Forgot to mention that HP came out with a service advisory on the N36L.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechS...rodTypeId=15351

Basically it shows how to enable NCQ and Write Cache on the RAID array from RaidXpert program.

Thanks for the tips! I haven't get my 4 x 2TB HDD as I want to make sure what kind of application I want to run besides having this Microserver serving as NAS.

I had installed VMware ESXi on USB and let it run on internal USB slot. So far it has been running 3 days without smoothly. I've installed downloaded and installed OpenVPN AS at the moment and will proceed to install Windows 2k8 on top of ESXi.

I think its good idea to have 160GB HDD running as boot disk. I might consider that.

Btw, Since you are running raid 0, how do you get your data back up? Do you set it to 4 HDD in RAID 0 cluster? If only they support RAID 1+0 it would be great!

Didn't the guy at the shop fix the DVD writer for you? They did it for me. It took a while though because of the torq screws and because it's quite small space. Now, I have already taken the DVD writer out because I needed the top space to put the 160GB Seagate boot drive there to make space for the 4 Samsung F4EGs at the bottom.

Anyway, I'm also a newbie. I've no experience with Vail. A little bt of experience in Windows Server. Still learning. Partitioning was a breeze as I used a single 8TB partition and devided to different share directories.

The reason I went with Server 2008 instead of Home Server on this machine is because I can take advantage of the motherboard RAID. This is also the reason why I was not too happy with the Acer as you'll be stuck with Home Server.

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Added on October 18, 2010, 11:33 am

Fan noise is very silent. I can only hear the 4 Samsung F4EG hardisk writing / reading if I put my ear in front of the casing. I don't have any equipment to measure power consumption but for a NAS with a CPU, it should still be pretty low. The Motherboard Monitor software does not really recognise the board / chip but it reads 5.1W at idle and max 9.1W.

I don't have many people connected to the server. I find it plenty fast for my use. I stream 1080p mkv files and even 40Mbit Bluray .m2ts files at 24p to my 46" LCD over wired LAN with no problems while simultaneously running Winrar to achieve files on the RAID 0 array in the background. If I'm not wrong, HP says the N36L is suited for small business not more than 10 people. I was looking for good read and write NAS performance and I find the network performance very good. From the Bandwidth Monitor program, the throughput easily hits the 1GBit LAN limit when transferring files from my other desktop to the server.

Check out some pics and review here;

http://www.tenniswood.co.uk/technology/rev...rver/#more-6595

http://www.tenniswood.co.uk/technology/win...nce-comparison/

I'm running 1 + 2 = 3GB memory. 2GB DDR3 was about RM 100 plus. I installed Server 2008 R2 with 3GB from the start. So I do not have an idea how it performs with 1GB. But I believe still manageable. Even though Server 2008 R2 will run since it meets the minimum requirements, it does not hurt to give more RAM.

As for connection, I always believe in direct wired cable connection. Don't use Wifi for HD streaming. I have a CAT6 cable connected via Cisco GB switch.

Is it your streaming is from synology NAS --> router --> media player --> TV ?

I m using this way. But cannot play the file. I only can see the folder and the file. When try to play it, it keep skip to another file.

I measured 1080p full Bluray m2ts files and they need to be streamed at around 5MB/s or so. The 1080p mkv are much lower at 2 or 3MB/s depending on the decoding. So it's quite light on the network actually. A 100MBit network is more than enough. I decent NAS like from Synology should be able to stream at that speed. So my guess is it's the media player? What player is that?

My playback is through mediaplayer on the PC. I built a SFF Lian Li cube PC V351 and put it in the cabinet near the TV. At that time, I was tempted to buy the small dedicated media players but decided to build a PC for that because of more playback flexibility and because at that time, the dedicated media players were VERY expensive. I will try and stream 1080p HD stuff through my WD Player and see how it goes.

Anyway, I decided on the HP Microserver for my NAS needs not solely for smooth HD playback but because of these 5 things;

1. I can put 4 hardisk in for the ever growing need for space.
2. It's fast when I transfer and store TB of files over the network.
3. It's relatively cheap.
4. It's flexible because of the OS.
5. It's relatively small (smaller than my Lian Li PC V351).

