It's back again.
The Microserver at $229.00 + postage.
Link : http://www.shoppingexpress.com.au/buy/hp-proliant-n54l-micro…
Sale Ends 00:00 am, 18 August 2014
HP N54L Microserver $229.00 + Postage at Shopping Express
550
Lchamisoft on 14/08/2014 - 09:57 shoppingexpress.com.au (1808 clicks)
Last edited 14/08/2014 - 10:58 by 1 other user
Last edited 14/08/2014 - 10:58 by 1 other user
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Thanks Rep. Missed on many N54L deals before and didn't want to miss on this one. Already ordered one. Cheers
Thank you :)
Great to see these are still available. Can't recommend them more.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record I thought I'd better again add that these machines can easily handle 6 x HDDs either by using a bracket or by mounting the two extra drives sideways in the optical drive bay. No extra controllers needed, just a BIOS update, an eSATA cable and a power splitter.
Always appreciate your useful info :)
Hey mate, would you know the power consumption with a setup like that by any chance?
No sorry. I've never measured it but I have heard that the more expensive HDDs use less power so if that's an issue for you it might be best to stay away from the cheapie HDDs.
@steveandBelle do you know the max HDD that can go into the Gen8? 4? or any mods for more?
I don't sorry but I've heard the Gen8 is a little less 'hackable' than the N54L so you may have issues. Maybe someone else can confirm?!
I have 5 in my gen 8
Any recommendations out of the 3 for a home media setup? Bearing in mind I'm new to NAS, but excited to learn.
If your looking for storage I would recommend this but if your looking at running a plex server. And transcoding your media from this server I wouldn't recommend this.
For storage you can't beat the HP microservers to I would just get the N54L if that's what your requiring.
Plus they are easily customised, I've used the top dvd bay to put the 250gig hard disk that comes with the NAS and ran my operating system through that. Message me if you want more information.
what would you suggest for running a plex server (with OSX)… cheers
From all the forums I've read people have recommended at least an I5 if you want to transcode media.
What you can do is have already have a NAS is have your more powerful computer or another computer on the network running the the Plex server.
Like a notebook I am guessing if your running OSX or a mac mini.
If you are transcoding media I think you are doing it wrong.
Get a client that can play your media natively.
But that defeats the purpose of the Plex server being able to play across multiple devices like Ipads Android devices etc. It works fine on my television but when transcoding is required it doesnt work well.
@Kaboda: i have an i7 imac doing the job, but something is not cutting the mustard (it could be the external drives, they are seagate expansion 2tb - i have two of them and the plex on my samsung keeps crashing)
Have you tried copying some media files to the internal hard disk on your IMAC and then just trying to host those files excluding all those on the external drives ?
I guess I am trying to just isolate the issue.
Plus which samsung television do you have. I've got a pretty old one and Plex seems to work ok though I am using Windows not OSX.
@Kaboda: I'm wondering the same thing … I don't have any issues with just streaming media files to my Android devices without transcoding.
Granted I don't have many files that Android has trouble dealing with - the only thing that comes to mind is some er … "p2p" groups if you're familiar with this designation that use non-standard encoding for whatever reasons and some MPEG2 that requires deinterlacing.
I run my N40L as a file server and Plex server and it runs fine. Can easily stream movies in 1080p no worries at all.
My N40L isn't hacking the MKV transcoding. It could well be my network but I think it's the processor.
The CPU in an N40L (and indeed an N54L) will struggle to transcode 1080p. But Plex can be set up to just serve the files natively without transcoding, and then you just make sure you have a client that can play back the file type it's being served.
Also 1080p over wifi N will likely have issues unless you have a very clean signal (line of sight from router to receiver, no walls, nothing else interfering on the bands).
@salem:
Totally agree, I dont have the budget but I wanted to get a Mac mini to run the plex server sit on the same router to transcode the files before they get streamed across.No money for that yet unfortunately.
