Staples : Acer AH340 Easystore - $229.98 with coupon

[Bcrasher]

Was in the market for some network storage and came across this:

http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?webid=802662&AffixedCode=WW

It was priced at $364 earlier this week so not sure if the are clearing it out or not. The unit has been reviewed pretty favorably:

http://usingwindowshomeserver.com/2009/05/24/in-depth-review-of-the-acer-aspire-easystore-h340-windows-home-server/

With the $20 of $150 coupon that has been floating around it drops the price to $229 + txs.

[Don DiGuapo]

Where do I find the coupons?

[saku]

Flaming hot, considering it sells over USD350

[Bcrasher]

Some people have received them by email and there is a thread in the forums with codes from folks who are willing to share them.

[Don DiGuapo]

Some people have received them by email and there is a thread in the forums with codes from folks who are willing to share them.


If you could provide a link it would be greatly appreciated.

[rogue]

Thanks OP...nice deal

[2ride4life]

Real flaming hot!!!:twisted:

Been waiting on this for a while, and kicked my self when NCIX had it for sub $300 and missed it.:(

I couldn't find the coupon, but still a great deal when you consider shipping is free.

Now off to organize the DVD/music/photo collection that will be served by the WHS box ... yippee

[saku]

If you could provide a link it would be greatly appreciated.

Here you go..

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/staples-coupons-3-total-updated-08-06-2009-a-389024/

[Badger]

Just to let you know that, some Staples CSR may deny the coupons because it saids limit one coupon per customer per transaction or something like that.

I have been denied once for adding two $20 off $150 coupons in a transaction before. Just a heads up. =/

[rajojomanik]

if i didn't have the HP, definitely buying this one.

told a few friends and they are online putting orders.

[saku]

Real flaming hot!!!:twisted:

Been waiting on this for a while, and kicked my self when NCIX had it for sub $300 and missed it.:(

I couldn't find the coupon, but still a great deal when you consider shipping is free.

Now off to organize the DVD/music/photo collection that will be served by the WHS box ... yippee

+1 ...Ordered one. PMed you a spare coupon. Call Staples to apply the coupon.

Gril et sac isotherme Weekend Explorer GRATUITS
avec tout achat par téléphone ou en ligne de 100 $ ou plus*.

Coupon in ur PM.

[coriolis]

Time to sell my DLink DNS-323 :(




Gah, this I can't resist.

[Don DiGuapo]

Here you go..

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/staples-coupons-3-total-updated-08-06-2009-a-389024/

Thanks, but unfortunately they've all been redeemed.

[rui]

I wish I had money to buy this one.

[coriolis]

Acer AH340-UA230N Easystore Home Server, English Item Number 802662
Next Business Day $264.06

Coupon Code -$20.00

Delivery Charge Free


Order Total excl. tax: $244.06
PST: $19.53
GST: $12.20
Grand Total inc. tax: $275.79

Not a bad price.

[rogue]

I wish I had money to buy this one.

I was wanting this a few weeks ago when they were on for $300 ...now it is even harder to resist.

[kqc]

Does it support wireless networking?

[feejai]

Thanks OP! Ordered (this will be my 3rd).

[alain]

looking for a valid coupon for this deal

thanks

[WalnutCrunch]

Does it support wireless networking?

I don't see why you can't connect a wifi N dongle to it. It's just Windows.

[FFWD]

Shows as $264.06. How'd you get it down to 229.98?

Was in the market for some network storage and came across this:

http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?webid=802662&AffixedCode=WW

It was priced at $364 earlier this week so not sure if the are clearing it out or not. The unit has been reviewed pretty favorably:

http://usingwindowshomeserver.com/2009/05/24/in-depth-review-of-the-acer-aspire-easystore-h340-windows-home-server/

With the $20 of $150 coupon that has been floating around it drops the price to $229 + txs.

[xiaosw55]

Then, where is the price of 229.99 that comes from????

[kqc]

I don't see why you can't connect a wifi N dongle to it. It's just Windows.

Thanks for confirming that. My next question is:

Can I use it to receive internet wirelessly, then bridge its wireless card with its ethernet port and having a wired device connected to it, so that wired device can have internet access as well? Sorry, I am new to WHS ....

[frostiex]

Ordered one.

Total came to: $251.98 with a free Grill and Cooler to boot ;)

[kqc]

Then, where is the price of 229.99 that comes from????

Yes, I am also wondering...

[huyzel]

The price difference could be due to the recycling fee in ontario... they might be including it in the price.

[torontodragon]

Shows as $264.06. How'd you get it down to 229.98?

The extra $14 is for the environment fee which some provinces do not have.

[Ronald Pagan]

I bought this six months ago. Love it.

Took a bit of time getting it all configured for how I want to use it.

But now it works so seamlessly with SABNZBD, Subsonic music server, and XBMC that I almost never open up the console. Thing just runs, does its job and stays out of your hair.

[huyzel]

Ordered one.

Total came to: $251.98 with a free Grill and Cooler to boot ;)

I was wondering what you were talking about... then I got the email(coupon) from staples

[goflamesgo]

Phantom Stock

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6443/staples.jpg

Alberta/Saskatchewan has 1 left according to the phone people :)

[Khrak]

Does anyone know if there is room for a PCIE video card? This system with GPU acceleration for 1080p video over HDMI would be an awesome HTPC...

There is a PCIE 1x slot, which is more then enough bandwidth for this purpose.

[WalnutCrunch]

Phantom Stock

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6443/staples.jpg

Alberta/Saskatchewan has 1 left according to the phone people :)

Yep, I was worried about that too. Here in GVR, there was 2 of them available an hour ago. Now there is unlimited.

[dj6518]

Also picked up one of these a few months ago for less than 300,cannot remember which deal it was,but of course i found it here,just added a 1.5tb HD yesterday,easiest upgrade i have ever done to any type of pc box.
Great deal guys if you can snag one,must do more research on the ADD-Ins.

[mobile_mic]

Bought it. That's exactly what I needed to keep systems coordinated and backed-up in my house.

What's up with the bogus $14 electronics tax!?! I keep seeing the garbagemen throwing old monitors and computers in the back of the truck and crushing them. Can I get a refund somewhere? Maybe I need to take my old hardware to the Beer Store with my cans and bottles.

Mic

[zoolander]

I thought I got a good price in Sept after pm'ing and then returning again for price protection at FS, got it for $288 (now I'm out of the 30 days for more money back). It's not on the FS website anymore but if you can find it in-store at FS $499 now, the pm is more than the $20 Staples coupon.

It comes with a 1TB WD Green with WHS installed as the OS, that in itself is worth almost $200. Excellent product and easy to use, backs up all your computers, 7TB capacity, although it's cheaper to buy 1.5TB instead of 2TB drives these days. Create share folders accessible anywhere outside of your home with net access. It's connected to my Dlink655 router and I can play my HD movies wirelessly anywhere in the house. Before, I used my desktop to do this but now I can turn it off, the Acer is much more energy efficient. BTW, you can install utorrrent on it.

Isn't there a new Acer, and new WHS coming out?

[huyzel]

Yep, I was worried about that too. Here in GVR, there was 2 of them available an hour ago. Now there is unlimited.

DAMMIT!
GTA fail:
"Item not available or available only as a partial quantity.

Sorry, one or more items are out of stock or only available as a partial quantity. You can click on "Add" to add available items (all or a part of them) to your cart.
"

[netwise]

Thanks for confirming that. My next question is:

Can I use it to receive internet wirelessly, then bridge its wireless card with its ethernet port and having a wired device connected to it, so that wired device can have internet access as well? Sorry, I am new to WHS ....

You probably can, as it is just Windows.(Ish)

Why not take the *much* simpler approach, and install a wireless router. It would connect to the internet, provide wifi to your home LAN, and be wired to the WHS.

[craymail]

I just pulled the trigger and got an order processed. Hopefully it goes through. Gave up on coupons after a couple of failures.

[jbfd]

I just placed an order. I noticed on the checkout screen there is an option to ship to store. Has anyone used that option yet. I'm thinking " order now - ship to store, use the coupons for price adjustment at p/u. Afterall, the order was made on-line.

[Tornado F2]

Phantom Stock

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6443/staples.jpg

Alberta/Saskatchewan has 1 left according to the phone people :)

You could set up your own RFD, Tucows, or something if you ordered and set up 999 of them! :lol:


I wonder what's actually on the INSIDE of this? Can it actually be used for web surfing or word processing, etc, or is it completely limited to being just a file server?

[kqc]

You probably can, as it is just Windows.(Ish)

Why not take the *much* simpler approach, and install a wireless router. It would connect to the internet, provide wifi to your home LAN, and be wired to the WHS.

I already have a wireless router.... But it's sitting too far from my media player (which does not support wireless streaming). That's why I am thinking to use this WHS machine as a wireless bridge...... If it works, it would be great...... otherwise, I have to either find a cheap router that can be used as a bridge or get a really long cable.......

[Khrak]

You probably can, as it is just Windows.(Ish)

Why not take the *much* simpler approach, and install a wireless router. It would connect to the internet, provide wifi to your home LAN, and be wired to the WHS.

How does that provide the same result? That would require him to run wires to his server, which may very well be on the other side of the house.



KQC: Yes, you can use this as a bridge.

[Don DiGuapo]

Thanks very much OP, recently upgraded the storage on my main PC and now have three 1tb drives laying around so this is perfect, at $259.59 all in it's a steal.

[huyzel]

I thought I got a good price in Sept after pm'ing and then returning again for price protection at FS, got it for $288 (now I'm out of the 30 days for more money back). It's not on the FS website anymore but if you can find it in-store at FS $499 now, the pm is more than the $20 Staples coupon.

It comes with a 1TB WD Green with WHS installed as the OS, that in itself is worth almost $200. Excellent product and easy to use, backs up all your computers, 7TB capacity, although it's cheaper to buy 1.5TB instead of 2TB drives these days. Create share folders accessible anywhere outside of your home with net access. It's connected to my Dlink655 router and I can play my HD movies wirelessly anywhere in the house. Before, I used my desktop to do this but now I can turn it off, the Acer is much more energy efficient. BTW, you can install utorrrent on it.

Isn't there a new Acer, and new WHS coming out?


Thanks for all the info.
I'm gonna try to find it instore at FS/BB... did they both carry this before?
PS: don't they only give 14days on computer/photo/etc?

[WalnutCrunch]

I wonder what's actually on the INSIDE of this? Can it actually be used for web surfing or word processing, etc, or is it completely limited to being just a file server?

It's basically Windows Server 2003. So it already has IE installed and you can also install Office on it if you want. It's headless though, so you'd have to remote desktop to it to use it.

[alain]

the $20 coupon was in my mail from earlier this week

ordered with in store delivery

a very good deal

[Don DiGuapo]

I just pulled the trigger and got an order processed. Hopefully it goes through. Gave up on coupons after a couple of failures.

Don't give up on the coupons, just go back a few pages from the last page in the thread. I missed on the first 10 or so I tried, but then started hitting on the $10 off ones and finally on a $20 off.

[nounou23]

Can you plug a monitor to it or do you have to add a video card?

[Don DiGuapo]

Looks like both orders went through in my frenzy to add a $20 coupon! At $260 though, I may keep both...

[Khrak]

Can you plug a monitor to it or do you have to add a video card?

appears to have no video card whatsoever built in, so you'd need to add one.

[zoolander]

Thanks for all the info.
I'm gonna try to find it instore at FS/BB... did they both carry this before?
PS: don't they only give 14days on computer/photo/etc?

No, BB never had it, FS has only had it a few months so I don't know why it's off their website. Since this thread was created a couple of hours ago, instead of wasting YMMV gas, you could try calling various FS and asking them to put it on hold before they start hiding in-store stock.

[redmileage99]

Any advantage to use a storage servers vs an old pc with 4 1tb harddisks. More reliable? Faster or what?

[rf134a]

Can you plug a monitor to it or do you have to add a video card?

You can add a monitor to it IF you build your own vga cable and can do some basic soldering. Of course, this voids the warranty.

http://hatono-tani.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!9BA042B4FB258CA1!2205.entry
http://hatono-tani.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!9BA042B4FB258CA1!3932.entry
http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=110&t=1155272
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=4813
etc, etc.

Google has lots of hits.

Since you'll have the server open and the warranty voided, you might as well replace the stock HS with a better low-profile HS. A P3 or P4 will do very nicely.

At $250, it's not even worth the effort to try to build your own. The WD10EADS drive is currently $85, so I really doubt you can pickup a mobo, ram and case for $165.

[zoolander]

appears to have no video card whatsoever built in, so you'd need to add one.

It works out of the box, you connect it to your router, put in the CD, follow some pretty simple steps and remotely access it via your home computer, an Acer Easystore window opens on your desktop.
It comes with a trial McAfee antivirus which I immediately removed.
Free options are PCtools and Comodo (do not install the firewall, only Comodo antivirus).

Having a home server isn't the only way to access your content when away from home. Google LogMeIn and do it on regular computers. LogMeIn is also an iPhone app I use.

[Khrak]

It works out of the box, you connect it to your router, put in the CD, follow some pretty simple steps and remotely access it via your home computer, an Acer Easystore window opens on your desktop.
It comes with a trial McAfee antivirus which I immediately removed.
Free options are PCtools and Comodo (do not install the firewall, only Comodo antivirus).

Having a home server isn't the only way to access your content when away from home. Google LogMeIn and do it on regular computers, I can also do this on my iPhone.

But adding a PCIE video card and using GPU video acceleration makes this an awesome HTPC/NAS combo (assuming it has the room).

Torrent right to the box, audio over HDMI, video over HDMI, small form factor, 4 HD slots, etc.

[82]

Can I install a second PCI NIC? And a wireless-N USB?

What I want is to use one NIC for Internet Connection. The other NIC on a different subnet for other workstations. So I don't have to open up the private network to the Internet.

thanks

[frostiex]

Looks like a slot to install a Video card.
http://www.wegotserved.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/img-03901.jpg

[kqc]

The extra $14 is for the environment fee which some provinces do not have.

WOW, just realized that it is like an additional 5.6% tax!! :evil: I thought Ontario tax is already high enough!

[zoolander]

But adding a PCIE video card and using GPU video acceleration makes this an awesome HTPC/NAS combo (assuming it has the room).

