Tranquil Leo HS4 Home Server review

The Leo HS4 home server looks identical to Tranquil’s old SQA-5H models – a black or white box, dotted with coloured LEDs and offering a bank of 3.5in bays at the front. If the 1980s styling doesn’t appeal, the HS4 can be hidden away for headless operation. But it’s quiet enough to keep on display: the only perceptible noise is the low hum of a single 80mm fan at the rear.

The default configuration includes a low-power Core i3-2100T processor with 2GB of RAM and a 2TB Western Digital Caviar drive. You can upgrade at the point of ordering, but the standard configuration is ample for domestic duties, and adding disks is as easy as popping your drive into one of the pull-out caddies (no screws required). Note that only four of the five physical bays are functional – the fifth houses a passive CPU cooler.

For external storage, the Intel DH67CF motherboard provides two USB 2 ports at the front and four at the back, along with two USB 3 ports and one eSATA. Remove the “service plate” (a ten-second screwdriver job) and you’ll also find HDMI, DVI and DisplayPort connectors – helpful for administering the server directly should the need arise.

The Sandy Bridge platform also keeps power consumption low: the HS4 idles at 22W with a single hard disk installed, rising by around 7W per extra disk.

The latest version of Windows Home Server 2011 brings a slicker front-end, more versatile backup options and a few new features, including DLNA 1.5 media streaming capabilities. We found the standard Core i3 CPU had no problem smoothly serving two simultaneous 1080p streams over a home network to client PCs – and it drew only an extra 5W while doing so.

Remote access has been updated too. In addition to file and desktop access, Home Server 2011 can stream media files directly over a web session. Remote desktop still relies on ActiveX, though, and the streaming agent is built on Silverlight, limiting the range of devices and browsers that can be used. Network bandwidth is a limitation too – over a regular domestic ADSL line we found streamed video was smooth but with visible artefacts.

One feature missing from Home Server 2011 is the old drive pooling system, but Tranquil includes a licence for the third-party MonStor add-in, which largely recreates the feature. With a few clicks you can combine multiple disks into a virtual pooled drive, and have precious data mirrored across multiple physical volumes, to provide a degree of fault tolerance.

You also get the AVA Media add-in, which automatically rips CDs to the server’s media library. Shell out an extra £45 inc VAT for the AnyDVD package and it can rip DVDs too. You’ll need an external optical drive to make use of it, though.

In all it’s a capable home server OS, running on versatile hardware. The catch is the price: the basic 2TB Leo HS4 model comes in at £756 inc VAT. That’s a tough sell when you can get a four-bay NAS device for a third of the price – or repurpose an old PC and simply pay £35 for an OEM Home Server 2011 licence.

But if you’re looking for the real thing – a true server-class appliance that’s quiet, power-efficient and expandable – the Leo HS4 ticks every box. Whether that justifies the price depends on your needs and your budget.