Price : Too low to display
The Intel Entry Storage System SS4200-E is a complete yet flexible hardware and software Network Attached Storage (NAS) solution that instantly adds storage capacity to small business, small office/home office (SOHO), and home networks. With four USB 2.0 ports and four SATA ports (3 Gb/s), the SS4200-E is a powerful system that can be connected to most digital devices as well as business and home networks, for shared, centralized data access. The SS4200EHW is the hardware only SKU and does not include software.
This review is from : Intel SS4200EHW Entry Storage System
Intel SS4200E Slipstream WHS . The reviewer By K. Wong is wrong on some of his comment, you can install WHS on to this SS4200-EHW without any additional hardware or cable, just need a 2gb minimum usb flash drive and you can slipstream WHS into the flash drive and you can do it unattended using nlite or qs.ini since WHS is already automated. its a little tricky i have to try it like 4-5 times before i got it to work. i own the SS4200E model which have the DOM flash NAS, its just too basic for me i couldn't remote home from work and other thing i want to do. WHS work very well with this, you can even upgrade the memory to 2GB using 1 slot, and cpu if you desire more horsepower you can even upgrade that to dual core use the E2200 Allendale 2.2GHz or 2.4GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor.
i got this item recently for a very very good deal only 150 free shipping, not from amazon of course, i hate amazon free shipping take forever! got mine item within 3days from n e w e g g! beside that the quality of this SS4200E are very good, heavier than i thought.
if you want to slipstream your whs into this box google for slipstream whs and the article from wegotserved stated something about dos driver, this mean for you to get intel sata driver, network driver etc... don't need the chipset driver, you can get all the driver from intel site. you don't need mouse and keyboard or anything else to set this up i use anothher computer with xp to connect to the nas after it finish install and setup the final admin pass and finalize the installation.
if you don't know much about computer buying this SS4200-EHW without software is going to create headache for you. and the SS4200E will only work if 2 hard drive is install, will not work with one hard drive or 3 hard drives. i don't care what's the manual said, it will not work with one hard drive.
Intel SS4200E Slipstream WHS . The reviewer By K. Wong is wrong on some of his comment, you can install WHS on to this SS4200-EHW without any additional hardware or cable, just need a 2gb minimum usb flash drive and you can slipstream WHS into the flash drive and you can do it unattended using nlite or qs.ini since WHS is already automated. its a little tricky i have to try it like 4-5 times before i got it to work. i own the SS4200E model which have the DOM flash NAS, its just too basic for me i couldn't remote home from work and other thing i want to do. WHS work very well with this, you can even upgrade the memory to 2GB using 1 slot, and cpu if you desire more horsepower you can even upgrade that to dual core use the E2200 Allendale 2.2GHz or 2.4GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor.
i got this item recently for a very very good deal only 150 free shipping, not from amazon of course, i hate amazon free shipping take forever! got mine item within 3days from n e w e g g! beside that the quality of this SS4200E are very good, heavier than i thought.
if you want to slipstream your whs into this box google for slipstream whs and the article from wegotserved stated something about dos driver, this mean for you to get intel sata driver, network driver etc... don't need the chipset driver, you can get all the driver from intel site. you don't need mouse and keyboard or anything else to set this up i use anothher computer with xp to connect to the nas after it finish install and setup the final admin pass and finalize the installation.
if you don't know much about computer buying this SS4200-EHW without software is going to create headache for you. and the SS4200E will only work if 2 hard drive is install, will not work with one hard drive or 3 hard drives. i don't care what's the manual said, it will not work with one hard drive.