Torrent right to the box, audio over HDMI, video over HDMI, small form factor, 4 HD slots, etc.

I remember seeing it in this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf_I8yUjCX8) a month ago, fastforward to 4:53, looks capable.
I would look inside mine to tell you but it's centrally located above my kitchen cupboards, hidden at the back. I already have an HTPC in the basement and a WDTV in the bedroom. For most untechy people, it does not need a video card and is very user friendly. Certainly for others, it would be a great idea to look into as it's own HTPC and tons of storage.

[U4IA]

Ordered one and got my confirmation email - see if it shows up at work Monday :)

[killbillvol1]

How good are these things to use as backup shares over the network for home PCs?

[eclips]

These make excellent servers.
I have mine set up to do nightly backups of my computers (VERY easy to set up).
I have uTorrent running, which I can control via a Windows Desktop Gadget.
I have also have media center (and my Xbox360 by using the extender) set up so I can watch TV or Movies stored on my server.

Great server, you won't find a better for the price. Only downside it its limited to 4TB total.

[eyesonme]

thanks op, I ordered one.

[toguy]

These make excellent servers.
I have mine set up to do nightly backups of my computers (VERY easy to set up).
I have uTorrent running, which I can control via a Windows Desktop Gadget.
I have also have media center (and my Xbox360 by using the extender) set up so I can watch TV or Movies stored on my server.

Great server, you won't find a better for the price. Only downside it its limited to 4TB total.

It's not, you can put in 2TB or 1.5TB drives, it will work.

[3weddings]

It's not, you can put in 2TB or 1.5TB drives, it will work.

I agree, we have 2 1.5s and 2 2s in there now and it's working like a charm!

Very happy with it.

[Khrak]

I remember seeing it in this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf_I8yUjCX8) a month ago, fastforward to 4:53, looks capable.
I would look inside mine to tell you but it's centrally located above my kitchen cupboards, hidden at the back. I already have an HTPC in the basement and a WDTV in the bedroom. For most untechy people, it does not need a video card and is very user friendly. Certainly for others, it would be a great idea to look into as it's own HTPC and tons of storage.

Looks like a slot to install a Video card.
http://www.wegotserved.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/img-03901.jpg

Thanks... looks promising. If I could drop in one of my Radeon 2400s that I got on price error a few months ago this would make for an Atom powered wireless HTPC/4-Drive NAS for ~$300 all-in. Now that is HOT. :D

[BooR4dL3y]

ordered one - staples site is suspiciously slow plus when i put in 99 of the same unit it says it's available so i'm not having a good feeling about the stock availability - just keeping my fingers crossed

been wanting to get one of these to replace my current old-computer-running-linux-with-too-many-hard-drives-wasting-electricity-system.

[smoter]

Man, if I hadn't just bought the Acer AM3800, I'd be all over this.

[riskit]

ordered one - staples site is suspiciously slow plus when i put in 99 of the same unit it says it's available so i'm not having a good feeling about the stock availability - just keeping my fingers crossed

been wanting to get one of these to replace my current old-computer-running-linux-with-too-many-hard-drives-wasting-electricity-system.

same here

[vanriver]

Thanks OP in for 1...hope they ship.

I currently run a home built server with Windows Home Server and I love it! It is not only great for Storage and Back-ups but also for remotely connecting to your other computers (depending which operarting system you have on your other systems). WHS two thumbs up from my perspective.

[elty]

You can add a monitor to it IF you build your own vga cable and can do some basic soldering. Of course, this voids the warranty.

http://hatono-tani.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!9BA042B4FB258CA1!2205.entry
http://hatono-tani.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!9BA042B4FB258CA1!3932.entry
http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=110&t=1155272
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=4813
etc, etc.

Google has lots of hits.

Since you'll have the server open and the warranty voided, you might as well replace the stock HS with a better low-profile HS. A P3 or P4 will do very nicely.

At $250, it's not even worth the effort to try to build your own. The WD10EADS drive is currently $85, so I really doubt you can pickup a mobo, ram and case for $165.
Actually... NCIX has dual core Atom + MB + case + PSU for $150 before I think. . .

[elty]

But you need a PCI-E 1x low profile video card that has a small heat sink... don't think it will work

[aman_416]

Anyone have a coupon they can spare, I'm looking to purchase one of these.

Thanks in advance, its much appreciated.

[Khrak]

But you need a PCI-E 1x low profile video card that has a small heat sink... don't think it will work

Interestingly enough, the PCIe spec allows for 16x cards in 1x slots (though the slot needs be "open" to allow for the large connector.

The spec requires the card to negotiate with the controller for the working mode. If only 1 lane is detected, a 16x card will negotiate a 1x connection. This is essentially what you'd be doing if you went into your BIOS and set your 16x slot to 1x speed. Everything that isn't present in a 1x slot is simply disconnected and the card runs in 1x mode.

The sticking point is power requirements, and a 2400 uses very little. It's also tiny, which might just make this work out nicely. :D

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/2490/slottw4.jpg

[riskit]

I called to inquire about the web site been slow and was told that they just recieved the email that the Web site is been updated. Reason for the 999 in cart so it looks lt may be sold out.

note..I did not inquire if the server was instock just in case it was a price error do not what to tip them off

[eclips]

I agree, we have 2 1.5s and 2 2s in there now and it's working like a charm!

Very happy with it.

Ah, good to know. According to Acer it was 4TB. I wasn't sure if that was true or not. Glad to see its not. :)

[zoolander]

If you image the OS onto a 2TB drive, it will hold 8TB, only 2TB drives are not cost effective right now.

[Tornado F2]

I called to inquire about the web site been slow and was told that they just recieved the email that the Web site is been updated. Reason for the 999 in cart so it looks lt may be sold out.

note..I did not inquire if the server was instock just in case it was a price error do not what to tip them off

Nice "update". Now we get the Saturday night stock bug every day, 24/7. Except perhaps Saturday night. Maybe it'll show correct stock levels then, finally!

BTW, anyone wanting to use coupons, realise that you're likely just throwing them away. I sense a major fail with the BD website today.

That said, I'd only be losing some cheap utensil of some sort this week anyway.

[SkiD]

Figures, I ordered one of these on Monday for $320 ($360 - 2 x $20) and now it's $240 ($260 - $20).

I'll see if second order goes through and if not get the other price adjusted if possible.

[coolspot]

Really???
Why???

$80 more a fully functional PC.

Windows Home Server is a very underrated product. It's fantastic.

[Psilosin]

I got one of these a couple months back in the staples whs/timeline laptop combo deal and these little servers are rad. The five PC's in my house now get backed up every night, it streams media perfectly to my PS3's, and I have access to my files anywhere. Pretty cool for <$300. I can't see the point of owning more than one...but I am trying haha.

sg: backup a backup ;)

[Tornado F2]

Trick or Treat?

I say it's a Trick. >:(

Too many bugs on the website today to trust it with anything.

[sleepyguy]

Thanks man. Was on the fence about paying $300 for this from bst. Just pulled the trigger for $275 (incl. tax). $20 coupon taken without a hitch. -sg

edit; I wasn't getting $250, my showing price was $265 ($245 + tax, $20 coupon), meh $15 is nothing to complain about. -sg

for other saying spend extra $100 for a more capable pc... well this does something others can't.

- extremely low power requirements due to atom cpu
- windows home server license
- 4 bays (3 extra) sata
- very small itx form factor

Well that's about it. also 1tb drive it comes with is great.

I'll upgrading from a DNS-323 which only allowed 2 drives in RAID1. I'll be migrating my 2x 1tb drives to this and buying an extra 1tb drive for a total of 3TB usuable RAID5. -sg

good review btw for those looking;

http://usingwindowshomeserver.com/2009/05/24/in-depth-review-of-the-acer-aspire-easystore-h340-windows-home-server/

[frostiex]

got confirmation and getting delivery on monday ;)

[rf134a]

Actually... NCIX has dual core Atom + MB + case + PSU for $150 before I think. . .

The cheapest in-stock 2gb stick of ram is $45, so it's pretty much a wash. WHS is also really nice. It's much easier to setup for most people without a technical background than freenas, ubuntu, etc, so that's gotta be something to someone. The license is showing $140 @ NCIX.

[Don DiGuapo]

1 order cancelled, apparantely only 1 coupon per customer, not per order.

[nounou23]

What kind of video card can you put in this thing? :)

PCI express?

[nmkt_girl]

Seems to be OOS.

[kendorama]

I was searching for coupon and now it's OOS. I'm so sad.

[frostiex]

I was searching for coupon and now it's OOS. I'm so sad.

Back in stock again in calgary.

[mr_yellow]

Out of stock in GTA.. doh... =( i was looking for one of these too...=(

[redjl]

Future Shop has for $399.99 (FS Part # 10124813) and had one in stock in Richmond and was able to price match to $240.98. So if someone is looking to grab one before the weekend, give them a try.

[Snowy]

One left in stock at Kingsway FS $399 is the current price, over on the 2nd isle of computers and on the very top shelf near the monitors :)

[TypeVR6]

Thanks OP, picked up the last one from Dundas and Winston Churchill!

[SpyKiIIer]

I was searching for coupon and now it's OOS. I'm so sad.

Me too. Any chance of getting this deal in store?

[fredsmith]

Ordered and received prelimiary confirmation - did it with instore delivery because no one is ever home . . .

All of my $20 coupons were expired and couldn't find one quickly on line, so I bought their cooler/BBQ for free deal as a stuffer - and because I didn't spend anything with them this quarter, added a $1 pen to take me over $250 so I get my dividend check this month.

Reasonable.

I already have an HP EX-485 with 3 TB on board and figured this would be a fairly simple and inexpensive way to back THAT up.

[darren22]

Me too. Any chance of getting this deal in store?

I missed out too! Ugh. Does Staples not have the same prices in-store as online? I might go check my 2 nearby stores later....

[jimbojones]

Just curious since this has whs can you setup nfs shares the same way as with Windows xp? I use nfs shares to stream to my wdtv and I'd like to do the same with this device.

[flark99]

It was out of stock on line so I went in store and they said it would be ready for pickup on Monday. Couldn't use a coupon, but I won't complain about paying $250.

Thanks to the OP for this deal.

[smoter]

Really???
Why???

$80 more a fully functional PC.

I'm embarrassed to admit this but one of the main reasons I bought the AM3800 was to give me a spot to stick my 2 new 1TB Barracuda HDDs.
I was looking at this server last week, but it was too much.
I'm not disappointed in the new computer. I did need one.

[YouKilledMyFather]

Dont wanna read all the replies, maybe someone had already mentioned this...

But this item is current on clearance at staples stores for $250.
I got the last one here, was even able to get $20 as it didn't come with a power cable but two network cables (don't know how that happened).

I didn't bother to pricematch or use any other coupons to further sweeten the deal.

Good luck.

[darren22]

Dont wanna read all the replies, maybe someone had already mentioned this...

But this item is current on clearance at staples stores for $250.
I got the last one here, was even able to get $20 as it didn't come with a power cable but two network cables (don't know how that happened).

I didn't bother to pricematch or use any other coupons to further sweeten the deal.

Good luck.

Where in BC is "here", if you don't mind my asking?

[sz1999]

I'm embarrassed to admit this but one of the main reasons I bought the AM3800 was to give me a spot to stick my 2 new 1TB Barracuda HDDs.
I was looking at this server last week, but it was too much.
I'm not disappointed in the new computer. I did need one.

my point to get file server is
* run 24/7, must be low power consumption
* low noise or better no fan
* less heat
* small footprint

I bought a no-fan thin client from HP (t5735, AMD 2100+ 1GHz cpu for $100), add a small internal 2.5" hard drive, add memory and attach 2tb external USB. Now it downloads and serves as file server, also it is a phone/fax system, it runs magicjack, a quick web console for family and watch youtube.

[TypeVR6]

If anyone in Mississauga is still looking for one, PM me. The one I picked up has a broken clip for the 1st drive bay. Once you pull the tray out, the handle comes off...when its put back in, it's fine.

[BooR4dL3y]

Just got the dreaded order cancelled e-mail - I was kind of expecting it, but had my hopes up for the last 8 hours or so.

Will wait on another deal - can't win them all - so far this week I'm 0/2 (this deal and the other Acer Quad Core from BB (http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/its-back-bb-acer-intel-q8300-4gb-500gb-desktop-329-w-coupon-807743/)).

[lead]

Just got the dreaded order cancelled e-mail - I was kind of expecting it, but had my hopes up for the last 8 hours or so.

Will wait on another deal - can't win them all - so far this week I'm 0/2 (this deal and the other Acer Quad Core from BB (http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/its-back-bb-acer-intel-q8300-4gb-500gb-desktop-329-w-coupon-807743/)).

If I didn't have a dns 323 I probably would have ordered. Uses alot more juice(bad chipset) about twice as much idle as my dns does full load. Heck I'd like to buy the tower and build my own with an ion.

[g man]

I got the last one here, was even able to get $20 as it didn't come with a power cable but two network cables (don't know how that happened).

Is the hard drive in there? A few posters on NCIX forums reported them missing, apparently some jerks carefully remove the Acer seal on the bottom, take the HD out then return it!

[YouKilledMyFather]

Is the hard drive in there? A few posters on NCIX forums reported them missing, apparently some jerks carefully remove the Acer seal on the bottom, take the HD out then return it!

Yeap the drive was in there.
I heard about that scam so when I picked it up in the store, I made them open it and make sure everything is as expected. That's how I noticed the power cable missing and two network cables... weird.

But I got $20 discount.

[G77]

Is it worth looking in store for these or not?

[TypeVR6]

Has anyone had any success on installing and configuring this? At times, the installation can't find the server, other times it connects to it but can not download the software updates?!

Any help would be appreciated.

BTW - mine did not come with a WD Green, instead I got a Hitachi!

[FFWD]

I just got mine, and the connector software won’t complete the installation. It asks for the admin password, then gives the error "The date and time on your home computer and home server differ significantly". All drive bays as well as the "i" light are purple. I tried RDP to the server and it shows the log in prompt, but won’t allow me in with the error “unable to log you on because of an account restriction”. Since the connector software installation won’t complete, and I can’t RDP in, I have a $300 paper weight. None of the forums I found this issue on were able to resolve it. Seems the next step is to reinstall the WHS software. Boo.

