Acer Aspire easyStore AH340-UA230N

[mygiantcircle]

hi Tim:

Will you have a chance to review this product? I am still in search of a NAS/home server and this product seems to deliver a lot of features for $400. As it uses the Intel 1.6ghz Atom processor, would it be reasonable to assume its performance will be on par (or above) the HP LX195 (The easystore has double the memory).

sincerely.

 

[mygiantcircle]

Tim:

One of the reason why I am seriously looking at this is because your review of the LX195 shows the 1.6ghz atom processor performs well. More over, the Acer setup gives you 2Gb of memory versus the 1Gb in the HP, so I would assume the cache performance will be on par with HP's EX sibling. You concluded your HP LX195 review with the following comments:

"But before you pull the trigger, consider that once your file storage needs outstrip the available storage, things get a bit complicated. One way to go would be to install a larger drive. "

"I said earlier that I thought that the omission of the eSATA port, which is present on the EX485/487 was a mistake."

Well, Acer seems to be listening to you as its offering has 3 hotswap bays and esata.

It seems to be a good deal. What am I missing?

I supposed it boils down to WHS's weaknesses such as (according to your notes) inability to control folder locations, no Raid 5, etc.

Anyone can give me some good links to read up on WHS?

Cheers!

 

[thiggins]

I don't think you are missing anything.

What sort of info are you looking for on WHS?

 

[mygiantcircle]

Tim:

I am trying to better understand WHS feature set and limitations. In reading your reviews of the HP MSS, I noticed that WHS

lacks support for Flash drives
lacks automatic downloading, like the built-in Torrent, FTP and HTTP clients
lacks idle disk spin down and programmable shut down and start up.
lacks scheduled local server backup

I am trying to figure out if there are plugins to address those issues?

basically, I am trying to educate myself to determine whether the $400 Acer WHS is a better buy than the $460 QNAP 239. Hardware wise you can't beat the Acer with more memory and more drive bays (plus the Acer already comes with 1TB drive). Functionally both seems to be neck in neck when it comes to speed. I am really trying hard to understand what feature set differences are between the two...

the more I read, the more confusing it gets...

 

[thiggins]

Check this list of add-ins.

 

[mygiantcircle]

tim:

this is awesome! Thank you! Is there a similar site for plugins for Qnap?

In the end I think it's a toss up between the Acer AH340 and Qnap 239. Each has pluses and minuses.

If you are in the market, which would you buy? And btw, when is the release of Qnap Ajax interface?

thank you again.

 

[thiggins]

QNAP calls their add-in system QPKG.

QNAP is rolling out the release of the new interface on different platforms over the next few months. Check the download site for version 3 firmware (it's not there yet).

Sorry, but I don't endorse specific products.

 

[mygiantcircle]

Tim:

Thank you again for your insight and advise.