*DEAD* Intel NAS Server w/ Intel Celeron 420 1.6GHz, DDR2 & eSATA - $135

[aigomorla]

From the Tom's review,

2x HDD 4x HDD
Sleep 35 W 38 W
Idle 46 W 60 W
Operating 50 W 73 W

35w in sleep mode is a concern.

Dude.. those are good results ..

But then again.. i think its because of the hard drives.
If 2 more hard drives will add 14W on the idle... and 23W on load...
The main unit really only uses 23W on idle and 27W on load. (without HD's)

Not bad at all... She's a bit more efficient then my Intel Sossoman setup.
Which draws around 100W on load... however my sossoman is a smp with 2 lappy processors.

 

[Denorek]

I'm an idiot.... YOU HAVE TO GET 4 drives for raid 5!!!

I bought 3 thinking that I only needed 3 to do raid 5. >< Now back to waiting...

 

[davidrees]

I'm an idiot.... YOU HAVE TO GET 4 drives for raid 5!!!

I bought 3 thinking that I only needed 3 to do raid 5. >< Now back to waiting...

Is that a limitation of the device? Because in theory, you should be able to do RAID 5 with 3 or more hard drives. In fact, if you have 4 drives and really want to be "redundant", you might make a 3 drive RAID 5 and use the 4th drive as an online spare. Assuming the hardware lets you.

 

[Denorek]

Limitation of the EMC software. If you mod using other Linux distro then you should be fine.

 

[OctaneZ]

Limitation of the EMC software. If you mod using other Linux distro then you should be fine.

What do you suggest?

 

[Denorek]

Eh... I'm too lazy to mod, but you can always get Ubuntu/Fedora free and just use LVM do raid5....

 

[Macgyversite]

Nooby question but why dont you just get or use a extra or old system like a underclocked Socket A or similar underclocked Intel setup. Just make it as efficient as possible.

This would be greener since it would be recycling in a sense.

 

[superHARD]

Man this is soo tempting! Now just need 4 2TB hd's for cheap!

 

[dmw16]

Nooby question but why dont you just get or use a extra or old system like a underclocked Socket A or similar underclocked Intel setup. Just make it as efficient as possible.

This would be greener since it would be recycling in a sense.

Yes, you could buy a NAS box out of old hardware. However, a device like this presents a nice option for those not looking to build something and then install something like WHS or FreeNAS.

 

[Macgyversite]

Cool thanks.

 

[gwynethgh]

Woo Hoo! price down to 150$ with free s/h. I didn't try this but using the paypal payment method might get you big bucks off if you ALSO sign up for the paypal deferred payment plan. YMMV

Now to look for some good hd sales.

 

[Gillbot]

Woo Hoo! price down to 150$ with free s/h. I didn't try this but using the paypal payment method might get you big bucks off if you ALSO sign up for the paypal deferred payment plan. YMMV

Now to wait for some good hd sales.

Limited time Shell Shocker® deal(limit 3 per customer)

As posted earlier in the thread, it was suspected that this was an upcoming sell shocker.

 

[dmw16]

It was a good deal at $179, a decent deal even at $199. But at $149 is a killer deal. Almost bought 2.

 

[Zap]

Nooby question but why dont you just get or use a extra or old system like a underclocked Socket A or similar underclocked Intel setup. Just make it as efficient as possible.

It still won't be as efficient. My previous box was an undervolted mobile Intel P4 (pulled from a notebook) and my current box is more efficient with a severely undervolted (set to 0.8v in BIOS) Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200, but with two drives it still draws 60W.

Also, this Intel box is pretty darn small - there's such thing as space-efficiency.

 

[Macgyversite]

I thought that was the case but wasnt sure of how much of a power savings it would be.

Now at $150 shipped. Its a steal.

 

[Vikroda]

Thanks, OP. Just got one for $150 - 2&#37;Bing. I was debating between this and the HP Meadiasmart ex490, but at this price I couldn't resist. Now I'll have to research if I can get flexraid to work on this box...

 

[Evadman]

damnit, I had to buy one for that price. Now i have like a billion different NAS's.

 

[Doomer]

damnit, I had to buy one for that price. Now i have like a billion different NAS's.

Ha ha. Me too.

 

[superHARD]

MAN!!!!!! I want one!!!

 

[mikeford]

Nuts I looked for the deal yesterday, or maybe Friday, and never found a link, then forgot about it.

BTW RE power, SLEEP 34 38w was my concern, 90&#37; or more of the time I expect it to be sleeping, and plenty of PC's can do that on a few watts or with a wake on lan thing.