Intel SS4200EHW Entry Storage System Reviews
Excellent Windows Home Server Box -- For Geeks Only . The Intel SS4200EHW is a very high quality NAS server. It can also be an excellent value if you shop around. I carefully followed the WHS installation instructions at WeGotServed website to create an 8TB (4x WD20EADS) NAS. Installed on the first attempt. I'm able to get 40 to 60 MBS using a cheap gigabit network. That's very fast for an inexpensive setup. This is not a solution for someone looking for a plug and play WHS solution. However, I'm delighted that for the cost of a bit of study, I'm running an 8TB WHS pro server. BETTER PRICE AT Intel Entry Storage System SS4200-E - NAS - Serial ATA-300 - RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 - Gigabit Ethernet
Update 31-Dec-2009: WHS multi-user performance is greatly improved by defragging. Defragging minimizes head contention. My two user benchmark showed disk reads jumping from 4MBs to 60MBs after defragging. I also increased memory from the stock 512MB to 2GB using a single DIMM from PNY Optima MD4096KD2-800 4GB 2x2GB Dual Channel Kit DDR2 800 MHz CL 5-5-5-15 PC2-6400 Desktop DIMM Memory Module. Surprisingly, the additional memory did not improve the two user benchmark speed. I put back the original 512MB module. Also note defragging isn't as significant a gain in a single user environment. A single user can get 40MBs from a fragmented disk whereas adding a second user pummels performance to 4MBs each.
Update 18-Jan-2010: SS4200-E and green drives are vindicated. I've been puzzled by the performance drop off when copying a large file on the server to two different clients simultaneously. Performance plunged from 45MB/s (excellent performance) for one client copying to 5-15MB/s for two client copying. I've now tried the same benchmark on a totally different configuration; a ReadyNAS NV+ with 4 Seagate 7200RPM drives. You would expect the NV+ and fast drives to outperform the cheaper SS4200-E configuration but this was not the case. The SS4200-E with 4 green drives was 20% faster than the ReadyNAS NV+ configuration when copying to a single client. They both had similar drop-offs for two client copying. This seems to be entirely due to loss of cache and head contention and little to do with server or drive speeds. This is particularly an issue when serving multiple 1080p streams.
Update 15-Mar-2010: I installed PerfectDisk 11 for WHS to defrag the disks. Appears to have done a pretty good job of making files more sequential. Performance increased from a sometimes 45MB/s to a more steady 58MB/s.
Excellent Windows Home Server Box -- For Geeks Only . The Intel SS4200EHW is a very high quality NAS server. It can also be an excellent value if you shop around. I carefully followed the WHS installation instructions at WeGotServed website to create an 8TB (4x WD20EADS) NAS. Installed on the first attempt. I'm able to get 40 to 60 MBS using a cheap gigabit network. That's very fast for an inexpensive setup. This is not a solution for someone looking for a plug and play WHS solution. However, I'm delighted that for the cost of a bit of study, I'm running an 8TB WHS pro server. BETTER PRICE AT Intel Entry Storage System SS4200-E - NAS - Serial ATA-300 - RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 - Gigabit Ethernet
Update 31-Dec-2009: WHS multi-user performance is greatly improved by defragging. Defragging minimizes head contention. My two user benchmark showed disk reads jumping from 4MBs to 60MBs after defragging. I also increased memory from the stock 512MB to 2GB using a single DIMM from PNY Optima MD4096KD2-800 4GB 2x2GB Dual Channel Kit DDR2 800 MHz CL 5-5-5-15 PC2-6400 Desktop DIMM Memory Module. Surprisingly, the additional memory did not improve the two user benchmark speed. I put back the original 512MB module. Also note defragging isn't as significant a gain in a single user environment. A single user can get 40MBs from a fragmented disk whereas adding a second user pummels performance to 4MBs each.
Update 18-Jan-2010: SS4200-E and green drives are vindicated. I've been puzzled by the performance drop off when copying a large file on the server to two different clients simultaneously. Performance plunged from 45MB/s (excellent performance) for one client copying to 5-15MB/s for two client copying. I've now tried the same benchmark on a totally different configuration; a ReadyNAS NV+ with 4 Seagate 7200RPM drives. You would expect the NV+ and fast drives to outperform the cheaper SS4200-E configuration but this was not the case. The SS4200-E with 4 green drives was 20% faster than the ReadyNAS NV+ configuration when copying to a single client. They both had similar drop-offs for two client copying. This seems to be entirely due to loss of cache and head contention and little to do with server or drive speeds. This is particularly an issue when serving multiple 1080p streams.
