brown boxed HD

Steve · Jul 18, 2008, 16:23:57

Being impatient but also invariably out when deliveries occur, wondering whether this is worth a risk

pcworld

The price is not too bad but I wonder who makes them

Rik · Jul 18, 2008, 16:27:26

Go open a box, Steve? There's no clues that I could see, but if you can look at the disk itself, you'll probably find what you want to know.

Glenn · Jul 18, 2008, 16:30:54

I paid £60 each for Samsung 750Gb drives 3 weeks ago, http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?SAM-S750S2 with free delivery, so £57 for a 500Gb sounds expensive to me

Steve · Jul 18, 2008, 16:35:25

I did find this out which could make things interesting

Pcworld OEM disk

Quote from: Glenn on Jul 18, 2008, 16:30:54

I paid £60 each for Samsung 750Gb drives 3 weeks ago, http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?SAM-S750S2 with free delivery, so £57 for a 500Gb sounds expensive to me

I agree it is not the cheapest but it could be installed 30-45mins from now depending on traffic

Glenn · Jul 18, 2008, 16:39:48

This maybe of interest Steve http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/editorial/price-match-promise

Rik · Jul 18, 2008, 16:40:33

Quote from: stevethegas on Jul 18, 2008, 16:35:25
I did find this out which could make things interesting

Pcworld OEM disk

Slightly worrying, Steve, and we're hearing more cases of this, or malware, on supposedly new drives. If you do go for it, scan it!!

Glenn · Jul 18, 2008, 16:44:33

The report was 4 years ago, so I would have thought Western Digital and PC World would have learned by now.

Rik · Jul 18, 2008, 16:47:57

Wasn't there a case against Samsung recently though?

Steve · Jul 18, 2008, 16:59:59

I have got a relatively free weekend and the weather's not going to be great. Perhaps time for WHS

Rik · Jul 18, 2008, 17:03:27

Sounds like a plan, Steve.

Glenn · Jul 18, 2008, 17:07:27

You won't regret it Steve, no more need to remember to take a backup, as WHS will do it for you. Remember to download and install the Power Pack from Microsoft Connect, you need to register first. Windows Home Server Bible is a good book on the subject too.

Glenn · Jul 18, 2008, 17:39:46

Steve, is this any good to you? Add a couple of 500 - 750Gb drives and a copy of WHS and you would be sorted

Steve · Jul 18, 2008, 18:13:43

This is my dilemma, nothing off the shelf seems "perfect" for my needs,which is essentially file transfer and streaming. The HP ex 470/5 is criticised for its lack of memory should you decide to do anything else with it and power consumption is probably around 80 watts but the HP add on software looks good and the expandability for internal and external drives is easy. The tranquil pc route wins hands down on power consumption around 25-30 watts but loses out on ease of internal expansion. The traditional server route which is very competitive in terms of initial outlay but will surely be expensive in the long term due to higher power consumption from the larger processors.

I have looked at micro ATX boards with AMD 35 watt processors and also the intel atom ITX system but both of these don't really allow you the internal expansion of the HP.

Even today I found that Tranquil pc do a Freesat HD receiver combined with a WHS server its very expensive but looks a marvellous piece of kit Freesat WHS