a 4-star product because I can't backup my digital media files on my Gateway. My Gateway desktop hardware *is* quirky, so that very well might be the problem root cause, but even still, the WHS backup is unhelpful in diagnosing the exact issue for me. (The Windows Event Viewer alludes to a buffer space issue with a socket, but that's beyond the home consumer's ability to understand).



**** July 2, 2009 UPDATE



I've had this for just a few days now, and things are working nicely. I've got all my personal data on a shared folder, making all my data accessible anywhere on the Internet (by design - I could turn off remote access if I wanted). Everything is working very well. Using Offline Files and Folders (on XP Pro or Vista Pro/Ultimate), I've now got a great solution to carrying my data with me on my laptop. Note, though, that for the auto-backup function to work, your laptop should be plugged in, and I noticed this morning that the kids' laptop didn't go back to sleep after getting awakened for backup. That's only been a problem with one of my four computers, so it's probably computer-specific, and not a problem with WHS.



I added another 1TB hard drive: Western Digital 1 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 32 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD10EADS [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging]. (You might want the 2TB version since this server has a 2TB drive). There's no instruction on how to actually do that, but here's the key: slide the orange knob on the front of the empty drive bay to take the cage out -- swinging that cage door fully open will disengage a hard drive from the server (but at the moment, the cage is empty, so it really doesn't do anything). One side of the mostly-plastic cage is meant to be gently bent so you an insert the new hard drive and fit it into the four button-pins (it's not screwed into the cage). When you slide the cage back into the server, shut the cage's "door" halfway until the cage is slid back as far as it can go. Then, fully close the cage's "door" to make a snug fit between the hard drive and the server's pin receptacle. I bumbled my way around to figure this out, as there are no instructions to explain this.



When you power-on your server, it'll recognize the new drive. You need to add it to the server's storage space (whether you want to use it as additional storage or whether you want to enable data redundancy so your data is stored on two drives, not just one).



By adding a 2nd hard drive, I can ask WHS to automatically make a copy of all my shared folders onto the 2nd hard drive, giving me data redundancy. Note: The WHS database that keeps track of all your backups is *not* redundantly stored, though. There is a free add-in to the server console (called WHSBDBB) which can make a backup of the backup database, but that's a manual process. This is a limitation of WHS, not specifically with this Acer server.



I bought a one-year McAfee license for the antivirus (by default, the server runs Windows Firewall and not McAfee's firewall). The process was klutzy and confusing after I clicked "Buy Now" on the server console (under the McAfee tab). Although others appear to have gotten a six-month introductory license, my Acer server came with only 45-days, and when I renewed, it didn't begin the year after the 45-day period, it began immediately, so I essentially lost out on a free 45-day window to use McAfee. (Update 8/29/09: I suspect that McAfee is the reason I get the "WHS Console blue screen" -- keep reading.)



I bought a new APC-branded UPS for the server. By plugging in the data cable running from the UPS to the USB port on the server, the server immediately recognized the UPS. I easily configured my shutdown wishes by remoting into the server (Control Panel > Power Options > Alarms).



*** July 17, 2009 UPDATE



I took a 2-week vacation and had the server running while away -- it ran just fine, and although there was nothing to backup, I did have remote access to my files and I could remotely use the server console to control the server. However, shortly before I returned home, I did notice one small glitch: the server console apparently hangs and becomes unresponsive when trying to sign-on to the server (from another, connected computer) after a period of time goes by, or after certain tasks are performed on the server.



Today, for instance, I installed then uninstalled the AutoExit 2008 add-in program, and after uninstalling, I couldn't use the server console any longer. This is not an infrequent problem with WHS. Trying to logon just creates an empty console window after I give it my authentication credentials. Rebooting the server appears to be the only way to get the server console to work properly once more. (August 7, 2009 Update: I reported this issue to Acer. Here's what they said: "Unfortunately, we are unable to offer support for this type of issue..."). I've done plenty of Google searches, and this is not a widely-reported problem, but it *may* be caused by McAfee. (August 9, 2009 Update: After a few days of console unresponsiveness from a networked computer, yesterday the server console connected once more, even without a server reboot!)



For me, that's not a big problem because I can still reliably use Remote Desktop Connection to access the server. Get familiar with Remote Desktop Connection on your operating system. Windows XP, Vista and 7 all have Remote Desktop Connection which allows you to connect to another computer (though WHICH computer you can connect to depends -- for instance, you can connect to a Windows XP Professional or Windows Home Server computer, but not a computer running Windows XP Home Edition). If you can't remotely connect to your server, you'll wind up rebooting the server using the power on/off button -- very inadvisable for the place you're storing backups and shareable data! Also, if you plan on using remote access via the Internet to get to the server console, then look at the HP servers, not this Acer!