No 250GB disk with these (no great loss).
To the op, I'd suggest getting the diskless N54L and putting either a 3TB or 4TB disk in it. 2TB really isn't a great deal any more. WD for preference.
You may also find that you need a bit more memory, depending on what you end up doing.
it won't boot off a partition > 2tb though, so you'll need to partition the disk first, or boot off a usb stick, or throw in an SSD and boot off that :)
Most people boot off a USB flash drive on the internal socket anyway. Don't really want your OS on a data disk (for many reasons).
a NAS OS on usb is fine. I found Ubuntu was a bit sluggish off the usb, so I put it on an SSD. But then I was using it as more than just a file server.
I've got a N40L running FreeNAS and plex at the moment, it works great! I've added a few extra drives, set them up with a mirror! FreeNAS is also great as you can set up windows, OS X and linux shares.
If you're just looking at a home storage solution, decide early on how much storage capacity you might need. That is the most expensive and trickiest component to upgrade.
Use this wiki as a guide when picking parts.Bottom tier
Item Cost N54L $229 4TB x1 $178 Sub-total: $407 for a very basic 4TB NAS, with room for any old SATA drives you have lying around. Any basic NAS OS.
Not making very good use of the microserver.Mid tier
Item Cost 4TB x2 more $356 8G RAM module $119 K400R $39 Sub-total: $921 for a decent home server with 12TB raw storage. Pop on Ubuntu and set up RAIDZ-1 for 8TB of usable storage with single drive redundancy under ZFS, and you're in microserver territory. Plex or XBMC for media.
Top tier
Item Cost 4TB x3 more $534 A second 8G RAM module $119 R7240 GPU $69 SATA Expansion card ~$25 Molex-to-SATA power splitter ~$4 5.25-to-two-3.5 bracket ~$40 Total: ~$1712 for an amazing home media server with 24TB raw. At this stage, it's prudent to have RAIDZ-2 for double drive redundancy, and you're still left with 16TB usable.
The base server has VGA but no audio out, so you can now HDMI straight to the TV.There are other details, such as whether you need WiFi (Ethernet is the way to go, if you can) and whether you want to install the OS on a USB thumb drive (cheap) or SSD (fast).
Might want to add $11.45 shipping to the title. Still a good deal though
Not for me! $34 to Adelaide :(
$12.45 for North Adelaide on my end.
That's one piece of hardware that keeps the value pretty well. $229 + postage from ShoppgingExpress 14 months ago.
That's right - need a 2nd one Scotty? :)
Presumably both the Asus Radeon R7240 & the Kingston 8GB ECC Ram modules featured down the page are compatible with the N54L?
yes they are
Rep, the HDD price didn't drop as promo, can you check?
checking now
and the shipping only got $1 discount while adding 2 HDDs
try again
@ShoppingExpress: I've added 2 seagate 2tb with N54L /w HDD, but the shipping is remain the same.
another question, can I have WD Red instead of seagate 2tb in N54L /w HDD deal?Free shipping only applies on the options in the promotion page. The Microservers are excluded from the free shipping.
Unfortunately, the hard drive cannot be changed for our bundle deals.
Anything else i can help you with? :)
Cheers
SE
It still gave me $35 shipping
also how reliable are these for media servers (as well as NAS)??? do they use much power?
if i put the video card ($69 & more ram) + HDD will it affect the power consumption?Can you please advise what you added to the cart & your postcode?
Cheers
SE
These are very good as a NAS, I was running synology DS411J for 2 years till my board died out ! I installed xpenology on the Micro and Moved all 4 disks to the micro server.
Works brilliantly with good performance.
How fast for large file transfer?
I have seen write speeds of 80-90 on my N40L.
I installed XPEnology and cant recommend it enough.
You have all of the benefits of Synology, Can have different size drives and can add drives later.Hello
its decent same as a synology 4 bay host. I run plex server and it does max the CPU when streaming but still works with no lag.
