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PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 8:47 am 
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No matter what you decide to use you are going to need drives anyway.
As I said the server is 2 tb max per bay where my readynas is 10tb max per bay.
And you need two drives to mirror files.
If you go the route of the readynas like I said I have a 5 bay but data storage is only 4 bays the 5th drive is mirror image of the data.
so if you load that unit with five 2tb drives you would have 8tb of storage.
after 5 bays they get very pricey. so you need to weigh the cost, more for more bays or cost more for bigger drives.
It is a matter of how much storage you project you need in the future.

One item you may want to make things easy when doing the drives is a usb drive dock.
here is a single that holds 3.5 and2.5
https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External ... drive+dock

They have doubles that cost a little more.

Now as I recall you can use 3tb reds in the server but it will format to only 2tb. Gardian can probably confirm this.
If that is true you could try them in the server still and when and if you go to a NAS reformat them back to 3tb.

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PostPosted: Fri Nov 23, 2018 9:45 am 
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My 2 cents:
I would never throw away a mediasmart server of any series, I would save it for parts if nothing else, since you can't get any parts from HP.

The difference between a NAS and a Windows Home Server is, and it's a big one for me.
Nas, if something goes way wrong, you can't pull a drive and grab the data.
Win Home Server, you can just pull a drive out and read it, as long as it's still alive.

That's why I have not gone to the NAS.

If nothing else, you could use it to backup whatever you decide on for your main storage. Synctoy like my second.

Just a thought.
Only you can decide what works for you.
Good Luck and enjoy!!!

FYI, I buy WD 2 TB reds 2-4 at a wack when they are on sale, love them....
Just brought two down to Colo to my brother-in-laws and swapped his 10 year old Greens in his ex-470...

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2018 2:32 pm 
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Gardian wrote:
My 2 cents:
I would never throw away a mediasmart server of any series, I would save it for parts if nothing else, since you can't get any parts from HP.

The difference between a NAS and a Windows Home Server is, and it's a big one for me.
Nas, if something goes way wrong, you can't pull a drive and grab the data.
Win Home Server, you can just pull a drive out and read it, as long as it's still alive.

That's why I have not gone to the NAS.

Been busy with lots of stuff since I last posted and you asked a lot of questions, so apologies for the delay and the long post. Bottom line: I'm down with what Guardian said.

Over the years I've had several instances where either a drive failed, a psu failed, etc, and the ability to just slide a drive out and save my files shares (where most of my valuable data is anyhow) brings a lot of peace, especially to the wife who loves her photos, videos, and such. These days most of her stuff goes automatically from her phone to google cloud. I would feel much safer backing that up onto my MSS. But that's another story.

The primary reason Guardian said the 48x is unfriendly is because you have to flash upgrade the bios before the motherboard will recognize a better cpu. On the other hand, the 49x has the quirky PXE boot cycle that sometimes requires an extra special touch to do a server software install (at least that's my personal experience). Some bypass that by making a custom usb boot stick that you need a boot file from a ex47x disk to setup. Others don't seem to have the same ex49x paperclip issue I did. So your basically picking your poison if you want the Intel CPU. IMHO these are just different compromises that you have to deal with when selecting any piece of computer hardware. It's all ways like that. Bottom line with all hardware is, you just have to play with it to figure out the quirks and how to overcome them...

As far as the speed of an MSS goes, I started out with the same idea you had, max it out to be a barn burner. Having run everything from a Celeron 630 up to a Q9550s both with 2gb and 4GB RAM, I personally found you don't need to super max out these little servers for them to have functional file transfers and friendly backup times. BTW, all MSS run USB 2.0 (not 1.0). I've found that I very rarely do file transfers using either the USB port or the SATAII port. So I'm not really that inconvenienced by the slower, now depreciated port standards.

For example (all w/49x), I used a e5200 with 2gb of memory for a majority of the prep Ive been doing to figure out capturing & reinstalling all the w2k3 & whs updates off line. The speed is decent, certainly very tolerable. As far as backups, my terminal files are currently being backed up with an unmodified Celeron 630 and 2gb memory, no VGA, no BIOS mods, just an out of the box configuration. It just runs and I don't think about it. Opening shares happens as soon as I click, no worries. And the speed of transferring data is pretty much bottlenecked by my network, not my MSS (a future fix that will also have to be self taught..).

My MS w2k3/WHS v1 off-line update project us finally done. After I post how it works, I'll probably benchmark my Q8400s compared to the e5200 and try out the Xeon chip I just picked up, maybe go back to my 4gb memory stick, and play around with SATA & LAN drivers. But truth be told, the hardware upgrades are more for fun. If I end up with better function, it's a bonus.

