Should I get the DS1511+?

[TylerD004]

Does anyone know if it is possible to install Windows Home Server 2011 on this device?

If so, can anyone please point me in the direction of a guide?

I have scoured these forums and elsewhere and turned up nothing.

Thanks.

 

[thiggins]

No way that I know of. To start, I imagine you'd have to get a BIOS on it.

 

[TylerD004]

No way that I know of. To start, I imagine you'd have to get a BIOS on it.

It has a BIOS. It runs on an Intel Atom chipset. A tech from Synology told me its possible, but since they do not support doing so, he couldn't tell me how.

I'm surprised I'm having trouble finding this info. I imagine that one of the most fun things we can do as enthusiasts is turning these things into low wattage servers. I installed Linux Debian on my D-Link DNS-323 and now it runs tons of interesting little server apps.

 

[stevech]

re this thread and also this other thread
http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=6806

You can buy a Foxconn Atom D525 mini-ITX w/enclosure for $109 on newegg. Put in a stick of RAM and a boot disk. It should/might run WHS 2011.
Or DIY with a mini-ITX motherboard + enclosure like the Gigabyte for the AMD E350.

Seems to me that buying a Synology/QNAP box and then erasing their software and installing WHS - makes no sense. You're paying a premium for their tailored hardware and their very fine NAS software.

As well, one might ensure that the crippled WHS 2011, which may be the last of the breed, is a prudent choice.

 

[joe567890]

Why would you want to?
One of the biggest selling points is DSM.

 

[stevech]

Why would you want to?
One of the biggest selling points is DSM.

I agree. And own a DS212 that's great.

Some here are heck-bent to DIY despite the crude software you wind up with doing so.

 

[TylerD004]

Ya, you guys are selling me. I'm starting to lean toward this device with just the factory software.

It's just that I really want a NAS that can perform torrenting as well as my PC. I've never seen one that isn't running uTorrent on Windows do that thus far.

Decisions, decisions.

Thank you for your input.

If anyone has successfully created (or better yet, bought) a faster torrenting NAS, please let me know. I know a lot of them do it, but I'm looking for one that can chug down like 25 torrents at the same speed my PC can..

 

[theoldwizard1]

Why would you want to?
One of the biggest selling points is DSM.

I have to agree !

Synology boxes are not cheap. What you are paying for is the software. There is probably less than $300 worth of parts there.

I installed one for a friend who is running a small photography business. He wanted a "commercial" solution (I would have rolled my own).

The hardware looks nice and I really like the fact you can expand via eSATA. I wish they had a small battery back up so they could flush the write back cache to memory on power loss without having to play around with getting a message from an external UPS.

Documentation is "thin", but it will get you up and running.

Part of the reason I went with this NAS is the number of slots. The first 3 hold 2 TB drives are running Synology's proprietary RAID, because it is expandable on the fly. The fourth drive, 3TB, is JBOD, but it is for backing up the other PCs and the RAID set.

Synology beats you over the head about backing up but tells you nothing about TAR and how easy it is to back up a RAID set to a spare drive. I'm still doing that manually because I have not written a cron shell script.

 

[stevech]

Synology does torrent and some others, as a background process. I assume QNAP does too.

 

[stevech]

Synology beats you over the head about backing up but tells you nothing about TAR and how easy it is to back up a RAID set to a spare drive. I'm still doing that manually because I have not written a cron shell script.

What's the advantage of a cron script for tar files over the Synology app for backup/restore or Synology's "time backup" (time machine) ?

 

[theoldwizard1]

What's the advantage of a cron script for tar files over the Synology app for backup/restore or Synology's "time backup" (time machine) ?

A cron script running tar runs in the context of the server. With crin and tar you have maximum flexibility of you schedule. My plan is do a "full" backup once a week (or whatever). I have full control over where the file will be placed and what it will be called. I can control home many back copies I want to keep.

For my environment, a once a week is fine, except when on deadline. Then probably once a day. The app, Lightroom, does its own "version control".

I haven't studied Synology backup solutions, but I was under the impression they ran on the client.

 

[stevech]

... I haven't studied Synology backup solutions, but I was under the impression they ran on the client.

A synopsis:
The Synology backup programs run on the NAS. There are two kinds: Backup from specific folders to your desired volume/folder, internal or external or network. The backup is a full and thereafter an incremental. You choose the backup schedule - what days, what hour, etc. The other internal app is the Timed Backup, where again you choose the folders to be backed up and to where, then a time machine type backup is done so you can get old versions.

Synology also has a client PC utility to do backup pushes to any network folder including ones on the NAS. That's an option. Also, if the client has parts of its disk(s) as a network share, the Synology backup program can pull the data from the PC via the share. Of course, the PC has to be on when the backup is scheduled, or the backup is manually initiated. Thus, the client-side push backup may be preferable for PCs with irregular on/off schedules.

The above flexibility is why the question on "why use cron and tar" came up. Certainly it will work, but the nice GUI for the Synology apps is appealing. And the Time Machine app on the synology is great.

 

[TylerD004]

Synology does torrent and some others, as a background process. I assume QNAP does too.

Yes. Like I said..

I know a lot of them do it, but I'm looking for one that can chug down like 25 torrents at the same speed my PC can..

Anyone have any suggestions regarding that?

 

[theoldwizard1]

Certainly it will work, but the nice GUI for the Synology apps is appealing. And the Time Machine app on the synology is great.

I concur.

Obviously I need to spend more time the (sarcasm=on) fine, exhaustive documentation ! (sarcasm=off).

 

[joe567890]

not sure if you know about transmission and another torrent client you can run on the synology:

http://synoblog.superzebulon.org/manuals-co/transmission-spk-manual/

 

[TylerD004]

not sure if you know about transmission and another torrent client you can run on the synology:

http://synoblog.superzebulon.org/manuals-co/transmission-spk-manual/

Yes, I'm currently running a NAS with Transmission and it is seriously inferior to uTorrent. My torrents go 1/4th the speed they do on my PC with uTorrent, but thank you.