Update 15-Mar-2010: I installed PerfectDisk 11 for WHS to defrag the disks. Appears to have done a pretty good job of making files more sequential. Performance increased from a sometimes 45MB/s to a more steady 58MB/s.
Intel SS4200EHW Entry Storage System Opinions
Careful this unit will not boot! . The description listed is incorrect and says this contains software to boot, however it does not. For the SS4200-E, there are two models, the SS4200-E and the SS4200-EHW. This one is the EHW, which is Hardware Only. Amazon has the other model listed as "Intel SS4200E Entry Storage System with Retrospect Software."
The SS4200-E has software built in and will use the DOM to boot, the EHW version is only hardware, therefore it will try to boot from the hard drives. The only way to install software to the hard drives is to add a PCI Express x1 video card and use a riser board to attach it (there is no way to attach it within the case since there is no room for it).
Edit: It is now known that you can load WHS on this model via a USB flash drive.
Careful this unit will not boot! . The description listed is incorrect and says this contains software to boot, however it does not. For the SS4200-E, there are two models, the SS4200-E and the SS4200-EHW. This one is the EHW, which is Hardware Only. Amazon has the other model listed as "Intel SS4200E Entry Storage System with Retrospect Software."
The SS4200-E has software built in and will use the DOM to boot, the EHW version is only hardware, therefore it will try to boot from the hard drives. The only way to install software to the hard drives is to add a PCI Express x1 video card and use a riser board to attach it (there is no way to attach it within the case since there is no room for it).
Edit: It is now known that you can load WHS on this model via a USB flash drive.
Great HW and price to match...very rare combo . I agree with the other reviewers...to a point. It does have two installation options. Either install based on Intel's suggestions of connecting a x1/x16 extender, pci-e graphics card, and usb dvd/keyboard/mouse. This is the easier route (but also costs additional money to purchase). The easiest route is to create a usb key of a slipstreamed WHS installation. I say easiest because once you learn to slipstream correctly, its a piece of cake.
I bought the SS4200-E that came with the EMC software. I've read lots of reviews and the EMC software is not horrible. It is very functional and works flawlessly. It will create drive letters on the PC for the network drives, back up software was really good, DLNA server and iTunes server worked wonderfully, and the web interface gave all the information (and more) about what was going on in the box.
I took the gamble and switched over to WHS. Its well documented how good WHS is so I will not comment on that. I will say I did the install over usb key (using instruction from WeGotServer) and while I made a few mistakes, I was able to recover from them. If your technically challenged (lol, like I used to be) do things the safe way and purchase the extra hardware and install the Intel suggested way.
The difference between WHS and EMC software is obviously WHS is customizable with add-ins and EMC is not. I have added Twonky Media Server and WHIIST to my WHS. EMC is more snappier on most functions, especially when using the DLNA media server. Unfortunately, at this time, WHS PP3 is is breaking many add-ins for WHS and several of the ones I wanted to use would not install or function properly. Certainly time will pass and these will be fixed.
To cut this short, if you buy the SS4200-EHW you have no choice but to add WHS (or some version of Linux), but if you buy the SS4200-E it comes with EMC and you have the option of installing WHS. I was very happy using the EMC software, but I also bought WHS at the same time I bought the SS4200-E. Had I known the EMC software was going to be as good as it was, I would have held off on buying WHS to a later date. I'm sure I would have wanted to upgrade at some point, but for the immediate moment I would have been totally happy with the EMC software.
I bought the SS4200-E that came with the EMC software. I've read lots of reviews and the EMC software is not horrible. It is very functional and works flawlessly. It will create drive letters on the PC for the network drives, back up software was really good, DLNA server and iTunes server worked wonderfully, and the web interface gave all the information (and more) about what was going on in the box.
