tchen
New Member
Replying to my own question: No, they still work.
http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/western-digital-green-drives-wdidle3-exe.18156/
IIRC, 5 mins was the max. Some drives did not let you fully disable the head parking so that's the best you can do.
pcan
New Member
My thoughts about the OS:
FreeNAS is a great solution if you (a computer professional) will do the management and keep a watchful eye over the machine. Should the server be "managed" from the typical Windows power user, I would certainly choose Windows server instead (the low-cost version, eventually). Windows server has many safeguards that prevents the would-be administrator from shooting on its foots; basic issues such as the user directory and security are working satisfactorily with the defaults. The Windows 8 built-in file history and offline folders are simple to use and they make a good enough backup system for most people. There are many auxiliary features that could be useful in a small office.
About the hardware:
I have bought a dozen microservers for the company where I work and I use one at home myself. They are a really good cheap server, but aren't such a great enterprise server. I would rather avoid them, if the budget is at least decent. Microserver's CPU is weak and the hardware quality is... well, not the best in town.
On small offices I preferentially use machines with dual power supply. People can exchange a faulty UPS without service disruption, and a clueless user will not disconnect both power cords when it needs to connect the phone charger to the wall outlet ,-) If this option is not available, I lately specify the Dell T20 (the xeon model, with ECC RAM).
FreeNAS is a great solution if you (a computer professional) will do the management and keep a watchful eye over the machine. Should the server be "managed" from the typical Windows power user, I would certainly choose Windows server instead (the low-cost version, eventually). Windows server has many safeguards that prevents the would-be administrator from shooting on its foots; basic issues such as the user directory and security are working satisfactorily with the defaults. The Windows 8 built-in file history and offline folders are simple to use and they make a good enough backup system for most people. There are many auxiliary features that could be useful in a small office.
About the hardware:
I have bought a dozen microservers for the company where I work and I use one at home myself. They are a really good cheap server, but aren't such a great enterprise server. I would rather avoid them, if the budget is at least decent. Microserver's CPU is weak and the hardware quality is... well, not the best in town.
On small offices I preferentially use machines with dual power supply. People can exchange a faulty UPS without service disruption, and a clueless user will not disconnect both power cords when it needs to connect the phone charger to the wall outlet ,-) If this option is not available, I lately specify the Dell T20 (the xeon model, with ECC RAM).
I've used it to replicate from an office to an off site location. It works very well. Like any server, if you set it up with SSD or SAS drives the performance is above average and the interface is simple to use. In fact, I use it at my house as a home server and replicate to the data center just to keep a copy safe.
