Good enough for small business? I'm talking small as in 5-6 employees each w/ desktops. I operate a insurance agency so the main use of the server would come from data backup, transfer of small files(doc, photos, pdfs) and remote access of files and computers from home. I'm just worried that the 1.6 atom processor may not be powerful enough. After all, they do use those things in netbooks. The other specs (2gb ram, 1tb HDD) seem more than enough. Good enough for small business? I'm talking small as in 5-6 employees each w/ desktops. I operate a insurance agency so the main use of the server would come from data backup, transfer of small... » Read More Good enough for small business? I'm talking small as in 5-6 employees each w/ desktops. I operate a insurance agency so the main use of the server would come from data backup, transfer of small files(doc, photos, pdfs) and remote access of files and computers from home. I'm just worried that the 1.6 atom processor may not be powerful enough. After all, they do use those things in netbooks. The other specs (2gb ram, 1tb HDD) seem more than enough. « Show Less
1660206
I was going to buy it here on Amazon but Newegg.com had an even better deal. For $390 they threw in an extra 1TB hard drive. Pretty good deal. Can't wait to test this baby out.
1660207
Cool, thanks for the input. I think I might pull the trigger on this one. I was thinking about building a Home Server from a POS Celeron D Compaq Presario that I already have, but the Acer's removable hard drive trays and low power consumption puts it over the top.
1660208
Both, I have the Acer and another pc connected to my wireless router via ethernet, but most of my computers and media extenders are connected wirelessly.
1660209
what about small architecture / interior design business that run 2d and 3d cad modeling software? Will this server able to handle it?
1660210
Do you get blinking red lights? The exact same thing happened to me. It turned out that the HDD wasn't properly secured to the trey. Remove the HDD trey and reinsert it. That should fix the problem.
1660211
Acer Aspire AH340-UA230N Home Server Just bought one for small business - financial planning advisory and it gives me error lights oout of the box of system failure. The reason I would not advise the purchase of this, is the lack of customer help from ACER period! There is no phone number to call and it seems support is only for notebook computers. The notion of backup to me implies mission critical. I invite any proposed purchaser to try- I dare you to find a customer service email or phone number for this product anywhere on acers site. Nothing in the box provided anything either except acer support in Texas, no email mind you . Good Luck Acer Aspire AH340-UA230N Home Server Just bought one for small business - financial planning advisory and it gives me error lights oout of the box of system failure. The reason I would not advise the purchase of this, is the lack of customer help from ACER period! There is no phone number to call and it seems support is only for notebook computers. The notion of backup to me implies mission critical. I invite any proposed purchaser to try- I dare you to find a customer service email or phone number for this product anywhere on acers... » Read More Acer Aspire AH340-UA230N Home Server Just bought one for small business - financial planning advisory and it gives me error lights oout of the box of system failure. The reason I would not advise the purchase of this, is the lack of customer help from ACER period! There is no phone number to call and it seems support is only for notebook computers. The notion of backup to me implies mission critical. I invite any proposed purchaser to try- I dare you to find a customer service email or phone number for this product anywhere on acers site. Nothing in the box provided anything either except acer support in Texas, no email mind you . Good Luck « Show Less
1660212
I agree with C. Perry. This is an ideal solution for small businesses. And like Perry, I've just gotten into streaming music and videos, and the CPU power is definitely not a problem. You might consider the merit of adding a 2nd 1Tb harddrive so you can have redundant data (for the shared folders, not for the backup database -- the backup database doesn't copy to the 2nd drive). Now, all my shared folders are automatically copied onto a 2nd harddrive, so if I experience a single hard drive failure, I'm still okay. I'd suggest not installing any apps on the server, though -- the less you install, the better. I agree with C. Perry. This is an ideal solution for small businesses. And like Perry, I've just gotten into streaming music and videos, and the CPU power is definitely not a problem. You might consider the merit of adding a 2nd 1Tb harddrive so you can have redundant data (for the shared folders, not for the backup database -- the backup database doesn't copy to the 2nd drive). Now, all my shared folders are automatically copied onto a 2nd harddrive, so if I experience a single hard drive failure, I'm still okay. I'd suggest not installing any apps on the server, though -- the less you... » Read More I agree with C. Perry. This is an ideal solution for small businesses. And like Perry, I've just gotten into streaming music and videos, and the CPU power is definitely not a problem. You might consider the merit of adding a 2nd 1Tb harddrive so you can have redundant data (for the shared folders, not for the backup database -- the backup database doesn't copy to the 2nd drive). Now, all my shared folders are automatically copied onto a 2nd harddrive, so if I experience a single hard drive failure, I'm still okay. I'd suggest not installing any apps on the server, though -- the less you install, the better. « Show Less
1660213
The Acer should be able to handle that kind of load fairly easily. I have it at home and have been streaming media, installing an app, and transferring files over all at the same time without any noticeable lag. The atom processor may not be a beast but it will be able to handle the kind of load you are talking about.
1660214
To be clear, the WHS *must* be connected via ethernet to the router. Nothing else needs to be connected in a wired fashion. If you do any computer restores using the WHS server, that computer *must* then be connected to the network via ethernet -- no restoration occurs over the wireless network.
638151
Performance is more than adequate for me - main use is local backup of RAID drives (attached to 2 Apple iMacs) and iPad/iPhone in-house access to any of that data (Drobo is attached to Apple APE-AC). My primary objective was easy admin: adding & changing shares & permissions, mix & match various SATA drives types and sizes, data redundancy w/o true RAID, swap & add of HDs without any admin. my short list included Synology, but made the decision just on ease of admin. I am aware of some horror stories concerning data loss with Drobo, but I keep it on a UPS and it's just a backup for me.
