Hands-On: Tranquil PC T7-HSA Harmony Home Server

The announcement of Windows Home Server at CES in January 2007 signalled an onslaught of hardware innovation from manufacturers, inspired by reference designs from Microsoft and HP’s Mediasmart Server which were showcased during Bill Gates’ keynote.

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With “green” computing becoming ever more important to users, the challenge was laid down for manufacturers to produce small, aesthetically pleasing form factors with low power usage, low heat output and near silent running. At WinHEC 2007, the challenge became more intense - official Microsoft logo requirements would require manufacturers to include tool-less hard drive expansion, and banned wireless adaptors, video connectors, optical drives and keyboard and mouse ports.

The message was clear - Windows Home Server was a new platform, in a brand new computing category and required manufacturers to innovate around a very clear (if a little strict) set of hardware requirements for the new operating system.

Subsequently, over the past 3 months, designs have started popping up from Fujitsu-Siemens, Medion and others to accompany the HP model, but Tranquil PC’s T7-HSA Harmony Home Server is the world’s first Windows Home Server solution to hit the market, shipping last week.

Tranquil PC (http://www.tranquilpc.co.uk) have specialised in developing small and silent systems for the past few years for the home and for business, and are passionate advocates of environmentally friendly computing so it’s easy to see why they’d be quick off the mark with a Windows Home Server system that meets Microsoft’s hardware logo requirements.

We received one of the first production models off the line last week to put through its paces.

What Do You Get?

The Tranquil T7-HSA comes to you very securely packaged with the following contents:

• T7-HSA Home Server

• Windows Home Server System Builder Software Kit (pre-installed), including Windows Home Server Installation DVD, Connector, Restore CD and Manual

• 80w AC/DC Power Adaptor

• T7-HSA Manual

• System Recovery Kit

• Power Cable for 12v USB External Hard Drives (sold separately)

First Looks

Unpacking the contents, the first thing you notice is just how small the T7 is - yes, it looks dinky in the pictures, but it really is very small. Then you pick it up, and boy is it heavy! Tranquil have done a great job of packing a lot of kit into a small package, and with an aluminium casing to support effective heat dissipation, it makes for a very solid feeling piece of hardware. I used to think I’d done a great job with a small footprint self-built home server, but no more!

The T7 is a fanless system, designed to minimize noise during operation - although its low power output means that heat isn’t a huge issue, the case itself resembles a large heatsink with a series of aluminium fins allowing heat to dissipate effectively. It’s a clever design, combining form and function well - whilst there’s no flashy aesthetics on display here, you’d be happy to have the T7 sitting on your desk or on a bookshelf on show to the world.

The front of the case contains a small, barely noticeable power/reset button, and two LEDs - blue for power and red denoting hard disk activity - all delivered with the minimum of fuss.

Around the Back

Around the back, you can see that how the rear of the T7 motherboard and chassis (which is utilized across a number of operating system platforms) has been customized to meet Microsoft’s WHS logo requirements – the mouse/keyboard and video outputs have been capped to create a truly headless unit. Elsewhere, you’ll find 4 USB ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, 12v Power In socket to attach the external PSU, and a pass through 12v Power Out socket from which you can power up to 4 external hard drives. A desk lock socket is also supplied as standard. Rarely for a piece of consumer electonics, the rear of the unit proudly shouts “Made in the UK” – hopefully a seal of quality, but these days, you never know

Under the Hood

Tranquil have historically designed their PC’s to be environmentally-friendly, which is a growing trend across hardware manufacturers nowadays. Given that Windows Home Server is designed to be switched on and operational 24 hours a day, low power requirements, minimized operating costs and near silent running are all key features of the T7 which Tranquil shout about. Indeed, this system is claimed to run at a zero carbon footprint, with Tranquil offsetting the manufacturing and five years of operating impact through tree planting campaigns.

Opening the system up, you can see that Tranquil really have packed a lot into a small package. However, the components are very tricky to access inside the T7′s chassis, making future component upgrades very tricky indeed

Let’s compare the T7-HSA to Microsoft’s Minimum and Recommended specifications for Windows Home Server.

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A full system specification (generated by Sisoft Sandra) is also available for download.

T7-HSA Detailed System Specification

Whilst the T7 packs a big punch in a small form factor, inevitably it comes with some trade-offs. On the plus side, Tranquil have gracefully delivered on all aspects of the minimum specification for Windows Home Server, with the gigabit Ethernet and 512Mb of RAM easily exceeding the bare bones spec. Furthermore, upgrade options to memory and hard drive size ensure that those looking for a more powerful specification are well catered for.

