Backup Server

My HP MediaSmart server seems to be dead.

Nobody seems to make a Windows Home Server box
anymore.

Would the PowerEdge T20 be a good box to put
Windows Home Server on? It is not listed as
a supported OS.

Alternatively, is there a NAS solution that anyone
would recommend? Ideally it would be one that one
could format the individual disks with NTFS so one
could pull out the disks and put them into an external
enclosure to read on any PC.

Thanks in advance,


--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)

On Thursday, December 5, 2013 11:33:01 AM UTC-5, wrote:
My HP MediaSmart server seems to be dead.



Nobody seems to make a Windows Home Server box

anymore.



Would the PowerEdge T20 be a good box to put

Windows Home Server on? It is not listed as

a supported OS.



Alternatively, is there a NAS solution that anyone

would recommend? Ideally it would be one that one

could format the individual disks with NTFS so one

could pull out the disks and put them into an external

enclosure to read on any PC.



Thanks in advance,





--

Andrew Hall

(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)

Why Windows Home Server? Didn't Microsoft stop supporting it? Why not FreeNas or NAS4Free, freely downloadable with ongoing development and bug fixes? ... Ben Myers

"Ben" == Ben Myers writes:

Ben On Thursday, December 5, 2013 11:33:01 AM UTC-5, wrote:
My HP MediaSmart server seems to be dead.

Ben Why Windows Home Server? Didn't Microsoft stop supporting it?
Ben Why not FreeNas or NAS4Free, freely downloadable with ongoing
Ben development and bug fixes? ... Ben Myers

I had not realized that MS had stopped the WHS line. I have used
my old HP for years with a lot of luck. I decided to go for the
MS Server 2012 Essentials, as that will be a lot lower learning
curve for me. I just ordered the box today. T320.

Thanks.

ah


--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)

On Thursday, December 5, 2013 11:33:01 AM UTC-5, wrote:
My HP MediaSmart server seems to be dead.



Nobody seems to make a Windows Home Server box

anymore.



Would the PowerEdge T20 be a good box to put

Windows Home Server on? It is not listed as

a supported OS.



Alternatively, is there a NAS solution that anyone

would recommend? Ideally it would be one that one

could format the individual disks with NTFS so one

could pull out the disks and put them into an external

enclosure to read on any PC.



Thanks in advance,





--

Andrew Hall

(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)

The T320 chassis looks like it was inspired by one of the nicer CoolerMaster cases. Not a bad package price.

Although I have not used any of the free Linux NAS offerings, I have set up the more mainstream Linux distributions as file and print servers. Not too hard at all, and I do not claim to be a Linux heavyweight. All menu driven and no command line knowledge needed. My guess is that one of the free Linux NAS distros might be even easier, because they cut directly to the chase, or server installation, rather than having the installer go through basic Linux setup first. I regularly use a number of purpose-specific live Linux distros, and they are very direct, simple and easy to use.

What I continue to find off-putting about Linux is the insistence of the Linux crowd to use their own peculiar vocabulary, like distro instead of distribution, and lots of cutesy program names (e.g. GIMP, which is excellent) which obscure the intent of what a program is supposed to do, and an almost overwhelming number of Linux distributions, all done by people with large egos and possibly little common sense in spending their time. Oh, yeah, and at least five regularly used user interface packages that sit on top of all the command line stuff, all looking a little different. Too darn bad, because this scares away a lot of people. So someone says "Use Linux", and the response has to be "Which one?" Too darn bad, because this scares away a lot of people from highly functional useful software... Ben Myers

"Ben" == Ben Myers writes:

Ben On Thursday, December 5, 2013 11:33:01 AM UTC-5, wrote:
My HP MediaSmart server seems to be dead.



Nobody seems to make a Windows Home Server box

anymore.



Would the PowerEdge T20 be a good box to put

Windows Home Server on? It is not listed as

a supported OS.



Alternatively, is there a NAS solution that anyone

would recommend? Ideally it would be one that one

could format the individual disks with NTFS so one

could pull out the disks and put them into an external

enclosure to read on any PC.



Thanks in advance,





--

Andrew Hall

(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)

Ben The T320 chassis looks like it was inspired by one of the nicer
Ben CoolerMaster cases. Not a bad package price.

It is a lot more than my old HP MediaSmart box, but it should do a lot
more too. Currently I am planning to use several Raid 1 volumes, so
I could just pull out any disk and plug it into another machine.

Ben Although I have not used any of the free Linux NAS offerings, I
Ben have set up the more mainstream Linux distributions as file and
Ben print servers. Not too hard at all, and I do not claim to be a
Ben Linux heavyweight. All menu driven and no command line
Ben knowledge needed. My guess is that one of the free Linux NAS
Ben distros might be even easier, because they cut directly to the
Ben chase, or server installation, rather than having the installer
Ben go through basic Linux setup first. I regularly use a number
Ben of purpose-specific live Linux distros, and they are very
Ben direct, simple and easy to use.