I took the gamble and switched over to WHS. Its well documented how good WHS is so I will not comment on that. I will say I did the install over usb key (using instruction from WeGotServer) and while I made a few mistakes, I was able to recover from them. If your technically challenged (lol, like I used to be) do things the safe way and purchase the extra hardware and install the Intel suggested way.
The difference between WHS and EMC software is obviously WHS is customizable with add-ins and EMC is not. I have added Twonky Media Server and WHIIST to my WHS. EMC is more snappier on most functions, especially when using the DLNA media server. Unfortunately, at this time, WHS PP3 is is breaking many add-ins for WHS and several of the ones I wanted to use would not install or function properly. Certainly time will pass and these will be fixed.
To cut this short, if you buy the SS4200-EHW you have no choice but to add WHS (or some version of Linux), but if you buy the SS4200-E it comes with EMC and you have the option of installing WHS. I was very happy using the EMC software, but I also bought WHS at the same time I bought the SS4200-E. Had I known the EMC software was going to be as good as it was, I would have held off on buying WHS to a later date. I'm sure I would have wanted to upgrade at some point, but for the immediate moment I would have been totally happy with the EMC software.
NAS . Good Product, easy configuration and very friendly. If you are looking for a storage for home or small office this is a good product for file manager of a little file server, and multi media storage.
Great product for advanced users . The exterior design of this unit is great for my taste, although I expected it to be smaller - it's almost the size of a desktop case, but that's just me reading the description inattentively. It has sturdy supports that make it hard to knock the thing over accidentally - unless you kick it really hard. The case is easy to open and has all the necessary cabling inside - you don't have to buy any additional SATA or power cables. The physical hard drive installation is easy once you figure out how to do it right :) Once you power it up, it's very quiet except for the first few seconds.
Now to the configuration part. I have two 1Tb hard drives in a mirror arrangement, a Seagate and a Samsung. I used FreeNAS 8; there is a good guide on their website, but basically you have to get a 1Gb (or bigger) USB stick and either burn a FreeNAS image on it using appropriate software or make a bootable CD first, boot your PC from it and create a live USB from the CD menu (that's the option I used).
Once the device boots up, you can access it via a nice graphical UI. The interface makes the basic configuration easy, plus there's a description for each of the parts on the website. The RAID partition was created in just a few seconds. I haven't quite figured out some of the advanced security features, but otherwise the unit has been working flawlessly for about 2 weeks now. I am accessing it through a CIFS share from my Win7 PC.
Can't comment on the performance as I only access it through a 54Mbps wireless network, but that's enough for now. Also note that the Ethernet cable is not included.
Now to the configuration part. I have two 1Tb hard drives in a mirror arrangement, a Seagate and a Samsung. I used FreeNAS 8; there is a good guide on their website, but basically you have to get a 1Gb (or bigger) USB stick and either burn a FreeNAS image on it using appropriate software or make a bootable CD first, boot your PC from it and create a live USB from the CD menu (that's the option I used).
Once the device boots up, you can access it via a nice graphical UI. The interface makes the basic configuration easy, plus there's a description for each of the parts on the website. The RAID partition was created in just a few seconds. I haven't quite figured out some of the advanced security features, but otherwise the unit has been working flawlessly for about 2 weeks now. I am accessing it through a CIFS share from my Win7 PC.
Can't comment on the performance as I only access it through a 54Mbps wireless network, but that's enough for now. Also note that the Ethernet cable is not included.
Awesome device for a tinkerer . Corrections on previous comments, adding a video card is an additional way, but not the only way to access the system to install/reinstall software. Console redirection works and you can do a 'headless' install of windows via USB. Additionally any os that can be bootstrapped to a pxe boot system works fine as well. You can also upgrade to any LGA775 65 nm CPU (I believe, I have a E4300 in mine) and up to 4GB of memory.