All other functions are working just fine: automatic backups, data redundancy, remote access to files & folders, remote control (of my other networked computers -- getting control of the server itself remotely is dicey due to the bug I've mentioned). I like this Acer-branded Windows Home Server, and would certainly recommend it to others with at least a hobbyist's interest in computers and/or networks. The installation was easy (except for the issue with the Bellsouth modem/router, which I had to resolve to get remote access to my server and data). It's not for grandma, though, unless you're providing grandma with IT support. :-)



One thing more: it is very easy to remove the Acer default home page from your server's personal website. Do a Google search "change the default Acer homepage" to learn how.



*** July 21, 2009 UPDATE



Last night I used this Acer to create a media server. I just moved folders from the My Music (XP) or Music (Vista) folder into the Music folder of the Acer Windows Home Server. When the server console is first installed on any networked computer, it also makes ready for installation the Windows Media Center Connector, which allows Windows Media Center to easily find all those pictures, videos and music on the home server. After installing and rebooting the Connector software on each networked computer, Media Center finds (slowly -- you'll see new albums added and appear while you're browsing your media library) everything on the server. Streaming from the server to the networked computer was flawless. Album art somehow makes its way to the server, too! Now I'm search of a solution that lets my old stereo tap into that digital storehouse on the server (without spending nearly $300 on a Squeezebox).



One last thing: When downloading data from the server using the Internet, if your download is large (say, 100mb or more), the download will finish but your web session seems to time-out, and you have to close the browser and reconnect. Short downloads of either files or folders didn't have this problem. My DSL upload speed is 512/Kbps (that's in 'kilobits'), so the download is no faster than about 52/KBps (that's in 'kilobytes'). For me, that translates to about 3MB/minute in download speed. Eg, you won't be streaming video over the Internet, but music streaming is fine.



*** July 25, 2009 UPDATE



I played with video streaming recently. I've got lots of AVI files taken with a Canon digital camera. The AVI's do not stream well at all, but that appears to be an issue either with the AVIs themselves or with the codecs I'm using (I have plain vanilla Microsoft Media Center or Media Player). Interestingly, I tried streaming a 720p, HD video clip in WMV format (across my home network, not the Internet), and the streaming was perfect! Note: both the CPU and network bandwidth (on a g-network) had plenty of headroom left to do other tasks while streaming the HD video clip. To stream my AVIs, though, I have to use a video converter to create WMV files.



Today, the server console icon glowed yellow (warning). Apparently the server monitors the Internet connection of its own website, and it was telling me that the website wasn't available to Internet connections. Seems as if Bellsouth was doing something to my DSL line, but I thought it was cool that the server would warn me that my website wasn't available! Soon after, when the DSL was up, the server console icon went from yellow back to green. The same icon glows yellow for other reasons, too, like if a computer hasn't been recently backed-up, or if you add a new hard drive but don't configure it for backups. Very nice features.



***** JULY 29, 2009 UPDATE



One last word. Yesterday I tried restoring one of my laptops (I figured, "No problem" because I'd restored two other computers just fine). However, the Restore CD failed to load a Windows default network driver that worked with my laptops network adapter! I learned two things: 1) Once you install your server, take the steps necessary to do a restore (even if you abort it at the last step) to ensure you *can* restore. 2) If the default network driver won't work with your computer's network adapter, download the right driver, unzip it, and put the (*.sys, *.inf) files on a USB drive's root directory, as you'll need to perform an extra step of loading the network driver during the restore. Once I did that, the Restore program found/loaded the right network adapter driver, and I was on my way once more.



