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Exclusive: Tranquil PC Announce SQA-5H Home Server

By on October 17, 2008 in Windows Home Server

sqa main1 Exclusive: Tranquil PC Announce SQA 5H Home Server

Tranquil PC today have announced details of their new next-generation home server – the SQA-5H (affectionately known as the Squash from now on.)

The SQA-5H is a cube shaped multi-drive home server, featuring (count ‘em) five hot swappable, tooless drive bays. Despite the system carrying five bays, power consumption is kept to a minimum, with a single drive system starting at just 29W.

The system is based around the Intel Atom 330 Dual Core Processor (2 x 1.6 GHz) which is 64-bit compatible. (Not so important now, but if you ever need to run a Windows 7-based version of Windows Home Server, you’re going to need it). 1 Gb of memory is supplied in the base unit, but you can configure up to 2Gb if you want to load the Squash up with add-ins.

front eject hdd 3001 Exclusive: Tranquil PC Announce SQA 5H Home Server

So far, so good – but you’ll also find a couple of new hardware innovations we’ve yet to see on home server hardware to date. First up is the Quick System Backup, a button on the front of the unit which takes advantage of Power Pack 1’s new shared folder backup feature. Simply plug in an external hard drive into one of the Squash’s 6 (3 front, 4 Rear) USB ports (or utilise a dedicated  internal) hard drive slot and then press the Backup button. You’ll be notified when the backup is complete!

Secondly, you’ll also see a “Mode” button on the front of the Squash – press and hold this button and you’ll be informed how much server storage has been used and how much remains.

SQA-EX Slave Unit

sqa ex 3001 Exclusive: Tranquil PC Announce SQA 5H Home Server

Released alongside the SQA-5H will be the SQA-EX – a slave unit which connects via a single cable providing a further 5 hard drive bays – a 10 drive system is sufficient for even the biggest media collections.

Tranquil PC will be releasing pricing tomorrow at 10pm GMT over at their website at which point pre-orders will open too. Orders are expected to be fulfilled from November.

SQA-5H Home Server Specifications

Dimensions213 (w) x 221 (d) x (195 (h)
MaterialsEnamelled steel
Processor64-bit ready Intel Atom 330 (2 z 1.6Ghz) Dual Core
Memory1Gb DDR2 533/667MHz
HDD1-5 3.5” Western Digital GP
ColourSatin Black
Front PanelPower, Mode and Backup switches, multi-coloured LEDs and 2 x USB2
Rear Panel12v Power In, 4 x USB2, Gigabit LAN, eSATA (with port multiplier), Desk Lock
Acoustics23 dBA (1 x HDD)
Power29W (1 x HDD)


According to Tranquil, SQA (“Status Quo Ante” – Latin for “the way things were before”) refers to Windows Home Server’s ability to restore your PC to its previous state. With great new home server hardware such as the Squash hitting the marketplace, let’s hope after a tricky 2008, it signals a return to the home server category rocking into 2009. 

More Info: Tranquil PC | Discuss| Brochure


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About Terry Walsh

Terry Walsh is the founding editor and owner of We Got Served. Since February 2007, the site has provided detailed coverage and analysis of the emerging home server category, and has subsequently grown into a trusted outlet for digital home news and reviews.
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  • soaklord

    The slave unit sounds very interesting for those of us that have made the investment already. Is it an esata connection or is it proprietary?

  • Squash-1

    The SQA-Ex is in fact connected via an eSATA port (with high speed port multiplier, of course)

    What that means is that ANY Server with a Port Multiplier enabled eSATA port (as found on the EX470, for example) will be able to be connected ! The drives in the SQA-Ex all spin down, after periods of in-activity, and so the unit will hardly draw any power when not in use, and then once it’s precious data is required it will just kick in and deliver the data at lightning speed.

    For those unsure how Port Multiplier technology works – check out the following link :

    http://www.siliconimage.com/products/product.aspx?id=74

    Any more questions – the squash team are ready to answer you !

  • soaklord

    Wow, now that’s quick response! I have seen that some OEM WHS have a hard time with external drives that spin down, so am curious how this would work with the likes of an HP MSS or is it possible to turn the spin down off? I love your box, but am invested in my base server now. Also, the website has an error on the slave drive, it states 5GB of storage, not 5TB. Also, shouldn’t that be 7.5TB of storage now that the 1.5TB drives have been released or is there a hardware conflict with those drives?

  • Squash-1

    I suppose 7.5TB in the Ex will be fine. Re spin down, can’t comment on how to do it – but from the test records I can see we found that there were no issues during use of the Ex with the 5H, we will have to test it with the EX470 – and post additional comments later, there is no reason why it should be a problem. New design standards for WHS main boards will include HDD Spin down, to save power / reduce heat – so it will become the ‘norm’ The issue with other OEMs units may be related to I/O buffers / chip sets etc – not really sure.

    Anyway thanks for the great feedback !

  • http://homeservershow.com Dave

    Looks like a great box. Good job Tranquil!

  • http://thedigitallifestyle.com Ian Dixon

    I have a full interview with David Thompson of Tranquil on The Media Center Show out on Thursday

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  • Pingback: Ian Dixon's Blog : The latest Home Server from Tranquil

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  • http://geocline.net/ smadge1

    Wish we had an Australian supplier…

    Good work Tranquil!

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  • http://www.gizmag.com Dave Weinstein

    Here’s a question for “squash”:

    The device itself looks really interesting, will there be a Linux option, or is this a Windows Server only platform?

    As a fileserver, Windows doesn’t have the best track record, but full “PC” platforms like this run REALLY well under Linux as a fairly high performance server. It would be a shame if this device couldn’t be used that way.

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