HP ProLiant.

[Terbinator]

Edit: Decided to go for the HP ProLiant instead.

[blueball]

I didn't think you could run Steam from a network drive but Google proved me wrong: http://forums.steampowered.com/forum....php?t=2193659

Not sure how fast it would be for loading though.

[Terbinator]

I didn't think you could run Steam from a network drive but Google proved me wrong: http://forums.steampowered.com/forum....php?t=2193659

Not sure how fast it would be for loading though.

Yeah it probably won't be great (GbE all around, though), but i'll only have singeplayer stuff loading from there so it won't matter too much (at least bother me anyway).

[jackvdbuk]

i actually have had a readynas and thought they were brilliant... until i came across a microserver from HP!

you can get one for for just over £100 with the cashback they seem to offer every month and it really is miles better in terms of usage and performance

[jim]

They are (I've used both), but the ReadyNAS is a lot smaller, and obviously it's ready to go with software and everything pre-configured.

I think they're fantastic, would get one in a heartbeat if I had a good use.

[jimborae]

Have used both and be warned, that although the ReadyNas has a Gbit port, transfers are still indcredibly slow (14-25Mbps) iiric but check google to verify (newer versions are quicker). As for drive compatibility I never had a problem but I was using WD 2Tb green drives.

As others have said they're good for what they are but remember that they have a very low power cpu so dont expect them to run too much at decent speed. I moved on to an HP Microserver as well.

[tfboy]

HP Microserver is great with the cashback. If running WHS / WS2008, be warned that the drivers for the onboard NIC are awful. Speed is great, but when transferring files, it will randomly crash.
Added an Intel PCIe NIC and no problems since. >100MByte/s transfers

[Terbinator]

I'm not against the Microserver but there seems to be so many different SKU's all around the same price that it's difficult to work out what's what.

Another thing s that they have a 150W PSU (a bit much for ~4 drives, no?). I wanted to avoid any serious electricity usage and was under the impression the ReadyNas was quite frugal.

Lastly, are these fine to just be switched off without having to go through a shutdown process?

[blueball]

Don't know about the ReadyNAS but my Synology NAS needs to go through a proper shutdown. You wouldn't just turn off the power to your PC.

[tfboy]

Another thing s that they have a 150W PSU (a bit much for ~4 drives, no?). I wanted to avoid any serious electricity usage and was under the impression the ReadyNas was quite frugal.

The Microserver is pretty good. I think mine drew around 28W with the OS running and with one 2TB WD Green hard drive. I don't know how much the drive takes, but you're probably looking at around 22-23W for the server plus whatever hard drives you add.

I have a slightly older model which has a beefier power supply I think, but I run mine now with 4x HDDs without issues, although I have added a P410i RAID controller and PCIe Intel NIC so will see what the power consumption is now. I turned off bits I wasn't using such as the onboard NIC which might save a few watts or two.

[Biscuit]

i have a microserver and one of these:

http://www.kikatek.com/P177567/DNS-3...-2-Bay-SATA-II

As a backup for things that are regularly updated (i make blu-ray back ups of stuff that is finished or not accessed often). In essence its probably very similar to the ReadyNAS.

The microserver is a lot more flexible and gives you the option to run more server-y type things on like a VPN host or a download manager. I have tried a multitude of different bits of software but have ended up back with FreeNAS. It has improved considerably over its iterations and using the FAQs and online guides is pretty straight forward to set up. I get blistering speeds on GbE with 4 x 2TB 'green' disks in ZFS RAID-Z, quite often maxing out the connection (or my crappy little zyxel router). The downsides are that it is quite big and bulky, it needs its own space.

The DNS is quite limited with what it can do. Sure you can get bit torrent clients and other similar tools but they are not very good really. I have 2 x 2TB green drives in there (RAID 1) and the speeds are pretty decent, usually get around 18-20MBps up and 40-50MBps down which is plenty for a backup system.

Think about what you need, or what you might want in the future. If you are going to want something thats a bit more flexible then go the route of the microserver. If you just want storage then go the route of a little cheap NAS.

[watercooled]

Also check the Microserver BIOS for power-saving options and make sure you're running CPU frequency scaling on whatever OS you're using to save power, but even with all of the above, my Microserver draws about 28W (like tfboy) with one HD203WI. I also did some testing and found the PSU is quite inefficient at low loads by comparing with PicoPSU, but can't remember the exact numbers.

The ReadyNAS v2 is significantly faster than the first version, so don't confuse the two, here's a review of the newer one: http://www.legionhardware.com/articl..._duo_v2,1.html

[Terbinator]

I'm not against having to setup a Microserver if i go that route, in fact, that part is probably the biggest draw.

As for power draw, it's not that bad although i already knew that anyway once i'd stopped being a sensationalist. Silent PC have it as drawing ~40W form the wall running Prime95(lol) so it's going to be way under that for my own usage.

What's currently the best offer on the Microservers? I've got two WD Reds ready to stick in so i don't really need anything that's offering a drive for a little extra

[Terbinator]

Bump.

Any ideas of where the best Proliant offer is? They're quite cheap on amazon but has no mention of the cashback.

[watercooled]

Not sure if it's the cheapest but it mentions cashback: http://www.ebuyer.com/281915-hp-prol...ack-658553-421

[Terbinator]

Not sure if it's the cheapest but it mentions cashback: http://www.ebuyer.com/281915-hp-prol...ack-658553-421

Yeah, same price on amazon but no mention of the cashback ( i suppose they don't need to given all the stuff is on HP's website).

Seems i have to order now, or at least before the 30th, to claim the £100.

Edit: http://image.ebuyer.com/customer/pro...02012%20v2.pdf

That's the claim form. Am i even eligible for this given id on't have a company to filter it through?