We Got Served - The Windows Home Server Site

We Got Served keeps in touch with manufacturers of Window Home Server hardware to bring you reviews of their offerings so that you can make an informed decision about where you spend your hard earned cash.

Over the next few months we will be bringing you reviews of new Home Server hardware from manufacturers such as PC Next Day, Belinea, and Mesh just to name a few. Generally, manufacturers are really pleased to be able to get the products in front of the Windows Home Server community through sites like ours - we tend to be more of a trusted resource than the mainstream computer press, and a good review from us usually translates into decent sales for them. Unfortunately we will be unable to bring you a review of UK system-builder Hi-Grade’s Home-Serv 1000 or 2000  as we have been informed by our contact at Hi-Grade that the ”powers that be” declined to supply us with a review unit.

So, to provide you with the level of service you’re used to from We Got Served, where else can you find a review of the Hi-Grade Home Serv? Well, Hi-Grade did send a system over to Computer Shopper to try out. However they weren’t impressed with the review model,  a Hi-Grade Home-Serv 2000:

• Had to connect a keyboard, mouse and monitor directly to the Home-serv to upgrade the drivers for its built-in network card before the other PCs on our network would recognise it. 
• The server has four more internal hard disk bays, but to use them you’d need to add a Windows Server 2003-compatible SATA controller with more SATA ports.
• Even worse is the noise. It’s easily one of the loudest computers we’ve tested, which is a significant problem for a server that will be running constantly.
• It was very sluggish at copying large files and remarkably slow at transferring small files. Copying any significant amount of data to and from the Home-serv will be frustrating. We suspect that the lack of Gigabit Ethernet support is to blame for this poor performance.

In Conclusion:

• Ultimately we were disappointed by Hi-Grade’s Home-Serv 2000. The Windows Home Server operating system is easy to configure and the removable hard disk trays make adding extra storage straightforward. Unfortunately, the poor file-copying performance, the distracting levels of noise and the large case mean we can’t recommend it.

Well maybe Hi-Grade are still a little bruised by this review and are not quite ready to subject their hardware to further scrutiny. Who knows, we may have found some redeeming features, but without any hands-on experience, all we can assume is that it’s a dog. One to avoid.

If you have a Hi-Grade Home Serv then let us have your review and tell it like it is.