What do you guys thinkn of the HP Mediasmart home server?

Previously Michael Cecil <macecil@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 12 May 2008 20:53:54 -0500, CJT <abujlehc@prodigy.net> wrote:

>>Gumby wrote:
>>> Arno Wagner <me@privacy.net> wrote in news:68pgrkF2totu8U1
>>> @mid.individual.net:
>>>
>>>
>>>>1TB mp3's? Lets see, at 320kbit/sec, that is about 290 days (and
>>>>nights) of music. Should be enopugh for a while ;-)
>>>>
>>>>Arno
>>>
>>>
>>> I rip at 256kb/s but I only have about 150GB of mp3's so far. And of course
>>> a 1TB HDD is actually only about 920GB when formatted and you must leave
>>> about 20% free if you ever want to be able to defrag it. Still, it is going
>>> to take me quite a while to fill it up with mp3s.
>>>
>>You wouldn't be able to defrag if you were Linux based.

> Fixed that for you. You're welcome.

And that happens to be wrong. Nice job claiming things without
researching them first.

The ext2 defragger exits, it is just so obscure almost nobody knows
about it, since it is as good as never needed. XFS has a filesystem
optimizer that is run periodically to bring the fragmentation down a
bit. Typically if brings a below 1% fragmentation down to an even
lower value. Same for JFS.

Oh, and BTW, the regular automatic filesystem checks do show the
amount of fragmentation to the user, so people would know about any
relevant fragmentation.

Arno

CJT <abujlehc@prodigy.net> wrote in news:4828F4B2.50105@prodigy.net:

> You wouldn't have to defrag if you were Linux based.
>
Yea, but if I was Linux based I couldn't use Foobar, MediaMonkey or WinAmp.
I've used Linux in the past and I don't like any of the media players much
that are available for it.

Michael Cecil <macecil@gmail.com> wrote in
news:390i24p1pcs0l9j771g61mjsufuqgv6gjf@4ax.com:

> Fixed that for you. You're welcome.

There is a 3rd party defragger availalbe for Linux but is command line only
and they say it isn't needed on Linux anyway.

Arno Wagner <me@privacy.net> wrote in news:68rbdtF2upm06U1
@mid.individual.net:

> As to the subject matter, I maintain that you cannot reliably
> operate such a server, unless you could also have built, installed
> and configured it yourself. And when you can do that, MS hime
> server is a poor choice. That was not a comment on the hardware.
> In addition, many reviewers are not available of non-MS alternatives
> and have a rather limited understanding of hwat such a server
> could do in terms of reliability and versatility, a state
> of affairs that MS tries keep intact.
>
> Arno
>

As I already said. I did look into building my own and have a link to some
free server software but I have decided to stick wityh just my external USB
HDDs anyway and forget about setting up a server for now.

Previously Michael Cecil <macecil@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 12 May 2008 22:34:40 -0500, CJT <abujlehc@prodigy.net> wrote:

>>Michael Cecil wrote:
>>
>>> On Mon, 12 May 2008 20:53:54 -0500, CJT <abujlehc@prodigy.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Gumby wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>Arno Wagner <me@privacy.net> wrote in news:68pgrkF2totu8U1
>>>>>@mid.individual.net:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>1TB mp3's? Lets see, at 320kbit/sec, that is about 290 days (and
>>>>>>nights) of music. Should be enopugh for a while ;-)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Arno
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>I rip at 256kb/s but I only have about 150GB of mp3's so far. And of course
>>>>>a 1TB HDD is actually only about 920GB when formatted and you must leave
>>>>>about 20% free if you ever want to be able to defrag it. Still, it is going
>>>>>to take me quite a while to fill it up with mp3s.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>You wouldn't be able to defrag if you were Linux based.
>>>
>>>
>>> Fixed that for you. You're welcome.
>>
>>You "fixed" it wrong, though. You _can_ defrag, but it isn't necessary.

> Hehe, I remember when they said that about NTFS back before they figured
> out how to do it for that file system. Maybe one day when Linux grows up
> it will be popular enough for some company to figure out how to defrag its
> file systems. Don't worry. You can dream.

You can, you get the fragmentation statistics deisplayed to you
on every filesystem check, and you just see that it is not
necessary for ext2. XFS and JFS recommend doing it from time to
time in the bachground, as they are both enterprise class
filesystems. For a standard desktop or small server you don't
need it there either.

Problem here is that just because MS is did not write a filesystem
that does not need defragmentation under normal operation, you seem to
assume everybody else has this issue. Wrong. This problem has been
solved a long time ago, MS just (again) choose to ignore (or did not
know) the state of the art.

Arno

gwhite@alum.mit.edu (Doug White) wrote in
news:v8CdnZic7cbWXrXVnZ2dnUVZ_j2dnZ2d@rcn.net:

> I just bought a READYNAS Duo. Both drives are in removeable trays,
> and the mirroring will protect you if EITHER drive fails. They can
> even be hot swapped. The thermally controlled fan is very quiet, the
> software seems to be solid, and it's cheaper. They have an active
> support forum, and seem to be very responsive.

> Doug White
>

I see I can buy that one for $399.99 CAD but it only supports two HDDs and
not four.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...0&vpn=RND2150%
2D100NAS&manufacture=Netgear

Michael Cecil <macecil@gmail.com> wrote in
news:cvkh24l460aoice2l6qm8ih50f6m62p6vk@4ax.com:

> Seems like a non-issue to me since I have the install media and know
> how to do backups manually on my home-brew WHS machine.

Yea, I use Acronis True Image to backup so don't really care about the
backup freatures.

Gumby wrote:

>Arno Wagner <me@privacy.net> wrote in
>news:68oi4rF2tq100U1@mid.individual.net:
>
>> You do know that Windows Home Server is a pice of trash, that,
>> e.g., generates un-restorable backups and has other serious
>> problems?
>
>Why would I know that if I have never used it?

The same way someone might know that a Ferrari Enzo is fast, despite
never having used one. Reading things. Hearing things.

Michael Cecil wrote:

>>You "fixed" it wrong, though. You _can_ defrag, but it isn't necessary.
>
>Hehe, I remember when they said that about NTFS back before they figured
>out how to do it for that file system. Maybe one day when Linux grows up
>it will be popular enough for some company to figure out how to defrag its
>file systems. Don't worry. You can dream.

Idiot.

Gumby <gumby@is.cool> wrote
> Rod Speed <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> wrote

>> And there is no point in worrying about fragmention with mp3s anyway.

> True. That means I should be able to fill the HDD at least 95% full then.

You can fill it completely if you want to.