Asus Home Server TS mini review

The TS mini is Asus’ first Windows Home Server system, a simple black micro-tower that’s almost featureless save for four dim blue LEDs at the front. Round the back are a generous six USB ports and two eSATA connectors, and that’s just as well because internally there’s only room for one extra 3.5in drive, in addition to the preinstalled 1TB Hitachi unit.

Inside you’ll find an Intel Atom N280 CPU, partnered with 2GB of RAM, giving power enough for typical server duties while keeping power consumption and heat dissipation low. The whole thing is kept cool by a pair of tiny, whisper-quiet fans set into the top of the case, and sitting idle the device (including one internal SATA hard disk) draws just 20W.

In use, Home Server systems all offer the same basic interface and features – they have to if they're to meet Microsoft’s certification standards – but that’s no bad thing, especially since the update last November to Home Server PowerPack 3. The OS now integrates smoothly with Windows 7 libraries, serves video and music to Media Center PCs and streamers, automatically archives your recorded TV shows and can even produce low-resolution versions for mobile devices.

The TS mini also comes with a few Asus-branded add-ins. Asus WebStore improves data security by letting you back up your data to a remote server, and comes with a generous half-terabyte of free storage. The weirdly named Xtor Manager lets you back up removable devices (such as USB hard disks and flash drives) to the server. There’s also a hardware monitoring tool, showing fan speeds, internal temperatures and extensive system information. None of these features is a must-have, but they’re thoughtful additions that add to the TS mini’s appeal.

A few rough edges hint at Asus’ inexperience in the home server market. Accessing the internal drive bays is a pain, involving five screws and some forcible waggling of the drive cage. And the Asus add-ins are scrappily presented, with ropey graphics and poorly translated text that jars next to the slick Home Server UI.

All the same, £297 isn’t a bad price for a 1TB Home Server appliance, and £254 for the 500GB version is even better value. It may not satisfy those seeking multiple hot-plug drive bays and banks of status LEDs – for them the Tranquil SQA-5H is a better bet. But few of us really need quasi-enterprise features of that sort, and we suspect most homes will be better served by the practical and affordable TS mini.

Author: Darien Graham-Smith