I use chrome cast, apple tv with plex and its perfect for my needs. I have a scheduled shutdown at 1 am daily so just in case i forget it shuts down itself
Cheers
Finally pulled the trigger. I've currently got all my media on a WD 3TB NAS, but I want to whack 4x3TB Green Drives in there.
I know they can only support RAID 0 and 1 out of the box, but I'd like redundancy the most. It's not going to be used as a HTPC, as I'll probably get a NUC for that.
I want speed and redundancy, so RAID 10 is best for me? Is it easily achievable with one of these?
Very new to doing a NAS, but from reading all the helpful comments, these are the best bang for buck.
Yep, go for RAID10 or RAIDZ2 and you'll be fine. It gives performance with dual drive redundancy.
I'm using RAIDZ2 with 6 x 4TB drives in my N54L running FreeNAS and it just hums along however if you also choose FreeNAS be prepared for a very steep learning curve as even setting up a basic NAS can be complex. The FreeNAS forum is your best friend there.
Thanks for the response, mate. 6x4TB sounds fantastic (and expensive!). Lots of reading and research ahead.
Oh and BTW, the N54L has a standard USB socket soldered to the Motherboard which is great as you can use it to boot your NAS OS. Just use an 8Gb stick and follow the instructions on the FreeNAS site on how to download the bootable image and write it to the USB device. Get a couple just in case something goes wrong with the first.
Have a serious look at Xpenology.. it's the Synology NAS software modified to use on non synology hardware, ie N54L.. You can install it on a 4gb USB stick, and then have up to 6x4tb drives.. It is pretty simple to set up to.. simply write an image file to a USB, and then download the NAS .pat file.. All without really ever touching linux..
Hey Vladdo. Have you used FreeNAS? I'm only asking because even though my FreeNAS system is working I seem to tie myself in knots whenever I try adding features or make small changes. I find FreeNAS rock solid but also far too over-complex so I'm seriously considering rebuilding it from scratch with another NAS OS. Have you have any problems with Xpenology at all? Does it have plug-ins for things like Plex etc.?
Yeah.. I had freenas running for about 6 months at one point, but because I'm not a linux user, found it a bit too confusing to set up and maintain (ie, install utorrent, sickbeard, sabnzbd etc) so it eventually got the boot. I'm sure that it all runs well, etc but I really don't have the inclination whatsoever to learn anything about linux.. i'd rather just avoid it completely..
That said, xpenology is a breeze to setup and install. Install Win32Writer, download nanoboot image file, install to USB stick, insert usb stick to n54l.. boot up n54l, call up the admin page in a web browser and let it download and install the synology software. The rest is pretty much self explanatory. Synology has all the popular packages, torrent, sabnzbd+, plex etc..
That said, I've only used it on a N40/54L, so don't know how it would function on other hardware.
@SteveAndBelle:
Mine three:)
Check all the Xpenology help, conf file setting for mod bios Xpenology
Cheers!
Yep, XPEnology is sensational. I really liked having the Synology DSM on my old DS211j, but only having the 2 bays and 128MB of ram made the thing really start to show it's age.
Have run XPEnology for the last few months now and it has been flawless. It'll happily run on the stock 2GB of ram as well, so no need to spend big on upgrading that. The iPad apps are great for it, as in rarely use my PC now so being able to move files around just using DS File was a big reason why I wanted to stay with Synology, but couldn't stomach their prices even just for a simple4 bay NAS.
I'm still looking for a way to mount an extra hard drive in the 5.25" drive bay. Not a big issue now as I only have 5 disks in there, but would like to add another 3/4TB drive in there in a few months but can't seem to find a decent mount. All the 2x3.5" drives in a 5.25" adaptor seems to have stopped being produced, and only place I can find wants $35 or so shipping for a $11 part, ouch.
I'd of thought there would easily still be a market for these sort of things, but obviously it has changed from a few years ago where there was plenty of choice.