***** AUGUST 4, 2009 UPDATE



Thought I'd mention to everyone that the Windows Home Server backups do **NOT** backup the Recycle Bin, temp folders, shadow copies, or the client-side cache (if you use Offline Files & Folders, those copied folders are stored in the Windows\CSC folder). This is important to know because if you restore your computer BEFORE you have synch'ed all your files and folders (using the Sync Center in Vista), you'll lose those changes after the restore is complete. The backups aren't image-based like Acronis (which saved my hide because I was able to get to the client-side cache in an Acronis image backup). Also, the nightly backups do **NOT** backup the shared folders on the server (Photos, Videos, Music, and all user shared folders). If you have 2+ hard drives in your server, you can turn-on duplication so the shared folders are copied onto a second hard drive (for data redundancy), but you won't gain the benefit of incremental backups that keep track of the changes to those shared folders. You can use an external hard drive to make a backup of the shared folders (to have an offsite backup of your data), but that method doesn't give you automatic, nightly backup of any changes to the shared folders. Lastly, shadow copies aren't supported in Windows Home Server. So, if you want to keep track of all your incremental changes to your files, store them on the local hard drive, not the server, so they're backed-up every night. If you don't care about incremental changes, store them on the server so they're shareable and accessible via your WHS website.



*** AUGUST 30, 2009



Thought I'd share the good stability I'm having with my Acer server. It's been running 24/7 for the last 18 days (18 days ago it performed an automatic update of the operating system and rebooted). I've had no further trouble with the server console not responding/connecting -- until today! This morning, McAfee ran a once-a-week virus scan, after which the Acer red information light began glowing (meaning "Critical" network problem -- apparently, McAfee real-time protection stopped working either during or after the weekly scan), and the WHS Console application got a blue screen when trying to logon. I don't know for certain that McAfee is the cause of the WHS Console blue screen (which, btw, is different than the Windows BSOD...the WHS Console blue screen just means that after entering a password, the console application won't appear...you can still reliably use the console by using Remote Desktop and launching the console directly from the server Desktop). However, I see others have had this same problem running WHS on an *HP* server that also was running McAfee. After waiting a few hours, the red light turned to blue and the McAfee service apparently starting running again on its own. The WHS console still doesn't connect from a networked PC, though. Throughout this, though, the server still was accessible. To get the WHS Console to respond, use Remote Desktop Connection to your server, open Task Manager (CTRL+ALT+END), click the Users tab and look for any connections (besides the one you just established) and logoff any hung-up connections. That's what cleared up the problem for me. I don't know why I had a hanging Administrator connection, but I did, and logging-off that connection caused the WHS Console to respond normally once more -- without rebooting the server, which also would have worked.



After 18 days, remote access from the Internet works flawlessly, streaming music over the Internet works fine. Backups happen every night (as long as my laptops are plugged-in to the wall socket). I was reading about Verizon's 4G network where upload/download speeds are fast enough to support streaming video. The future looks bright with Windows Home Server and this Acer!



Oh, if you want to remove the built-in McAfee software, you'll need to do so using the server's Control Panel (so you have to use Remote Desktop to get to the server). You can't remove McAfee using the console's function of installing/uninstalling server "add-in" programs because the McAfee add-in program isn't listed. Acer has somehow baked in the McAfee product in its implementation of the WHS operating system.



Let me reiterate one point I made earlier: If you buy this Acer, don't expect *any* help from Acer's technical support. Either you'll have to figure out your own problems yourself, or you'll engage the Internet community for help. If you're not comfortable doing this, buying a server -- especially from Acer -- isn't for you.



**** SEPTEMBER 10, 2009 UPDATE



My Acer server rebooted itself last night when it automatically installed the Windows updates from Microsoft. Unbelievably, I didn't ever have to manually reboot the server in the last 30 days! It quietly ran and did its automatic, nightly backups of my 4 PCs, and the server reliably streamed music for me every day at work over the Internet. The server's last reboot was after the August install of Windows updates. I never had a Windows-based computer that was this reliable.



**** OCTOBER 26, 2009 UPDATE



Still running like a charm! Backups are done every night, as long as the laptops are plugged in. BTW, the server does backup Windows 7 machines with Power Pack 2 (Power Pack 2 is a major software service release from Microsoft; it includes bug fixes and often some new functionality. This is a free download, and you should install it when you're first setting up your server.) The only time this server reboots is to install the once-a-month Microsoft updates. The server is simply rock-solid. (Note: As of November 24, 2009, Microsoft made available Power Pack 3 which adds some additional enhancements, especially for Windows 7 users. You should update WHS to Power Pack 3 to get the latest bug fixes and enhancements. If you already have a Windows Home Server and have automatic updates turned-on, then Power Pack 3 will automatically install itself).



*** NOVEMBER 17, 2009 UPDATE



My quirky Gateway desktop's hard drive crashed! I've never had a hard drive crash before! The Gateway had two 80GB hard drives, so I yanked the master drive which crashed, and made the slave drive the new master. Popped in the Acer PC Restore CD and the original C drive contents was restored in less than half an hour. Because automatic backups occur nightly, I lost nothing. Although I don't have the 2nd hard drive anymore, all that data is accessible from one of the backups on the Acer server. The whole ordeal was just a minor inconvenience, rather than a disaster. Very, very cool.