Thinking about it, I was asking myself the same question as you back in 2016. Should I get a new NAS or stay with the MSS? OS support had ended, new hardware standards & drivers were being introduced, etc., etc. But considering the cost of upgrading to different hardware, as well as the current computer skill level I had at the time (which has really advanced since then thanks to this forum, it's members, and lots of Google searching), it wasn't that hard of a hardware decision. Think about this. With either option, you'll have a learning curve. You could either buy a new NAS and figure out how to set that up. Or you could read up on this MSS forum and dive in, buying the little bits and pieces it takes to make the MSS super friendly along the way. In either case, if you want the convenience of a home network and you don't have much computer background, you've got some reading, experimenting, and playing around to do.

Luckily, most everything that anyone would want to know about the MSS including step by step instructions has already been posted here and around the web, even by video. And if I find a dead link to something I'm searching, 9 times out of 10 it can be found using wayback machine (archive.org/web).. I would have been lost without all this, not to mention the kind & giving folks who check in to this forum from time to time.

Now, regarding your failing hard drive dilemma, here's my 2c: Probably the easiest solve for this would be a plug and play cloning of the bad drives. This simple and elegant fix is also a great alternative to doing full server share backups and backups of terminal backup backups (that sounds weird) once you're ready to address that.

Get yourself a $30 Calvary dual hard drive dock or something similar from Newegg, fleabay, or Amazon. Don't get hung up on 2.0 or 3.0 usb, just buy a known brand with good Amazon reviews. Then Google and find either a free version of EASUS DiskCopy (at least v2.3 but older than v3.0) or the current version of MINITOOL ShadowMaker Pro. Load that into your PC, drop the old failing HDD and your new one onto the dock, and start the software clone. Do not try to clone using the dock itself. Note that newer versions of EASUS and the dock based clones do not copy a hard drives unique disk ID (a must when cloning a WHS hard drive or the server doesn't work properly). ShadowMaker Pro is $29 and it will also copy the disk ID. If you'd prefer a current software version (as opposed to running an older version of EASUS) but want to avoid the cost, just message MINITOOL's pre-sales support line and ask them if the free version of ShadowMaker also supports transferring the unique disk ID when cloning. Most likely it does as MINITOOL is the gold standard for disk maintenance software. The result should be a bit for bit copy of the failing disk that's plug and play.

Lastly, even though those fancy debug boards with the obsolete ps-2 plugs aren't being made any more, there is still a simple solution to be able to view the MSS's video signal (one of the first mods you should do if considering any mods past a memory upgrade).

Get yourself a $30 mediasmart VGA video adapter off ebay. And don't forget the little motherboard jumper you'll also need to access bios. Then take the MSS apart. The only special tool you'll need is a jewelers # 1 screwdriver. There are tons of instruction on the forum how to take the server apart as well as how to place the jumper, it's super easy. Just be slow and careful the first time you pull out the sata daughter board so you see how to remove it without damaging it. Once disassembled, simply mark the case so you can have a window cut in the side to externally access to the 21 pin motherboard/VGA plug thru the side. You can get an electric cutoff wheel at home depot and cut it yourself, or take the case to an auto body shop and they can cut the window for you. Now just plug in a USB mouse and keyboard and voila. Here's a photo of what you will end up with.
Attachment:
connector-via-side-panel-hole[1].jpg
connector-via-side-panel-hole[1].jpg [ 38.56 KiB | Viewed 10369 times ]
You will find that BIOS access and direct server desktop access using VGA is rarely necessary once you've done whatever mods you want to do. So instead of trying to figure out how to permanently fit & mount the VGA plug in the case, you can just unplug it, put the plastic side cover back on, and cosmetically the server is ready to mount wherever you want it once again. Yes it's a shortcut, but since you don't need the VGA permanent in the case anyhow, what's the diff?

As I said before, most of the answers you need about how to do stuff step by step or what something means is already posted here, or is already a video done by someone. I've found that search is your friend for sure. But ultimately the bottom line is just start tinkering yourself. These little servers are really much simpler than they first appear to be.


Attachments:
File comment: Test MSS ex49x server setup, 15.5" mini-widescreen monitor, USB mini Keyboard, PS-2 mouse, External Dell DVD drive, modified case
IMAG0081a.jpg
IMAG0081a.jpg [ 108.9 KiB | Viewed 10369 times ]

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PostPosted: Sat Dec 01, 2018 2:02 pm 
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I had my vga cable routed to under the top cover.
So when needed I pop it off and plug the debug board in.
Once you take the top cover off after the first time it get's easier to remove

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