Else, a good Gigabit network backbone and a cheap NAS solution would be fine just for normal HD mkv playback.

I wanted a 4 bay because I already had 2 units of 2-bay NAS (Linksys NMH300 and Buffalo LinkStation Duo) filled up with 2TB hardisks. While the Buffalo was fast and problem free, the Linksys always disconnected when you write big files to it. Reading is fine.

To the best of my knowledge, that's the way my friend's setup his system... is it due to the slow (low spec) media player or not enough throughput from NAS -> Router or Router -> Mediaplayer?

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Added on October 18, 2010, 11:59 pm

Let me know your findings ok? I would like to know whether that is dues to NAS/router low throughput or slow dedicated media player, thanks!

I see. Its hard to run a CAT6 cable because my server is upstair while I want to connect to my ps3 downstair. I was looking into homeplug solution but there is no gurantee it works. Anyway I've tried with WIFI and it is jerky.

There is AV type homeplug in market now. The speed is faster. It specially for AV.

WIFI N type not fast enough?

which model of NAS u use? if you use synology NAS year 2010 model.. ( model ended with x10 series) , it can support from 35MB/s up to 140MB/s with gigabit connection.

another way to test is play the same media file with your NB/PC. if it work this mean ur network and NAS is ok. than the limitation will be on your media player ( normally is not enough buffer -memory in your player)

which model of NAS u use? if you use synology NAS year 2010 model.. ( model ended with x10 series) , it can support from 35MB/s up to 140MB/s with gigabit connection.

another way to test is play the same media file with your NB/PC. if it work this mean ur network and NAS is ok. than the limitation will be on your media player ( normally is not enough buffer -memory in your player)

I read a few pages back but still can't decide which NAS is better.

My department decide to buy a dedicated storage server for sharing files. The files include office files (excel, word, pdf etc.) and some video. All users (up to 6 users) use varieties of windows OS from XP to Win 7 and most have only basic IT knowledge so most probably they only know how to use ms office and internet browsing.

Currently, we are using shared folder but I found out it not really user friendly and some how slow. For some computer, it hard to get connected.

So, anyone can suggest me a good NAS or may be a microserver which is easier to manage and easier to access files from end userpc? Looking for 2 bays although 500gb of storage is actually more than enough.

qnap and synology should be good enough. Get the 2bay type for backup. Easy to use and can access anytime, anywhere and any OS.

My office and spore branch use synology. Have been using 3yrs now.

Which model you use?

I read a few pages back but still can't decide which NAS is better.

My department decide to buy a dedicated storage server for sharing files. The files include office files (excel, word, pdf etc.) and some video. All users (up to 6 users) use varieties of windows OS from XP to Win 7 and most have only basic IT knowledge so most probably they only know how to use ms office and internet browsing.

Currently, we are using shared folder but I found out it not really user friendly and some how slow. For some computer, it hard to get connected.

So, anyone can suggest me a good NAS or may be a microserver which is easier to manage and easier to access files from end userpc? Looking for 2 bays although 500gb of storage is actually more than enough.

I'm running 1 + 2 = 3GB memory. 2GB DDR3 was about RM 100 plus. I installed Server 2008 R2 with 3GB from the start. So I do not have an idea how it performs with 1GB. But I believe still manageable. Even though Server 2008 R2 will run since it meets the minimum requirements, it does not hurt to give more RAM.

As for connection, I always believe in direct wired cable connection. Don't use Wifi for HD streaming. I have a CAT6 cable connected via Cisco GB switch.

Hi just bought this server yesterday, I must say very impressed with it.   The Micron RAM that came with it, is it unbuffered or ECC?

Yes, I think its Non-ECC ram... Just get normal RAM will do... I'm waiting for DDR3 to drop a lil bit more to get another stick of 1 x 4GB

8GB of total.. though I know it will be under utilise...

Btw, does anyone know how much difference in VM performance comparing between VMware ESXi and Windows 2008 Hyper-V?

Just got myself a Buffalo Linkstation Live

Gotta say it's good for network storage and as a media server.

Very fast even I stream from it to my ps3/iphone