This is a great little unit, I've been playing with it with 2 drives in while I decide what I want to install on it (no offense, but the EMC software is ok at best) and am really liking Freebsd 7 + ZFS though I'd save a bit of power if I can find another DOM unit to install on. For the money this is a nice speedy unit (EMC software aside) and I wouldn't hesitate to get another one. Though fairly high power use compared to other soho nas units, its an inexpensive storage/torrent box with a gige port for under ~$500 US with (right now) 2x1.5 TB drives in it. I dont think I could build a chassis that would hold 4 drives for the same price (but I might be wrong).
Additionally the 3 stars for ease of use and installation are because the docs that come with the unit could be better (if you install a drive with an MBR on it, the system will try to boot to that drive instead of the DOM, which hangs the unit) as well as the native software.
This is a great little unit, I've been playing with it with 2 drives in while I decide what I want to install on it (no offense, but the EMC software is ok at best) and am really liking Freebsd 7 + ZFS though I'd save a bit of power if I can find another DOM unit to install on. For the money this is a nice speedy unit (EMC software aside) and I wouldn't hesitate to get another one. Though fairly high power use compared to other soho nas units, its an inexpensive storage/torrent box with a gige port for under ~$500 US with (right now) 2x1.5 TB drives in it. I dont think I could build a chassis that would hold 4 drives for the same price (but I might be wrong).
Additionally the 3 stars for ease of use and installation are because the docs that come with the unit could be better (if you install a drive with an MBR on it, the system will try to boot to that drive instead of the DOM, which hangs the unit) as well as the native software.
Intel SS4200E Network Storage System . Item arrived on a timely basis in manufacturer's packaging. One caution - there are 2 models of this item: the SS4200E and the SS4200EHW. The "E" model includes flash memory and operating software, the HW model does not.
Even though advertised as the "E" model, it is actually the "EHW" - without the software. I was aware of this when I ordered, and it has completely met my expectations. It is extremely well-built, runs quietly and efficiently, and does everything it represented to do.. Would buy again.
Even though advertised as the "E" model, it is actually the "EHW" - without the software. I was aware of this when I ordered, and it has completely met my expectations. It is extremely well-built, runs quietly and efficiently, and does everything it represented to do.. Would buy again.
Cons Review
Not as advertised . I received my SS4200-EHW today. It came without power cord, network cable or the backup software that is advertised by Amazon. I spoke with Intel and they told me that you have to order the SS4200-E model to get these items. In addition, the connector mechanism for the disks does not have enough room for the cables to be inserted into the disk drives. It is a very different disk attachment arrangement from a PC (supposedly to reduce vibration on the disks). However the 90 degree Sata cable connectors don't fit unless you bend the connector on the disk a little bit. This is definately not ideal.
Recommendation from Intel. Return the product to Amazon and order the SS4200-E model.
Recommendation from Intel. Return the product to Amazon and order the SS4200-E model.
Feature Intel SS4200EHW Entry Storage System
- Flexible Network Attached Storage (NAS) solution that instantly adds storage capacity for small business and home networks.
- Includes 4 USB 2.0 ports and 2 eSATA ports; Intel Celeron Processor 420 running at 1.6 GHz
- Supports up to up to 4 3.5-inch SATA hard disks for up to 3 TB of secure storage
- EMC Retrospect backup software; out-of-box RAID
- 3-Year limited warranty
Related Post
- AkiTio MyCloud Duo Personal / Small Business 2Bay Network Attach
Storage . Free iPhone/iPad Android APP Ready, RAID 0 1 JBOD - Intellimover Transfer Your PC Deluxe
- Iomega StorCenter ix4-200d 8TB (4 x 2TB) Network Storage Cloud Edition
- 35439
Product Details
EAN : 0735858199599UPC : 735858199599
MPN : SS4200-EHWNA
Brand : Intel
Weight : 20 pounds
Height : 10 inches
Length : 22 inches
Width : 18 inches
Binding : Personal Computers
Manufacturer : Intel
Model : SS4200EHWNA
Publisher : Intel
SKU : DHSS4200EHWNA
Studio : Intel
Where To Buy
You can buy Intel SS4200EHW Entry Storage System on Amazon . Click here to Read More