1406440
I love mine. I use it for business. It''s been a real work horse. It runs all my business programs, etc. I use my ipad mini to remote into it from the field and with the exception of a smaller HDD - upgrade to a bigger one if you are able - I can't complain. I HATE Windows 8 and refuse to support it. When Microsoft no longer supports Win 7 I will be getting a Mac. I'll never use 8 - ugh!
1162548
DS713+ is best suited for business use. Is a more robust system. The DS214+ is intended for home use. So if you are looking for something to have at home to store the pictures of your kids, some files and videos. the DS214+ will do the job. But, if you are looking for a NAS storage for your small business and can't afford at the moment the more expensive models with 4 or 5 bays, the DS713+ is a good start. later on you can attach the DX513 for expansion. Cheers!!
717245
No, it is great for bulk storage, rather than collaboration. Try Dropbox, GoogleDrive, Box or similar free hosted cloud service for collaboration.
1715988
Wow, at 2terrabyte why is that even an issue?? I have no idea.. Just use a huge external hard drive and it should be almost limitless. All I know is that 2tb seems like plenty, at least for me. In four years of many photos, I didn't even fill 250gig on my laptop that was my main computer at the time. I do like this all in one, tho it isn't quite as fast as I had hoped it would be. And I prefer the Windows seven side to the childish eight side. Love the large screen. Overall..I would recommend it..the storage should be plenty especially for a home computer.
1455911
We use this pc for a children's check-in kiosk. We only run one program on it. It is a very good pc and has done a great job for us. We have 16 of them running as of right now.
844101
It's a great little machine, but it is NOT gamer capable. That's totally not the market this is focused at - think of this thing as a modern "netbook". It's fine for browsing the web and general "office" apps, but you aren't going to want to run anything beyond web-based games on it.
638153
I have found that my two drobos work very well for my needs. The one thing I would like to see work better, but I think it is a limitation of Windows not Drobo, is to report the current size of the mass of drives not some specific value like 16TB when you only have 5TB total space. I've installed Plex Server on my Drobo5n and it's been working great even without a mSSD that can improve performance. I don't know or really care about the processor or other specs as long as it works well and performs well.
9991
One computer at a time. For shared storage you would want something with shared storage built in like a NAS or SAN.
2261831
i am not a hard core programmer, and if you are a hardcore programmer and know your stuff, you might as well order all your own hardware and put your own laptop together. But as far as I know from my use of this machine, I would not trust it to do anything that would require a lot of memory or storage. It offers an asus web cloud storage software, but i don't use this. As far as internet browsing and research goes, how serious you make this is up to you, but the computer seems a bit flaky and will just start clicking on things i don't want it to.hope this was helpful.
1692317
Haven't used it for that. More/less planned to use as media server. But with alot of content (0.5TB-1TB) it's not ideal.
1545116
At the time I purchased my Zenbook, 4GB was tops. That, along with the Core i7 processor, has not limited my work with spreadsheets, presentations or simulations. I understand the newer models are a bit more robust, but for business purposes, I have been very satisfied.
101221
I considered doing this myself, as the Mini is built from OTS parts. I even purchased the identical case ($200). However, once I created a spreadsheet and entered all of the parts and prices (as best I could; still can't find a source for the exact DOM used in the Mini), the total came to within $30 of the iXsystems price for the diskless Mini. So, is that a fair price for a guaranteed-to-work, out-of-the-box solution? OTOH, if you don't build an exact duplicate, you *can* save some money. But, as Brian L. Bailey pointed out, it comes down to the value you place on your time and data. In any case, whether you buy the diskless Mini or roll your own, be sure to use at least 8GB ECC memory (the Mini has two 8GB ECC DIMMs; ECC should be a ZFS requirement) and server-grade disk drives (Western Digital Red drives are highly recommended), neither of which is as cheap as consumer-grade hardware. Note that FreeNAS requires 8GB base memory plus 1GB per TB of disk space. (See my other answer for Amazon ASINs for DIMMs and Disk drives.) Bottom line: If you value your data, don't scrimp on the hardware. See the FreeNAS web site and forums, such as the thread about "So you want some hardware recommendations?" for more information. On the forum, there are numerous postings by folks who did not adhere to the minimum hardware recommendations for FreeNAS and ZFS and lost all of their data - don't become one of them. Since you still need to back up your data, and backing up, say 6 or 12TB, is no trivial task, I may go ahead and build a second unit using identical parts and locate it in a relative's home. This would help protect our family's data from fire, theft, vandalism, or other disaster.
869206
No this is not basically a small computer as most people think of them. From my understanding it does run on a computer operating system called Linux. However I believe they lock you out of it. They use it as the groundwork for their custom GUI (graphical user interface). It will do some of the same things as a computer such as sending and receiving email or basic web surfing but it was mainly made to watch movies and listen to music. I can't imagine trying to use this as your main web browser or email client. Also many people would find it easy to fill the 250gb with movies and music (myself included).
388114
One answer said you should get one with good consumer reviews. Forget it. Get one with a good sturdy case and a built-in fan. Multiple RAID drives as well. Too expensive? Right. Forget NAS and get a better solution.
1327234
I agree with what was said already, but also want to point out that you should separate data drives from the OS drive. This is a good drive to put lots of data on, an SSD that is much smaller is ideal to put most programs and the operatingsystem on. SSD's are lightening fast and not very expensive, while this drive is fast for rotating storage, but better to minimize accesses on larger drives so they last longer, and take advantage of their massive storage capability -- evenwith an NAS setup. IMHO.