*** JANUARY 15, 2010



Weirdly, after a monthly update, my Acer server wasn't seen by Windows Explorer as one of the networked computers in my workgroup. It was still addressable by its IP address, though, and I could still see data in Explorer via the mapped drives I added earlier. I just couldn't see my server as one of the computers in my Windows workgroup. What's up? Long story short, this can happen with Windows workgroups. You can do web searches to learn all the gory details, but here's what you need to do if this happens. Power-off all computers (I also powered off my router and modem, too). Then, power-up just the Acer server, firstly (or the modem, router, then the Acer server). Wait 10 minutes or more so the server goes through all it's start-up tasks. After that, power-on all the other computers on your network. This seems the best way to make the Acer server the "master" recordkeeper for all the computers in a Windows workgroup. I tried this, and it worked for me.



*** FEBRUARY 6, 2010



My Acer server went on "Critical" status today. Why? McAfee's antivirus files are out-of-date. They haven't been updated in two weeks. Why not? I tried manually updating them via the console; no dice. I tried other measures, too, all unsuccessful. Finally, I had to uninstall/reinstall McAfee using McAfee's horrible web interface. But why did I have any problem at all? Here's why: McAfee's just automatically updated their software on my server from version 4.9 to 5.0. However in the process, my "McAfee Total Protection" stopped working correctly, and I've spent most of a day trying to uninstall/reinstall McAfee all without success! Lesson learned: Don't buy a license to use McAfee antivirus! Try another antivirus made for Windows Home Server. I'm trying Avast's antivirus right now -- 60 day free trial.



*** APRIL 7, 2010



Avast WHS edition is a winner! I bought the 3-year license. The service works well, updates regularly, scans weekly, all without bothering or pestering me, or fouling up the Acer server. And, the WHS console has not ever been unresponsive or given me the problematic blue screen since I switched. Recommended!



Questions? Try commenting and I'll do my best to answer back.


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Monday 17 May 2010

ASUS TS Mini SOHO Server (500GB Storage)

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ASUS TS-Mini/500GB - SOHO Server - Making Home Server Easy (Storage, Backup, and Sharing) WebStorage: Free 1 year subscription for 500GB online storage. - External Backup: Directly and easily backup, synchronize and manage your files/folders (6 USB2.0 and 2 eSATA ports). ASWM: ASUS monitoring application to provide live status updates on the Home Server.Energy Saving: 25-28W, low power consumption.
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Technical Details

- Excusive 500GB Web Storage for important data redundancy
- Easy Data Backup and Restore of Home Computers
- Online Access of Files from Anywhere Globally
- Convenient Media Streaming at Home
- Powered by Microsoft Windows Home Server
See more technical details
Customer Buzz
 "Suites my purposes perfectly in all that it offers" 2010-03-16
By K. Vu
In searching for a server, I wanted something easy on the electricity in order to keep it on all day. If this does indeed use only 27 watts when at max operating, it's perfect.



I use it for file storage, having WinAmp running at all times to be able to remotely (via Ipod Touch) turn on to stream to an Airport Express with Airfoil (iTunes gave me problems, read below), run uTorrent all the time, and stream to a WD TV Live.



It's doing all these things for me perfectly. The only thing I don't run on it that I had planned on is PlayOn to stream Hulu to the WD TV Live. The CPU is lacking for this, so I do run PlayOn from my laptop when needed.



In installing iTunes to WHS via instructions found on the net, I got it to install, but had the "stuttering/pausing" problem with iTunes. I have this happen once in a long while on my laptop, but with the Server, it was pausing every 3 seconds or so, continuously. I found if I had QuickTime player running, this got rid of the stutter for some reason, but QuickTime then consumed 50-60% CPU constantly. I didn't want to subject the CPU to this, so I switched to WinAmp and Airfoil, and the combination is working fine for my purposes. I'm still able to remotely control WinAmp with my Ipod Touch with a iAmpRemote, although with less capabilities that the Apple Remote and iTunes gives you (sort by artist, song, etc).



My server sits in my family room, so I also installed a USB sound card with XP drivers to the server, and can route sound directly from the server to my stereo via the USB Sound card.



