Help building home server

[sted]

from what i've read it doesn't have it's own dedicated controller, so you might be as well with a software raid? Think i'll use the raid from within WHS on mine.

Some people have reported better performance (transfer speeds) using win raid rather than this hardware raid.

possibly depends where your boot drive is. If yoy use the rom drive (well what is setup as one anyway)as a boot drive there is a non official bios patch to enable faster frive performance on ports 5 (rom drive) and 6 (esata) and that made things a lot faster for me

[jinnantonnixx]

Great. I'll probably get one. I won't be using Windows, maybe Debian+XBMC, Mythbuntu or Element.
No hardware raid isn't the end of the world, maybe just schedule a daily rsync between drives.

[sted]

Great. I'll probably get one. I won't be using Windows, maybe Debian+XBMC, Mythbuntu or Element.
No hardware raid isn't the end of the world, maybe just schedule a daily rsync between drives.

it does do raid regardless of os im just not sure its a dedicated chip or uses cpu cycles but either way its transparent for want of a better term

[Brucy]

possibly depends where your boot drive is. If yoy use the rom drive (well what is setup as one anyway)as a boot drive there is a non official bios patch to enable faster frive performance on ports 5 (rom drive) and 6 (esata) and that made things a lot faster for me

is this the russian bios? Is there any need to do it if i don't necessarily need the performance boost?

[sted]

is this the russian bios? Is there any need to do it if i don't necessarily need to performance boost?

sounds about right

you dont need to but it made it a much better workstation depsnds how you intend to use it really

[CHR1S]

If your using 5 drives you HAVE to patch the bios

AVForums.com - View Single Post - Tim's 7.24TB "Tiddler" Unraid NAS.

Or you will enter a world of pain!

[Brucy]

sounds about right

you dont need to but it made it a much better workstation depsnds how you intend to use it really

i'll just be using it to serve files, already got a media center PC so i'll just see how i get on and do it if i need to.

[jinnantonnixx]

Well, I ordered a Microserver last night. I didn't get the memory & disk bundle, just the basic model.

I'll use the supplied 250G disk for the OS - probably Ubuntu with a media front-end, and get an additional two 1 or 2TB disks, mirrored if the BIOS will support it, or a scheduled rsync.

Any recommendations for disks?

Also thinking of getting a bluetooth mini-keyboard with pad - this should round it off nicely with the HDMI card Authur found.

[Arthur]

Any recommendations for disks?

Samsung HD204UI. I have five in my MicroServer.

[gibbo_ap]

well mine microserver arrived wed, i have, for the time being, just installed 2008r2, will be installing home server but i didnt order more ram and didnt read the min specs (2gb for home server, 512 for 2008r2 )

I have chucked in a 1tb, 2tb, 500gb drives in so far. was watching a bit of sg1 streaming from it to my tv last night (had to turn off when the missus got home )

but on the whole im very pleased with it and when i have my office finished it will be great. getting my ipad soon so will be remote desktoping to it to manage (hopefully easier than iphone)

thanks again folks

[CHR1S]

I would recommend sticking around 8Gb in, what with it being so cheap, you will soon use it up

Ive found using RDP on my ipad complicated, let me know what rdp app you use as I would love to find a good one.

[jinnantonnixx]

Right, server ordered, I know which disks to get. I'll try the 1G memory, if that's not enough I'll get a 4GB stick.

And for the icing on the cake, I saw this


http://www.maplin.co.uk/wireless-min...centres-527078

It says it's Linux compatible, so it looks ideal.


And for the front-end, Boxee looks the business.
http://www.boxee.tv/make

[Arthur]

If you would prefer a more conventional keyboard and touchpad you could get the Logitech Wireless Touch Keyboard K400 (P/N: 920-003116). I bought one a few weeks ago when they were on offer.

[john]

If you would prefer a more conventional keyboard and touchpad you could get the Logitech Wireless Touch Keyboard K400 (P/N: 920-003116). I bought one a few weeks ago when they were on offer.

http://i.imgur.com/Vt4Zk.png

What is that like to use Arthur ? Reason for asking is I am looking for something like that for our hall at work but always had hit and miss on wireless kit so be good to know how you've found it

[Arthur]

I wasn't expecting much when I bought it, but I have to say I really like it after using it. I normally use a Logitech Illuminated Keyboard on my desktop PC at home, so the layout of the keys on the K400 took a bit of getting used to, particularly in the bottom right where the arrow keys are. This applies to almost all small keyboards however. The touchpad is great (very responsive) and I haven't noticed any lag when moving the cursor or typing. After a few minutes of inactivity the keyboard goes to sleep, but there is barely any delay when you start using it again.

I like the fact that you can use two fingers to scroll up and down webpages (as you would on a Mac) and the left-click/right-click buttons below the touchpad are nice and big. I haven't needed to use a mouse so far either. In terms of size/weight, the keyboard fits nicely on my lap when sitting down and is light enough to forget it's there, but not too light it slides about, if you know what I mean. My only criticism is that it isn't backlit, but you can't have it all, especially for the £24.49 I paid.

Here are a few screenshots from the SetPoint software showing the settings you can change...