Ben What I continue to find off-putting about Linux is the
Ben insistence of the Linux crowd to use their own peculiar
Ben vocabulary, like distro instead of distribution, and lots of
Ben cutesy program names (e.g. GIMP, which is excellent) which
Ben obscure the intent of what a program is supposed to do, and an
Ben almost overwhelming number of Linux distributions, all done by
Ben people with large egos and possibly little common sense in
Ben spending their time. Oh, yeah, and at least five regularly
Ben used user interface packages that sit on top of all the command
Ben line stuff, all looking a little different. Too darn bad,
Ben because this scares away a lot of people. So someone says "Use
Ben Linux", and the response has to be "Which one?" Too darn bad,
Ben because this scares away a lot of people from highly functional
Ben useful software... Ben Myers

I used various flavors of Unix for many years when I was working, but
never as an administrator. Now that I am retired I have played around
with a few flavors, once as a boot off an external drive and more lately
as a virtual machine. I do not feel confident enough to have it as my
main backup platform.

I am planning to buy at least one NAS enclosure to do periodic full data
backups, and keep usually offside or in a fireproof safe. I figure if
my burns down I will need to replace the computers, so I will probably
not bother with system backups for that.

Do you have any NAS recommendations? I probably want 4 bays with a solid
raid 5 implementation. The "WD My Cloud" sounds pretty good, but it
seems to be pretty new so there is not a long track record for
reliability. I would probably get it diskless and populate it myself.
(Being anal, I would probably order the disks from different vendors to
lower the probability of getting several from a bad lot --- is that too
anal?)

Also, are you in MA? If so, do you take on new clients? If I ever got
stuck, you seem like a good person to hire to get real traction. If so,
please email me with the obvious deletion to my header email address. I
live inside 128.

Thanks,


--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)

"Greg" == Greg Swift writes:

Greg Andrew: This is probably too late to help if you have already
Greg decided to go another route, but I don't think it is
Greg technically accurate to say MS is no longer *supporting* WHS.

Greg MS has said there will be no further development of WHS beyond
Greg the latest version, WHS 2011, but as WHS 2011 is based on
Greg Server 2008, they are still putting out security updates and
Greg such via Windows Update, and will presumably continue to do so
Greg as long as Server 2008 is supported. And, you can still
Greg obtain an OEM copy of WHS 2011 at Newegg for just $50.

Greg About a year ago, I replaced my HP Mediasmart Server (with the
Greg original version of WHS) with an HP Proliant MicroServer on
Greg which I installed WHS 2011 and it has been rock solid. The
Greg box I bought is no longer available, but the N54L that
Greg replaced it (also available on Newegg, HP, and elsewhere) is
Greg about the same.

Greg Again, this may be too late to help you, but thought I should
Greg pass it along.

Thanks Greg,
I did consider going that route, but decided to have a more extensible
system, and an OS that will have ongoing development. It is obviously
more expensive, but I do not think I will outgrow the box in its
lifetime.

Greg On Sat, 07 Dec 2013 20:24:52 -0500, wrote:

"Ben" == Ben Myers writes:

Ben On Thursday, December 5, 2013 11:33:01 AM UTC-5, wrote:
My HP MediaSmart server seems to be dead.

Ben Why Windows Home Server? Didn't Microsoft stop supporting it?
Ben Why not FreeNas or NAS4Free, freely downloadable with ongoing
Ben development and bug fixes? ... Ben Myers

I had not realized that MS had stopped the WHS line. I have used
my old HP for years with a lot of luck. I decided to go for the
MS Server 2012 Essentials, as that will be a lot lower learning
curve for me. I just ordered the box today. T320.

Thanks.

ah
Greg --

Greg Greg Swift gjsaux at pobox dot com


--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)

"Ben" == Ben Myers writes:


Ben The T320 chassis looks like it was inspired by one of the nicer
Ben CoolerMaster cases. Not a bad package price.

Ben Although I have not used any of the free Linux NAS offerings, I
Ben have set up the more mainstream Linux distributions as file and
Ben print servers. Not too hard at all, and I do not claim to be a
Ben Linux heavyweight. All menu driven and no command line
Ben knowledge needed. My guess is that one of the free Linux NAS
Ben distros might be even easier, because they cut directly to the
Ben chase, or server installation, rather than having the installer
Ben go through basic Linux setup first. I regularly use a number
Ben of purpose-specific live Linux distros, and they are very
Ben direct, simple and easy to use.

You might well have been right. I am getting there, but the Win Server
2012 Essentials learning curve was large. I expect a free Linux server
learning curve would not have been bigger. I was quite surprised at how
big the curve was. One good thing, it alerted me to a somewhat corrupt
Win 7 installation on my son's college PC, on which I am doing a repair
install (upgrade in place) as I type. Hopefully that will fix it.
Naturally he does not have all the software disks to do a full clean
install.


--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)