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

[Gillbot]

Link to eBay auction? My search doesn't find any for Legend Micro. Shouldn't have any issues getting Bing from Buy.com either btw.

Just ebay search for SS4200 and you'll find it.

 

[Engineer]

Link to eBay auction? My search doesn't find any for Legend Micro. Shouldn't have any issues getting Bing from Buy.com either btw.

Not sure. It's a Buy.com third party seller so I'm not sure that it qualifies for Bing cash back (i.e. Buy.com is selling for Legend Micro).

Also, as Gillbot suggested, search for the NAS model number and then look under Buy it Now. Make sure to go through the Bing eBay 10% link first and check out with PayPal.

Here is one of the auctions...(assuming link works - but remember to go through cash back links for Bing and not just use my link).

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-INTEL-SS420...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item53de417ec6

 

[IamDavid]

I got one and after reading around the net, it appears MagicJack will work fine if WHS is installed! It'll pay for itself by allowing me to turn off my main PC!

Sweet find, many thanks!

 

[SunnyD]

Not sure. It's a Buy.com third party seller so I'm not sure that it qualifies for Bing cash back (i.e. Buy.com is selling for Legend Micro).

Also, as Gillbot suggested, search for the NAS model number and then look under Buy it Now. Make sure to go through the Bing eBay 10% link first and check out with PayPal.

Here is one of the auctions...(assuming link works - but remember to go through cash back links for Bing and not just use my link).

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-INTEL-SS420...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item53de417ec6

Ah, they're listed under "Legendwholesale" or something of the sort. That's why I couldn't find them.

Either way, looks like they've jacked up the price a bit. I somehow ended up ordering two @ $135. Trying to cancel one of them, but apparently they're closed until Monday.

 

[rsolomon]

B) The SS4200E BIOS doesn't appear to have the Intel RAID BIOS included - it allows setting the SATA drives as "RAID" but there's no sign of the BIOS utility to create the RAID sets. (I only had a single SATA drive in mine when I tried this though.)

Actually once I put 2 drives in, I *was* able to get the RAID BIOS prompt - albeit ONLY via an attached keyboard. For some unknown reason I wasn't able to get into the option ROM via the serial redirect - I can see it via serial, but the initial CTRL-I has to be from the "real" keyboard. No idea why.

Richard

 

[CosmosRewind]

Mines been great so far. Upgraded the memory to 1G with a chip I had laying around. Also put Win7 Enterprise on it. Runs surprisingly well. Network speeds vary depending on the source drive, but have gotten 70-85mb/sec writing to the thing. Not mirroring or anything, just network sharing the disks individually.

 

[wouterkcs]

Summary

Purchased 4 x 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11 drives and SSH4200-EHW

SSH4200 users are using RAID5 successfully with 4 x 2TB drives
Latest EMC software supports RAID5, RAID10 and Windows Domain network access?
-- includes Domain Access Privileges (SBS 2008)??
If using WHS there is NO support for RAID
Read articles that running Software Raid from Intel mobo can be very CPU intensive, and
running RAID5 with > 1TB drives is very unstable (possibility of error writes is vary large).
Suggest RAID 10 by many? What about SSH4200? Reliable? Recovery is simple?
Will a Intel Pentium E5200 help? And RAM? Any one has done it?

Any findings, opinions or suggestions are welcome!

Thanks,

 

[ahodge]

WHS has no domain support.
No RAID in WHS, instead you use drive extender tech. Built in, hands off.
I've got an e2140 in mine and its lovely. Upgraded to 2GB. Also nice. I'd recommend it if you want to use it with WHS and do more than standard file shares with it. It's based on Server 2003 and has mucho goodness that comes with that. Also Power Pack 3 gives much Windows 7 love.
-Alex

Summary

Purchased 4 x 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11 drives and SSH4200-EHW

SSH4200 users are using RAID5 successfully with 4 x 2TB drives
Latest EMC software supports RAID5, RAID10 and Windows Domain network access?
-- includes Domain Access Privileges (SBS 2008)??
If using WHS there is NO support for RAID
Read articles that running Software Raid from Intel mobo can be very CPU intensive, and
running RAID5 with > 1TB drives is very unstable (possibility of error writes is vary large).
Suggest RAID 10 by many? What about SSH4200? Reliable? Recovery is simple?
Will a Intel Pentium E5200 help? And RAM? Any one has done it?

