If you, like me, stress over storage, you might be interested in this.
I purchased the HP Home server last week. 1TB of drives in a home server, running Windows home server softwear with some HP tweaks. I immediately installed two 500GB WD drives, which was wonderfully painless, so I'm now running a 2TB home server.
Installation as a total no-brainer. Setup of my pc's (two desktops and a laptop, two of them cabled and one wireless), was equally easy.
The unit is virtually silent. It's MUCH faster than running USB drives, and now all three pc's automatically back up nightly--the software is even smart enough that if I've got the same file on two or three pc's, it makes one backup copy for me instead of wasting space with three.
It even creates a cental itunes library, and then will stream tunes and video content to any networked device. It offers remote access to all my files and I can set up web pages accessable via password or 'in the clear'. (I haven't fussed with some of those features yet....so I'll update this posting if there is interest or if I run into issues.)
Sounds like a lot of people here will be interested in this - I certainly am. It's not available here yet (UK) but I'll be checking it out as soon as it does.
Johnny, can the server also back up to an external drive?
My friend has a small office and is looking to build a file server for backups. They would like the contents of their file server to be cloned onto an external drive every night. Once a week they will swap the drive with one that they keep at home, so there will always be a copy off-site.
If the HP can do this, it seems like a perfect little machine for their needs. As it stands now, I'll probably be building a box from scratch, but this looks cool.
Microsoft's market dominance is due to producing EXCELLENT products. Sure, for less money you can be a little linux monkey, sitting at home with your bookshelf of linux cookbooks and guides---very productive-Not!!
I'd rather buy excellent software and focus on my photography, rather than fuss with rebuilding tools poorly that I can buy EXCELLENT versions of for VERY reasonable prices.
Johnny Bravo wrote:
Microsoft's market dominance is due to producing EXCELLENT products. Sure, for less money you can be a little linux monkey, sitting at home with your bookshelf of linux cookbooks and guides---very productive-Not!!
I'd rather buy excellent software and focus on my photography, rather than fuss with rebuilding tools poorly that I can buy EXCELLENT versions of for VERY reasonable prices.
You have major misconceptions about Linux. There are many turnkey appliances running it embedded. A lot of folks are running NAS units and don't even know that Linux is underneath the hood.
I'm not bashing the MS product, just offering another option for those who want to look into it and don't mind saving $300. I think it's better that people know there are alternatives and make an informed decision.
Where can I buy a turnkey NAS that's based on LINUX and is $300 cheaper than the HP Home Server?
I don't have the time or patience to learn to setup a LINUX box (although I build Windows PCs all the time). But if you know of a turn key LINUX-based solution that's $300 cheaper than the HP Windows-based Home Server, I'll drink the Kool Aid.
Did you folks not click on the link I provided, text of which is pasted below:
Today I have details of another Linux based product that claims to offer all the features of Windows Home Server. Its HipServ from Axentra Corporation based out of Canada. It has recently been released by LaCie on one of their NAS drives and sells for $199 USD which includes both the software platform pre-installed and a 500GB NAS drive. It allows you to do automated backups from Windows or Mac computers in your home - it is fully Mac compatible with OS 10.3 and 10.4, and they’re working on testing with Leopard now. It allows you to access content remotely through a browser, or from a mobile device (WM5, WM6, Blackberry and iPhone). They even include a DLNA compliant and Windows Media Connect media server on board, so you can access content from your Sony Playstation 3, xBox 360, Roku, and others. Axentra are also working on a VM version of the product which will run on a Windows based PC as well.
Where can I buy a turnkey NAS that's based on LINUX and is $300 cheaper than the HP Home Server?
I don't have the time or patience to learn to setup a LINUX box (although I build Windows PCs all the time). But if you know of a turn key LINUX-based solution that's $300 cheaper than the HP Windows-based Home Server, I'll drink the Kool Aid.
The OS itself is also available for less than $200. Not hard to set up *at all*. I built my own, and it can be a good way to make use of all those old drives laying around.
For those that are interested, another big draw is the ease with which you can integrate extra drives- just plug in an external, and you can have it integrated into the pool.
Johnny, I have been reading about the WHS from HP for a while now. If you may entertain a question: About the scheduled backups. Do you have to leave the computers on each night you want to perform the backup? Will it turn off the computers after the backup or do you have to do that manually? My hope is instead of shutting down the computers, I could run a "backup and shutdown" routine when I wanted to perform a backup.
Thanks for any info. It looks like a slick device, and from what I read on the net a decent performer.
So far all the options I've seen links for are one or two drive units...no way you can compare those to the HP Home Server. It has four drive bays, USB and eSATA.
From HP's web site:
"... with expansion capacity up to 6TB of storage."
"Four internal hard-drive bays, four USB 2.0 ports and and one eSATA port for storage expandability"
Ya'll are comparing Apples and Oranges. Unless you build your own LINUX box from scratch, there is no turn key solution that compares to the HP Home Server.
We're not just talking about Microsoft Windows Home Server here...we're talking specifically about the HP Home Server.
C'mon, show me one turnkey solution based on LINUX that has the same features as the HP for $300 less.
Excellent points, Forrest. I guess I like to think I'm open to more efficient and cost-effective options, but generally prefer when those options are presented in a more fact-based manner rather an opinion-based (i.e. "For those who don't want to make Micro$oft even more of a monopoly).
Something like this HP Home Server looks like a pretty decent alternative to the 2gb of external hard drives I have stacked up in my office.
