ASUS ships Windows Home Server-packin' TS mini NAS drive
By Darren Murph 
posted November 18th 2009 11:34AM
posted November 18th 2009 11:34AM
The Windows Home Server train has all but stopped this year, but with CES just around the bend (and Microsoft's software engineers free from the burden of readying Windows 7 for launch), it looks as if the steam is picking up once more. Hot on the heels of its first 3D laptop, ASUS has introduced its TS mini NAS drive for home media junkies. Outfitted with a 1.66GHz Atom N280 processor, 1GB or 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a gigabit Ethernet socket, six USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA connector and a smattering of LED indicators, the drive can be purchased as we speak in 500GB and 2TB editions. Aside from streaming multimedia throughout your home network, the device can also back up ten total PCs automatically and subtly make you dependent on its reliability. Which, as you know so well, is just a precursor for bowing down when the Robot Apocalypse gets underway. 
Windows Home Server = gimped by design.
you really have no clue what you are talking about. WHS is a very highly rated home server solution.
O rly? Please justify your argument, quoting evidence as necessary.
Did MS fix the file corruption issue with WHS?
@BillG. I guess you have been in a closet. That was fixed well over a year ago if not 2 years ago.
glamajamma = gimped by ignorance
Linux can do anything WHS can do but it has less hardware requirements, a smaller footprint and wait for it...... no additional cost.
I thought the same, and figured why not stick with what works, unix. There was that crazy sale on slickdeals for one of those HP miniservers though and I bit, and have been very impressed with the functionality after a few tweaks and easy removal of the HP tools I didn't care for. Highly recommended. :)
I guess this is alright, I mean it is Asus and you can always ask for a WHS refund.
"Linux can do anything WHS can do but it has less hardware requirements, a smaller footprint and wait for it...... no additional cost"
Except pool drives of varying sizes, with the ability to add new drives of any size to the pool at will. You know, the main selling point of WHS. There is a Linux-BASED solution that will do that - unRAID - but wait for it... it costs money and is limited to specific hardware and cannot use external USB drives.
Weird, I was just considering getting a server for the house...
How much in £ is this?
Read link says $349 and $529.
As for how much they'll wotk out to in £s "if" they land over here in the UK is another matter.
i love mine. the single best thing i've ever done to my environment and nerves. my parents have one, and i don't ever have to care about "what if it fails, as i have to get it all working again" :), i have one, and my friend at a bar has one for all his business.
that + deploying ssds to all the clients == biggest step forward in computing that i've ever seen.
so, no, glamajamma, you're very wrong. but it's okay, as it's so cool to attack microsofts to show the own intellect.
oh i like the idea of a home server ery much. i kinda wish apple would have a go not for fanboi reasons but if they could make a box with itunes syncro and be able to dish out my media to anmywhere at home or beyond it would rock my socks.
@glamajamma
You obviously have NO clue what you're talking about to make such completely uninformed comment. WHS is probably one of the best products MS has released in the past few years. While NAS and other Linux alternatives are available, MS created a consumer-friendly server that is easy to set-up with such a small learning curve that a soccer mom with 4 kids could set it up. It may not be considered the "best" server solution, but I know of no other mainstream server solution for the average consumer that is more suited for the masses. The only thing MS needs to do is market it better and start getting it in retail stores. I guarantee once you get one, you will wonder what took you so long.
SOOOO Close. This is perfect...or at least it would be if it had at least the Atom 330. The N280 has a Passmark score of 316 where the Atom 330 score is 620. I'm sure the N280 is fine for almost everything a home server is supposed to do except transcode. I want to be able to throw PlayOn on one of these boxes and MediaMall recommends a Passmark score of at least 500 for stutter free transcoding and since this thing probably doesn't even have a GPU let alone a GOOD GPU the new GPU optimized flash wouldn't help in the slightest. I know I can build one myself but I've been doing that for years and the thrill is gone. Guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and get one of the HP systems with more horsepower.
What's your destination for PlayOn? Depending on your home setup, you may not even need PlayOn (or Orb), unless you're transcoding to a console (something I HAPPY to give up when I picked up the ASRock ION 330).
That's what I was thinking. When I upgraded my WHS box to a newer CPU it ran all the better; the speed increase was certainly noticeable. I can't see running it on this CPU. The CPU does a fair amount of work in WHS, it isn't just all I/O.
Personally, I'm holding off on upgrading my current WHS box until next year when I can get a Pineview system and Vail.
I miss NAS the rapper photoshops when referencing storage. That was a staple like Jason on Friday the 13th.
