Install Drivepool on HP EX495 or HP Proliant N40L

MarvN

Hi everyone. I've followed the Stablebit discussions for some time now and my plan is to make the move to WHS 2011 and DrivePool. I own a year and half old HP EX495, v.1 WHS, with around 7tb of stuff on it and a new HP Proliant N40L server that's been sitting around unopened for 5 months.

In your valued opinion, would it be better to install WHS 2011/DrivePool on my trusty old EX495 or upgrade to the new N40L? I've looked around for comparison information, however, I haven't found the definitive answer on what is the better machine to store data, music, and stream movies. I love the EX495 (not so much love for WHS v.1), but is it time to move on?

smccloud

MarvN,

I don't have an EX495, but I do have a N40L.  Just installed WHS 2011 & DrivePool while troubleshooting issues with my eSATA tower in Linux (its the tower, not the OS).  So far I'm loving the N40L + WHS 2011 combo.  The only things I've done to mine are an 8GB RAM upgrade (free when I bought it), a Silicon Image 3132 eSATA card (for PM support) & the HP Remote Access Card for it.  Although I plan to install VMWare Server on it so I can still run a Linux VM I plan to stick with WHS 2011 as the main OS (after installing WSUS on it).

snake

DP is work fine on my EX485 with WHS 2011.

smccloud,

I just bought N40L and plan to run WHS 2011 on external USB flash drive so I can help all my hard drive bays for my data. Do you try that configuration on your system? Do you install WHS 2011 from your desktop and treat N40L as headless server? Thx.

MarvN

I bought the N40L with the intention to install 2011 WHS and DrivePool. Is the N40L the better box for this purpose or would I be taking a step backward if I didn't use the EX495? At this point, I only want to do the basics such as backup and media streaming. Perhaps my question s/b, "If you had my hardware, what would you build?". I'm not a server guru as the rest of you are, therefore I am counting on your guidance to help in this decision.

Thanks smccloud. Soon I will need to consider some additional storage.

snake,
Is your plan to run both the EX485 and N40L?

snake

MarvN,

You should upgrade your EX495 to WHS 2011 + Drivepool that combo is extremely stable and better performance than the old WHS OS and its Drive extender. HP hardware is superior; my EX485 is 2 yrs old and still work like a champ. Also I've not been facing any glitch when using DP on EX485 like everyone does. My digital storage is almost full on EX485. With N40L, I'm planning on running WHS 2011 on 32GB external flash drive so I will have 8TB DP storage instead of 6TB. Like you, I also do backup, digital storage and media streaming, so the existing hardware of EX485/495 and N40L is more than enough for basic tasks. 

Dieharder

The EX495 has much better hardware. Don't try transcoding on the N40L. The N40L has a VGA port to help out when things go tough. You can hack the BIOS and install a SSD or laptop drive in the space between the drive cage and the DVD drive, see homeservershow.com/forums you can also stick with the EX 495 and add a external 5 bay JBOD through the esata.

MarvN

Dieharder, is the EX495 the better choice for WHS 2011/DrivePool? And how are those N40Ls working out for you. Have you installed the latest build of DrivePool on them? I'll look forward to your comments on your podcast with you, Dave, and Jim tomorrow.

Snake,

"Also I've not been facing any glitch when using DP on EX485 like everyone does."

Is everyone having glitches using DrivePool on their EX4xx Mediasmart boxes? I hope that not the case. I might give it a go with the EX495 and default to the N40L in case it doesn't work out. Or I might  install Windows 7 on the N40L and use it to record TV. Not quite sure, not just yet.

Thanks all.

TheBeagle

I just bought a N40L, added 8GB of ECC RAM and a SATA2 PCIe card.  I discovered that a SSD (Intel 160GB) fits perfectly against the back inside of the case wall just above the cooling fan, and you just need to drill one small hole beneath the primary retaining screw for the top cover to insert a single screw to hold the SSD flat against the back case wall.  Simply run a SATA cable to the PCIe card, put a splitter on the existing power cable for the ODD, install a basic DVD as the ODD, and your set to go.

BTW, I installed WSSE 2008 R2 on the unit, and it works great.  Also, my initial tests with a Western Digital 3TB Green drive indicate that with GPT partitioning, the whole drive (2.74TB formatted) is seen by the OS and run just fine.  I have 4 new 3TB Seagate drives on order for the primary drive bays, and that should get the whole unit off to a fine running start.  Of course, I will add DrivePool to the whole thing after I get it all up and running.  That will give me 11+ TBs of usable storage space in a nice, neat, self-contained cube.  I'll let you know how it all turns out.  Best regards.  TheBeagle

MarvN

I'm looking for flexibility and options and your N40L certainly meets those requirements. I would be very interested to see how DrivePool runs on your N40L.

btw...with 4 drives and an SSD card, how many watts does your system use?

Many thanks.

dbailey75

I think your spliting hairs comparing the two hardware solutions.  The EX495, assuming you haven't upgraded has the E5200 CPU, so your going to have a little more horsepower,  or a lot more if you upgraded the CPU, and you have PM on the esata, what else do you need hardware wise?  I haven't read up on the blind install of WHS 2011on the EX495, but I'm sure someone has done it, or you can pickup the VGA adapter.  And seems you already own the hardware, so that's going to save you some bucks to allocate somewhere else.

The N40L, really just gives you more configuration/add on options, i.e. more memory, two pci-e slots and one more extra drive bay for an ODD or HDD,  I purchased the N40l and upgraded to whs 2011 for one reason, I want to put my ceton tuner card in my server.  My Ex485 is still running with no problems, but once I have faith in my new setup, I'm going hopefully sell the Ex485 for a few bucks,

Point is you really need to identify what your trying to accomplish, and if you just want to upgrade to the latest version of the WHS OS, then why waste money on more hardware.  Heck I was looking to buy a EX495 for a while, but they where going for $400 on ebay, crazy.

lavike

dbailey75,
Are you using your Ceton to record on your WHS machine? Or are you bridging to another machine where you are recording?

I would love to only have one machine on instead of a WHS & WMC7 machine.

Thanks!

dbailey75

I'm hosting the card in the server.   Recordings are being made locally on the HTPC's, but there's an auto archive feature in WHS/WHS 2011 that transfers the recordings back to the server.    there are no setting to adjust the auto archive, but I think it wil start the archive as soon as all recording on the htpc are done.    So as long as the program is copy freely, you can watch the show from any PC on the network, copy once content can only be viewed by the PC that actually recorded the program. 

One item to note, I'm having issues with hibernation, the bridge is not bringing the card back online after a resume, so the server is on 24X7.