[TypeVR6]

I just got mine, and the connector software won’t complete the installation. It asks for the admin password, then gives the error "The date and time on your home computer and home server differ significantly". All drive bays as well as the "i" light are purple. I tried RDP to the server and it shows the log in prompt, but won’t allow me in with the error “unable to log you on because of an account restriction”. Since the connector software installation won’t complete, and I can’t RDP in, I have a $300 paper weight. None of the forums I found this issue on were able to resolve it. Seems the next step is to reinstall the WHS software. Boo.

Try on a different computer. See my post above, I tried the CD on my main rig and its installing perfectly fine right now...Such buggy software - sheesh....Both computers have Win7 Pro 64, but I can only install it on the one...

[ceilingcat]

Is it worth looking in store for these or not?

It still is. First store I walked into had two left and when I asked the clerk in the computer section he knew exactly what I was talking about. Stopped at a local FutureShop and they don't have it, it doesn't even show up on their web site any more.

Paid $250+associated taxes and recyc fees, because I didn't have a coupon I could use in store. Still a good deal at that price. (unfortunately the GTA shows no online stock so I can't arrange a store pickup and use a coupon, even though I know the store has one. How f'ed up is that?)

[zoolander]

I just got mine, and the connector software won’t complete the installation. It asks for the admin password, then gives the error "The date and time on your home computer and home server differ significantly". All drive bays as well as the "i" light are purple. I tried RDP to the server and it shows the log in prompt, but won’t allow me in with the error “unable to log you on because of an account restriction”. Since the connector software installation won’t complete, and I can’t RDP in, I have a $300 paper weight. None of the forums I found this issue on were able to resolve it. Seems the next step is to reinstall the WHS software. Boo.

I had the same problem at first too, so I installed as administrator, set the SAME password on my main computer and the Acer (which you have to do later to make changes vs. just access anyway) and I powered it off/on 3x and it finally connected. Make sure your identical password is an alphanumeric with upper and lower case, 8 characters long.
That was over a month ago and it's been stable since.

[zoolander]

In case you haven't noticed, NCIX has WD Green 1.5TB for $107 and $3 shipping promo. Ontario pays GST only.

[FFWD]

Tried another computer, no luck. Both are XP Pro.

Try on a different computer. See my post above, I tried the CD on my main rig and its installing perfectly fine right now...Such buggy software - sheesh....Both computers have Win7 Pro 64, but I can only install it on the one...

Problem is that the admin password was already set to "" (nothing). It didn't ask me to set it, so I suspect this may be a refurb, even though the box was completely sealed?

I had the same problem at first too, so I installed as administrator, set the SAME password on my main computer and the Acer (which you have to do later to make changes vs. just access anyway) and I powered it off/on 3x and it finally connected. Make sure your identical password is an alphanumeric with upper and lower case, 8 characters long.
That was over a month ago and it's been stable since.

I would like to add that the lack of support for this thing is amazing. The current product doesn't even show up on the Acer web sites, Canadian or US. And a lot of the troubleshooting info I'm finding isn't very encouraging.

[g man]

Showing 80 in stock for GTA, must be phantom stock 24 hours early...

[darren22]

Showing 80 in stock for GTA, must be phantom stock 24 hours early...

Showing 4 in GVR. Site is super slow, keeps timing out on me.

[zoolander]

Tried another computer, no luck. Both are XP Pro.

Problem is that the admin password was already set to "" (nothing). It didn't ask me to set it, so I suspect this may be a refurb, even though the box was completely sealed?

I would like to add that the lack of support for this thing is amazing. The current product doesn't even show up on the Acer web sites, Canadian or US. And a lot of the troubleshooting info I'm finding isn't very encouraging.

You are correct, technical support on the Easystore itself is poor, it is more on the side of WHS forums. I had to do a little digging myself to figure out how to remove McAfee. Anyway, if you there are none left to exchange and you really want to keep it and you are at your wits end troubleshooting, you could always pull out the OS drive, connect it as your slave in your main computer, check the drive's health and re-install WHS fresh (in case the last person messed it up and rather a refurb, it's really a returned unit).

[YouKilledMyFather]

Tried another computer, no luck. Both are XP Pro.



Problem is that the admin password was already set to "" (nothing). It didn't ask me to set it, so I suspect this may be a refurb, even though the box was completely sealed?



I would like to add that the lack of support for this thing is amazing. The current product doesn't even show up on the Acer web sites, Canadian or US. And a lot of the troubleshooting info I'm finding isn't very encouraging.

I agree, Acer website is the worst. My monitor still isn't on there.
But the AH340 is on the US website, listed under consumer desktops I think.
Acer sure makes it hard for you to find it.

[rinottawa]

Acer AH340-UA230N Easystore Home Server, English Item Number 802662
Next Business Day $264.06

Coupon Code -$20.00

Delivery Charge Free


Order Total excl. tax: $244.06
PST: $19.53
GST: $12.20
Grand Total inc. tax: $275.79

Not a bad price.

I'll just use my old full function PC as my home server. I did the math as follows:

Electricity price: 5.7 cents for 1kWh

$275.79/0.057=4838.4 (kWh)

My old Pentum D915: 200W (tested results at nomal working condition)

4838.4/200=24.192 (k hour)=2.76 years

Considering the old PC will not work full power 24 hours a day as a home server, and hydro deliver fee, I assume $275 can pay the hydro fee for my old PC (working 24/7) for 3 yrs.

[YouKilledMyFather]

There appears to be 4 available online right now.
I entered 999 into quantity and it showed up as 4.

Try your luck...

[Siefer999]

Showing 80 in stock for GTA, must be phantom stock 24 hours early...

phantom stock would be an unlimited amount. i just bought one and it went down by one. looks like a restock

[BestOffer]

doesn't support windows 7 ??

[BestOffer]

I agree, Acer website is the worst. My monitor still isn't on there.
But the AH340 is on the US website, listed under consumer desktops I think.
Acer sure makes it hard for you to find it.

is not hard, if is not CDN site then US site it is; took me 1 minute to find out
http://us.acer.com/acer/productv.do?LanguageISOCtxParam=en&kcond61e.c2att101=54825&sp=page16e&ctx2.c2att1=25&link=ln438e&CountryISOCtxParam=US&ctx1g.c2att92=450&ctx1.att21k=1&CRC=936243954#

[napoleon1769]

I have the HP that was posted here a while back for ~$200. Is this one better? If so, how much is my HP worth now? It's still bnib.

[flashmeister]

I have the HP that was posted here a while back for ~$200. Is this one better? If so, how much is my HP worth now? It's still bnib.

The HP MediaSmart home server only has 512 MB of RAM and uses a AMD Sempron processor (for desktop applications - probably pretty power hungry), vs. the Acer with 2 GB of RAM and an Intel Atom processor (low power).

Also, correct me if I am wrong, but I think the model of HP MediaSmart Server that was $200 was the one with only 500 GB (one drive)? If so, the Acer has double that with a 1 TB drive.

I have the HP MediaSmart with 1TB (two 500 GB drives)...

Even though the Acer might be better, you already have a home server so why worry about getting a better one? These don't need to be high-performance machines (actually the opposite since higher performance usally means higher power!). If you only have 500 GB in your HP and that won't be enough, then you can consider buying the Acer since another 500 GB hard drive will probably set you back another $60+. On the other hand, you can get a 1.5 GB drive for the HP for only around $110 and then have double the capacity of the Acer...

[napoleon1769]

The HP MediaSmart home server only has 512 MB of RAM and uses a AMD Sempron processor (for desktop applications - probably pretty power hungry), vs. the Acer with 2 GB of RAM and an Intel Atom processor (low power).

Also, correct me if I am wrong, but I think the model of HP MediaSmart Server that was $200 was the one with only 500 GB (one drive)? If so, the Acer has double that with a 1 TB drive.

I have the HP MediaSmart with 1TB (two 500 GB drives)...

Even though the Acer might be better, you already have a home server so why worry about getting a better one? These don't need to be high-performance machines (actually the opposite since higher performance usally means higher power!). If you only have 500 GB in your HP and that won't be enough, then you can consider buying the Acer since another 500 GB hard drive will probably set you back another $60+. On the other hand, you can get a 1.5 GB drive for the HP for only around $110 and then have double the capacity of the Acer...

I just went into my closet and found out that it's actually a MV2020. It looks like that it doesn't even have any ram or a processor at all!

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/product/29310/overview/media_vault_mv2020.html

[flashmeister]

I just went into my closet and found out that it's actually a MV2020. It looks like that it doesn't even have any ram or a processor at all!

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/product/29310/overview/media_vault_mv2020.html

In that case I would say that a full-fledged 1TB home server is far superior in every way to a 500 GB external drive with NAS...

I guess you can plug the MV2020 into the Acer's USB port to take advantage of the extra 500 GB, so the Acer can control it. Or just plug it into your network as another drive for dumping misc. into.

[fredsmith]

The HP MediaSmart home server only has 512 MB of RAM and uses a AMD Sempron processor (for desktop applications - probably pretty power hungry), vs. the Acer with 2 GB of RAM and an Intel Atom processor (low power).

Also, correct me if I am wrong, but I think the model of HP MediaSmart Server that was $200 was the one with only 500 GB (one drive)? If so, the Acer has double that with a 1 TB drive.

I have the HP MediaSmart with 1TB (two 500 GB drives)...

Even though the Acer might be better, you already have a home server so why worry about getting a better one? These don't need to be high-performance machines (actually the opposite since higher performance usally means higher power!). If you only have 500 GB in your HP and that won't be enough, then you can consider buying the Acer since another 500 GB hard drive will probably set you back another $60+. On the other hand, you can get a 1.5 GB drive for the HP for only around $110 and then have double the capacity of the Acer...

There are/have been seven SKUs of the Mediasmart. The one that was offered last year at $299 was the EX-470 - it used an AMD processor and was delivered with 512 megs of memory, upgradeable to 2 Gigs for about $30. It came with a 500 gig HD, though an alternative SKU/Model called the EX-475 came with 2 drives for a total of 1 TB.

The second version is the EX-480 - it uses a faster 2.0 GHz Celeron processor and came with 2 gigs of Ram up front and a 750 Gig HD. The alternative SKU had dual drives, for a total of 1.5 TB as shipped. It also has a more advanced set of HP tools and support for a more comprehensive list of multimedia devices. Power-wise, as it comes out of the box, the server documatation says it draws less than 60 watts of power.

The eSATA port on the newer model is hobbled by the fact that it can't be expanded to support more than a single drive, while the original model had no such limitation and people have been plugging huge eSATA RAID arrays into their units, something you can;t do the the newer model.

A mini server, called the LX-195 supports fewer internal drives.

The current version is the EX-490/495.

I bought the original and managed to upgrade to the 480 at no cost - haven't tried either the LX or the new 490, so can't comment beyond mentioning that the 490/495 comes with a 1 TB drive and a 2.2 GHz Celeron, while the 495 pushes the CPU to a 2.5 GHz Dual Core Celeron and comes with a single 1.5 TB drive instead of the 1.0 - different from the previous offerings where they supplied a second drive in the larger model.

The drives in the HPs have traditionaly been Seagate 7200 RPM drives with large buffers.

The Acer, with it's lower power processor and 'green' (read 'slow') WD drive must be pretty pokey by comparison.

However, it'll probably do just fine as a machine to backup my EX-480, I'm almost certain. I get it on Monday. If not, then I'll resell it.

[zoolander]

doesn't support windows 7 ??

All my machines are running W7, no problems with it whatsoever.

[G77]

Oh crap, why did I look at this thread - please someone buy them all so I can't be tempted!

[TypeVR6]

Can everyone confirm what kind of drive (WD/Hitachi/Seagate) they got w/ their unit?

[RedSoxFan]

Ordered one.. thanks to original poster

[a in yul]

does anyone know the item number for the explorer weekend grill?

thx!

[chaos1105]

Could someone PM me a coupon? Thanks...much appreciated!

[Snake-Eyes]

Ordered one too. Only had a $10 coupon to use. But, if anyone has a spare $20+ coupon, Please PM it to me. I'd appreciate it very much. Thanks OP.

[vanriver]

Well, bad news for me....my order was cancelled by Staples. Appears they had an iventory glitch in their website. Once again a staples deal too good to be true.

I talked to my local store....0 inventory in stores around me....0 in the warehouse....and item is marked as discontinued, so they will not be ordering anymore.:cry:

Hope some of you got in on the deal. Thanks again OP, it was worth a try.

[rogue]

Well, bad news for me....my order was cancelled by Staples. Appears they had an iventory glitch in their website. Once again a staples deal too good to be true.

I talked to my local store....0 inventory in stores around me....0 in the warehouse....and item is marked as discontinued, so they will not be ordering anymore.:cry:

Hope some of you got in on the deal. Thanks again OP, it was worth a try.

When did you place your order? Staples was "updating" their website Friday so there were a few deals that have seen cancellations

[alwaysbuylow]

Well, bad news for me....my order was cancelled by Staples. Appears they had an iventory glitch in their website. Once again a staples deal too good to be true.

I talked to my local store....0 inventory in stores around me....0 in the warehouse....and item is marked as discontinued, so they will not be ordering anymore.:cry:

Hope some of you got in on the deal. Thanks again OP, it was worth a try.

Yeah, that was what I was wondering, ten minutes ago I added 999 in cart, it showed 21 in stock, I just tried it two minutes ago, it showed 25 in stock. How could the inventory went up in a few minutes?:confused: There must be a glitch.

Anybody try price matching with NCIX? NCIX has $3 shipping code this weekend, and no PST outside BC.

[82]

Does the McAfee Total Protection Service has expiry date?

Anyone tried uninstall McAfee AV software and replace it with something else like Microsoft Security Essential or Symantec Endpoint?

thanks

[TypeVR6]

Does the McAfee Total Protection Service has expiry date?

Anyone tried uninstall McAfee AV software and replace it with something else like Microsoft Security Essential or Symantec Endpoint?

thanks

Just RDC into it and uninstall McAfee - thats what I did.

[Don DiGuapo]

Anybody try price matching with NCIX? NCIX has $3 shipping code this weekend, and no PST outside BC.