WHS is the best thing to happen to my home network ever. I have got about 10 people to buy one after showing them mine. I have the first HP version available and have no problems at all..
Whatever happened to the Asus D200? That was supposed to be a NAS, Router, DVD Burner all-in-one.
Direct link to ASUS product page
http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=mb22YySzt9LeoWc6
This works with Time Machine right?
Is this TS mini NAS a single drive box or does it hold 2 or more drives?
Thanks.
http://event.asus.com/server/tsmini/
2 -3.5" drives
Do you mean the software or the router? Software - no, I don't think so. My NAS isn't recognized by the Time Machine software on the mac. Router - sure, although not positive how apple is listing the HDD (probably as a network location).
I think the only WHS that support Time Machine are the HP models, which include some exclusive software for Mac integration. I've never tried it only because the Mac I own is an antique Powerbook Pismo with OS 9.
At any rate, to the Linux fanboys, stop your hating. WHS is far easier to use than most Linux solutions. I had considered Linux, but when I read about all the hassles people experience, I decided to give the HP LX195, an entry-level WHS model, a try. So far, it hasn't disappointed. What I've learned in the 6 months of ownership, you can install most standard Windows apps on it, so PlayOn or any other streaming software can be added. It also means you can share printers on it despite Microsoft and HP not listing it as an option. However, be forewarned, doing so could compromise performance or security.
I ran WHS during the 30 day trial and didn't see what all the fuss was about. I basically wanted a central point for all my media and when the 30 days ran out, I just want back to W7 on that box. Backups didn't seem too intuitive, and the fact that i had to password all of my computers was a detriment to the WAF.
which you don't need to have.. (just go to options and allow unsave passwords)
and the backups are fully intuitive, no clue what you didn't liked about it?
and have fun now extending your shares when you need more storage, or losing data when a disk fails, or having to re-make your raid setup for the new disk, or not being able to put a 1tb disk in your storage pool as you 'only' have 1.5tb in the raid. etc etc.
whs makes the life in a networked environment as simple as it can be right now..
@Alan Strangis
Playon can provide Netflix watch instantly and Hulu to devices that don't have those services natively (PS3 [hulu], 360 [hulu], WDTV, any of the other 50 media streamers.).
As such, it is always dissapointing to see these so called 'total solution media servers' that quite obviously would fail to provide common modern services such as Netflix or Hulu to common devices in the home...
Except for the fact it is HULU not these devices that is keeping them from displaying it's contents. The PS3 could play HULU at one time but HULU now checks the browser string and when it sees a PS3 or any other non PC browser it let's you know you are not welcome there.
@ Chad... there is more to 'playing' Hulu than accessing it in a browser window. Just like there is a world of difference watching Netflix on a PS3 via Playon (very rudimentary window showing the contents of your watch instantly queue) and watching it 'natively' via the Netflix disc (HD cover flow, synopses, ratings, browse, play next episode, etc).
How about this... how is a box like this able to serve top quality MKV's to a common household device such as a PS3 or 360?
"how is a box like this able to serve top quality MKV's to a common household device such as a PS3 or 360?"
huh? Last time I checked HULU didn't use MKV's. I said in my first post this thing couldn't even handle HULU let alone an MKV. My reply to you was simply to explain that HULU's management does not WANT you to be able to easily stream HULU to an actual TV and that is why no streaming receivers natively support it.
I have WHS running on my own box. Have three laptops in the house (2 Vista, 1 Windows7) and the server has a 250Gig driver with 2-1TB drives set to duplication mode for storage. I also run Playon (w/Hulu/Netflix) and hook it up to XBox360.
Some comments/thoughts:
Video runs much better through Playon and the AVI's I stream through the mymedia (basically playon reads a folder on the WHS box) than my old Vista/XBox setup.
Backups are a piece of cake and work well. I also like the remote access to my media over the 'net..
Problems:
I had to reboot a few times - seems like if I'm trying to play videos through the Xbox while multiple backups are occurring, WHS (a dual core, 3 Gigs RAM) freeze - seems like a memory leak.
Also, getting drivers to work on your own PC is problematic. Some drivers read the OS version as XP, others NT. Had to play around quite a bit to get my video and sound card to work.
Finally, Itunes won't install on it. I had planned on using the WHS as a house music box and sharing the libary out to the laptops.
@brian: "Finally, Itunes won't install on it. I had planned on using the WHS as a house music box and sharing the libary out to the laptops."
Can't you just run iTunes on the laptops and let them access the files on the WHS?