Tranquil PC T2-WHS-A3 Harmony Home Server – Hands-On Review

When they come to write the history of Windows Home Server, Tranquil PC will be named as the first manufacturer to release a WHS system into the market, beating a number of much larger OEMs to the punch. We reviewed the T7-HSA Harmony Home Server back in September and found it to be a wonderfully small and silent home server, with one major issue – its small footprint meant that it lacked internal storage expansion, and with OEMs small and large launching multi-drive home servers in the last few months, Tranquil PC have followed up with two new home server specifications based on their popular T2 chassis. Whilst the T7-HSA is in a niche of its own when it comes to low power, small and silent home servers, the T2 systems are set to compete head to head with other multi-drive servers such as HP’s Mediasmart Server and the forthcoming Fujitsu-Siemens Scaleo Home Server.

We took a look at the T2-WHS-A3 this week, which is the baby brother of the higher spec A2 model.

What’s In the Box?

As seen with the T7-HSA, the T2 comes sturdily packaged in an unbranded box – indeed, the only way you’ll know that the box contains your new home server is two small, green stickers at the top right hand side of the box, one reinforcing the fact that you’ve just purchased a Zero Carbon PC (Tranquil PC offset the carbon footprint of the unit for 5 years from purchase – check out www.zerocarbonfootprint.co.uk for more information) and the second sticker stating that the PC conforms with the EC RoHS directive (Restriction of the use of Hazardous Substances) – this is one earth-friendly home server you’ve just bought.

Open up the box, and you’ll find the following:

• T2-WHS-A3 Home Server
• 80W AC/DC Power Adaptor
• Mains cord (specific to your country)
• Tranquil PC Media Kit
• Tranquil T2-WHS-A3 Manual

By and large, it’s a pretty complete package – marks have to be knocked off for not including an Ethernet cable, which is either an oversight, or penny pinching – if you don’t have a cable knocking around, you’ve got to go straight over to PC World/Best Buy for an Ethernet cable which is, quite frankly, a pain in the backside. The T7-HSA also didn’t include an Ethernet cable, which at the time of the review, I missed – bundling a cable would be a useful addition in the future.

Rather than include a standard copy of the Windows Home Server System Builder software, Tranquil now include their own Media Kit, with a branded edition of the Windows Home Server Installation DVD, Connector CD and Recovery CD – the software itself is unchanged, it’s just been repackaged, which enhances Tranquil’s brand.

Tranquil also include a short 12 page black and white installation guide which covers the absolute basics of installation and set-up. HP have set a very high standard when it comes to in-box product documentation with the MediaSmart Server, and in comparison, Tranquil’s looks a little thin. It’s fine to get you up and running, particularly if you know what you’re doing, but going forward, whilst they don’t have the huge marketing resources of a giant like HP, it would be great to see Tranquil investing a little more polish in documentation support for those families new to Windows Home Server.

Recently, Tranquil PC announced support for German, French and Spanish language versions of Windows Home Server. The T7 unit has been wildly popular in a number of countries, with many units making their way across to the USA – supporting continental Europe with native language editions of WHS is a natural extension and it’s great to see that Tranquil go the extra mile in ensuring the appropriate power cable is enclosed for those territories.

Another change from the T7-HSA review unit we received is that Tranquil PC no longer bundle their innovative USB-based Server Recovery kit for free – this was a promotional deal with early purchases of the T7, and is now a paid-for option (£29 ex VAT). This is a must have upgrade, and whilst it’s a shame to see it not included in the pack, it’s understandable given competitive price pressures and the marketplace heating up. The HP MediaSmart Server includes a Server Recovery solution, but is more expensive than the T2 – you pays your money, you takes your choice.

First Looks

The T2 chassis resembles a pretty cool looking DVD player, or one of the newer Media Center PC designs. It resembles the T7 in many ways, from it’s black aluminum casing through to the metallic fins on its right hand side for heat dissipation.

It’s larger than the T7 (for very good reasons which I’ll explain later), but is still a compact, great looking chassis. A thick acrylic plate finishes the front of the unit nicely, and when powered on, becomes edge-lit thanks to a blue power LED. A large power button completes the front panel – whilst the T7 is a tiny machine, I prefer the look of the T2 – it would look great under the TV as a media server.

As with most of Tranquil’s machines, the T2 is fanless, leading to a near silent operation, with cooling handled by the chassis itself.

Overall, Tranquil once again have done a great job with the design of the hardware – it’s not one to be hidden away from sight in a cupboard!

Around the Back

The rear of the unit provides plenty of space for a wide array of connections. Tranquil use the versatile T2 chassis for a range of PCs, from servers and home computers through to bespoke units used in industry. For that reason, the standard unit comes with connections that you shouldn’t really find on a home server (Parallel, Audio, VGA, RS232, PS2 and Keyboard) as well as some that you should! These former connections are marked in the manual as not in use.