That's a viable option as this is a great deal at the regular price. I got it with the $20 coupon for a total of $259.59, at NCIX using the $3 shipping and optional $3.75 insurance it comes out to $269.57, anyone that wants it should go for it while Staples is showing stock, NCIX wont know that the stock is of the phantom variety.

[vanriver]

Yeah, that was what I was wondering, ten minutes ago I added 999 in cart, it showed 21 in stock, I just tried it two minutes ago, it showed 25 in stock. How could the inventory went up in a few minutes?:confused: There must be a glitch.

Anybody try price matching with NCIX? NCIX has $3 shipping code this weekend, and no PST outside BC.

I put my order in yesterday at around 12pm MST. and got my cancelation yesterday night. I'm located in Alberta.....they seem to have corrected their web stock issue...when I try and order again it shows out of stock.

So if the system is letting you guys order I would go for it assuming it was not a phantom stock problem like I had.

Good luck! I might try the NCIX route like you suggested. Thanks!:lol:

[riskit]

for those in mtl there are 21 in stock in english

[82]

Is the McAfee bundled with the Home Server a time limited trial version?

Just RDC into it and uninstall McAfee - thats what I did.

[jmartin]

In Moncton (NB) they had 8 unit left (now 7) at the one on Trinity. They may also have a few on Main st.

[Highlander25]

Anyone successful pricematching at NCIX? The price difference is so huge, I would think they'd deny it for being possibly below cost.

[napoleon1769]

Darn there was 6 in Edmonton last night and now there is none. Should've bought one.

[fredsmith]

Hmm . . .

I wonder what Acer's new model will look like?

More powerful, perhaps?

[aw124]

Thx OP. Ordered one. Only 7 left in GTA.

[Aware]

I uninstalled McAfee (which I considered to be such a pain) and installed Trend Micro.

Does the McAfee Total Protection Service has expiry date?

Anyone tried uninstall McAfee AV software and replace it with something else like Microsoft Security Essential or Symantec Endpoint?

thanks

[Don DiGuapo]

I've never used one of these, but wouldn't ESET be ideal?

[82]

it sucks that F-Secure and Microsoft Security Essential won't install on Windows Home Server (W2k3 Server).

I uninstalled McAfee (which I considered to be such a pain) and installed Trend Micro.

[canadamoogle]

Ugh. Just FYI it shows up as in-stock on an iPhone but out of stock on the website. Really wish I could pricematch it but need to hope for a restock during business hours. :(

And yeah, to those who asked, the McAfee install is time limited. Almost every review I've seen suggested immediately remote-desktop'ing in to uninstall it.

[a in yul]

Hmm . . .

I wonder what Acer's new model will look like?

More powerful, perhaps?

i read somwhere that its more powerful (processor; memory, etc) and has a smaller footprint;

did a quick search on google but did not find the article..

PS: just ordered another one; there are 15 left in mtl; dont forget to deduct the price of the hard drive; so 250-75 for hard drive, net cost is around 175 before taxes and coupons...!! HOT DEAL!!

[zoolander]

Use remote desktop to remove the trial McAfee.
Regular antivirus programs don't work on WHS and the server editions of the various antivirus companies are quite expensive. I did see some free options but they're not very robust.
There is an Avast Server Edition floating around if you know where to look. I just depend on my own combination of security on each computer before it gets passed onto the server.

[a in yul]

via SD;

All,

For those you who purchase this item and is looking for the PDF manual can get it below:
http://support.acer.com/acerpanam...N_0205.pdf

CORRECTION: http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/manuals/acer/0000/userguides/Aspire-easyStore_UG_EN_0205.pdf

thks riskit!

[82]

Anyone know what's the "EasyHome Software Update" for?


For free AV software for WHS, the only option is ClamAV.

[riskit]

via SD;

All,

For those you who purchase this item and is looking for the PDF manual can get it below:
http://support.acer.com/acerpanam...N_0205.pdf


http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/manuals/acer/0000/userguides/Aspire-easyStore_UG_EN_0205.pdf

[kendorama]

Hey guys,

I was able to detect this and start the installation, then the power just shut off after like 67% and now it can't detect anything no matter what I try; using different computers too.

Any ideas where I can find help? Google isn't helping. When I first started using it the hard drive bay lights were all purple, now I can't get anything.

I tried resetting it too.

Thanks

[fredsmith]

dont forget to deduct the price of the hard drive; so 250-75 for hard drive, net cost is around 175 before taxes and coupons...!! HOT DEAL!!

Well, I wouldn't EVER buy a WD 'green' drive - thet're slower than molasses . . . so if I decide to use this for more than backing things up the drive will need to be replaced and one in the box will make yet another paperweight here..

No deal there . . . .

[rf134a]

Well, I wouldn't EVER buy a WD 'green' drive - thet're slower than molasses . . . so if I decide to use this for more than backing things up the drive will need to be replaced and one in the box will make yet another paperweight here..

No deal there . . . .

That's some bad information there. The WD green drives are fine and can saturate a gigabit connection. No current consumer-level NAS can do that, of course. The H340 peaks at 60MB/s, so any drive will easily handle the throughput from the H340. This is a home server, not an enterprise db server that needs to handle 250,000 transactions/s.

[zoolander]

Fast enough to stream 1080p and transfer files, my Acer is full of WD Greens - slower, quieter, less heat, less energy consumption, better reliability, why not?
Whereas my main computer has an OS WD Black and a slave Green, it's not on all the time.

[tomtong]

OOS in GTA, Sigh!

[a in yul]

Well, I wouldn't EVER buy a WD 'green' drive - thet're slower than molasses . . . so if I decide to use this for more than backing things up the drive will need to be replaced and one in the box will make yet another paperweight here..

No deal there . . . .

as a backup even if we give it a value of 50$, u r still coming ahead with a server at less then 200$; unheard of when the same server is still retailing at many stores for over 300$..!

[82]

A faster drive will benefit for those who use the WHS for other applications. And it certainly will speed up indexing.

But I don't see any wrong with the WD Green, it is a good match for WHS.

That's some bad information there. The WD green drives are fine and can saturate a gigabit connection. No current consumer-level NAS can do that, of course. The H340 peaks at 60MB/s, so any drive will easily handle the throughput from the H340. This is a home server, not an enterprise db server that needs to handle 250,000 transactions/s.

[TypeVR6]

If anyone needs help setting this up, add me on to your MSN (darthvr6 at hotmail) and msg me..

[nyliquidpk]

Still don't under how we are getting price down to $229.98

[82]

quick question, what is the "EasyHome Software Update" from the CD for?

thanks

If anyone needs help setting this up, add me on to your MSN (darthvr6 at hotmail) and msg me..

[TypeVR6]

quick question, what is the "EasyHome Software Update" from the CD for?

thanks

If I'm not mistaken its an app to update the firmware on the Easy Store..

[ZIgot]

If anyone needs help setting this up, add me on to your MSN (darthvr6 at hotmail) and msg me..

Thx. I might need some help. I'll msg you in case.

[a in yul]

Still don't under how we are getting price down to $229.98

witha 20off coupon...

[RedFlagRobot]

Ordered one, hope it doesn't get canceled. Have been thinking about getting one of these anyway, so it's awesome the price has come down.

[Devious]

In GTA area.. would pick this up if it were still avail (my external drive just toasted :()

[vanriver]

Anyone tried a price match to NCIX via their website yet?

[ceilingcat]

Still don't under how we are getting price down to $229.98

That's probably in provinces other than Ontario. The price online I can see is $264.xx which already reflects a $14 recycling fee -- so you could take $20 off that. In store I was able to get $249 before taxes but I couldn't use a coupon (and just what the hell is up with 'web and telephone only' coupons anyway).

I'm just happy I was able to find one in a B&M store.

BTW, I think adding the recycling fee to the online price prevents people from pricematching it to their B&M stores (or anyone else).

[ceilingcat]

I should add that I had to ask specifically about it. It wasn't on a shelf but in the back room (probably reserved for employee's, but who knows).

So if you go into a Staples and don't see it -- ASK!

[mr_yellow]

I bought one and I'm underwhelmed... Maybe I'm too much of a nuts and bolts kinda guy but the whole WHS console seemed a bit lacking and the share management system was very basic (couldn't set ACLs in nested folders...). I ended up RDP'ing and doing most of the stuff from there.

The expired McAffee was a shock and a PITA to remove.. Strange this is, the console reported a green healthy network AFTER uninstalling all the anti-virus.. hahah

On the bright side, the 1TB is nice and I'm planning on moving some of my older HD's over to increase it to 2TB and the hardware seem solid and quiet.

I will have to explore the add-ins feature and see how to run non-WHS services in the background.

A tip for those with desktops/htpcs on WiFi.. make sure you plan out how to connect your ethernet cable to your systems... It took me a bit to realize it was easier disconnecting and pulling my HTPC from my entertainment system and carry it into the computer room than trying to string a 50 ft ethernet cable and realize it was STILL too short.. lol

[FFWD]

Ok, got it all sorted out last night. I ended up using the server recovery disc to set it back to "factory default", which is what I had assumed it was out of the box. Apparently not - which makes me believe this is a factory refurb. After the reset, which took an hour using a gigabit connection between my PC and Acer, everything went smoothly. Of course, it will be painfully slow if you don't have a gigabit switch...

Tried another computer, no luck. Both are XP Pro.



Problem is that the admin password was already set to "" (nothing). It didn't ask me to set it, so I suspect this may be a refurb, even though the box was completely sealed?



I would like to add that the lack of support for this thing is amazing. The current product doesn't even show up on the Acer web sites, Canadian or US. And a lot of the troubleshooting info I'm finding isn't very encouraging.

[FFWD]

By the way, here's a link to the correct instructions for restoring the H340, if anyone needs it:

http://forum.wegotserved.com/index.php?/topic/9131-acer-h340-setup-issues/

[cavuu]

I'll just use my old full function PC as my home server. I did the math as follows:

Electricity price: 5.7 cents for 1kWh

$275.79/0.057=4838.4 (kWh)

My old Pentum D915: 200W (tested results at nomal working condition)

4838.4/200=24.192 (k hour)=2.76 years



Considering the old PC will not work full power 24 hours a day as a home server, and hydro deliver fee, I assume $275 can pay the hydro fee for my old PC (working 24/7) for 3 yrs.

5.7 cents is the cost of just the electricity you need to add all the other costs to get it to your home. Depending on where you live you can approximately double that cost.
.13 per kwh for me in Ontario.

I'm a little confused by your math. Where did you initially get the $275.79 from?

Don't use the power supply rating it only represents the maximum the supply is capable of not what the computer uses. You need a power meter that you can plug the computer into that will tell you the real wattage consumed. CTC has those for about $25.

(power from meter) x 24 (hours) = watts per day
(watts per day) x 365 = watts per year
(watts per year)/1000 =kwh per year
.13 x kwh = cost to run computer for 1 year.

For me the server, modem and router =59 watts
59x24=1416 watts per day
1416x365=516840 watts per year
516840/1000=516.85 kwh per year
.13x516.85= $67.19 per year

[rf134a]

It looks like the pci-e slot is actually an x4 slot, according to the service manual. The link to the manual can be found on the main page of wegotserved.

[silverforumsurfer]

can someone try inserting a video card into that x4 slot?
I'm thinking this would be a reasonable HTPC option if you install a Radeon 4350 or 4550 there

[82]

Good idea, I like to know too. How is the Radeon 4350 compared to NVidia ION? Will it support 1080p decoding and hardware assist transcoding?

Found it:

PCI Express controller Intel ICH7R
Number of slots One PCI Express x 4 slot


Any video card that can fit a x4 slot?

can someone try inserting a video card into that x4 slot?
I'm thinking this would be a reasonable HTPC option if you install a Radeon 4350 or 4550 there

[Khrak]

can someone try inserting a video card into that x4 slot?
I'm thinking this would be a reasonable HTPC option if you install a Radeon 4350 or 4550 there


It looks like the pci-e slot is actually an x4 slot, according to the service manual. The link to the manual can be found on the main page of wegotserved.

Is the slot by any chance open-ended as int he picture below? (See the black slot directly above the second blue slot. You'll notice there is no piece of plastic blocking the end of slot.)

http://217.110.237.67/P55/MSI_P55-GD65_2D.jpg

I'm pretty sure that any 16x card will work in a 8x, 4x, 2x, or 1x slot as long as the power requirements are met. Hopefully I'll be getting mine in the next day or two and I can give it a try.

[82]

but how can you fit a x16 card on x4 slot?

Is the slot by any chance open-ended as int he picture below? (See the black slot directly above the second blue slot. You'll notice there is no piece of plastic blocking the end of slot.)

http://217.110.237.67/P55/MSI_P55-GD65_2D.jpg

I'm pretty sure that any 16x card will work in a 8x, 4x, 2x, or 1x slot as long as the power requirements are met. Hopefully I'll be getting mine in the next day or two and I can give it a try.

[riskit]

It will interesting to see what happens to the 200 watt power supply (PSU DELTA GPS-200AB B 200W
100-240V S1) with a full load of hard drives in place and a video card installed .

[riskit]

Is the slot by any chance open-ended as int he picture below? (See the black slot directly above the second blue slot. You'll notice there is no piece of plastic blocking the end of slot.)

.


http://www.home-server-blog.de/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc-3414.jpg
http://www.home-server-blog.de/2009/05/17/testbericht-acer-aspire-easystore-h430-teil-1-berblick-und-inbetriebnahme/

https://8rsx6g.bay.livefilestore.com/y1mexXfX1oJ-z02X5i1JHH1nvQoZ26lsVLdWbyJEAc82h4Rv6G4mRBzDoF_EHq ctuqCwnOJgAcLPb28Amtcac6IEOkZ6R5hdLeF8pW36oZBbN_pt TcaUJiBq087TTVgbNAmkh3LE5EsVTI/_IGP7271.jpghttps://8rsx6g.bay.livefilestore.com/y1mKMi2SAoRSOxPBR8bYtWdgqMQ7kZvObP4H8PIi_Qsc9z9fum VNEr4NiybhhCFG7yJq-7DIgpT288cV24sO2mIQq7V76ntGJYVGJMpKJ045DmReehKLKH8 QylXh92OP5V0eR4bRGtLfmU/_IGP7279.jpg



http://hatono-tani.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!9BA042B4FB258CA1!1901.entry

[rf134a]

You can do the mod by cutting open the slot. :!::eek:

Anyone know of a good HS to replace the stock one? The HS for the Atom is tiny compared to the Northbridge...

