Intel Intel Celeron 420 1.6GHz 512MB DDR2 Entry Storage System (SS4200-EHW) Intel Celeron Processor 420 running at 1.6 GHz 512 MB SS4200-EHW

Pros: Great starting platform for a home NAS. Been using an old Dell server (Pentium III) until now. Figured it was time to upgrade. Anyway, this being the base hardware only, you'll need to either configure a serial console view or get ahold of a PCIe x1 video card and a PCIe x1 extender. I did the latter. In the BIOS you can configure the power light blink/non-blink status BTW. And if you're booting FreeNAS from a USB stick like I am, you'll need to change the boot order. Pretty straight-forward stuff. But if you're looking for a complete solution out-of-the-box, look elsewhere.

Another plus is that it support the 2tb Hitachi enterprise drives!! Using FreeNAS and ZFS (Raid 5), I get 5.36tb of useable space.

Cons: No power cord..

Ha ha, just kidding.. I have dozens of spare power cords.. And even if I didn't, I'd go buy one.. They're like $3. Whiners.

Other Thoughts: I'd like to see these with an internal USB slot to stick the USB drive into. Just seems a little less likely to get bumped/jarred/unplugged if it's on the inside. And a spare floppy style power connector off the power supply would be cool in case I wanted to use a CF to IDE adapter (1 IDE port on the mobo) instead of the USB stick.

All in all, I'm super stoked with the unit.

Pros: Fast. I've seen 90 -80 mb/sec on a gigabit connection. Hard drives, ram and processor are all upgradable. Like having a second computer. The unit is whisper quiet when running and very responsive.

Cons: Headless (hw means hardware only - no video output). No software, must install your own NAS software! No power cable (that's a new one)!! If running Vail (next gen Windows Home Server) it will install with the 512 ram stick, but at least1 gig of ram is a must. Unit is big.

Other Thoughts: There are tricks to installing Vail and FreeNAS, etc, so be very technically oriented. Ram and cpu installation similar to installing in a computer. The advantages of cpu install gives the unit transcoding power -- perfect for streaming to your ps3. wegotserved.com is the place to go to find out more.

Pros: Price

Cons: It would have been very nice if NewEgg would have stated on the product screen "NO NAS software included"! Instead they show "RAID5 ready for home and office use". I ordered it on Monday, got it on Thursday, installed my drives, plugged it in. Also there was not a power cord for the system. The power light just blinked. When looking for info, discovered this model was hardware only, no NAS software!!!!! I was more than just a little MIFFED! So now I'm buying a Transcend DoM module from another MAJOR online hardware vendor (Newegg will not let me list there name, but it begins with the same name of an animal you would find in a local Zoo or Africa. Common Variety is the Bengal....) so that I can make this "RAID5 ready for home and office use" NAS functional. Newegg get with it, and advertise correctly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pros: Specs. read well

Cons: Arrived DOA (I did not order mine from NewEgg, however; I've never had a problem w/NewEgg. Mine came from another reseller). This thing was D.O.A. Documentation was thin, user support/tech was NULL. "I bought it, it /should/ work, therefore the problem is me." Before I bought I looked at reviews; it seemed good. I decked it out with 4, 1.5T Seagates (that were on its list of "approved drives"); the thing would never address on network, I could never get to config. interface. & because I bought from from [a reseller] nobody took ownership of exactly who's problem it was. Dead dead dead x-(. So: maybe you'll be lucky; there's 1 bad one in every 1000 pcs; I just got unlucky. Hopefully yours will work. But for the $600 (+ about 30 hours) I spent trying to get this to just work, and didn't, it was a waste. I should've just gone w/a more generic brand NAS.

Other Thoughts: There's probably a reason this chassis had been discontinued...

Pros: Very Inexpensive entry, easy to use as is or better yet, with WHS. Well made. Running four drives 24/7 one year with no problems.

Cons: Rare reports of PSU problems. You will want a $30 to $40 UPS. There are more green systems (for more money)

Other Thoughts: I have had one of these for one year running WHS. Gone from 3TB initially to 7 TB (1x1tb, 3x2tb). I use it as network share media server (to two WD TVlive and a xbox on my home net), backup for a couple of PCs, and a playon server.
Contrary to what you might read, setting up WHS (1 or Vail) is easy to do headless. Headless WHS1 and Vail instructions and help can be found at "wegotserved dot com" forums where Intel ss4200 (aka Fujitsu) has its own subforum.

