1 00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:07,799 this is a pretty exciting product that just arrived this is the ASUS TS mini 2 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:12,440 Windows Home Server so the specs are right here you can see it runs an Intel 3 00:00:09,519 --> 00:00:16,320 atom with 1 gig of RAM it has one 500 gig drive but it's available in up to 2 4 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:20,160 terabyte configurations so this is a Windows Home Server as I just said and 5 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:24,439 it supports up to two 3 and 1/2 in drives by default so why don't we start 6 00:00:22,199 --> 00:00:29,320 getting this box open and have a look at it the TS mini actually includes besides 7 00:00:27,199 --> 00:00:33,680 the standard Windows Home Server stuff a couple of unique assus features so oh I 8 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:39,160 can't believe I even showed you this brown box there's actually a full proper 9 00:00:36,239 --> 00:00:43,440 retail box underneath it that actually like looks good and includes uh probably 10 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:48,079 more information about it than the bottom one actually it doesn't it 11 00:00:45,559 --> 00:00:51,360 includes zero information about it so you can store share and secure your 12 00:00:49,559 --> 00:00:55,440 digital life now I'm a big fan of Windows Home Server I've been using 13 00:00:53,039 --> 00:00:59,440 Windows Home Server since it was in beta and I'm going to sort of cover a few of 14 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:04,479 the awesome and unique features about it during this video but there's way way 15 00:01:02,199 --> 00:01:08,040 more it is so customizable you can really do a ton of different stuff with 16 00:01:06,159 --> 00:01:11,520 Windows Home Server software so the first thing we find in the box is your 17 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:16,840 warranty card addressed to dearest customers we find one Ethernet cable a 18 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:21,560 power adapter as well as a cable for that and then we have the Windows Home 19 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:25,439 Server software installation CD so they actually give you a Windows disc that's 20 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:31,119 pretty nice or they give you a restore CD and they also give you a recovery DVD 21 00:01:28,960 --> 00:01:35,880 oh yeah sorry this is the Windows Home Server installation disc I should know 22 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:37,280 this this is the PC restore CD so this 23 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:41,799 is one of the features of Windows Home Server that is really cool it backs up 24 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:45,360 all your computers overnight every night and then what you do is if you have a 25 00:01:43,119 --> 00:01:50,680 hard drive crash completely die in one of your home PCS you basically just put 26 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:55,000 in a new hard drive put this disc in your in your DVD drive and then you run 27 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:58,840 the software off here it takes all the data off the Home Server dumps it onto 28 00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:02,600 the new drive and basically you'd never know that your computer was out uh 29 00:02:00,799 --> 00:02:07,079 here's a server recovery DVD this is actually for recovering the Home Server 30 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:11,200 to factory default so you can either install manually or you can restore it 31 00:02:08,759 --> 00:02:14,360 to factory default very cool it includes some extra hard drive screws so if you 32 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:18,760 buy your own hard drives to upgrade the TS mini you will have extra screws 33 00:02:16,959 --> 00:02:24,040 here's a quick start guide let's see what they include in their quick start guide I'm actually curious so they 34 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:27,720 probably show you you connect it to the Ethernet uh you can't run a Home Server 35 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:31,840 over Wireless so that's one of the things that they've uh put pointed out 36 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:35,680 right here is that the Home Server actually has to be hardwired directly to 37 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:40,440 your router but from there it can back up computers that are connected by wire 38 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:44,560 or by um or by Wireless it doesn't really matter so you set up the PS mini 39 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:48,959 now Home Server is never intended to be plugged into a monitor so you actually 40 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:53,519 administer the Home Server from a home computer you use like a custom remote 41 00:02:51,159 --> 00:02:57,319 desktop connection to plug into it and that is how it's done here they give you 42 00:02:55,480 --> 00:03:02,800 quick instructions on how to install another hard drive on the back uh how to 43 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:06,760 set up user accounts so with the user accounts you can set um you can set up 44 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:11,040 to 10 user accounts and you can give certain people access to certain folders 45 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:15,640 you can limit how much storage can be used by each user you've got all kinds 46 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:20,200 of great control you can oh this is cool remote access you can set whether each 47 00:03:18,239 --> 00:03:24,360 user has the ability to log into the Home Server from anywhere in the world 48 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:29,159 sorry my memory card ran out so you can also select um which users can have full 49 00:03:27,599 --> 00:03:34,159 remote access not only to the Home Server but also to any other PC in your 50 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:39,760 house that's running a remote access capable OS like Windows XP Pro Windows 51 00:03:36,599 --> 00:03:42,360 Vista uh business and up and then 52 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:46,360 Windows 7 Professional and up so that's a very cool feature you can set up all 53 00:03:44,439 --> 00:03:50,799 of your sharing folders this is another good one uh replication so with every 54 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:53,879 folder on oh this isn't what it's about well either way replication is a really 55 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:58,519 good feature with every folder on the Windows Home Server you can actually set 56 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:02,319 whether it is going to be replicated or not so okay I can talk about this more 57 00:04:00,799 --> 00:04:06,239 later cameraman's telling me to move faster so asso special features these we 58 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:11,079 definitely need to talk about their web-based management software that allows you to manage the Home Server 59 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:15,000 their xtor manager that allows you to easily and directly back up synchronized 60 00:04:12,879 --> 00:04:19,359 manage folders on an external USB or esad device so not only on the internal 61 00:04:17,359 --> 00:04:23,040 drives as well as their web storage so they have a free one-year online account 62 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:27,360 that allows you to back