So far, I've been very pleased with it. The Atom Processor is capable for what I use it for (and more so if you don't intend to run things like Winamp/iTunes, etc on it). Anything that takes a CPU power, like PlayOn to process video, will run slowly and not so well on it. So consider the trade offs of the small lower power consuming CPU, versus CPU power needed.

Customer Buzz
 "EASY TO USE" 2009-12-17
By Luis Gonzales
I LOVE THIS HOME SERVER. ITS EASY TO USE AND SO SMALL, IT SAVES SPACE AND LOOKS ELEGANT. IT SERVED ITS PURPOSE. THANKS ASUS!


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Saturday 15 May 2010

ZyXEL NSA210 Digital Media Storage Server

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ZyXEL’s NSA210 is the Ultimate Home Media Machine. Not only the 2 Terabytes capacity* lets consumers dump every photos, video clips they downloaded to the box; It also able to perform scheduled download set by the users when they are not home! Packed by rich features, the NSA210 can automatically upload pictures and videso to flickr and Youtube; It also automatically download media files via FTP, Web, Torrent and RSS feed from remote sites. To share the media files with friends and families, NSA210 can do scheduled copying of media files to other Zyxel NSA series products on the Internet remotely. It is the indeed the ultimate Digital Home Media machine.(*Hard drive NOT included)
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Technical Details

- Works as iTunes & Squeezebox server to share streaming music
- Built-in RSS client and server feature enables auto download and notification from remote websites
- Automatic Web/FTP/Torrent download without turning on the computer
- Complete Instant/ Schedule Backup Solutions protect your digital treasures
- DLNA 1.5-certified server compatible with a wide range of media devices
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Customer Buzz
 "Zxyel NSA210 worst NAS DIGITAL MEDIA SERVER" 2010-04-21
By Anil K. Ramagiri (TX usa)
bought this product and returned it, not sure how other reviewers say it is a great product, and gave 5 stars,

iTunes server did not work, all I saw in itunes is the drive, but did not see any files, network speed is 5-9MB/Sec, and CPU usage on the device is always 100% even when the device is ideal.

On top of all the issues, support is worst they they say they will call you back but they never, and they don't have a clue about the product.

Customer Buzz
 "GREAT NAS AT A AWSOME PRICE!" 2010-03-28
By rbz (Concord, CA)
I don't review things to often but I got to say this device impressed me so much for the price that I had to. The software is a little lame in fact im not even using it, but other than that I have nothing but good things to say. Out of the box it took about a min to put in a drive and my Mac recognized the dive on the network immediately. I average about 15 Mb on transfers and haven't had to reboot it yet. The quality housing keeps it running quite and cool even inside a cabinet its cool to the touch, and it is a great size. My 2 TB Western Digital found a happy home!

Customer Buzz
 "They had a good Idea just no follow through" 2010-01-24
By Phillip R. Rominger
I had high hopes that I would be able to eliminate an old home server with this item. It was received as expected and was very easy to setup. It is unfortunate that it does not do the job of the old server, or come anywhere close. A backup of my small laptop takes from 7 to 9 hours to complete. On the old server the same backup took less than an hour. I would stay away unless you just need storage that can hold files and you don't need them in a hurry.

Customer Buzz
 "Great NAS" 2009-12-06
By G. Melton (Denver, CO)
I purchased this item on a leap of faith, as I couldn't find a review anywhere. I think I may be the first on the entire www. It is a great little device. Granted most people looking for a true backup solution will shun this for only having the single bay, but for my simple needs, I was fine with a single bay. I just can't bring myself to make a backup of a backup. I figure I'm ahead of the game for having the one backup. The unit itself is metal, and very easy to load the HDD (I am using a spare 750 gb I had laying around). Installation of the software was also very easy. I can mount various sub-folders within the server, which will make network backups a snap. The options for how you set this thing are limitless, and it really is not that difficult. I haven't tried to stream any media yet, but based on what I have seen thus far, I 'd say it will be great. If you are looking for a media server/NAS this can't be beat.


