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Phoenix32 · 10-23-2007, 09:57 PM

I do not mean to pick on any particular person/seller, but I decided to give some examples of what I was talking about. These examples will obviously be dated after a short amount of time, but they give a good example for right now. So here we go.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...:WNARL:US:1123

Okay, seems like a decent add/auction, safe seller, some details provided, and a decent price even, right?. Might be worth considering right? Okay, let's look at this from the point of view from my advice post. BTW, I spoke with this seller and can tell you facts, not speculations. In other words, I ASKED!

What OS version is it? Is the OS even installed? What CPU? How much Memory? You can't tell from this add, but I am about to tell you. The OS is NOT installed, it has a Celron 2GHz, and it has 256MB of memory. Does it still sound like a bargain to you? I should hope not.

Okay, let's see what you would have to do with this unit. First, upgrade those hard disks! 4 x 80 GB drives in a Snap Guardian unit? Are you kidding me? Who pays that kind of money for a used Snap Server just to have around 200 or so GB of RAID 5 protected storage? In my opinion, anything less than 1TB (around 690 or so GB in RAID 5) is useless in a Snap Server of this class. You are looking at least $250 (regular drives) to $320 (for Raid Edition type drives) at 1TB total. Then you are going to put in $40 to $80 worth of memory (512MB to 1GB). Then you are going to pay Adaptec $600 for an OS or beg someone to slip you the OS under the table for a couple hundred bucks or more. All in all, you are going to spend $500 to $1000 (or even more) to get this unit from where it is to a Working Snap 4200 with 1TB, 512MB memory or more, and an Updated OS (depending on what you get and who you get it from). Add in the original costs and this "bargain" is no longer a bargin.

This same seller also has these two units.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...:WNARL:US:1123

and

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...:WNARL:US:1123

I won't go into as much detail on these, but will just make a couple comments. First and foremost, neither of these have the OS installed either. The 4200 is just like the other unit I just went through except it has 160 Gb drives instead of 80 GB drives (still not enough for a Guardian unit). I might also note, I find it real interesting that BOTH 4200 auctions have the EXACT SAME PICTURE but say it is "the actual server". Amazing isn't it? And the 4400? Are you kidding me? He wants $750 for a Pentium 3 unit with VERY OLD hard disks and no OS? I bet those drives are close to being on their last legs, being probably 4 or 5 years old or more and we have already beat the OS subject to death.

Trust me, there are no bargins there in those three auctions. In fact, the best price they are worth (and I mean best for the seller), is LESS THAN HALF what they are asking for those units. And that is being generous.

I spoke with this seller and told him he was crazy and what I have said here. His response? He essentially said he would get that for them sooner or later. Sadly, he is probably right, and someone is going to get screwed royaly. Then guess what? We will have a new user here on the forum begging for help and crying at their very bad deal. Hopefully, it won't be one of you already on this forum. If so, then you deserve what you get for not paying attention here.

Another side note, I saw another Snap 4400 sell today on eBay for $430. Was it a good deal? Nope. The unit has no front bezel. Good luck to the buyer to find a new one (not going to happen). It had very very old hard disks in it (on their last legs) and a very old OS version. You can bet pretty safely that the buyer of that unit will have well over $1000 invested in that unit before it is up to snuff, and this is WITHOUT the front bezel.

Once again, I do not mean to pick on any particular seller (or buyer) out there. I am just trying to give some current examples of how to not get screwed when trying to buy one of these type units. Since I already disclosed I do sell units on eBay once in a while and I picked on a seller here, I feel it only be fair to say I am open to being critisized on my adds/units also. The goal is not to sell something, but rather try and be in the spirit of this forum and help people with my knowledge and experience.

