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MichelR
join:2011-07-03
Trois-Rivieres, QC

MichelR to dirtyjeffer0

Member

to dirtyjeffer0

Re: Silly Question (maybe not)

My entry into the Mac world was very rocky. Some 10 restores in the first two weeks. Then I found the culprit. I like that it's essentially Unix under the hood. Powerful command-line. Plus AppleScript is also cool for automating tasks. Some things are massively stupid and could use a little help from the Windows world, but you sort of get used to it.

My main beef with it is networking. It sucks. I have an Acer H340 NAS running Windows Home Server. Great little box. But SMB on the Mac *sucks*. It's a challenge to keep the connection alive, and it's pretty slow as well. When it's time to replace the NAS, I'll be looking into hardware from QNAP or Synology, which I think both support more Mac-ish network protocols.

I bought mine directly online from Apple. Members of my union get a discount, so between a fully-load 27" iMac and a 27" Thunderbolt display, I saved a little over $300. Not a huge amount, but I'll take it.

Octavean
MVM
join:2001-03-31
New York, NY

Octavean

MVM

I have an HP MediaSmart EX490 WHS (v1 PP3) with about ~14TB of storage. OS X Lion destroyed the ability to backup Macs to the server using Time Machine but everything else seems to work fine.

Not that I think anything is wrong with QNAP or Synology solutions but have you considered just buying a Mac Mini as a replacement and connecting storage to it via something like USB 3 (external multiple bay enclosure)?

dirtyjeffer0
Posers don't use avatars.
Premium Member
join:2002-02-21
London, ON

dirtyjeffer0 to MichelR

Premium Member

to MichelR
currently, i don't have a media server or anything like that...i think if i were to go that route in the future, a mac-mini is what my friends use and it seems to work well for them...i do have an HP SimpleDrive (or whatever they call their back up external USB drive) on my current system. I will likely use it with the iMac as my back up.
MichelR
join:2011-07-03
Trois-Rivieres, QC

MichelR to Octavean

Member

to Octavean
said by Octavean:

I have an HP MediaSmart EX490 WHS (v1 PP3) with about ~14TB of storage. OS X Lion destroyed the ability to backup Macs to the server using Time Machine but everything else seems to work fine.

Not that I think anything is wrong with QNAP or Synology solutions but have you considered just buying a Mac Mini as a replacement and connecting storage to it via something like USB 3 (external multiple bay enclosure)?

There are only so many power outlets on a UPS. I'd rather just go with a real NAS. I wasn't all that impressed by the little I read about the Mini. Anyway, with any luck the replacement of my H340 won't be until 2-3 years from now.

Are you running Lion or Mountain Lion?

Octavean
MVM
join:2001-03-31
New York, NY

Octavean

MVM

Running Mountain Lion now,...

My HP EX490 MediaSmart Windows Home Server has been running quite well for quite a long time (forget how long but its been years). It really is a great little tough machine. I have all my music on it and iTunes on individual systems get their music from the server. Recorded TV files from my dual dedicated Media Center systems upload to the server automatically. It all works rather well.

If I wanted to be sure to have better support for OS X though I would be keen to use Apple hardware. I don't much care for simple NAS boxes and prefer a more robust server.

I should be getting an old Mac Pro soon but I'm not sure how that will be used. My Wife can decide what she wants to do with it given that she is getting it from her place of employment,...
MichelR
join:2011-07-03
Trois-Rivieres, QC

MichelR

Member

When it's time to upgrade (which will either be when the H340 decides to die, or when I wake up one morning feeling like getting new stuff), I'll see what's available out there. I could even end up just building my own box.

Looks like my SMB connections are more stable since I replaced the defective drive AND finished doing full backups to two external USB drives - maybe things got so "busy" down there that it killed the connection intermittently. I was hoping the colored wheel when downloading to a NAS drive would go away, but that's still there.

I'm surprised you can hook up so much storage to the EX490. Impressive.

Octavean
MVM
join:2001-03-31
New York, NY

Octavean

MVM

said by MichelR:

I'm surprised you can hook up so much storage to the EX490. Impressive.

The EX490 has 4x internal HDD bays, 4x USB 2.0 ports and 1x eSATA port with port multiplier support (up to 5x HDDs). I have two Mediasonic USB + eSATA ProBox 4x Bay Enclosures yielding a total of 12x bays for HDD storage. They are about ~$100 each and in theory I could add 3x more yielding another 12 bays.

WHS v1 PP3 only officially supports up to ~2TB HDD though so that is a limiting factor. I have several 3TB USB 3.0 HDDs (4x or 5x) and one 4TB USB 3.0 HDD I can't use with it.