up files from your home server with your internet 63 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:32,280 connection and store them online so there you go let's actually get the TS 64 00:04:29,199 --> 00:04:34,400 mini open up here and have a look at the 65 00:04:32,280 --> 00:04:40,960 this device now my home server is actually just a custom cobbled together 66 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:44,840 uh nightmare of Machinery uh it consumes a ton of power it's really loud I locked 67 00:04:42,840 --> 00:04:48,639 it in the closet but this is meant to be more like an appliance that you could 68 00:04:46,919 --> 00:04:54,840 actually store somewhere in your house and have it not look horrible um let's 69 00:04:52,160 --> 00:05:01,039 just take the plastic off here so it's a very Sleek looking thing you've got a 70 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:04,160 nice glossy black finish on the TS 71 00:05:01,039 --> 00:05:06,080 mini okay let's get all these Plastics 72 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:09,560 off so you got a bunch of ventilation up here at the top then you got your power 73 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:13,600 switch which is pretty much um all you'll ever need cuz Home Server 74 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:18,600 basically runs itself and then I'm just going to take off this uh last piece of 75 00:05:15,759 --> 00:05:23,240 plastic here at the front okay there's your assus Home Server logo you got your 76 00:05:21,199 --> 00:05:27,400 little Windows logo you have activity LEDs for both of your individual hard 77 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:31,639 drives here on the front as well as a network LED indicator this thing is is 78 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:35,240 incredibly shiny I'm going to have to be careful not to show the cameraman here I 79 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:39,680 mean look at this let's do the obligatory finger shot where you can see 80 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:46,880 exactly how shiny the side of this thing is on the back we find a ton of extra 81 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:50,080 storage uh inputs so with the TS mini you can have two internal hard drives 82 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:54,800 and then you can potentially plug in another six external hard drives and 83 00:05:52,319 --> 00:05:59,000 another two eSATA hard drives so if you wanted to have something to either back 84 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:01,800 up temporarily and then take it away or something just plug plugged in 85 00:05:59,960 --> 00:06:06,199 permanently that sits right on top of the TS mini you've got all of those 86 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:09,520 different options at your disposal next you've got your gigabit landan Port as 87 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:12,360 well as your DC power in and a Kensington lock just in case you're 88 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:16,440 worried about someone stealing your Home Server now the whole point of Windows 89 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:21,880 Home Server is data security so I'm going to 90 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:25,520 open this up uh is data security Now what I was about to mention before when 91 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:29,800 the cameraman so rudely interrupted me was that Windows Home Server has a 92 00:06:27,759 --> 00:06:35,919 replicating feature where you can set folder to safely back up any data on 93 00:06:33,759 --> 00:06:38,599 more than one hard drive so if you got two hard drives installed in the Home 94 00:06:37,280 --> 00:06:43,160 Server or if you have one drive installed and one plugged into the back 95 00:06:40,840 --> 00:06:47,360 you can set it so that no matter what any data that you write to the Home 96 00:06:44,599 --> 00:06:52,160 Server will be stored on at least two of those drives at any given time and it 97 00:06:49,840 --> 00:06:58,400 will actually run those backup checks multiple times daily and that is how you 98 00:06:55,599 --> 00:07:02,879 can make sure that you do not lose any data even in the event that your Home 99 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:07,080 Server suffers uh a hard drive failure or some other kind of catastrophic crash 100 00:07:05,479 --> 00:07:11,560 and I can vouch for this personally because I've actually had several times 101 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:16,520 I've had drives in my Home Server die and I have never once lost any of the 102 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:21,879 data that I was using the backup uh replication software for so I have got 103 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:25,199 this open now I don't think I'm going to go any further here to show you how to 104 00:07:23,599 --> 00:07:28,840 install a hard drive but I suspect you just kind of remove some of these screws 105 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:34,400 and it's not too difficult so thank you for checking out my unboxing and first 106 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:35,639 look at the ASUS TS mini and I hope that 107 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:39,520 you've enjoyed it don't forget to subscribe to my video blog and I hope to 108 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:44,000 be doing a followup soon with some of the uh unique assus features that come 109 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:48,080 with this particular home server unit so the cameraman was complaining I 110 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:51,919 didn't really take any close looks at the Home Server uh or rather not close 111 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:55,639 looks we did lots of close looks but we didn't do kind of an overall view of it 112 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:59,120 so he wanted to get a closer look at the vents up top and there are actually 113 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:03,479 there must be some kind of a fan under here because uh I can feel air flow yeah 114 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:08,159 there's two little fans down here I can feel air flow coming up from the bottom 115 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:10,639 of the Home Server and then um you can 116 00:08:08,159 --> 00:08:14,280 actually see on the bottom here there is a ventilation and then here this is 117 00:08:12,919 --> 00:08:18,479 interesting so you've got the rubber feet here and then you've got kind of a 118 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:23,479 cutaway so that means that even if you sit the Home Server down on a Surface 119 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:27,000 there's still lots of room here for the air to come in under the server and then 120 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:30,520 be pulled up through the top so that you can make sure that your hard drives as 121 00:08:28,479 --> 00:08:35,320 well as your C in there and everything else stays nice and cool and one thing 122 00:08:32,959 --> 00:08:39,640 that I probably didn't emphasize enough in the first video or in the first part 123 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:45,519 of this video is that there is no display there's no display output the 124 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:47,040 Home Server is accessed only by remote 125 00:08:45,519 --> 00:08:52,920 desktop connection through the Ethernet port so thank you for checking out my video on the ASUS TS Mini