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Friday 14 May 2010

ASUS TS Mini SOHO Server (2TB Storage)

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ASUS TS-Mini/2TB - SOHO Server - Making Home Server Easy (Storage, Backup, and Sharing) WebStorage: Free 1 year subscription for 500GB online storage. - External Backup: Directly and easily backup, synchronize and manage your files/folders (6 USB2.0 and 2 eSATA ports). ASWM: ASUS monitoring application to provide live status updates on the Home Server. Energy Saving: 25-28W, low power consumption.
Readmore

Technical Details

- Excusive 500GB Web Storage for important data redundancy
- Easy Data Backup and Restore of Home Computers
- Online Access of Files from Anywhere Globally
- Convenient Media Streaming at Home
- Powered by Microsoft Windows Home Server
See more technical details
Customer Buzz
 "TS Mini" 2010-03-13
By Joe Perez
Does everything a NAS/Media Server should do plus more. The remote web access is awesome, I can share family videos/photos by assigning User names & Passwords to individual members allowing family to get the latest and greatest video/photos the day I put them on the server. Using "Home Server" dynamic DNS I can host these files on as a static WWW server with a dynamic IP hosted on my DSL line. The user interface is easy to navigate and the server is easy to setup, all my media streams easily. This thing will back up to a removable secondary drive I keep in a safe quickly and easily. The ability to hook up streaming security camera's is a plus if I ever chose to do so. Not to mention the ability to access my music/photo's/videos on various networked electronics throughout the house is a definite plus. I highly recommend this product, for the money I paid you can't beat this thing.

Customer Buzz
 "So far so good" 2010-03-13
By Robert Rizzo (Albany, NY USA)
I only have the Asus TS Mini 2TB hooked up for about 24 hours now. It came as expected (3 days early even). The server is much smaller than expect and runs very quiet as other reviews have mentioned. The initial setup as very easy. I had my 2 laptops installed and backups setup in less than 2 hours total from the time I opened the box. So far I am very pleased. Another smooth buying experience from Amazon.com.



BTW - it did come with 2 TB as advertised if anyone is still concerned about that.

Customer Buzz
 "Great quality, easy to setup, a lot of good features" 2010-03-01
By JMU 1998 (USA)
I got my TS Mini (2TB) about a week ago from AMAZON ([...]) and it was for $[...] with free shipping and got it in 3 days. The outer box said it was 500GB so I got concerned but when I opened it the product box itself said 2TB. I physically opened the server and yes I did indeed see two seagate drives each 1TB. When I booted it up it showed 1TB and also 2GB of memory. Not sure why some other people got the wrong one.



So far I am very happy with its performance as expected from an ASUS product. I own several ASUS products including motherboards, Video cards and related computer equipment.



PROS:

1). Easy to setup - was a breeze to have it "seen" by my other computers on my home network as well as PS3

2). The quality of construction is also good

3). Super quiet can hardly hear it even with my ears up against it

4). Runs surprisingly cool I can barely feel any heat around it the fans run super quiet

5). User friendly interface for management

6). Lots of USB ports and an eSATA port to expand

7). Gigabit port

8). Very low power consumption

9). Tons of great features



CONS:

1). 32-bit Architecture. I wish this was a 64-bit Architecture but for my needs to store and stream data I can live with 32-bit

2). Some of the "advanced" settings are not very clearly indicated/mentioned in the documentation but I was able to get around it by googling some of the info and setting it up that way. I really wish they had provided some instructions how to take full advantage of some of the neat features...they left it for the user to "discover"



Over all a 5 STAR but for the Lack of good documentation/instructions on some advanced features I give it a 4.



Customer Buzz
 "2TB, works great and low power usage" 2010-02-27
By tjd
I got the 2TB version (the seller was (...) for a great price and after a week I'm pretty happy with it. It's easy to set up and mostly "just works" right out of the box. It's small and quiet, works well as a fileserver, automatically backs up my machines, streams to the 360 and ps3, and according to kill-a-watt it only draws 25-30W. I was also able to set it up as a print server although I don't think that is "officially" supported and took some messing around with drivers.

Customer Buzz
 "Yes! 2TB" 2010-02-26
By Nelson Lora
This is the version that comes with 2 hard drives of 1TB each one, and 2GB of RAM.



The unit feels solid, looks good, and makes no sound at all. It comes with a power cord similar to the used by the laptops, so the power supply is external reducing by this way the heat inside the server.



The installation is very simple, you only have to follow the quick installation guide. It doesn't have input for a monitor, which means that the installation is done through your network with the supplied DVD placed on a connected computer.



Since it comes with 2 hard drives, your data by default is protected through redundancy (by default folder duplication on different drives is enabled at the Windows Home Server).



The ATOM N280 processor that comes with the unit is a little bit faster than the one used at the HP Home Servers and more energy efficient, however it only supports 32 bits and not 64 like HP does.



2 eSATA ports make external expansion very convenient because you will get the benefit of a transfer rate above 3 GB/s.



So far, very satisfied.


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