SFF Nas Device

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Bry

Bry

Bry

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I have been trying to find the perfect NAS device for a while now.
But, they are either
a)too slow (the prebuilt nas devices)
b)too large/uses too much power (building your own)

What I am currently thinking of doing is. purchasing a Asus Eee pc probably a EEe Box B206 or another gigabit Intel Atom System. This should cover option b) as it is small and uses less power. However, It can not hold 4 hard drives.

But, I have recently come across the Edgestore DAS400. Which is basically a external 4 bay hdd enclosure that connects via a single usb port. This, will allow me to add the necessary storage options while still keeping the size inline with prebuilt nas systems. The only downside I can see is that with this method you will have 2 separate boxes , 1 for the nas and one for the actual hdd storage.

What does everyone else think of this can you see any major downside?
 
Aye thats what I was thinking USB2 should be plenty fast enough, certainly faster than some of the prebuilt NAS devices
 
Yea I cant believe you got so many hard drives in there its very nice.

I decided to go for a Tranquil BBS2 Barebones server. 5 hard drives in a very small box running intel dual core atom based. About £350. Can install your own O/S and when you compare it to a Qnap which is a similar price you are getting ten times the spec, an extra HDD slot and the ability to run your own O/S :)
 
Can't answer most of your questions sorry. I only just ordered it, I havent recieved it yet.

If you are loking for review you won't find any or i didn't. However it is virtually identical to the tranquil sqa 5h home server reviewed here:

http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/2008/11/20/hands-on-tranquil-pc-sqa-5h-home-server/

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/241623/tranquil-pc-sqa5h-home-server.html

Main differences are included O/S, included HDD and LEDs on the chasis.

I am planning on running Windows Home Server as I have never used Linux.

You do not need to open the case at all. The HDD are hto swappable via the front. On the back there is a small cover you can remove which covers vga and mouse/keybaord ports (although you can use usb keybaord/mouse i believe too)

yes it has esata which is port multiplier aware so you can connect up to 5 external sata drives via a single port multipler cable.

It is pretty hard to self upgrade the internals of the box although it is possible. I dunno if you can install a CF card inside nbut you could always plug one into the USB portas and boot from that (it is auto setup to boot from USB or you can change it via BIOS )

Here are some comments regarding noise:
It is very quiet. The fan cannot be heard over the hard-drive noise, which itself is very low. I have it in my bedroom and can’t hear it at all. It is much more quiet than the WD MyBook NAS which it is replacing.
 
External CDrom or by copying setup files to a external usb stick (about a fiver).

Yea I will post pictures :) basically it is essentiall a lower powered (electric wise) PC that can do everything other than gaming. It can stream HD video and can technically do encoding as well
 
Im going to install direct to the HDD. WHS needs very little space and since it doesnt use raid i don't need to worry too much.

I dunno if u can install a compact flash card inside but you can certainly boot from an external USB drive.

You can choose, you can have 4 of the 5 internal on a hardware raid or you can have 3 internal and one of the external on the hardware raid.
Its an option before you click buy same with memory upgrade.
 
It is still being built im afraid :(
payment has been taken so hoping very soon now.
Cost me £360 with vat, shipping and the upgrade to 2gb ram
 
Yes im quite happy with the price, more or less the same as the Qnap TS-409 but, you are getting a mcuh better spec and extra hdd slot so :)

The only bad thing is the build time, but its also nice as you know it hasn't been sat on a shelf for god knows how long and it is tested before it is shipped
 
Popular demand over the Christmas period has resulted in the following unforseen delay to your order.

We aim to ship your order on or before wk ending Friday 23rd January.

:( oh well
 
Just to let you know, I have now recieved my server from Tranquil and have been playing around with it over the weekend.
I have posted a mini review here http://www.parityservices.co.uk/tranquil/barebones2-review.html

Please go easy on my review skills, as i know they are not very good.

In short it is small, fairly quiet, easy to setup and use and when compared to products like the Qnap 409 the performance and options are far superior.
 
Yea I do like it a lot. Just make sure if you are installing whs you have a usb keyboard/mouise and something which to boot the device and install it from
 
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