Old PC compatibility question

[Tarl72]

I have a secondhand dual CPU server (Intel Server S2400SC motherboard, 2 x Xeon E5-2403 CPUs running at 1.80GHz, 20GB DDR3-1333 RAM, 1 x 4TB SATA HDD (Currently running Windows 11 Pro), and 8 x SAS 3TB HDDs for storage). I was lucky enough to get the server for just £50 and another £60 for the discs all told. I'm currently running the server as a rather slow backup device but I know nothing at all about servers so I need something simple to learn/understand. The system also has a Quantum LTO-5 tape drive that I'm trying to get working (the system sees the tapes but will not do anything with them!!). At the moment I'm just linking the server to my Gaming PC via a ethernet cable and copying the backup files across over night.

So, my questions are; Will HexOS work on my server (and talk to my PC)? How easy is HexOS to learn (I'm a complete newbee with this type of thing, I can run and manage Windows and even MS-DOS (at a push), but have no experience with anything else), and lastly, given my current storage, would HexOS be a better idea to run, rather than Windows 11 Pro?

[Dylan]

Hi @Tarl72 - But for the LTO tape drive (that REALLY takes me back to 2004/5) your system *should work with HexOS. HexOS is very simple but, as we are still in beta, also very limited in functionality. I think that makes it the perfect time to jump in. What do I mean? Well, if you're still getting up to speed on server/NAS devices, perhaps this is perfect timing to grow your understanding as HexOS functionality grows. Does that make sense?

I can't really answer whether Win11 or HexOS is the right choice for you. But what I can say is that you should measure your needs again the following; Windows is an OS intended for generic compute needs. It certainly CAN manage storage, host VM's, and all of the other stuff generic OS's do. HexOS is SPECIFIC to storage, VM's, file sharing etc. Are you willing to learn a bit about the ZFS filesystem? What about a bit of Linux? Take these things into consideration.

Does that help?

Thanks and welcome aboard!