There's some feature that WD Greens don't have as I understand it that makes them less suitable for disk arrays than Reds. Mind you I'm merely repeating what friends with a lot of expertise tell me but you should at least make yourself aware of the issue if you haven't already.
The WD greens have a default timeout that spins them down too quick. It is adjustable by using a utility from WD. WD Reds (I use 5x WD Red 3TB)were designed as NAS drives from the beginning so do not have any issue like this. I've been running a N40L for about 1.5 yrs with no issue. The dustbunnies do breed quickly so make sure you dust it out every couple of months. It's on 24x7 and I really only reboot it when the OS gets stuck (Windows 8). I use it for TV/PVR and media center (Windows MCE and XBMC respectively). I've bought a second N40L without drives and when the first N40L starts getting flaky I'll get some new drives (i.e. 4TB or 5TB and populate the 2nd N40L). No sign so far of any issues so not something I'm expecting to do for another 2-3 yrs.
Can you add hard drives with different sizes. I have mix of 3TB, 2TB and 1TB drives from various manufactures.
Yes you can.
Thanks TonightAt11
Anyone running Plex server on one of these units?
What specs?I run plex on it, overall well except for some large 1080P movies.
it should handle 720P quite well.
Also depend on your network setup.
Plex or XMBC does not play nicely with N54L, it works but don't expect snappy processing power.
what? I was running XBMC on mine for ages, playing 720p and 1080p mkvs with no issue (with an added Radeon GPU that had HDMI out).
It's still hosting all my media, but I have a NUC for playback now, and it also works fine (not transcoding, just playing the files in their native format).
Plex runs flawlessly on mine…
Can confirm this - it's just too close to maxing out once you install a few things on the machine.
what are you installing??!
Mine had ubuntu as a base OS on an SSD, a torrent client, plex server, squeezebox server, virtualbox running a windows XP VM all running at the same time, and the local xbmc didn't skip a beat. same when i ran a local plex client, all fine.
it was also mostly fine when i was running ubuntu off a usb stick. xbmc/plex ran fine once i was in them, it was running around the OS outside of that where things got a little laggy. but that was an IO issue, not CPU.
Mine ran crashplan, sickbeard, sabnzbd, utorrent, acronis backups (not always obviously) it had firefox, mysql (for XBMC) - xbmc and a heap of apps which weren't always running.
It just became… sluggish - even with the movies on the local disks.
I built a HTPC with one of those new Pentium anniversary chips, Asus Mini ITX board, sexy SG08 case and it's tip top and with the right video card, I could even game on it.I'm going to take the usual linux fanboi cop-out and blame windows and not the N54L for your issues. ;)
That SG08 is rather pretty….but costs almost as much as an entire N54l?!
Mine is rock solid. I run a Radeon 6450 video card with XBMC and Windows Media Center plus a 2 tuner USB TV dongle.
It's
Media server (Serviio and XBMC)
PVR/TV (Windows Media Center)
Torrent client (utorrent)
Usenet client (sabnzbd)My CPU is usually 20-30% at most as the video heavy lifting is done by the video card. I run mostly 1080p media (with DTS-MA and Dolby TrueHD audio tracks). I've added a Windows Media Center remote and a mini wireless keyboard for input control.
OS is Windows 8. I've thought about using OpenElec but less config and tweaking required for the TV/PVR stuff if using Windows.
I retired mine from being a HTPC, as an XBMC fan and someone who wants a snappy UI, the dual core AMD cpu is only just ok and with a slimline base model ATI or nvidia card, yes it can do 1080p but…… it's right on the damn limit.
Instead I turned mine into a FreeNAS server (6x5TB) and I've built a "proper" HTPC with the SG08 case (google it, pretty little thing)
So can I use this to store all my files then wirelessly stream to my HTPC and it will run fine out of the box? I essentially want this for storage and to wirelessly access files from laptop/HTPC/tablet/phone. Am I barking up the wrong tree? Should I just look at a cheap box with heaps of HDD space and stream from it?
