back to article Acer Easystore H340 2TB Nas box

Sporting four 3.5in drive bays, 2GB of DDR2 RAM and a 1.6GHz Intel Atom 230, all governed by Windows Home Server, the latest edition of the Acer Aspire Easystore H340 series certainly piles on the features in a bid to replace any other storage/streaming/server type device you have ever bought. Sold in three configurations from 1 …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Max capacity

    Given I bought the 5TB version of this box off the shelf (2 x 1TB + 2 x 1.5TB), I would say that the 4TB limit isn't what some people think it is; as I understand it that's the compatibility limit for individual disks which isn't exactly a unique problem.

    I can live without RAID capability, it was never part of WHS and in any case the way the data duplication is implemented is robust enough and also has the advantage that you can select what should or should not be covered, rather than securing the entire volume.

    The hardware isn't bad but needed a modification to the cooling - originally the disks ran too hot, now the fan is reversed and the speed control is disabled they run at a much better temperature though at the cost of a lot more noise.

  2. MnM

    RAID isn't backup

    Some NASs power supplies were going pop a while ago, iirc, and taking the whole array with them. A second box, remote, preferably off-site, is the answer... initially sync locally, then rsync.

    A couple of questions, as I'm contemplating a WHS NAS:

    If a mirrored RAID array fails, will it take both disks with it? i.e. can the disks be read by a new array?

    With WHS, if the system fails, you could plug disks straight into any other box and read from them, though as Annihalator points out, it sounds like it will be a mess. Anyone done it?

    1. dogged
      Boffin

      System drive failure

      If the sysdrive fails, it is indeed a bugger. The only existing "solution" is to update your Recovery Disk every time you add software (not backup files or media, SOFTWARE) and hope that System Recovery works.

      Otherwise, you could build a new system drive without effort but but it would do you no good since WHS insists on wiping all storage you add to its dynamic storage array. The other option is to regularly back up your system drive (which should be miniscule, after all) by taking a disk image and writing it to an external drive which you keep somewhere else.

      1. MnM

        ta

        it does sound a bit sketchy! From what I've picked up, WHS is great for backing up other machines, but not so great at taking care of itself, and this may be sorted in the Vail release, which is based on Server 2008. Sounds like it's optimised for people who store their pics in My Computer, and not so much as a media server - hopefully Vail will change that.

        OS needs to be independent from data - perhaps this will end in diy happiness ;)

      2. No, I will not fix your computer
        Thumb Up

        sysdrive failure....

        Replace your single 3.5" sysdrive with a 2x2.5" mirrored raid "drive", physically the same size, not the cheapest solution but hardware raid quick (auto silvering etc) and presented as a single drive for simple configuration, they cost less than £40 + the two 2.5" SATAs of your choice, you could probably get the lot for less than £100 (no RAID card needed either).

    2. Annihilator
      Boffin

      re: RAID isn't backup

      Indeed, RAID is about protecting yourself from individual disk failure (or plural, depending on setup - we're of course ignoring striped RAID).

      A mirrored array generally doesn't fail. Either a) a disk fails = easy recovery or b) the controller fails = easy recovery as both disks can be read independently in any system.

      A decent NAS will cope with failure of the "system". In my case, the core of the system resides on a USB key (though could be CF, SSD, or regular HD, it's not actually an important disk - it's used at boot time and never again - it's also only 256MB, not 20GB like WHS - what is uses that for is beyond me), easily replicated or restored (the config file is saved elsewhere, only about 5KB). The disks would easily transfer to a different system. With WHS, as I've pointed out but not clearly enough THERE IS NO SYSTEM DISK. It's a partition living on one of the data disks. Any NAS that has such a setup is doomed to failure at some point in the future. Losing the disk with that partition on it is game over, no recovery. Hello single point of failure.

  3. Steve Carr 1
    Go

    Max storage is WAAAY more than 4GB

    http://kamlau.com/software/sans-digital-towerraid-tr4m-b-and-acer-easystore-home-server/

    This describes how to add a multiplexed external SATA enclosure, to give 4 more SATA drives, using the built in eSATA connector, and also two further enclusures, for a total of 16 drives, each 2TB or more, for a total of 32TB+ of storage.

    My suspicion is that Acer quoted the 4TB 'limit' way back when 1TB were the top end drive. As someone else has said, these machines have been available elsewhere for at least a year.

    The one limit that is there, though, is the 2GB RAM limit - this is as much as the Atom CPU installed can address, and the CPU is soldered to the board.

    There are also ways to add PS/2 keyboard, mouse, VGA and a true serial port, for those moaning that it is a headless unit. See this link:-

    http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3980

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