Question Old HP Proliant Microserver vs Old PC

[James Blonde]

I've got an old (old - must be 15 years old?) HP Proliant N40L Microserver with 16gb RAM running Windows Home Server 201(1?) that I'm using as a NAS / backup device / Media Centre. It's fine, but getting on a bit, is a bit slow and I think struggles with some media files, particularly trying to serve those at 1080p. It's got 4 SATA drives of various sizes, and a SSD OS drive which constantly runs out of space due to temp files. But it works and has been reliable.

I'm replacing my current desktop workstation / gaming PC with a new system. This means I've got my old system going spare. It's an i5 3570K, 32Gb RAM, an old GTX 670 that can go back in (the GTX 1070 will go to my new system) in a Define R4 case running Windows 10 pro.

I obviously still need a Plex media server and backup server, but otherwise I've no idea what else to do with it. I've never really done anything with the HP microserver beyond install Plex and put disks in it - I've never spent time to understand home server, run automatic backups, etc. which is kind of why it seems a waste to throw my i5 3570k at it, but the Proliant is struggling and really not upgradable. and at least I'm familiar with Windows 10. but it's not a server type OS.

I think I need to get rid (sell) of one of these systems (as a system or for parts). What one would you get rid of, and what would you do with the other one?

 

[Darth Sicaedus]

What features do you really use from Windows Home Server? While I have zero experience with that OS specifically, I do have experience with Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 and 2012, which appear to have very similar dashboards.

 

[James Blonde]

In terms of server specific features.... umm... share and storage management, and that's about it? All I've done is share the hard drives. Back ups are manual copy and pastes as and when I remember (not even remembering to use sync toy - they're mirrors of my PC hard drives - don't want to worry about proprietary backup file formats)

 

[Darth Sicaedus]

It may not be as nice, but you can definitely do all of the same on Windows 10. I would stick to the newer hardware.

 

[James Blonde]

Actually the decision might be making itself as I'm unsure my new system will have any front access drive bays for my card reader and (gasp!) CD drive so those might need to stay in my R4 and I get rid of the Proliant. Also thinking a usable second system might be worth having. Thanks for your advice all!

 

[Darth Sicaedus]

No problem, good luck!