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PostPosted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 3:47 pm 
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I was all set on buying an HP MSS until I started reading about DE being discontinued and HP stopping production. Now, the more I read, the more confused I'm getting. My current solution is terrible, I know... a 1TB drive in an external enclosure connected via USB 2.0 to an Apple Airport Extreme Basestation. (Every time I mount the drive I wonder if today is the last day we'll have wedding photos!)

I'm starting to wonder if I should build something, get an HP MSS anyway, or go with something else. I figured I should ask the experts before I get even more lost.

In general:
I want reliable backup and to be able to access files from our two Mac notebooks, both at home and perhaps even when away. I also want to be able to have the system automatically send the really important stuff to the cloud, perhaps on a folder-by-folder basis.

Two Mac notebooks:
We want to be able to access the same iTunes music at the same time on both computers. If we ever get an A/V receiver, we'd like to be able to stream music to the receiver. I dabble in amateur photography and use Adobe Lightroom. I want our solution to house (and backup) our very large photo collection.

Two Android smartphones:
It would be nice to wirelessly transfer music to our phones, though this is not a priority.

TV:
We'd like to be able to watch movies, both iTunes and non-iTunes purchased content, on our Samsung TV.

I've built several computers, but the last was Windows XP back in 2005 when I switched to Apple. I've also built two Linux computers (Mandrake), but that was in 2003, and it went "just OK".

I would appreciate any advice on what I should do. I'm trying to stay under $500 for now. Part of my confusion comes in planning for the future: a home theater system that allows us to play movie and music files, a safe backup solution for our photos, and a network drive that "just works" with our macs.

Thanks for your help!


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PostPosted: Fri Dec 31, 2010 9:57 am 
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I am in the same predicament as you. Since the whole situation with Microsoft seems to be up in the air on Windows Home Server and having delayed way too long already, I ended up taking a totally different path this week.

I am currently using a bunch of external USB and eSATA drives for storage along with Blu-ray discs for critical file backup. I setup several Linksys NSLU2 'unbricked' dedicated systems; one as a music system using the Firefly package and another as a dedicated Web Server. The dedicated Web Server only uses USB Flash Drives and takes minimal power to leave running continuously. I am not a Linux person and had some challenges in getting the Linksys NSLU2's setup. That is one of the main reasons I was hoping to use Windows Home Server.

This week our local CompUSA store (now owned by Tiger Direct) had an add for a D-Link DNS-321 for $70 after a $20 mail-in rebate. This is a small NAS device with 2 bays for SATA hard drives. After researching the device on the internet for awhile, I decided to buy one along with two 1TB SATA drives that were on sale. At $70 the device is cheaper than what I paid for my old Linksys NSLU2's. There are packages and instructions on the internet for opening up Linux on the device and installing add-on packages including a much more robust Web Server and Firefly. With 7200rpm drives people report the device can stream video fine over a gigabit ethernet connection. The device also appears to be Mac friendly. You can review online all the other capabilities of the device. The biggest downside is naturally you are limited to two SATA drives and if you run them as a RAID1, the capacity of one SATA drive.

Last night I found on D-Link's web site DLinkTV. There were several video tutorials that showed how with the latest firmware for the DNS-323 (a slightly more robust NAS) there is now an 'Add-On' capability to easily install a number of packages including Firefly. Unfortunately in the process of researching this, I discovered that there are no firmware updates for the DNS-321 to provide the same capability. I then discovered that D-Link has announced outside the US the new DNS-320 with evidently a much more powerful processor. I am guessing that the DNS-321 may be discontinued once the DNS-320 becomes available in the US. I am not sorry I bought the DNS-321 as worse case, I will simply use it to consolidate a bunch of the data that I now keep on external USB and eSATA drives. If I can get other Linux packages installed, especially Firefly, so much the better.

One person's decision on what to do while waiting for the dust to settle on Windows Home Server.

Fred


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PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 6:58 pm 
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I think if I were buying now, it would have to be either the HP MicroServer, or the ML110 G6.
And buy WHSv1 seperately.
I wouldn't buy the MSS hardware as it's End of Life.

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Ex490 E6400 4gb ram


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 4:48 am 
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If you buy an HP X510 WHS you'll get a 3-year warranty, and if bought before Feb 28 2011, a rebate :-)


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 9:15 pm 
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Chasrobin wrote:
I think if I were buying now, it would have to be either the HP MicroServer, or the ML110 G6.
And buy WHSv1 seperately.
I wouldn't buy the MSS hardware as it's End of Life.


I think this is the way I would go as well, I like the fact that you can install eSata cards on those boxes. If the HP MSS came with multiple eSata ports it would be almost perfect imo.

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 3:12 pm 
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I also like that they support iLo, a ip based KVM remote management tool allowing you to remote control the unit even if it's powered off.

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30TB (Movie/File/Music)Win 2012 essentials 64bit Storage spaces
Ex490 E6400 4gb ram


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 10:54 am 
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I was really looking forward to getting a EX495. I know there will not be any support, but still seem like a great machine. And just hoping it was powerful enough to handle Vail? Maybe upgrade it in future too. To 4 gig or more. And Cpu upgrade.

What the different in the HP MicroServer,the EX495 and will that be enough power just to have it as a backup system to storage and add-on storage later?


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 1:01 pm 
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RE: HP ProLiant ML110 G6 Intel X3440 2.53GHz 2GB Memory w/ DVD ROM & 250GB HDD (8 cores/VT AND LO100 )

Please take a look at my other answer in the following thread:

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=10197

Make sure you price the same box on the HP site.

Ditto to what Chasrobin said :)


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 10:58 pm 
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BUILD.....why buy an out dated server and mostly a Proprietary MB setup with very little growth and NO capability for the new processors, and if you watch your pennys, you can build for less with a much better upgrade path for the future. See my i5 build in the DIY section.


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