[c001m4n]

Thanks OP! I just picked up the last one in Olds. I haven't installed it yet.

I've been waiting for a good deal on a nice NAS capable device for a long time. It wasn't until I suffered a major hard drive corruption that ended with me deleting all the precious pictures that was stored did I realize the importance of data backup.
I was able to use a $10 off $200 coupon in the store, the manager was very nice.

I believe I'll be fairly future-proof with this server. I predict future home servers with better operating system, with advanced data management, increased connectivity such as: firewire support, usb 3.0, bluetooth, wireless, etc., and HTPC integration. For now and the near future, I believe this device has all the features that I need and more.

[82]

what tool can I use to cut open the slot? Does it really work?

what about sound? There is no sound chip on board.


Here is a similar mod to use x16 card on x4 slot. Hopefully someone can find a x16 card that fit the Acer H340. Now how do we get sound from the 1080p video?
http://thebsdbox.co.uk/?p=21

You can do the mod by cutting open the slot. :!::eek:

Anyone know of a good HS to replace the stock one? The HS for the Atom is tiny compared to the Northbridge...

[roadtoy]

Very noobish question... will this allow me to plug in a USB printer, and have others print to it ?

[82]

Yes. Use RDP to connect and setup the printer share.

Very noobish question... will this allow me to plug in a USB printer, and have others print to it ?

[Khrak]

It will interesting to see what happens to the 200 watt power supply (PSU DELTA GPS-200AB B 200W
100-240V S1) with a full load of hard drives in place and a video card installed .

200Watts is overkill for this system anyway.

The Intel Atom 230 pulls just 4 Watts. Add in the chipset and you're up around 20 Watts. Add 10W max per HDD (likely closer to 5-7 each) and you're up to about 60W. A AMD 4550 pulls less then 25W under full load... I doubt you'd even hit 100W with 4 HDDs and a video card.

but how can you fit a x16 card on x4 slot?

Check out the picture I linked in the post you quoted. The 4x slot on that board isn't "closed", there simply isn't a piece of plastic at the end of the slot. This allows you to put in a card with a connector that overhangs the slot.

If everything works as it is supposed to, the card will negotiate with the PCIE controller to select a mode. It will select 4x because the pins required for higher throughput simply aren't connected.

For gaming, this is very bad, you need tons of bandwidth. For a HTPC on the other hand, you're only using (at most) around 50Mbit of throughput (Blu-Ray), whereas PCIE 4x allows for ~8000Mbit of throughput.

what tool can I use to cut open the slot? Does it really work?


Knives might be tough, they tend to use very hard plastic on these slots.

A rotary tool should slice through it like butter.
http://www.bradleyjacobs.com/carputer1/dremel-wheel.JPG

what about sound? There is no sound chip on board.
Here is a similar mod to use x16 card on x4 slot. Hopefully someone can find a x16 card that fit the Acer H340. Now how do we get sound from the 1080p video?
http://thebsdbox.co.uk/?p=21

Audio over HDMI. The Intel 945GC Chipset being used has built-in audio (and video!), they just left out the connectors for space/$$ considerations.

That isn't a problem with a PCIE video card with HDMI because the HDMI connector will carry both the video and the sound to your receiver/TV.

[TheFatBob]

Can anybody spare a coupon please pm me
Got an email from staples

Thank you for your recent order however please be advised that I am
unable to complete the order as coupon code # 808409265... is
invalid.

The reason for this is that this coupon has been used on order
#540... and cannot be used again.


thanks

[82]

So if I cut the slot and able to find a Radeon 4350 that fit. I should able to get audio and 1080p video over HDMI, right?

Anyone has a 4350 around to see if it will fit the case?

thanks

200Watts is overkill for this system anyway.

The Intel Atom 230 pulls just 4 Watts. Add in the chipset and you're up around 20 Watts. Add 10W max per HDD (likely closer to 5-7 each) and you're up to about 60W. A AMD 4550 pulls less then 25W under full load... I doubt you'd even hit 100W with 4 HDDs and a video card.



Check out the picture I linked in the post you quoted. The 4x slot on that board isn't "closed", there simply isn't a piece of plastic at the end of the slot. This allows you to put in a card with a connector that overhangs the slot.

If everything works as it is supposed to, the card will negotiate with the PCIE controller to select a mode. It will select 4x because the pins required for higher throughput simply aren't connected.

For gaming, this is very bad, you need tons of bandwidth. For a HTPC on the other hand, you're only using (at most) around 50Mbit of throughput (Blu-Ray), whereas PCIE 4x allows for ~8000Mbit of throughput.


Knives might be tough, they tend to use very hard plastic on these slots.

A rotary tool should slice through it like butter.
http://www.bradleyjacobs.com/carputer1/dremel-wheel.JPG



Audio over HDMI. The Intel 945GC Chipset being used has built-in audio (and video!), they just left out the connectors for space/$$ considerations.

That isn't a problem with a PCIE video card with HDMI because the HDMI connector will carry both the video and the sound to your receiver/TV.

[Khrak]

So if I cut the slot and able to find a Radeon 4350 that fit. I should able to get audio and 1080p video over HDMI, right?


That's the plan. I might have an HD2600 or somethign along those lines to try, just waiting on my server delivery.


Anyone has a 4350 around to see if it will fit the case?

thanks

From the pictures the slot appears to be low-profile.

If you search 'Low Profile Video Card' on random computer sites (ncix, newegg, etc) you should find some.

If it says "low profile ready" rather then "low profile" it means it is a low-profile card with a large-profile faceplate. (example (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102819)) In this case you'd need to remove the faceplate and replace it with a low-profile one.

(P.S. The 'example' is what I'm planning on trying if what I already have won't fit, it's only $4 more then their 4350 offerings)

[82]

But there is little room in the case. For instance, the MSI low profile won't fit because the heatsink is too big. Length of the card maybe another issue.

Please update your HD2600 result here... I am thinking of the same mod as well.

That's the plan. I might have an HD2600 or somethign along those lines to try, just waiting on my server delivery.



From the pictures the slot appears to be low-profile.

If you search 'Low Profile Video Card' on random computer sites (ncix, newegg, etc) you should find some.

If it says "low profile ready" rather then "low profile" it means it is a low-profile card with a large-profile faceplate. (example (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102819)) In this case you'd need to remove the faceplate and replace it with a low-profile one.

(P.S. The 'example' is what I'm planning on trying if what I already have won't fit, it's only $4 more then their 4350 offerings)

[rf134a]

A blazing hot soldering iron supposedly works real good...
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/249291-30-card

Mmm... burnt carcinogenic vaporized plastic... :D

[Khrak]

A blazing hot soldering iron supposedly works real good...
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/249291-30-card

Mmm... burnt carcinogenic vaporized plastic... :D

Hot Metal always works on plastic. :D

Just make sure you have a small enough iron not to damage the sides of the slot or push hot plastic onto the connectors, otherwise you might end up with a 2x, 1x, or no slot at all!

[dubdubdubdub]

FYI I emailed Staples about product availability, here's what they had to say:

I'm sorry but this item has been discontinued from our product selection
and we will no longer be restocking it. Sorry for any inconvenience
this may cause. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any
other questions.

[DealsBuster]

Back in stock now, ordered one for $264 + tax - coupon

[flashmeister]

Still no stock online for Calgary...
Perhaps more will appear in a day or so if Toronto got more!?

[ilikecheapstuff]

I got mine in the mail today...

didn't come with a WD green drive, came with a hitachi 1TB drive..

and when i turn it on, the drive light doesn't turn blue... all 4 lights stay purple.

anyone else with this problem?

[silverforumsurfer]

Anyone get their H340 and try inserting a spare video card yet?

I'm thinking worse case, couldn't something like this work?
http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=11464

[ilikecheapstuff]

apparently one of my drive trays is broken, the hinge of the hard drive was cracked, but it will still work, just that I have to be careful of switching hard drives.

I would exchange it, but i'm afraid they wouldn't have any in stock to switch with

[bluefall]

Did you all receive your orders?

I got a phone call from Staples this morning. They told me my order has been cancelled because they don't have it in stock and they won't get it anymore. :(:evil:

[Siefer999]

got mine today

edit: still havent opened it yet. not sure if i want to keep it still. I'm questioning if i actually need it

[rf134a]

Anyone get their H340 and try inserting a spare video card yet?

I'm thinking worse case, couldn't something like this work?
http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=11464

No, that won't work since it'll raise the height of the video card by 0.8". The flexible riser will work better since you can route the cable through the slot and make your x16 video card external! And then you'll need a molex to 4 pin adapter and extension cable since most new cards need external power.

http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=11772

[craymail]

Got mine today, loving it so far. I find it quite straightforward, already installed a bunch of my own services and things. Great.

[fbristow]

For those looking to pick one up if they can still find it in stock:

I just picked my order up at the Pembina Hwy. location in Winnipeg (where they said they had 2 left outside the one I picked up, by the way) and the first one the guy gave me had previously been opened. I asked him to open it so I could look at the inside to make sure that the drive was still there and lo and behold there was no drive inside the machine! Thankfully, they had another unopened one in the back, drive and all.

The moral of this story is to make sure to check previously opened boxes at the store!

[mikecanada]

i have one still sealed in the box. impulse buy lol. will sell at cost.

located in windsor ontario.

[meds06]

Has anybody been successful getting video display on their h340 yet? According to http://forums.ncix.com/forums/index.php?mode=showthread&msg_id=2029161&threadid=2029161&forum=109&product_id=37196&msgcount=6&overclockid=0 the box has integrated video but only lack the vga connector. I'd rather go that route than adding a video card which could overheat the tiny case.

Please post your solution!

[martianmarvin]

Is the price in Quebec $250 because I thought it was cheaper in Quebec because there is no environment fee, but I've noticed that the price is the same as in Ontario? If anyone bought one in Quebec what was the price?
Also, there seems to be a few more online but the price in Quebec is higher today than yesterday:confused:

[flashmeister]

Did you all receive your orders?

I got a phone call from Staples this morning. They told me my order has been cancelled because they don't have it in stock and they won't get it anymore. :(:evil:

I got the same call... She didn't offer to do anything but kept appologizing. When I ordered it, online stock was showing 7 left. She also mentioned that she had to do a lot more calls for the same thing...

She said that they thought they had the stock, but when they went to fill the orders, they realized that they must have already shipped them back to the manufacturer since it is a discontinued product.

I was rather disappointed and explained to her that I could have bought one in Calgary last Friday (there were a few around town), but thought it would be better to order one online instead, since it would be new for sure. In the time I waited (until this morning), all local stock has sold out (at least she claims that is what the computer says!).

Does this mean I wasted my coupon, or do they re-validate it when the order is cancelled? (I meant to ask her, but forgot in the heat of the moment!).

[82]

There is a header for VGA, if you are good at soldering, you may able to create a VGA adapter from spare parts and old VGA card.

The easiest way is to buy a Radeon 4350 and mod the PCI-e x4 slot to fit a x16 card. Have anyone tried that?

Has anybody been successful getting video display on their h340 yet? According to http://forums.ncix.com/forums/index.php?mode=showthread&msg_id=2029161&threadid=2029161&forum=109&product_id=37196&msgcount=6&overclockid=0 the box has integrated video but only lack the vga connector. I'd rather go that route than adding a video card which could overheat the tiny case.

Please post your solution!

[deeznuts]

I picked the last one up at the Bank St. Staples in Ottawa. Nice looking device. Anyone have any issues with Remote Desktop access to it? I'll have to double check the message that I am seeing and post some more specifics, but needless to say, I haven't been able to RD to it yet (using Windows XP). I probably have a policy issue or something. Everything else is working great, including the remote file access (free DNS is nice).

[Khrak]

But there is little room in the case. For instance, the MSI low profile won't fit because the heatsink is too big. Length of the card maybe another issue.

Please update your HD2600 result here... I am thinking of the same mod as well.

Has anybody been successful getting video display on their h340 yet? According to http://forums.ncix.com/forums/index.php?mode=showthread&msg_id=2029161&threadid=2029161&forum=109&product_id=37196&msgcount=6&overclockid=0 the box has integrated video but only lack the vga connector. I'd rather go that route than adding a video card which could overheat the tiny case.

Please post your solution!

Here's the card I added. You have to remove the face-plate to get it to fit (full-profile faceplate on a low-profile card). After that, it literally fits like a glove. There is around 1/8th-1/16th of and inch space at the end of the card, so close in fact that I fact to pop out the black clips for the case's plastic face in order to get the card past them.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=25033&vpn=2400PRO256PESB&manufacture=Diamond
http://img.ncix.com/images/25033_l.jpg

The card rocks slightly in the slot, but that's just because I didn't Dremel the slot down far enough. I haven't got a chance to try it out yet, but the video worked fine as far as the bios screen.

I still have no clue if an Atom 230 + AMD HD2400 can handle 1080p, but I have my doubts. Will probably need to install something a little beefier. I'll get the dimensions of the card and some pictures when I get home, it's pretty much the biggest thing that will fit I think.

The mod itself took all of 10 seconds. The slot was easily modable after simple removing the cover (3 screws).

[JeeZues]

First, Thanks OP, this will replace my home built WHS which is getting noisy and I think is draining lots of power (and of course does not look as nice as this :))

To get VGA, etc. some one (http://forums.ncix.com/forums/index.php?mode=showthread&msg_id=2009704&threadid=2009704&forum=109&product_id=37196&msgcount=3&overclockid=0) reported that the same cable from HP MediaSmart server works. If this is the case then we can build the same cable based on the information in this link (http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=622).