However, the small form factor of the T7 chassis mean that there is only space for one internal hard drive (with 500Gb and 1Tb options available) - this ultimately means that the base specification does not support one of Windows Home Server’s most valuable features, Drive Extender (automatic file duplication to a second hard drive, securing your data in the event of a hard disk failure). That said, Tranquil do offer a range of self-powered external hard drives, which enable you to take advantage of the feature (at an extra cost), so depending on how valuable Drive Extender is to you, vs your need for a small and neat single-device footprint, you can choose your options accordingly.

As a plus point, the T7 is shipping with the choice of Western Digital’s new AV (500Gb option) or GreenPower (1Tb) hard drives, which promise a very low power requirement and near-silent running. Our unit shipped with the 500Gb AV drive, and whilst I could bearly hear it running, the GreenPower drive is said to be even quieter, so if silent running is important to you, both drives are attractive options.

The T7-HSA utilizes the J7F4 motherboard from Jetway, which is a Mini-ITX Socket 370 system, based on VIA’s CN700 chipset. Being headless, strong integrated audio and video performance is not an issue, and the motherboard includes 4 external USB 2.0 ports with separate pass-through power, which provides plenty of scope for future storage expansion, without the need to use up multiple electrical sockets. Full details on the motherboard are available via this document at Jetway’s website.

With regard to the processor, the Socket 370 compatible VIA C7-M is not going to set the world alight, running at 1.5 Ghz but is more than capable of running WHS without penalty. For comparison purposes, he chip is designed to compete with Intel’s Centrino Pentium M platform, and in use, performs well. Full details can be found on the processor over at at Hardware Secrets.

One watch out to bear in mind, however, is that the C7 is not 64-bit compatible, and as you may have read, Microsoft have been dropping heavy hints about processors requiring 64-bit compatibility for future versions of Windows Server (hence the recommended processor specification for Windows Home Server). At this point, it’s too early to guess what the requirements of future versions of WHS may be, but if they migrate the platform to the forthcoming Windows Server 2008 then you should be fine as it’s 32-bit compatible.

Running Windows Home Server

Tranquil PC have provided a clean build of Windows Home Server (which for me is a plus) without bundled trialware, OEM branding, random backgrounds and screensavers and all of the other usual “value-added” (bloatware) applications you often get from manufacturers. The build I received was bang up to date, with just 1 Windows Update required for the September 2007 Malicious Software Tool - compare this to 22 updates required for a fully clean RTM install of Windows Home Server on my self-install unit. Great to see that Tranquil are keen to keep their builds up to date, and I hope this continues going forward.

One little glitch to be corrected was that my unit shipped with the timezone still set to the default Pacific option (which obviously would cause backups to begin at the wrong time here in the UK), but I’m assured that this will be fixed next week in a build refresh.

Server Recovery

One aspect of Windows Home Server all OEMs are grappling with is how to manage recovery of the home server’s system volume in the event of a major issue. Whilst Windows Home Server does a fantastic job of backing up your data, and enabling you to easily recover any of your home computers,  it currently does not feature any backup/recovery of the server itself.

Tranquil have taken a novel approach to the issue, by including a USB-key powered recovery kit for the T7-HSA. Two USB keys are included with the server, packed in a jewel case. To back up your server, you simply image your home server to one of the USB keys, and in the event of a major system issue, simply boot the server with the “Recovery” USB plugged in which prepares the server for re-imaging, switch to the second USB key when the preparation is complete, and in a few minutes, your server is back ready for action, with all user settings in tact. You can learn more about the recovery process over at Tranquil’s blog.

The Verdict

So, taking everything into account, what’s the verdict? Well, if you’re looking for an energy-efficient home server with near-silent running and a tiny footprint, the T7-HSA fulfills the role with aplomb – even though it’s the first Windows Home Server system on the market, you’re unlikely to find a system with a smaller footprint in the next 12-18 months and the great news is that this hasn’t come at the expense of system performance.

We’re still waiting to see how Windows Home Server pricing settles down – at £379 (inc VAT) for the base system and over £600 for the top spec, the T7 isn’t likely to be the cheapest Windows Home Server hardware on offer over the next 12 months, but it’s definitely the first, and given you’re looking at just under £100 for the WHS software alone, you’re getting a great small footprint PC for a fair price.

The compromise to be made is a basic one – such a small chassis doesn’t have room for multiple hard drives, and whilst Tranquil have made a 1 Tb storage option available for those with a lot of data to back up, you will have to purchase a second external hard drive to make use of Windows Home Server’s Drive Extender capability. So if you’re looking for a single box solution with terabytes of storage, the T7 isn’t for you – but it’s certainly one of the smallest, neatest systems I’ve seen in a long time and, combined with the external storage drives on offer, would provide a perfect hub for most digital homes.