Good idea… can this run a PCI slot wireless adapter so that you can stream to a smart TV ?
would not need to make it a HTPC then and just stream data wirelessly (or LAN)
Be aware that the combination of wireless, 1080p media files, and local wifi conflicts can make for a hard time.
Your wifi might say it will do 700Mbps, but practically it will fall well short of that, particularly if you use 2.4GHz. There's reasons why the chromecast only casts at 720p.
A blu-ray rip playing HTPC is much better off wired, if you can. Try to keep peak data rates <10Mbps over wireless, if you can.
Unfortunately a "cheap box" is actually more expensive than an N54L
A Synology box, no disks and you can't DO anything on it - is way expensive.
6 disk N54L is like $250 for the unit, 10$ of cables to enable the 6'th disk, $150 for your 8gb 10$ for your 4gb USB key and FreeNAS is free.There are cheap plug-and-play NAS boxes though. Netgears are great as a first NAS and you can get a 4 bay for ~$250, and WD My Cloud ones are around $350 IIRC. Both are infinitely easier than setting up an N54L as a NAS.
But as mentioned, they still cost more than an N54l. You're paying for that convenience.
@salem: Well at ~$250 the Netgears are roughly the same price, possibly cheaper when you add shipping to this N54L, so you're not really paying for the convenience.
Well THIS is a serious contender, as it includes the hard drives (even though it has less bays)
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/156866
I can see both points, but lmh86's outline above shows that this can be a fantastic modular roadmap to an eventual awesome home server. With the Netgears you'll not be able to improve much further, whereas a microserver is essentially a first instalment.
Hi Rep, I'm interested in getting 16Gb of ECC memory to suit this (setup for RAIDZ2), what would be recommended?
if you look at the full sale page: http://www.shoppingexpress.com.au/view/HP-Microservers-Sale
there's an 8gb ECC dimm listed. 2x of those should do you fine?Ty for that, I didn't see it down the bottom. I note that the stock memory that comes by default is 800MHz (according to the product page although it also says PC3-10600E), will the N54L be able to take advantage of the higher speed 1600MHz memory (PC3-12800)?
Hi Rep, I'm interested in the R7240 graphics card for an N40L running Ubuntu. I've already read up on the card and know it fits and works reasonably well under Linux (see here, for eg).
What I'm curious about though, is whether there would be enough space for a SATA controller to be installed too. If so, do you or anyone else here have a recommendation for a SATA card?
Hi tplen1,
The Fan/Heatsink of this card is not protruding out from it's single slot space, so there will be space for another card.
Cheers
SE
Hello Rep!
When is there a version with USB 3.0 coming out?!
Thanks!
Is anyone able to comment on whether there would be an appreciable difference in a home server (RAIDZ2) context between the NAS drives on special ST4000VN000 4Gb for $225 versus a standard desktop drive like ST4000DM000 4Gb for $178? Saving $50 per drive would seem to be quite a saving….
I'm running 6 x ST4000DM000 in mine and haven't had a problem. I have read that these cheaper drives aren't as efficient and some have even gone on to say that over the life of the NAS you'll save more than the price difference in power costs by choosing the better drive however no-one seems to have the data to back that statement up.
Hi Rep,
I'm ordering a G2020T, is Freight insurance included on 'free freight deal' for the 2x WD 3TB Red's?
Thank you
Hi cheapj,
Free shipping only applies on the options in the promotion page. The Microservers are excluded from the free shipping.
Cheers
SEThat's right no free freight for Microservers, that's cool.
Question is the the 2x WD 3TB Red's which are on the options page for free freight, do they include freight insurance?
Thank you
select the insurance option.
Hi Rep,
Can any of these HPs take 2 x 5-TB HDDs?
Thanks.
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Thanks OP for posting. The actual promotion with more offers here