26pin connector:

01 5V 0-203Ω 5V
02 5V 0-203Ω 5V
03 0 G GROUND
04 0 G GROUND
05 ~.69V PS2 MOUSE DATA
06 ~0.6V PS2 K/B DATA
07 1.4mV PS2 MOUSE CLOCK
08 1.5mV PS2 KEYBOARD CLOCK
09 5V --> VGA12 (DDC DATA)
10 0 G GROUND
11 5V --> VGA15 (DDC CLOCK)
12 1.8V 0-88Ω 1.8V
13 5V SERIAL OUT
14 0.43V --> VGA01 (RED)
15 ~.62V SERIAL IN
16 0 G --> VGA05 (GROUND)
17 0 G --> VGA06 (GROUND)
18 ~.65V --> VGA02 (GREEN)
19 16.5mV --> VGA14 (VSYNC)
20 0 G --> VGA07 (GROUND)
21 0 G --> VGA08 (GROUND)
22 ~.69V --> VGA03 (BLUE)
23 2.9V --> VGA13 (HSYNC)
24 0 G --> VGA10 (GROUND)
25 5V 0-100Ω --> VGA09 (5V)
26 5V 0-99Ω 5V

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/files/kvmheaderpinouts_211.jpg

[martianmarvin]

Price has now changed to $364.07>:(, I thought that these were discontinued?
If anybody bought one in Quebec, online(Bureau en Gros) or instore, how much were they?

[eliteblaze2]

Would the 4350 or 4550 fit?
The 4000 series card shoudl easily do 1080p even with the Atom

Here's the card I added. You have to remove the face-plate to get it to fit (full-profile faceplate on a low-profile card). After that, it literally fits like a glove. There is around 1/8th-1/16th of and inch space at the end of the card, so close in fact that I fact to pop out the black clips for the case's plastic face in order to get the card past them.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=25033&vpn=2400PRO256PESB&manufacture=Diamond
http://img.ncix.com/images/25033_l.jpg

The card rocks slightly in the slot, but that's just because I didn't Dremel the slot down far enough. I haven't got a chance to try it out yet, but the video worked fine as far as the bios screen.

I still have no clue if an Atom 230 + AMD HD2400 can handle 1080p, but I have my doubts. Will probably need to install something a little beefier. I'll get the dimensions of the card and some pictures when I get home, it's pretty much the biggest thing that will fit I think.

The mod itself took all of 10 seconds. The slot was easily modable after simple removing the cover (3 screws).

[CanadianMoFo]

Ordered on Monday. Received Tuesday afternoon. Installed last night.

Works fairly well. Still having troubles accessing the console over a wireless connection. Can only get into it from a wired connection to the router. I was able to setup the remote access so I can get in through IE though. Running Torrents on it nearly immediately. :)

Seems worth the extra $100 more than a plain NAS which is what I was looking at before.

Thanks OP!

CM

[bluefall]

Ordered on Monday. Received Tuesday afternoon. Installed last night.

Works fairly well. Still having troubles accessing the console over a wireless connection. Can only get into it from a wired connection to the router. I was able to setup the remote access so I can get in through IE though. Running Torrents on it nearly immediately. :)

Seems worth the extra $100 more than a plain NAS which is what I was looking at before.

Thanks OP!

CM

You're lucky! I ordered on last Friday but still been cancelled.

Where are you?

[Khrak]

Would the 4350 or 4550 fit?
The 4000 series card shoudl easily do 1080p even with the Atom

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=35786&vpn=EAH4550%2FDI%2F512MD3(LP)&manufacture=ASUS

Comparing the length the card extends past the end of the connector, That 4550 looks like the exact same form factor as my 2400HD. The depth of the heatsink also looks roughly the same. When I have a chance to check I'll see how much clearance my current card leaves. (They're both 25W cards, so they should have essentially the same heatsink requirements)

The VGA connector will be lost when you take off the large-profile face plate and disconnect the ribbon cable, but it stil has DVI and HDMI.

(Top - 4550, Bottom - HD 2400)

http://img.ncix.com/images/35786_1.jpg
http://img.ncix.com/images/25033_l.jpg

[Keithsindiapaleale]

Can anyone provide a screen capture or stored page of the lower price, $259. I also did not think that they would raise the price and I have one being shipped in from another store.

[82]

did you picked up today or yesterday? price has gone back up this morning :(

I picked the last one up at the Bank St. Staples in Ottawa. Nice looking device. Anyone have any issues with Remote Desktop access to it? I'll have to double check the message that I am seeing and post some more specifics, but needless to say, I haven't been able to RD to it yet (using Windows XP). I probably have a policy issue or something. Everything else is working great, including the remote file access (free DNS is nice).


khrak, does the HD2400 PRO has integrated sound like the Radeon 4350?

Did you used the solder mod or the rotary mod to cut out the PCI-e slot?

I am thinking to get the Gigabyte 4350, do you think it will fit?
http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.pcstats.com/articleimages/200907/GBT4350c_back.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm%3FarticleID%3D2408&usg=__Pr2WKl-x7dyoF1QBYHalpqHiS5U=&h=354&w=550&sz=91&hl=en&start=27&um=1&tbnid=GaGiP6FDzTXW6M:&tbnh=86&tbnw=133&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgigabyte%2B4350%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den %26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D21%26um%3D1


Here's the card I added. You have to remove the face-plate to get it to fit (full-profile faceplate on a low-profile card). After that, it literally fits like a glove. There is around 1/8th-1/16th of and inch space at the end of the card, so close in fact that I fact to pop out the black clips for the case's plastic face in order to get the card past them.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=25033&vpn=2400PRO256PESB&manufacture=Diamond
http://img.ncix.com/images/25033_l.jpg

The card rocks slightly in the slot, but that's just because I didn't Dremel the slot down far enough. I haven't got a chance to try it out yet, but the video worked fine as far as the bios screen.

I still have no clue if an Atom 230 + AMD HD2400 can handle 1080p, but I have my doubts. Will probably need to install something a little beefier. I'll get the dimensions of the card and some pictures when I get home, it's pretty much the biggest thing that will fit I think.

The mod itself took all of 10 seconds. The slot was easily modable after simple removing the cover (3 screws).

[George K]

i'm thinking to just cut the x4 slot and plug temporarily a small PCIe card to get to the BIOS and be able to boot linux in case i want to do something with that. do you know if a USB KB will be able to get into the BIOS or you need the special PS2 wiring?

for actual HTPC use i want to use it as a back-end only and get WDTV2 or O!play. much nicer solution imo

[elty]

Is the PCI-E slot easy to cut?

[Tornado F2]

All you guys thinking of modding your system, be sure to thoroughly check it out and make sure it's a keeper first, otherwise you'll have a heck of a job returning it, or perhaps even getting Acer to honour the warranty down the line.

If you want an actual PC, maybe you should be buying a PC instead. You can always set up a PC as a file server if you like.

[riskit]

price went up today to $349

[martianmarvin]

Could someone who bought online at the $249 price please post their receipt so I can get Stooples to honor that price as they raised it to $264 when I purchased and if I can prove that it was less hopefully they will honor it.
Also, don't know if this has been posted yet but this would allow more storage to be added: http://kamlau.com/software/sans-digital-towerraid-tr4m-b-and-acer-easystore-home-server/

[Snake-Eyes]

Just got mine tonight and in the middle of setting it up. I was worried that mine would be one of those missing a hard drive. Thankfully the hard drive was in tact. Mine is a Hitachi hard drive.

Upon power up, the lights stayed a solid purple. I let it do it's thing for about 10 minutes and wait for the HD led to stop flickering rapidly. I checked my router's admin pages to find the server's ip. I then RDP'd into it and got the WHS login prompt. Phew! this thing boots.

At this point, the 4 HD lights are still purple. I get impatient so I fire up the Connector Setup disk to start the setup process.

Ok, so the WHS update (part of the setup process) got to 69-70%, then a dos console windows opens briefly and disappears, I see that the server is rebooting. Moments later, the WHS setup app screen shows "Windows Home Server is now ready to use. To administer your home server, click Start."

Ahh, I am about to step into the world of WHS for the first time... :P

[George K]

Is the PCI-E slot easy to cut?

i haven't done any of it, but soldering gun or Dremel have been thrown around. you can also cut the video card instead if you have something that's a throw-away

[ilikecheapstuff]

Could someone who bought online at the $249 price please post their receipt so I can get Stooples to honor that price as they raised it to $264 when I purchased and if I can prove that it was less hopefully they will honor it.
Also, don't know if this has been posted yet but this would allow more storage to be added: http://kamlau.com/software/sans-digital-towerraid-tr4m-b-and-acer-easystore-home-server/

the 264 price is for ontario due to the environmental fee. the 249 price is only for non-ontario customers without the fee.

you should consider yourself lucky for being able to grab one of these before they ran out of stock.

[ilikecheapstuff]

Just got mine tonight and in the middle of setting it up. I was worried that mine would be one of those missing a hard drive. Thankfully the hard drive was in tact. Mine is a Hitachi hard drive.

Upon power up, the lights stayed a solid purple. I let it do it's thing for about 10 minutes and wait for the HD led to stop flickering rapidly. I checked my router's admin pages to find the server's ip. I then RDP'd into it and got the WHS login prompt. Phew! this thing boots.

At this point, the 4 HD lights are still purple. I get impatient so I fire up the Connector Setup disk to start the setup process.

Ok, so the WHS update (part of the setup process) got to 69-70%, then a dos console windows opens briefly and disappears, I see that the server is rebooting. Moments later, the WHS setup app screen shows "Windows Home Server is now ready to use. To administer your home server, click Start."

Ahh, I am about to step into the world of WHS for the first time... :P

that happened to me too.. also with a hitachi drive...

I'm guessing these are returned units which got the hard drive replaced. the connector setup CD said to wait until the light turned blue (which never happened) , so i actually did a server restore on my drive. I probably should have just tried what you did.

My unit came with a broken sata bay hinge too, I emailed staples and they said i could return the unit, but not exchange since they had none in stock.

I then emailed acer and sent them a picture of the broken hinge and they are in the process of sending me a replacement =]

[George K]

All you guys thinking of modding your system, be sure to thoroughly check it out and make sure it's a keeper first, otherwise you'll have a heck of a job returning it, or perhaps even getting Acer to honour the warranty down the line.

If you want an actual PC, maybe you should be buying a PC instead. You can always set up a PC as a file server if you like.

first part is a good advise.

regarding getting a PC, even if we disregard the $100 that goes towards Windows and take it at $170 ($250-$80 1TB HDD), you cannot build such a nice file server for this money.

this one has:
- very compact case
- 4 front load drive slots
- low power consumption
- good cooling
- 4SATA + eSATA

most Atom mobo's i've seen come with only 2 SATA ports.
i only wish they had put a dual Atom 330 so i can run couple of VM's

[martianmarvin]

the 264 price is for ontario due to the environmental fee. the 249 price is only for non-ontario customers without the fee.

you should consider yourself lucky for being able to grab one of these before they ran out of stock.
Well the price in Quebec(Bureau en Gros online) was $249 Monday night and changed to $264 Tuesday night, don't know why they did this as the price should've only changed early Wednesday morning but afterall this is StOOpleS>:(
Will this server work logging in remotely with a 2wire 2700hg-b?

[napoleon1769]

Why would you want to put a video card in this thing? Isn't it a big extreme?

[a in yul]

price is back up to 349$....

[RedFlagRobot]

Mine came last night and I started setting it up. Not a hitch yet and I've been doing it over wireless. Excited to see what this thing can do.

[Khrak]

Why would you want to put a video card in this thing? Isn't it a big extreme?

Because with a video card you can play video?

GPU decoding + Audio over HDMI = Networked media player

[82]

Khrak, can you get into the BIOS with USB keyboard?

Are you using XP drivers on WHS? Or you are running a different OS?

[Khrak]

Khrak, can you get into the BIOS with USB keyboard?

Are you using XP drivers on WHS? Or you are running a different OS?

Not at the moment... MY current USB keyboard is wireless and refuses to work before reaching Windows on any of my computers...

The system was refusing to boot with the video card in. I'm hoping it's just because I didn't cut the slot deep enough and the card doesn't seat nicely. It's getting to the windows loading screen and staying forever.

Assuming recutting the slot a little deeper doesn't work, my next step is to hunt myself down another USB keyboard so I can get into the BIOS, then try to install W7Pro off my USB key or external HDD. I have no reason to believe it is the video itself causing the problem as the actual video output looks correct... Windows just doesn't want to boot.

[sleepyguy]

Fantastic unit so far I'd like to add. So for only 3x 1TB drives, mine came with a Hitachi which is okay i guess... faster reboots then the WD green because of 7200rpm. I'm not a big fan of the automated shares and such but i guess it's for the non-techie owners. I think i'm pretty much finished with mine for the time being;

- uninstalled mcafee av through RDP
- uninstalled WiDMS, Firefly, Bonjour and other addins i won't be using
- addins installed; Advanced Admin Tools (fantastic tool, i can liveupdate my SAV without direct RDP), Disk Management, Lights Out (newer version, uninstall the prebuilt one via RDP)
- installed SAV CE server without a hitch via RDP
- reverse fan mod + added 70mm cpu fan over mb. temps are hover around 42cpu 30sys... not bad for a small enclosure with 3tb drives.

I kinda don't like the way it handles shares but i can see they just wanted to simplify things. For the price we got it at though 10/10 imho. Another 1 or 1.5tb drive should be on the way shortly. Time to sell my DNS-323, which was pretty sweet but lacking speed. -sg

[82]

This may help:

http://forum.wegotserved.com/index.php?/topic/10798-blind-keystroke-sequence-to-enable-pci-e-vga-card/page__gopid__64198

Not at the moment... MY current USB keyboard is wireless and refuses to work before reaching Windows on any of my computers...

The system was refusing to boot with the video card in. I'm hoping it's just because I didn't cut the slot deep enough and the card doesn't seat nicely. It's getting to the windows loading screen and staying forever.

Assuming recutting the slot a little deeper doesn't work, my next step is to hunt myself down another USB keyboard so I can get into the BIOS, then try to install W7Pro off my USB key or external HDD. I have no reason to believe it is the video itself causing the problem as the actual video output looks correct... Windows just doesn't want to boot.

[RedFlagRobot]

For those of you that remove McAffee, do you just uninstall it, or do you use Revo Uninstaller or something like that? Are you replacing it with something like AVG?

[82]

sleepy, I like to deCrap the Acer WHS too, what are these for?

WiDMS - Media Server??

Firefly? - Media Server??

Bonjour? - Network discovery?? Who needs it?