Any findings, opinions or suggestions are welcome!

Thanks,

 

[lightpants]

I bought on last week and I am trying to install WHS on it, but I am having trouble getting it right. Without video, you just plug in your flash drive, hold in reset button and press power. Then wait with your fingers crossed and see if your hard work pays off. I have not been able to get it to work yet.
I have a license for WHS. Would it be wrong for someone, who got it to work, be able to distribute an image of their usb drive with the cd key removed? I could just image my usb drive, add my license key and install WHS on my server. I am so frustrated with it at this point, I am pulling my hair out!

Jim

 

[CosmosRewind]

Without video, you just plug in your flash drive, hold in reset button and press power. Then wait with your fingers crossed and see if your hard work pays off. I have not been able to get it to work yet.

The PCI Express 16x to 1x adapter is well worth the cost in this regard. I was able to use it without removing the motherboard to install Win7 Ent. The half length card I have is 7 inches long. I had to remove the slot bracket from the card and a rubber nub from the frame that the drives sit on. Once I did this, the card was able to sit seated enough to work fine. It wasn't 100% level, but there is enough play in the slot and the adapter to give it a solid connection. I was very happy not having to rip everything out.

Best of luck.

 

[Vikroda]

I bought on last week and I am trying to install WHS on it, but I am having trouble getting it right. Without video, you just plug in your flash drive, hold in reset button and press power. Then wait with your fingers crossed and see if your hard work pays off. I have not been able to get it to work yet.
I have a license for WHS. Would it be wrong for someone, who got it to work, be able to distribute an image of their usb drive with the cd key removed? I could just image my usb drive, add my license key and install WHS on my server. I am so frustrated with it at this point, I am pulling my hair out!

Jim

I understand you. I had trouble initially so then I did a test install on an old laptop to debug my installation. With the correct setup you should be able to install without any input yet when I tried (on the laptop) it was waiting for me to answer a prompt, so I realized I had the ini file incorrect. The box should reboot a bunch of times (the fan will spin fast and then quiet down). I wish Microsoft or Intel made it easier to put WHS on this box!
Follow the tutorial previously mentioned at wegotserved http://www.wegotserved.com/2008/07/...ttended-windows-home-server-installation-dvd/.
Make sure you look at the comments below about installing the SATA drivers twice and the E1000 network driver into svr_2003. Also you will need to format the flash drive (the link is in the tutorial). You can get the drivers from Intel:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...roduct=Intel®+Entry+Storage+System+SS4200-EHW
I installed the chipset and some other drivers afterwords using the remote desktop.

I believe there is a non-distribution clause (at least for the trial download). Also, if someone gave you an image of their trial version you would have to reinstall after the "time bomb" goes off and deactivates it even with a full version key. (And you cannot do a server reinstall without video.)

Apparently power pack 3 has been released and MS has updated the server iso. I briefly considered using the "x:\files edition" which has updated drivers in the iso but was afraid that the other add-ins would mess up the auto install
http://xfiles.breakinghomeserver.com/

 

[lightpants]

Yea, I followed all the instructions, but I must have messed something up. It seems like it would be simple.
My idea, is if someone has a retail, working installation on a memory stick, they could just remove there key from the unattended install file and send it to me on a dvd. I could move the files to my usb disk, and add my key. That should work and not be illegal, right? I know it is not doing it myself, but I am so frustrated with the install , I just want it to work. I am looking for a pci-e riser, but that would set me back at least a week until I can get one.

 

[CosmosRewind]

I am looking for a pci-e riser, but that would set me back at least a week until I can get one.

I just got the one mentioned in the reply on page 2 of this thread:
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82e16812200157

It's stupidly expensive for what it is (should cost < $10), but nice to have if the system ever gets messed up.

I'm contemplating getting a flexible 16x riser also so I don't have to take anything apart.
Something like this will lift the card out of the case completely:
http://www.logicsupply.com/products/pelx16_c11
But it's a bit too expensive when what I have works by just removing a bunch of screws.

