When we see the exorbitant prices of quality NAS, we wonder why this little micro server is so cheap. Of course, it comes with no operating system, so it takes a little more effort and expertise that Synology, but not much: I installed the extraordinary OpenMediaVault in no time without any problem . Plex, Transmission, Sabnzbd +, everything works fine. The performances are superb: it is one of the few NAS able to transcode 720p with Plex (even being tickled 1080 in low flows). This NAS comes with an array of pre-installed 2GB RAM, there are two slots for up to 8GB. The four SATA bays are unfortunately not hot-plug, despite the sleds quick access; a 250GB disk is pre-installed. The door (removable) contains all hardware to install the drives on sleds, and That a Torx key: the class. Finally, it has a slot for an optical disk, but you can also install another hard drive. The connectors are legion: four USB front, two rear, one on the motherboard. There is also an internal SATA connector and eSATA on the back - unfortunately the eSATA connects one disc and not a cluster. Finally, there are two mini-PCI slots, convenient to connect a USB 3.0 card (USB ports are unfortunately all USB 2.0) and / or PCI RAID card to hang a bunch of external drives (I mean, here we come in gluttony)
The motherboard is installed on a drawer easy to remove, everything is really well designed, well done HP. The noise level is also perfect, the machine is equipped with a huge fan and very efficient muffler.
My setup: boot on a 2.5 "drive connected to the internal USB port housed in the optical bay, 4 4TB drives in sleds, a 4TB drive in the optical bay connected to the internal SATA port, basta, there's more space and it works nickel, available in 11TB RAID 6. Thanks to the gigabit ethernet, file transfers are done at lightning speed. I am also very satisfied with OpenMediaVault (openmediavault.org if you're interested to see) a nice package Debian-based and designed for media servers, super easy and quick to install.
I recommend the Proliant G7, it's a great project to box at an unbeatable price.