4 USB sockets are positioned at the rear for external hard drive use, as well as a 10/100 LAN connection and 12v DC power input. That’s it for the base specification, but if you plump for the upgraded spec with 4x eSATA ports and Gigabit LAN you’ll find these positioned at the rear on the right hand side.

In all, the T2-WHS-A3 is a very well designed and solidly build piece of kit, which we now come to expect from the company.

Under the Hood

Whilst the T7 is a great little server for today (and maybe tomorrow) its small chassis suffers from a lack of upgrade potential – the T2 however, offers many more opportunities to grow with you in the future. Let’s take a look inside.

Tranquil have based the T2-WHS-A3 on the Intel D201GLY (mini-ITX) motherboard, which comes with an integrated Celeron 220 processor, running at 1.2GHz. Tranquil have carefully selected a new, modern processor which provides lots of grunt without being a huge power drain, which keeps the unit’s power consumption low, at just 29W idle up to 45W at full tilt (Tranquil’s figures). Bear in mind, when I say that the processor is integrated into the motherboard, I mean it’s soldered on to the board, which makes a future processor upgrade impossible without replacing the motherboard.

Reducing power consumption also means that fan cooling isn’t required, which ensures silent running (like the T7-HSA, the T2 is silent, apart from a very slight murmuring from the hard drive when accessed) and the theory goes, will lead to a more reliable unit (no failing fans equals no fried home server). The Celeron 220 is also x64 compatible, which gives great peace of mind for any future WHS platform shift to x64.

Whilst the base specification is relatively modest (512 Mb RAM, 500Gb hard drive), Tranquil have included plenty of scope to upgrade storage and memory both at point of purchase, or in the future. On the storage side, two internal SATA slots provide up to 2Tb (2 x 1Tb) of internal storage, using Western Digital’s Green Power silent, low powered hard drives and memory is upgradable to 1Tb as a paid option.

When it comes to external storage potential, you’re well catered for with 4 USB 2.0 ports at the rear which can be used for external hard drives. If you’re investigating eSATA options, a 4 port eSATA card is also available as a fitted upgrade.

When it comes to networking, the base specification comes with a 10/100 Ethernet card, which actually is fine for all but the most picky WHS user. Once again, a gigabit LAN upgrade is available if required.

Overall, the T2 provides a decent specification for most Windows Home Server users, but compared to the T7-HSA, the larger, more flexible chassis offers plenty of scope for power users to upgrade as required – certainly, if a tiny footprint isn’t essential, the T2-WHS-A3 is a better option for the long term.

If you’d like to take a look at detailed specs and benchmarks, you can download a full report courtesy of SiSoft Sandra.

Tranquil PC T2-WHS-A3 Detailed Report

Running Windows Home Server

Whilst Tranquil provide their own branded media kit (with Server Installation DVD, Connector CD, and Server Recovery CD), it is basically the standard Windows Home Server software kit. There is very minor branding in the Windows Home Server Settings dialog, but other than that, it’s a clean WHS build, which is always nice to see.

As we noted with the T7-HSA, Tranquil do a great job of keeping their builds up to date, so you should find that there’s minimal updating required post configuration.

The Verdict

The T2-WHS-A3 is the second Windows Home Server machine we’ve reviewed from Tranquil PC, and whilst it doesn’t have the wow factor of the T7′s tiny footprint, it’s definitely my favourite of the two. The T7 is limited by its form factor which makes is a great consumer appliance, but one that is difficult to upgrade and unwieldly to expand.

The T2 retains the great looks of the T7, with a slightly larger form factor, but offers much stronger expansion options, which is vital as your digital media collection continues to grow. Adding a second drive is straightforward at purchase, and not too difficult post-purchase (although not as easy as the HP MediaSmart Server or Norco DS-520G which offers hot swappable drives), and the faster processor in the T2 means that it’s going to keep you happy for longer than the T7.

On the flipside, the HP MediaSmart Server offers a friendlier setup and install experience, with great documentation, additional support and a unique set of add-ins to extend your Windows Home Server experience. But it also comes with a price tag to match, and is almost as limited as the T7 when it comes to future hardware upgrades.

Going forward, with a suite of home server hardware available, I’d love to see Tranquil invest in some of the finishing touches to their home server package, with a more comprehensive product guide, and the inclusion of Ethernet cables and their server recovery pack in-box. For now though, if you’re looking for a powerful home server that looks great and has the potential to grow with your digital needs, Tranquil PC’s T2-WHS-A3 has got the lot.