 

[lightpants]

I just bought this one:
http://www.ameri-rack.com/ARC1-PESX16-C7X1_m.html

$42 is a bit much, but I figure it is the only way I am going to get WHS installed!

 

[Doomer]

I bought on last week and I am trying to install WHS on it, but I am having trouble getting it right. Without video, you just plug in your flash drive, hold in reset button and press power. Then wait with your fingers crossed and see if your hard work pays off. I have not been able to get it to work yet.
I have a license for WHS. Would it be wrong for someone, who got it to work, be able to distribute an image of their usb drive with the cd key removed? I could just image my usb drive, add my license key and install WHS on my server. I am so frustrated with it at this point, I am pulling my hair out!

Jim

This would be nice and I don't understand why it hasn't happened.

The problem with the tutorial is it says nothing about when things go wrong. For instance, When I went to dismount in GImageX, I got a noon descript error message saying the dismount failed. However, the boot.wim file did grow like it was supposed to so WTF is up with that? will it still work ???

So many questions and so few answers. I wish someone would publish the logic behind this instead of step by step instructions.

 

[SunnyD]

Cool, my NAS shipped today. Legend Micro seems to be pretty top notch. I ended up ordering 2 by mistake, and while their customer service was closed over the holiday I emailed with the intent of calling on Monday. Monday morning I get to work and have an email waiting for me saying the order I requested canceled was indeed canceled. Buy.com refunded me the same day, and money already came back. ++ for them!

Now, I'm wondering how robust WHS's drive spanning/shadowing is, whether it's a good enough replacement for RAID1. I wanted to do RAID5, but Microsoft says while RAID works in WHS, it's an unsupported configuration.

 

[psihog]

Do you guys access WHS thru some sort of remote admin w/o gfx on this unit?

 

[ahodge]

Sorry for the double post. See my post below for more options on getting a video card in for installation and troubleshooting purposes.
-Alex

 

[ahodge]

I bought one of these...Haven't used it yet though.
http://cgi.ebay.com/PCI-Express-PCI...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item53ddbadeda
Could use one of these with it to use a pci graphics card as well.
http://cgi.ebay.com/PCI-E-express-1..._EN_Networking_Components?hash=item518c2647d5
Maybe you could stack a few of these together to get the vid card high enough out of the case. Maybe he'll combine shipping?
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-PCI-Express..._EN_Networking_Components?hash=item334d0072c3
Just some thoughts.
-Alex

 

[ahodge]

Do you guys access WHS thru some sort of remote admin w/o gfx on this unit?

And, yes. There is an admin console and you can remote desktop to it like any other server.
-Alex

 

[gwynethgh]

"http://cgi.ebay.com/PCI-E-express-1X...item518c2647d5
Maybe you could stack a few of these together to get the vid card high enough out of the case. Maybe he'll combine shipping?"

Lets hope so. That is extortionate shipping. The Startech one can be had with free shipping (if you need a book or something) from Amazon at
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...X0DER&amp;v=glance

 

[gwynethgh]

double post sorry

 

[LikeLinus]

Does WHS allow you to stream Divx/Xvid encoded videos to the xbox 360? I know I currently use my machine at home with WMP to stream content because Media Center never allowed you to steam divx to the xbox. Has this changed with WHS?

I'm just wondering if this box would be pointless with WHS because I would end up having to use WMP like I do now.

 

[zoiks]

I'm just wondering why you guys are replacing the EMC linux software with the WHS? Does that allow you to do something that you could with the EMC software? Isn't this just a NAS drive?

I did buy one from Newegg and then I purchased one from LegendMicro. I'll be returning the Newegg one back.

 

[SunnyD]

I'm just wondering why you guys are replacing the EMC linux software with the WHS? Does that allow you to do something that you could with the EMC software? Isn't this just a NAS drive?

I did buy one from Newegg and then I purchased one from LegendMicro. I'll be returning the Newegg one back.

WHS is basically Windows Server 2003 with various customizations to make it SOHO/Consumer friendly (like automated backups, media server, etc). Think of it as a NAS+.

This should help. The big thing is it supports add-ons, along with just about anything else you can do on a windows box, without being handcuffed into what a firmware-based NAS solution will provide you.