Vortexbox on HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L

[albertone74]

Hi everyone,
I have been considering to build my own music server and install Vortexbox on it. I have been looking at the HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L. It looks nice.
I am not sure which low noise/green HDD to install though. I have been reading may reviews about Samsung, Seagate, WD but I am still not sure. Would you please recommend me any model/make in particular?
Thanks in advance
Regards

[blownsi]

You will find lovers and haters for each of the brands you've mentioned. Somewhere on a forum I read the following: "It's not if a hard drive fails, it's when." Anotherwords, it doesn't matter which you choose. Hard drives are like brake pads on a car, they wear out. Just make sure you maintain regular backups and you'll be fine.

[albertone74]

You will find lovers and haters for each of the brands you've mentioned. Somewhere on a forum I read the following: "It's not if a hard drive fails, it's when." Anotherwords, it doesn't matter which you choose. Hard drives are like brake pads on a car, they wear out. Just make sure you maintain regular backups and you'll be fine.

You are defintely right! Thanks for your advice.
What would think about an Asus S1-AT5NM10E as server? I like this one more than HP as it is smaller
Cheers

[blownsi]

You are defintely right! Thanks for your advice.
What would think about an Asus S1-AT5NM10E as server? I like this one more than HP as it is smaller
Cheers

I know nothing about it. I've heard nothing but good about the HP though.
Does anyone else know anything about the Asus mentioned above?

[albertone74]

I know nothing about it. I've heard nothing but good about the HP though.
Does anyone else know anything about the Asus mentioned above?

Blownsi thanks for your feedback. I am very tempted by the Asus.
I was thinking to build my own server to save some money against the Vortexbox Appliance. Do you think it is worth? Or shall I get a no brainer Vortexbox Appliance? My only concern is about the noise as I would not want to build a server noisier then Vortexbox appliance itself.
Cheers

[blownsi]

Blownsi thanks for your feedback. I am very tempted by the Asus.
I was thinking to build my own server to save some money against the Vortexbox Appliance. Do you think it is worth? Or shall I get a no brainer Vortexbox Appliance? My only concern is about the noise as I would not want to build a server noisier then Vortexbox appliance itself.
Cheers

I would suggest you build one out of an old PC and see if you like it. Just browse craigslist for an old Pentium 4 PC. I bought an older Gateway for $30 to start off with. Whether you like it or not, the learning experience is worth alot more than $30 and you can always resell it later. I currently use a Lenovo SFF machine that is very similar to the VBA and I purchased it off CL for $65. There is really nothing that the VBA can do that the Lenovo can't, although the VBA would be quicker on ripping DVDs I'm sure.

[divreg]

I would suggest you build one out of an old PC and see if you like it. Just browse craigslist for an old Pentium 4 PC. I bought an older Gateway for $30 to start off with. Whether you like it or not, the learning experience is worth alot more than $30 and you can always resell it later. I currently use a Lenovo SFF machine that is very similar to the VBA and I purchased it off CL for $65.

This is an excellent suggestion. Starting with an old P4 or better PC (with 768 MiB of RAM or more) is a great way to learn how to operate VortexBox, and especially Linux, before you make a big purchase.

There is really nothing that the VBA can do that the Lenovo can't, although the VBA would be quicker on ripping DVDs I'm sure.

Ripping DVD's and especially BluRay's can be limited by HDD write speed (for writing), processor speed (for decrypting), and optical drive read spead (for reading). If you're serious about ripping movies and archiving BluRay's, a good combination of these three components will help a lot.

[albertone74]

Hi guys,
Thanks a lot for all your advices.
So.I could not resist and I have bought the Asus together with 2 GB Kingston memory, 2TB WD HDD and a mini usb keyboard just to install Linux. For the time being I will keep the Ubuntu 12.04 installed on it and once I have familiarised with it all I will try VBA. So far I am very pleased with my purchase.
Today I came across with this website
http://www.noiseblocker.de/en/index.php
and now I am very tempted to replace the Asus fans. I must admit that the Asus is quite silent but nevertheless I would not mind upgrading the fans.What do you think about it?
Thanks