10-23-2007, 09:57 PM	#4
Phoenix32 Thermophile Join Date: May 2006 Location: Yakima, WA Posts: 1,282	Re: Buying advice for Guardian Units I do not mean to pick on any particular person/seller, but I decided to give some examples of what I was talking about. These examples will obviously be dated after a short amount of time, but they give a good example for right now. So here we go. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...:WNARL:US:1123 Okay, seems like a decent add/auction, safe seller, some details provided, and a decent price even, right?. Might be worth considering right? Okay, let's look at this from the point of view from my advice post. BTW, I spoke with this seller and can tell you facts, not speculations. In other words, I ASKED! What OS version is it? Is the OS even installed? What CPU? How much Memory? You can't tell from this add, but I am about to tell you. The OS is NOT installed, it has a Celron 2GHz, and it has 256MB of memory. Does it still sound like a bargain to you? I should hope not. Okay, let's see what you would have to do with this unit. First, upgrade those hard disks! 4 x 80 GB drives in a Snap Guardian unit? Are you kidding me? Who pays that kind of money for a used Snap Server just to have around 200 or so GB of RAID 5 protected storage? In my opinion, anything less than 1TB (around 690 or so GB in RAID 5) is useless in a Snap Server of this class. You are looking at least $250 (regular drives) to $320 (for Raid Edition type drives) at 1TB total. Then you are going to put in $40 to $80 worth of memory (512MB to 1GB). Then you are going to pay Adaptec $600 for an OS or beg someone to slip you the OS under the table for a couple hundred bucks or more. All in all, you are going to spend $500 to $1000 (or even more) to get this unit from where it is to a Working Snap 4200 with 1TB, 512MB memory or more, and an Updated OS (depending on what you get and who you get it from). Add in the original costs and this "bargain" is no longer a bargin. This same seller also has these two units. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...:WNARL:US:1123 and http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...:WNARL:US:1123 I won't go into as much detail on these, but will just make a couple comments. First and foremost, neither of these have the OS installed either. The 4200 is just like the other unit I just went through except it has 160 Gb drives instead of 80 GB drives (still not enough for a Guardian unit). I might also note, I find it real interesting that BOTH 4200 auctions have the EXACT SAME PICTURE but say it is "the actual server". Amazing isn't it? And the 4400? Are you kidding me? He wants $750 for a Pentium 3 unit with VERY OLD hard disks and no OS? I bet those drives are close to being on their last legs, being probably 4 or 5 years old or more and we have already beat the OS subject to death. Trust me, there are no bargins there in those three auctions. In fact, the best price they are worth (and I mean best for the seller), is LESS THAN HALF what they are asking for those units. And that is being generous. I spoke with this seller and told him he was crazy and what I have said here. His response? He essentially said he would get that for them sooner or later. Sadly, he is probably right, and someone is going to get screwed royaly. Then guess what? We will have a new user here on the forum begging for help and crying at their very bad deal. Hopefully, it won't be one of you already on this forum. If so, then you deserve what you get for not paying attention here. Another side note, I saw another Snap 4400 sell today on eBay for $430. Was it a good deal? Nope. The unit has no front bezel. Good luck to the buyer to find a new one (not going to happen). It had very very old hard disks in it (on their last legs) and a very old OS version. You can bet pretty safely that the buyer of that unit will have well over $1000 invested in that unit before it is up to snuff, and this is WITHOUT the front bezel. Once again, I do not mean to pick on any particular seller (or buyer) out there. I am just trying to give some current examples of how to not get screwed when trying to buy one of these type units. Since I already disclosed I do sell units on eBay once in a while and I picked on a seller here, I feel it only be fair to say I am open to being critisized on my adds/units also. The goal is not to sell something, but rather try and be in the spirit of this forum and help people with my knowledge and experience. __________________ ~ 6 x Snap 4400 (SATA Converted) 2 x Snap 4500 (SATA Converted) 1 x Snap 110 5 x Snap 410 3 x Snap 520 2 x Sanbloc S50 Drives from 250GB to 2TB (PATA, SATA, and SAS) GOS v5.2.067 All subject to change, day by day......