You can find discussions of cheap upgrades such as inexpensive dual core processor and ram bump (a good idea if you are going to use transcode video with playon)

There is also a wiki around for those who wish to keep stock.

Jut bought one more today for my sister.

Pros: the -EHW is the hardware only version. you will need to install a server OS to use it. It will run WHS, or you can install FreeNAS on a DOM. you can also convert it to a -E that runs EMC nas software, but you will also need a DOM or other IDE storage device. there are lots of FAQ/ wiki on this: google..

Cons: ---

Other Thoughts: these are hard to find, especially at this price. I've been running a -E with 4 1tb WD greens for a year with no probs, and bought one of these to build a WHS box.

Pros: Good Hardware. Built like a small tank. I am goint to make this work and probably get some more. This would be a good deal if it actually came with all the stuff needed to make it work. I think I am going to like this in the end which will be another 10 or 20 days (when I get all the parts needed to make this go).

Cons: This is anything but "ready" the current item here on New Egg has the tag line "RAID5 ready for home and office use"-- THIS HAS NO OPERATING SYSTEM AND NO USABLE VIDEO WHEN YOU GET IT. SO IT DOESNT COME READY TO BE ANYTHING BUT A DOORSTOP.

Other Thoughts: I purchased a DOM, a PCIE Extender and a couple cables for serial access and fortunately I have access to Windows Storage Server 2008, if that install then this could be nice. Otherwise will try Openfiler or FreeNaS. NOt too interested in WHS for me, I don't like the fuzzy file stoage routine. Device seems good but this is a lot of work for a single storage unit. If the install goes well it could be replicated and that is the only thing that makes this (potentially) worthwhile to me. If you are not in the IT business this is something you should stay away from IMO. It doesnt work unless you know how to install an OS on it and believe me it is nothing like installing an OS on a regular PC. If installing an OS on a PC easy, this is hard and requires additional hardware.
6 Foot DB9 Female - NM9-6FF 1 1.95
Female Null Modem Cable

** CROSSED PINOUT ** 000-F903 1 1.65
Serial Port Cable DB-9
Male TO 10 PIN IDC Socket,
Flexible PCI-Express 1x to 16x Riser Extender Cable,
DOM

Pros: I buyed it at low price on newegg. Perfect NAS for me. Well designed. Well ventilated.

Cons: No power cord ! Not a problem for me, got a lot of spares, but kinda weird. Also, you need a bit of knowledge to set this up; expect extra costs (CF Adaptor, Molex to floppy drive power cable, home-made serial cable or DTK/Intel DE-9 + Null modem + cable, PCIe 1x Extension etc...). Not really for beginners.

One last thing: glued pads on feet, velcro-like, fell of very quickly.

Other Thoughts: I buy this to set Freenas on it. Already built my own serial cable (special pinout) and working well. More than happy with the whole thing at a fair price. But IMHO, 200$+, w/o HDD is NOT fair price. Wait for specials.

Pros: - Great deal, Friday 11/19 Shellshocker #3 deal of the day.
- I am acquiring a Compact Flash-to-IDE adapter and will likely run either imbedded EMC software or FreeNAS. Until the CF adapter arrives, I will attempt the software bringup using a USB memory stick as a boot drive. Websites such as wegotserved.com and ss4200.pbworks.com have a plethora of useful info on the SS4200-EHW (as well as SS4200-E).

Cons: - Dinging 1 egg since the package did not include an AC power cord. Not sure if it should have been included in the box since the picture of the box contents from the Newegg site does not show a power cord. I contacted the Newegg customer service team who is researching if I should have received the AC power cord. Can others share their experience as to whether they received an AC power cord with this package? Thanks.

Pros: This is easy to set up and use. You can choose raid 1 with 2 or 4 disks installed. You can choose raid 5 with 4 disks installed.

It is possible to load other software on the unit. It also has a serial console port. ( ss4200.pbworks.com has all the info about this device.)

Cons: Word around the internet is that a failed raid array from this machine is hard to recover data from

You must use 2 or 4 drives. You can't use 1 or 3 drives.

Other Thoughts: Always replace drives as soon as they fail, so that your data is rebuilt across all drives.

Keep another copy of everything. As they say, RAID is not the same as BACKUP. I have two of these, and back them up to each other with DirSyncPro (freeware).