Windows Home Servers are dropping in price and the Acer easyStore H340 is leading the charge; I like that. This server doesn’t offer a lot of extras like the HP MediaSmart line, but it’s amazingly low price outweighs everything else.
Specs:
- Intel Atom 230
- 1 TB hard drive
- 2 GB DDR2 memory
- 5 USB 2.0 ports
- 1 eSATA port
- Gigabit Ethernet
Hardware:
This isn’t a tiny box. It’s a good size larger than the HP MediaSmart. Up-front there are four removable hard drive trays, along with status lights, USB port, and power button. I can’t tell you how much I love the front facing power button. HP continues to place its power buttons on the back of its WHS which is a pain in the ass. Around back there are 4 USB ports, eSATA port, 10/100/1000 Ethernet jack, and power jack. There isn’t anything missing. This server is fully equipped. 
Performance:
I was slightly concerned that the Atom CPU would disappoint me, but just like with the HP LX195, this guy works just fine. The low power-consumption CPU handled running uTorrent 24/7, unRARing, and backing-up just fine. I didn’t notice any hiccups or performance issues at all when using this server.
Software:
HP has dedicated a lot to building-up an extensive suite of applications to enhance its line of MediaSmart WHS. The EX line can do everything from stream content to iPhones, back-up Macs, transcode video on the fly, host a photo sharing site, and all this is done through a refined user interface.
Acer hasn’t done any of this with the easyStore. Instead, the company installed a couple of WHS add-ons and shipped the product. That’s fine with me. I could care less about all the extra crap loaded on HP’s boxes – except the OS X compatablilty. Windows Home Server is a solid piece of software by itself and there are a ton of additional add-ons that users can easy install themselves. As long as the server provides a reliable file storage and back-up solution, I don’t think you can ask for more.
There is one thing: OS X backups. The easyStore H340 doesn’t support Time Machine and so it cannot back-up OS X natively like all the new HP LX and EX MediaSmart WHS can.
Price:
This thing is a a great deal at its $399 MSRP. That’s almost the same price of the HP LX195, but comes with a 1TB hard drive instead of 640GB. Plus, it’s $200 less than the 750GB EX485 and $350 less than the 1.5TB EX487. Those HP servers do feature all of the benefits above, but you could add three 1TB drives for a total of 4TB and still come under the cost of the top HP MediaSmart. Storage capacity tops software in my book.
Conclusion:
Besides the small downside of not being Time Machine compatable, I cannot think of a reason to buy any other NAS/WHS over the Acer easyStore H340. The hardware is solid, the performance is acceptable, and the price is stellar at $399. It’s even better at Amazon: this model is $349 right now.
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I just happen to purchase this unit on Amazon this morning for $353 overnight because my diy unit crap out… and it’s too loud anyways. I hope this Acer is quiet and well built. Can’t wait for tomorrow to set this baby up.
I’m very curious about the noise as well. Once you set it up, can you respond and let me know? Coincidently my DIY software raid box crapped out too.
The one fan is quite enough. Never bother me.
If it is free I will take it happily otherwise I will just build a box for the same thing.
How well does the Atom processor support streaming/transcoding of media? If I try streaming to my XBMC, will I get stutter problems?
this might help… looks solid to stream HD media.
http://www.nas-pro.com/nas/nas-speed-test-comparisons
Jason,
Pros: The H340 streams video very well . I am using it on a 100Mb network to stream MP4 video to my Xbox and it is very smooth and no hiccups. I have even streamed to two devices at one time without a problem. Also a great file server.
Cons: The Atom processor that it comes with cannot handle transcoding. What takes 3 hours to transcode on my Pentium 4 machine took 23 hours of 100 percent dedicated processor time on the H340. The Macaffe software that it ships with installed is out of date and they try and extort $50 from you to turn off the red error light that Macaffe causes. The worst con is Acers support. Be prepared to shell out $59.95 to Acer off the bat for an hour of support.
I was concerned about the noise as well as I read another review talking about it being loud. I ended up purchasing it anyway as part of a package that included a second TB drive at no charge and can verify it is quite quiet!
I am very happy with my Acer H340 and Windows Home Server as a whole. I even put extra information together for people wondering whether WHS is for them or not and it’s available here if you want to take a look, Windows Home Server Info
can this whs take hardrives greater then 1tb (1.5tb or 2)?
Yes.
Is the 4tb a hard limit or can I add 3 1.5 tb drives?
Does anyone know how to setup the H340 from a mac? There doesn’t seem to be any WHS connector for mac so I can’t get anywhere. As I understand, once WHS has been setup, I can remote desktop into it…. but what’s the starting point for us MAC people?
Aaron,
It requires you have either a Windows XP or Windows Vista machine to run the console setup software. They don’t even support Windows 2003 server or any Windows 2000 os.
I did my initial setup using Virtual PC on my PowerMac. There is a connector for the mac, available from http://blogs.technet.com/homeserver/archive/2009/04/29/running-the-windows-home-server-console-on-a-mac.aspx
but I’m not sure you can use this to initially get the server up and running. You may need to either emulate a PC or borrow someone’s to start out.
Hope this helps – it worked for me.
Anyone know if I can just buy this H340 case from Acer ? I would have bought this unit except I am looking to build a HTPC/NAS with an ATOM/ION chipset.