HP G8 Setup

Lthatstrangething on 08/05/2014 - 21:36

Hi guys,

Recently purchased a G8 from SE. Received, all well and good, but it was definitely not what I was expecting…

I've looked on Google, I've struggled with looking on Google, and even YouTube.

So I'm here to ask the plain and simple question, which is… drum roll

SET UP

Basically, I purchased it with a 2TB WD NAS drive which I'll expand in the future.

Not being crazily network savvy, I'm at a loss as it has basically been sitting for the last 2 weeks. Google informed me a whole bunch of OS I can use.

Mainly, this is a back up and I'd like some pointers from anyone with some valid input for a noobie, and definitely not abuse.

My plans are strictly for back up. I am a photographer in my spare time and I've had HDD's fail on me way too much so it's time to start getting things backed up and further burned to a DVD and catalogued.

Only photos will be stored, and, possible a stream of a 720p movie here and there via wireless over my network.

So I ask you all, what should I concentrate on using for the OS? Do I need to even install an OS? I've yet to boot into it via a laptop to even get it setup.

Thanks guys, any help will be much appreciated and again, I'm totally new at the network server deal. Don't think it was a wrong move, but, unintentionally, I thought this would be a plug in, map a network drive, and start backing up.

Cheers,

D.

Computing HP NAS Server

Comments

  • tonyjzx on 08/05/2014 - 22:04

    its basically a PC

    there's no software

    i'd suggest you get someone in maybe a nerd or 14 y.o kid to set it up for you

    freenas? nas4free?

  • thatstrangething on 09/05/2014 - 08:32

    Thank you all very much for the reply and feedback.

    I'll be sure to pick up another 2gb WD NAS and install FreeNAS.

    Appreciate the assistance, I'll let you all now how I go!

    Enjoy the weekend ahead.

    D.

    • ESEMCE on 09/05/2014 - 09:24

      Also look up what RAID 1 means..
      Essentially means that you'll have duplicate drives so that in the event that one of them fails, you still have a backup.
      Of course that means that you need identical sized drives and you only get the storage capacity of one of them (ie in this case, despite the fact you'll have bought 2 x 2TB, you'll only have 2TB of storage, not 4TB as you might expect).

  • thatstrangething on 09/05/2014 - 10:32

    No sir, I knew what raid 1 was and it's what I was going for.

    I'll be looking at raid options as I'd like to expand the 2gb to 4gb and use it as raid 1 when limits apply.

    Thank you for the reply.

    D.

    • ESEMCE on 09/05/2014 - 11:52

      Hopefully looking at TB, not GB!! :-)

  • skyva on 09/05/2014 - 11:54

    Do not use raid 1, Raid is not backup but duplication. If you accidently delete something it is gone. Raid 1 also effectively doubles your chance of dealing with a HDD failure and attempting a recovery. If you are an expert in raid, great, if not, do not use.

    If you run windows on your other pc's/laptop then I would suggest windows home server 2011. It is about $50 and will automatically back up your other windows pc's. It looks a lot like normal windows and is easy to use. In the G8 I would put a separate small hdd for OS and leave the 2tb for storage. You can also buy a cheapish 2tb usb drive to back the server up in case of hdd failure.

    I run stablebit scanner which scans my HDD and tells me if they are healthy. I use stablebit drivepool to pool drives together and also duplicate folders across drives. These are pretty easy to set up in windows home server.

    Your ideal setup would be:

    500gb-1tb drive for OS (SSD would be better but more complicated set up)
    2x2tb drives in a drive pool
    1x2tb usb drive to back the whole thing up.

  • thatstrangething on 11/05/2014 - 12:35

    I wish you're comments weren't unpublished pinoy, I was gonna do this right now!

    Thank you, nonetheless.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join