Fantastic unit so far I'd like to add. So for only 3x 1TB drives, mine came with a Hitachi which is okay i guess... faster reboots then the WD green because of 7200rpm. I'm not a big fan of the automated shares and such but i guess it's for the non-techie owners. I think i'm pretty much finished with mine for the time being;

- uninstalled mcafee av through RDP
- uninstalled WiDMS, Firefly, Bonjour and other addins i won't be using
- addins installed; Advanced Admin Tools (fantastic tool, i can liveupdate my SAV without direct RDP), Disk Management, Lights Out (newer version, uninstall the prebuilt one via RDP)
- installed SAV CE server without a hitch via RDP
- reverse fan mod + added 70mm cpu fan over mb. temps are hover around 42cpu 30sys... not bad for a small enclosure with 3tb drives.

I kinda don't like the way it handles shares but i can see they just wanted to simplify things. For the price we got it at though 10/10 imho. Another 1 or 1.5tb drive should be on the way shortly. Time to sell my DNS-323, which was pretty sweet but lacking speed. -sg

[Khrak]

This may help:

http://forum.wegotserved.com/index.php?/topic/10798-blind-keystroke-sequence-to-enable-pci-e-vga-card/page__gopid__64198


Thanks... The below pretty much sums up my issue, hopefully it is also the solution, though I still think I'll go to W7Pro as long as it performs well.

I also noticed that my HD 2400 has SVideo/DVI rather then HDMI/DVI so I'll need to get something else to get my DTS audio anyway. I was looking at this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131180) but it looks like it might be longer then my HD2400 (which is already within 1-2mm of the max length card that will fit.)



Here is my approach after installing a Matrox G550 low profile PCIe.

First effect was that the server was not starting windows but reboots and reboots and.....

Some web research laters i found the hint to disable the onboard video card.
Since this can't be done in the BIOS setup you must do this in the windows computer system settings.
For that you need to enter the windows safe mode by pressing F8 when windows will come up.
Then disable the onboard video device in the system settings.

Don't have both video cards enabled at once since the server get hardware resource conflicts and will not boot windows.

With this interactions i solved my problem.


Chris Here is my approach after installing a Matrox G550 low profile PCIe.

First effect was that the server was not starting windows but reboots and reboots and.....

Some web research laters i found the hint to disable the onboard video card.
Since this can't be done in the BIOS setup you must do this in the windows computer system settings.
For that you need to enter the windows safe mode by pressing F8 when windows will come up.
Then disable the onboard video device in the system settings.

Don't have both video cards enabled at once since the server get hardware resource conflicts and will not boot windows.

With this interactions i solved my problem.


Chris

[82]

What about this one? The 4650 has 64bits DDR2, I heard it will have issue with de-interlacing. And the 4650 peak power consumption is 65W, can be a problem. You can't use the 4650 for games because of x4 limitation.

Do you think the Sapphire 4550 will fit, it seems to have same length as your HD2600 PRO.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102819&Tpk=sapphire%204550


I was thinking about this one, seems slightly shorter the PowerCooler but I gave up after I saw it too uses 64bits DDR2.
http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=42986&vpn=EAH4650%2FDI%2F512MD2%28LP%29&manufacture=ASUS

Thanks... The below pretty much sums up my issue, hopefully it is also the solution, though I still think I'll go to W7Pro as long as it performs well.

I also noticed that my HD 2400 has SVideo/DVI rather then HDMI/DVI so I'll need to get something else to get my DTS audio anyway. I was looking at this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131180) but it looks like it might be longer then my HD2400 (which is already within 1-2mm of the max length card that will fit.)

[MIAB]

What are you guys putting in this server as far as other harddrives? Any deals to take advantage of out there?

[MIAB]

What do you guys use when your running XP-home and want to remote desktop to the Acer AH340?

[82]

Try run mstsc from command prompt or run dialog.

[MIAB]

Try run mstsc from command prompt or run dialog.


Thank you 82. Works perfect. I am very much a beginner to this.

[fredsmith]

Hmm . . . just unpacked mine - Hitachi drive and 2 ethernet cables - I guess the person at thst station in the factory can;t count . . .

Set her up (which, because I have another on the network wasn't quite the simple 'slam-dunk' it ought to have been).

BUT - I bought mine to back up the main WHS server - and the built-in backup utility doesn't see the HP server . . . I suppose it wants me to install the connector software on the server - I wonder if I can even DO that?

A call to (hmm . . . HP? Acer? Microsoft? . . .) is in order here.

Edit: Answer: HP says that it's a no go - so the only way to back one server to another will be using 3rd party programs - go figure. However there IS a copy of NTBACKUP on the server, so simply mapping the drives of the main server to the backup machine and setting up an appropriate scheduule will allow to use 'lights oiut' and NTbackup to do what I want.

[RedFlagRobot]

What are you guys putting in this server as far as other harddrives? Any deals to take advantage of out there?

If you want to max capacity, this is probably the best "deal" right now:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145298

[sleepyguy]

Yeah that Hitachi 2tb or Ncix 1.5 WD Green drives for $106.

As for the add-ins i uninstalled. It's for media streaming which I don't do. I just read the files directly off mapped drives.

Neat you guys are trying to add a video card. Be careful, that PSU looks pretty wimpy on the unit and hopefully won't fry under stress (it ain't no seasonic).

I'm gonna play round with Lights Out tonight... probably have to install WHS connector on every client which is a bit of a pain. Too bad there wasn't a single exec that could do the job.

Read some of the WeGotServed Wiki... pretty neat stuff
http://wiki.wegotserved.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

Stuff like add WSUS, Domain Controller... personal i'm keeping mine lean and mean... less stuff less headaches and issues. -sg

BTW, i got the Hitachi drive and 2 ethernet cables as well... maybe getting 2 is standard.

[82]

wish the person at the station gave you an extra Hitachi instead ;)

Oh, anyone setup remote access from the Internet? I setup my router to forward 4125 and 443 to the WHS internal IP but no go. I actually used GRC port test to verify the ports are indeed opened from the internet.

If I substitute the external IP to internal IP and access the remote access webpage from internal network. I can use remote access feature but what's the point when I can use RDP internally.

https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

Hmm . . . just unpacked mine - Hitachi drive and 2 ethernet cables - I guess the person at thst station in the factory can;t count . . .

[sleepyguy]

Remote Desktop and uninstall from add/remove programs. There are actually 2 items that you uninstall for mcafee av.

Or just install Advance Admin Tools addin, pretty much the same thing btw. -sg

For those of you that remove McAffee, do you just uninstall it, or do you use Revo Uninstaller or something like that? Are you replacing it with something like AVG?

[deeznuts]

did you picked up today or yesterday? price has gone back up this morning :(


I picked it up on Monday I think. Yes, it looks like the price is back up to $364.07. :|

[fredsmith]

It may be just mine, but when 'loaded' with traffic (running a multi-terabyte copy) it drops the IP connection and the transfer is killed. Then I tried running a backup (not the internal one, but rather NTBackup from a workstation and it dropped the IP connection after about 5 gigs transferred - the remote desktop and the connector link (from 2 different machines). This is repeatable.

So, I've packed it up and it's going back . . .

[82]

Did you perform the backup on wired network? You sure it's not the router?

Was that NTBackup from XP? It is pretty crappy. Do you have other backup software?

It may be just mine, but when 'loaded' with traffic (running a multi-terabyte copy) it drops the IP connection and the transfer is killed. Then I tried running a backup (not the internal one, but rather NTBackup from a workstation and it dropped the IP connection after about 5 gigs transferred - the remote desktop and the connector link (from 2 different machines). This is repeatable.

So, I've packed it up and it's going back . . .

[fredsmith]

Did you perform the backup on wired network? You sure it's not the router?

Was that NTBackup from XP? It is pretty crappy. Do you have other backup software?

No issues to the other server on the lan - and just to be certain, I exchanged ports on the switch.

[sleepyguy]

very surprised. i either use robocopy or sync-center and it has worked without an issue. this is on a dir-655 gigabit router. over 1tb of data overnight. maybe u just got a dud though. -sg

It may be just mine, but when 'loaded' with traffic (running a multi-terabyte copy) it drops the IP connection and the transfer is killed. Then I tried running a backup (not the internal one, but rather NTBackup from a workstation and it dropped the IP connection after about 5 gigs transferred - the remote desktop and the connector link (from 2 different machines). This is repeatable.

So, I've packed it up and it's going back . . .

[RedFlagRobot]

I wish it came with an automatic synching feature. Has anyone tried synching yet? What are you using? Synctoy?

[sleepyguy]

Remember this is basically just a dumbed down windows 2003 server with a bunch of serviced disabled. I just use sync-center on the client side. Although install Windows 2003 adminpak and scripting a robocopy on a task scheduler would do the trick. Heck i've done that enterprise wide when in a jam at work so it would work at home no problems. -sg

I wish it came with an automatic synching feature. Has anyone tried synching yet? What are you using? Synctoy?

[RedFlagRobot]

How does the backup work by the way? Does it image the disk, or just copy the files?

What backup settings are you guys using? Are you tweaking the defaults at all?

[fredsmith]

Got a reply from Acer support this morning on my question about dropping the IP connection . . .

According to Acer, the unit is not under warranty and the serial number was previously registered.

Now THAT's interesting, since the unit was factory sealed and the hard drive (which was simple enough to check) was manufactured in May . . . .

What a bunch of screw-ups.

Off to Stooples to return the unit.

[sleepyguy]

I have no idea. I turn it off on all the client pcs (only 3). I use what is currently working for me which is Acronis True Image.

Anyone use "power options" to spin down their hard drives? I have a gut feeling drive extender would screw up or something. Maybe that's why Lights Out was created. Hmmm...

Also, is there an addin that allows the 'intranet webpage' ie \\yourserver:50000

to display the server stats and such. Opening up the console everytime is a bit of a pain... ie logging in... going through tabs. I want all info on a simple webpage. -sg

How does the backup work by the way? Does it image the disk, or just copy the files?

What backup settings are you guys using? Are you tweaking the defaults at all?

[ilikecheapstuff]

Got a reply from Acer support this morning on my question about dropping the IP connection . . .

According to Acer, the unit is not under warranty and the serial number was previously registered.

Now THAT's interesting, since the unit was factory sealed and the hard drive (which was simple enough to check) was manufactured in May . . . .

What a bunch of screw-ups.

Off to Stooples to return the unit.

the fact it's a hitachi drive should be a dead giveaway that it's a used system.
the factory seal on my box was taped over by the delivery sticker... so i didn't notice until i looked at it after i saw the hitachi drive.

but mine seems to work fine so i'll just keep it.

I emailed staples about the unit most likely being a refurb.. they claimed it was not a refurb unit. so most likely it's staples that are the screw-ups.

anyone here that bought the server actually get one with a WD green drive in it? cuz that's the original drive these servers ship with.

[Khrak]

I got a green.

the fact it's a hitachi drive should be a dead giveaway that it's a used system.
the factory seal on my box was taped over by the delivery sticker... so i didn't notice until i looked at it after i saw the hitachi drive.

but mine seems to work fine so i'll just keep it.

I emailed staples about the unit most likely being a refurb.. they claimed it was not a refurb unit. so most likely it's staples that are the screw-ups.

anyone here that bought the server actually get one with a WD green drive in it? cuz that's the original drive these servers ship with.

[g man]

WD green here, have yet to set it up as I have been too busy but after reading of people buying these units and finding out the drive was gone (NCIX forums) made damn sure there was one in there!

[sleepyguy]

Hmmm... I had the shipping label as well... but the factory seal was intact and didn't look at all touched. Actually the entire system had everything in perfect place (plastic film on all parts) and didn't look like anyone messed around with it.

I thought the 1st units shipped with the Hitachi drives then afterwards they shipped with the Green drives? I'll give acer a buzz but i'm not having any issues with it at all. I doubt i'll return it, just peaking my curiosity.

I have 2 greens in it btw... they run around 4c lower than the Hitachi but then again the OS is on the hitachi so there that isn't really a good indicator (more accessing). -sg

the fact it's a hitachi drive should be a dead giveaway that it's a used system.
the factory seal on my box was taped over by the delivery sticker... so i didn't notice until i looked at it after i saw the hitachi drive.

but mine seems to work fine so i'll just keep it.

I emailed staples about the unit most likely being a refurb.. they claimed it was not a refurb unit. so most likely it's staples that are the screw-ups.

anyone here that bought the server actually get one with a WD green drive in it? cuz that's the original drive these servers ship with.

[deeznuts]

the fact it's a hitachi drive should be a dead giveaway that it's a used system.
the factory seal on my box was taped over by the delivery sticker... so i didn't notice until i looked at it after i saw the hitachi drive.

but mine seems to work fine so i'll just keep it.

I emailed staples about the unit most likely being a refurb.. they claimed it was not a refurb unit. so most likely it's staples that are the screw-ups.

anyone here that bought the server actually get one with a WD green drive in it? cuz that's the original drive these servers ship with.

Mine has the WD green drive.

btw: if anyone is having trouble connecting to the server with remote desktop (like I was), using any of your created userids (even if they are in the Remote Desktop group), just log in with userid: administrator / password: whatever your main password is on the box.

Frig, took me two days to figure this out :)

[82]

I have two H340 received within a week apart. One has WD Green, the other has a Hitachi. I haven't turn on the Hitachi yet.

the fact it's a hitachi drive should be a dead giveaway that it's a used system.
the factory seal on my box was taped over by the delivery sticker... so i didn't notice until i looked at it after i saw the hitachi drive.

but mine seems to work fine so i'll just keep it.

I emailed staples about the unit most likely being a refurb.. they claimed it was not a refurb unit. so most likely it's staples that are the screw-ups.

anyone here that bought the server actually get one with a WD green drive in it? cuz that's the original drive these servers ship with.

[MIAB]

Hitachi drives did come as original drives and were changed to WD during production. It actually could be the other way around the Rep didn't say. I have two. One with Hitachi may/2009 build and the other WD with april11/2009 build. Both were untouched looking.

Which do you think would make the better media server running 1080p video and WAV/FLAC audio and 16MP photo's. Would the Hitachi's 7200 RPM vs WD 5400rpm make much difference? Is it better that the OS is on a 7200RPM drive?

[82]

Hitachi is faster but I am happy with the Green as it is quieter and cooler.