 

[rsolomon]

Thanks OP and Newegg Sunday Shell Shocker! I'm in for one at $150

For those asking about Windows Home Server, I found a bunch of info in the following thread and the many others linked inside it:

http://forum.wegotserved.com/index.php?/topic/6210-anyone-else-exploring-the-intel-ss4200-e/

HTH,
Richard

 

[Doomer]

For those who may not know, if you put a HD in this thing that has an active partition, it won't boot.

Ask me how I know.

 

[ahodge]

For those who may not know, if you put a HD in this thing that has an active partition, it won't boot.

Ask me how I know.

That's not entirely true...Just have to get into the bios to change the boot order, wipe the hard drive using a usb cdrom drive with say ubcd and you're golden. It can be quite a pain though.
Let me say this, I bought one of these when they were $150 and I'd still buy it for $200. Its Great with Windows Home Server installed.
To do this you need the following parts:
pci-e 1x video card or 16x video card with 1x adapter
2GB DDR2 stick (not required, but i recommend it)
*Also, CPU is upgradeable...Due to heat constraints i wouldn't go beyond say a 65w Pentium Dual Core. Maybe E2xxx series. Its an LGA775 socket.
usb keyboard, mouse
usb dvd drive
Windows Home Server DVD
small zipties (if you want to replace the ones you cut)
Philips screw driver
Scissors or wire snips (to cut zip ties)
Drivers are here:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...roduct=Intel®+Entry+Storage+System+SS4200-EHW

Steps to build.
1. Disassembly. Remove Disk on Module from PATA port on mobo. Disconnect power and toss in a drawer (This is the EMC software, not needed if using WHS.) Remove the mobo from the case. Carefully clip the zip ties holding the cabling in place to the case, you'll need to do this to remove power supply from case or to have enough slack to set mobo on top of case and route cables out.
2. Hook it all up outside of the case (be sure to plug in fans, not needed to cool cpu, but you need the fan signal at least or you get alarms) with a pci-e 1x video card installed in pci-e 1x slot(I happen to use these around the office, so i had a spare). Otherwise, get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...01x%20to%2016x and use a regular 16x video card. Something that doesn't require pcie power...I've included some links to intels docs for supported video cards with that 1x to 16x approach.
3. Boot to bios like normal, its delete to get to bios.
4. From here on out treat it like a normal server build, set options in bios to boot off your USB DVD drive set time and date, etc.
5. Boot into Windows Home Server installation
6. When prompted to install additional storage drivers, do it even though the drives are listed there fine (F6 drivers from the driver link, put them on the usb thumb drive). If you skip this step, you'll blue screen after the first reboot. I installed both drivers but you can probably get away with only including the AHCI driver.
7. Patience, the rest of the install takes quite a while on a USB DVD drive with a Celeron 420. If you upgraded your CPU, not so much patience required. Still it's a long installation with many reboots. I'm going to skip past the self explanatory.
8. Follow prompts to give the server a name, setup your admin password, etc. It forces a complex password, so have a good one ready that you can remember.
9. Install drivers in windows starting with silicon image esata driver, then intel chipset driver, network driver. Follow directions to install the extra monitoring SIO and GPIO drivers.
10. Install intel hardware monitor add-in by dropping the .msi into D:\shares\software\add-ins\ then open the WHS admin console and go to settings, add-ins to install. Should be straight forward. (That's how you install add-ins going forward as well)
11. Install AV of your choice...This has to be a server class AV. I recommend ESET. They have a very nice light weight server AV.
12. Install updates. If you don't have Power Pack 2, it should come down as an update for you. Also, Power Pack 3 is coming next week! WOOP!
13. Shut down, label your hard drives before you disassemble so you don't mistakenly put them on the wrong sata port and mess up your install.
14. Reassemble into case.
15. Make sure network is plugged in. Don't plug in external drives until booted up.
16. Boot and wait until the power light stops flashing, that means windows is up and running.
17. Remote desktop to the server to verify all is well.
18. Install connector software on your client PCs around the house if you want.
19. ...
20. Profit!

Documentation
http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/ss4200ehw/sb/CS-028902.htm
http://ss4200.pbworks.com/

-Alex

 

[ahodge]

Also, I'm getting ridiculous network speed out of this thing. It's crazy fast transfer speeds even with the stock celeron proc. I'm impressed.

 

[Zap]

Also, I'm getting ridiculous network speed out of this thing. It's crazy fast transfer speeds even with the stock celeron proc. I'm impressed.

That's because it uses an Intel GBe NIC. Intel NICs typically have been top notch compared to the typical consumer Realtek or Marvell chipsets.