{"id":1590,"date":"2011-05-19T07:11:33","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T05:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/outofmymind.scanlen.com\/?p=1590"},"modified":"2011-05-27T22:29:39","modified_gmt":"2011-05-27T20:29:39","slug":"hardware-hp-microserver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outofmymind.scanlen.com\/?p=1590","title":{"rendered":"Hardware: HP MicroServer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Today brings a new section to this blog, namely Hardware. \u00a0In it I will be posting about computer hardware that I have purchased or looking at purchasing in the hopes to help you decide if you want to purchase as well.<\/p>\n

In February 2011 I was looking at a small form factor server, something that could replace the Windows Home Server that I had built up 2 years previously.<\/p>\n

My “server”, consisted of a Full Tower Case (that has fulfilled different roles over the last 12 years<\/em>), Foxconn Mars Motherboard, P4 CPU, 2Gb RAM, 6x Seagate 500Gb SATA drives (those crap ones that were recalled due to firmware failure<\/em>). \u00a0All this was running Microsoft Windows Home Server<\/a> (version 1<\/em>) quite happily – but far from quietly. \u00a0With the server just idling in my study I could hear the hum in my bedroom…<\/p>\n

When one by one the Seagate (crap<\/em>) hard drives started failing I realized I needed an easier method to remove failed drives from the system. \u00a0So I started looking around. \u00a0I wanted something that was:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Quiet – I did not want to hear if from the bedroom never mind in the study!<\/li>\n
  2. Small Form Factor – but could take at least 4 Hard Drives<\/li>\n
  3. Ease of Access – be able to replace a failed drive in less than 5 minutes (and not strip the machine down to the bare metal)<\/li>\n
  4. Low Power – I scheduled my server to shutdown at 01h00 and automatically power on at 17h00 to conserve electricity.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I looked at Lenovo’s, and Acers, and the HP range of MediaSmart servers.<\/p>\n

    The Lenovo’s<\/a> were not available in SA, and then I heard would be discontinued. \u00a0Acer<\/a> I have been a bit weary of due to warranty issues in the past and also that were not officially supported\/available locally. As I was leaning towards the HP MediaSmart servers HP announced they were discontinuing the range<\/a>…<\/p>\n

    I was running out of options and started looking at buying a mini-tower case and getting an Icydock 4-in-3 SATA bay enclosure<\/a>, when HP came to the rescue and released the HP Proliant MicroServer.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    In February, HP released them locally and they were priced at R2999. \u00a0I was on the verge of purchasing one then when all of a sudden the “doors started closing on the deal” and I took it as a sign not to get one – even though my heart yearned for one…(ask my wife if you don’t believe me)<\/em><\/p>\n

    Fast forward to May 2011. \u00a0HPShop<\/a> sent me a promotion email for the MicrosServer – this time only R1299 INCLUDING VAT! \u00a0(Update 27\/05:<\/span> They updated their website and the link to the special below is no longer working – but Elmarie<\/strong> at PC Palace<\/a> can assist (Tell her Michael referred you and she will make a plan on the price \ud83d\ude42 ))<\/em><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    I contacted my local retail supplier and asked if they could beat or match the offer – they said they match, so I got a colleague (Richard)\u00a0 in on the deal and we each ordered.<\/p>\n

    In the coming posts you will read about the specs, unboxing, setup and overall impression of the HP MicroServer.<\/p>\n

    Till next time…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Today brings a new section to this blog, namely Hardware. \u00a0In it I will be posting about computer hardware that I have purchased or looking at purchasing in the hopes to help you decide if you want to purchase as well. In February 2011 I was looking at a small form factor server, something that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hardware"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outofmymind.scanlen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outofmymind.scanlen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outofmymind.scanlen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outofmymind.scanlen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outofmymind.scanlen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1590"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/outofmymind.scanlen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1641,"href":"https:\/\/outofmymind.scanlen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1590\/revisions\/1641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outofmymind.scanlen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outofmymind.scanlen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outofmymind.scanlen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}