Hitachi drives did come as original drives and were changed to WD during production. It actually could be the other way around the Rep didn't say. I have two. One with Hitachi may/2009 build and the other WD with april11/2009 build. Both were untouched looking.

Which do you think would make the better media server running 1080p video and WAV/FLAC audio and 16MP photo's. Would the Hitachi's 7200 RPM vs WD 5400rpm make much difference? Is it better that the OS is on a 7200RPM drive?

[Tornado F2]

I have two H340 received within a week apart. One has WD Green, the other has a Hitachi. I haven't turn on the Hitachi yet.

The Acer Quad Q8300s seem to come with Hitachi and WD drives too. I guess it all comes down to which shipment was in stock at the factory on the date of manufacture.

[ilikecheapstuff]

so... did the people who got hitachi drives get 2 network cables?

lol cuz I got 2 as well.. (as someone else mentioned that they did)

the thing about the registered serial number is a little sketchy tho... maybe i should try registering mine

[82]

Yes, my Hitachi has 2 Cat6 cables.

I will check the WD Green, maybe all of them has 2 Cat6 too.


Here is the spec for the Hitachi

http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/D70FC3A0F32161868625747B00832876/$file/Deskstar_7K1000.B_DS.pdf

Base on the spec, it should be significantly faster than the WD Green in both access time and data transfer rate. It also a lot nosier and consume more power.

Spec for the WD Green (EAVS model)
http://www.wdc.com/en/library/sata/2879-701229.pdf

so... did the people who got hitachi drives get 2 network cables?

lol cuz I got 2 as well.. (as someone else mentioned that they did)

the thing about the registered serial number is a little sketchy tho... maybe i should try registering mine

[82]

The WD Green has two Ethernet cables too. I guess the idea is you need one for the AH340, one for the client PC to setup the Connector.

Yes, my Hitachi has 2 Cat6 cables.

I will check the WD Green, maybe all of them has 2 Cat6 too.


Here is the spec for the Hitachi

http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/D70FC3A0F32161868625747B00832876/$file/Deskstar_7K1000.B_DS.pdf

Base on the spec, it should be significantly faster than the WD Green in both access time and data transfer rate. It also a lot nosier and consume more power.

Spec for the WD Green (EAVS model)
http://www.wdc.com/en/library/sata/2879-701229.pdf

[Snowy]

Acer Aspire easyStore H340 Home Server Service Manual (http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/manuals/acer/0000/servicemanuals/SG_Aspire%20easyStore%20H340_BOOK_20080226.pdf)

Taken from....
http://www.wegotserved.com/2009/10/31/acer-aspire-easystore-h340-home-server-service-manual-discovered/

http://www.wegotserved.com/ seems like a great site :)

[ilikecheapstuff]

Acer Aspire easyStore H340 Home Server Service Manual (http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/manuals/acer/0000/servicemanuals/SG_Aspire%20easyStore%20H340_BOOK_20080226.pdf)

Taken from....
http://www.wegotserved.com/2009/10/31/acer-aspire-easystore-h340-home-server-service-manual-discovered/

http://www.wegotserved.com/ seems like a great site :)

interesting read.

interestingly enough, the 'replacement part' for hard disk drive mentioned in the service manual is a seagate drive... not the WD green nor the hitachi we got

[the one]

If anyone wants mine at cost (BNIB) let me know by PM

[Snake-Eyes]

Yes, my Hitachi has 2 Cat6 cables.


My Hitachi came with two network cables too, but they're only rated at CAT5e. Are you sure yours are CAT6?

[Khrak]

My Hitachi came with two network cables too, but they're only rated at CAT5e. Are you sure yours are CAT6?

Does it really matter?

Any Cat5e will do 1Gbit at that speed. Cat6 is only needed for short distances if you're planning on using 10GBit

[kqc]

Acer Aspire easyStore H340 Home Server Service Manual (http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/manuals/acer/0000/servicemanuals/SG_Aspire%20easyStore%20H340_BOOK_20080226.pdf)

Taken from....
http://www.wegotserved.com/2009/10/31/acer-aspire-easystore-h340-home-server-service-manual-discovered/

http://www.wegotserved.com/ seems like a great site :)

This is a great guide! I was looking for a instruction on how to open the case :) this is exactly what I needed

It is funny that in all documentations there is no mentioning about the purple light status of hard drives....

[kqc]

the fact it's a hitachi drive should be a dead giveaway that it's a used system.
the factory seal on my box was taped over by the delivery sticker... so i didn't notice until i looked at it after i saw the hitachi drive.

but mine seems to work fine so i'll just keep it.

I emailed staples about the unit most likely being a refurb.. they claimed it was not a refurb unit. so most likely it's staples that are the screw-ups.

anyone here that bought the server actually get one with a WD green drive in it? cuz that's the original drive these servers ship with.

Mine came with a WD green, and everything looks brand new.

[fredsmith]

This is a great guide! I was looking for a instruction on how to open the case :) this is exactly what I needed

It is funny that in all documentations there is no mentioning about the purple light status of hard drives....

That's because Acer is nowhere near as good at design & documentation as HP is . . .

[82]

HP and Acer documentation is about the same. Here is the info for HDD LED:

3 HDD status Purple On • System not initialized
• HDD is not mounted into the drive bay
Random blink • HDD is mounted into the drive bay and is in the
process of being manually added into the server
storage
• HDD is in the process of being removed from the
server storage.
HDD is mounted into the drive bay and added into the
server storage
Red Random blink • HDD failure
• Windows Home Server cannot find HDD
None Off No HDD mounted in the drive bay

That's because Acer is nowhere near as good at design & documentation as HP is . . .

[Don DiGuapo]

Unfortunatley I got a Hitachi unit, fortunately though I had an extra 1tb WD Green doing nothing so I cloned the Hitachi over to it. After the time I spent filling up the three 1.5tb Greens in there I would have hit the roof if the OS drive would have died on me.

[82]

What's wrong with Hitachi? Are you afraid of DeadStar?

Unfortunatley I got a Hitachi unit, fortunately though I had an extra 1tb WD Green doing nothing so I cloned the Hitachi over to it. After the time I spent filling up the three 1.5tb Greens in there I would have hit the roof if the OS drive would have died on me.

[MIAB]

Actually the Hitachi is quicker and consumes less energy than the WD GD, but it is not as quiet. Tom's hardware has them both reviewed. It's important to check the model numbers carefully because there was a platter number change for the Hitachi's and the model numbers look very similiar. Also Hitacji has 16mb cache and WD 8mb. I had both and kept the Hitachi.

[82]

the spec says WD Green consumes less power, it is 5400rpm and cooler too.

can you give us the review link from Tom?



Actually the Hitachi is quicker and consumes less energy than the WD GD, but it is not as quiet. Tom's hardware has them both reviewed. It's important to check the model numbers carefully because there was a platter number change for the Hitachi's and the model numbers look very similiar. Also Hitacji has 16mb cache and WD 8mb. I had both and kept the Hitachi.

[sleepyguy]

doesn't the WD Green also have 32mb cache?

So far my Hitachi is performing perfectly... although along side with my other two WD Greens it i running consistentely 2-3c above WD Green temperature.

Cool like feature from Advance Admin Tools.

- install native programs via RDP that you would like
- i installed CPU-Z, Motherboard Monitor
- create program shortcuts to your server desktop via RDP
- use custom shortcuts in the addin menu, there they are!
- very nice way to get info directly from the WHS console.

Anyone try the eSATA port yet? Could be a nice expansion down the road if you could buy a cheap 4bay esata that does independent drives that the WHS could see and add to the drive pool. -sg

the spec says WD Green consumes less power, it is 5400rpm and cooler too.

can you give us the review link from Tom?

[82]

The WD Green that shipped with the Acer AH340 only has 8MB cache.

doesn't the WD Green also have 32mb cache?

So far my Hitachi is performing perfectly... although along side with my other two WD Greens it i running consistentely 2-3c above WD Green temperature.

Cool like feature from Advance Admin Tools.

- install native programs via RDP that you would like
- i installed CPU-Z, Motherboard Monitor
- create program shortcuts to your server desktop via RDP
- use custom shortcuts in the addin menu, there they are!
- very nice way to get info directly from the WHS console.

Anyone try the eSATA port yet? Could be a nice expansion down the road if you could buy a cheap 4bay esata that does independent drives that the WHS could see and add to the drive pool. -sg

[MIAB]

http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/hdd_lookup.php?cpu=WDC+WD10EAVS

http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/hdd_lookup.php?cpu=Hitachi+HDT721010SLA360


http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/hitachi-western-digital-terabyte,2017-2.html

http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:AMLyNwid6vMJ:www.tomshardware.com/forum/250867-32-wd10eavs-disk-performance+WD10EAVS&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca

remember the WD is the wd10eavs.

[82]

The review compared the WD Black to the Hitachi. I think the WD Green is more power efficient than the Hitachi.B.



http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/hdd_lookup.php?cpu=WDC+WD10EAVS

http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/hdd_lookup.php?cpu=Hitachi+HDT721010SLA360


http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/hitachi-western-digital-terabyte,2017-2.html

http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:AMLyNwid6vMJ:www.tomshardware.com/forum/250867-32-wd10eavs-disk-performance+WD10EAVS&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca

remember the WD is the wd10eavs.

[redjl]

the fact it's a hitachi drive should be a dead giveaway that it's a used system.
the factory seal on my box was taped over by the delivery sticker... so i didn't notice until i looked at it after i saw the hitachi drive.

but mine seems to work fine so i'll just keep it.

I emailed staples about the unit most likely being a refurb.. they claimed it was not a refurb unit. so most likely it's staples that are the screw-ups.

anyone here that bought the server actually get one with a WD green drive in it? cuz that's the original drive these servers ship with.

The one I got at FS, on a price match, has a WD green drive in it

[MIAB]

The review compared the WD Black to the Hitachi. I think the WD Green is more power efficient than the Hitachi.B.


'Hitachi’s promise of “balanced power and performance for desktop performance” is pretty close to what we measured, as the drive showed excellent idle power and the best performance per watt ratio for streaming reads of all 7,200 RPM hard drives. It even manages to outperform WD’s efficient Caviar Green hard drive, which runs at a lower spindle speed.'

[82]

Good eye but I doubt it will be more efficient than the WD Green idle at 2.8W.

Spec says 5.2W compared to WD Black's 7.8W. Typical Green drives are 2.8W to 4W.

Maybe the comment is referring to older generation of WD Green? Or a specify benchmark?

Don't get me wrong, I am happy with both but I prefer WD Green for HTPC or WHS setup.

'Hitachi’s promise of “balanced power and performance for desktop performance” is pretty close to what we measured, as the drive showed excellent idle power and the best performance per watt ratio for streaming reads of all 7,200 RPM hard drives. It even manages to outperform WD’s efficient Caviar Green hard drive, which runs at a lower spindle speed.'

[meds06]

FYI: Someone was able to install a video card and FreeNAS:

http://forum.wegotserved.com/index.php?/topic/10916-freenas-on-acer-easystore-h340/

[RedFlagRobot]

I set up remote access, and I'm able to log in, but I can't see the "Computers" tab even though I gave my account full access. Any ideas?

[flashmeister]

According to the Service Guide, there is a "Debug Board" available to permit you to plug in a monitor and keyboard in order to access the BIOS.

Here is a reference:

3. Connect the debug board cable to the debug board connector on the mainboard.
(Page 10)

This board plugs right into the 26-pin connector...

Here is the Service Guide, for those who missed the previous post:

http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/manuals/acer/0000/servicemanuals/SG_Aspire%20easyStore%20H340_BOOK_20080226.pdf

Does anyone have a part number for this debug board?

Where can I get the debug board from?

I am hoping it is MUCH cheaper than buying the other cable at $90 + $29 S&H USD:
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3980

Thanks!

[82]

why don't you mod the PCI-e x4 slot to take a x16 video card? Much cheaper and potentially turn the Acer Easystore into a HTPC.

According to the Service Guide, there is a "Debug Board" available to permit you to plug in a monitor and keyboard in order to access the BIOS.

Here is a reference:


(Page 10)

This board plugs right into the 26-pin connector...

Here is the Service Guide, for those who missed the previous post:

http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/manuals/acer/0000/servicemanuals/SG_Aspire%20easyStore%20H340_BOOK_20080226.pdf

Does anyone have a part number for this debug board?

Where can I get the debug board from?

I am hoping it is MUCH cheaper than buying the other cable at $90 + $29 S&H USD:
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3980

Thanks!

[flashmeister]

why don't you mod the PCI-e x4 slot to take a x16 video card? Much cheaper and potentially turn the Acer Easystore into a HTPC.

I had debated that, however for now I want to leave Windows Home Server on the machine, and I understand that it won't boot with a video card in the PCI-e slot. Really I just wanted access to the BIOS and maybe stick a keyboard and monitor on it...

I agree that it is way too expensive to buy the $90+$29 USD board, but I can't see Acer charging that much for their board...

[netwise]

Can't you just use the custom cable pin out similar to the HP EX470/475? I bought one from a guy for I think 25$ that included VGA and dual PS2 to be able toa ccess the BIOS on the EX470, without needing to add a video card.

[flashmeister]

Can't you just use the custom cable pin out similar to the HP EX470/475? I bought one from a guy for I think 25$ that included VGA and dual PS2 to be able toa ccess the BIOS on the EX470, without needing to add a video card.

Yes! Definitely! The AH340 has the same pinout as the HP EX470/475.

Please PM me where you got your cable from!

Thanks!

[ilikecheapstuff]

I set up remote access, and I'm able to log in, but I can't see the "Computers" tab even though I gave my account full access. Any ideas?


try using IE

doesn't seem to work in firefox

[RedFlagRobot]

try using IE
doesn't seem to work in firefox

You're right! How odd.

[82]

Disabled on onboard video from Device Manager via RDP and WHS will boot nicely with the new video card.

I had debated that, however for now I want to leave Windows Home Server on the machine, and I understand that it won't boot with a video card in the PCI-e slot. Really I just wanted access to the BIOS and maybe stick a keyboard and monitor on it...

I agree that it is way too expensive to buy the $90+$29 USD board, but I can't see Acer charging that much for their board...

[flashmeister]

Disabled on onboard video from Device Manager via RDP and WHS will boot nicely with the new video card.

Thanks!

That's great to know!