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Phoenix32 · 02-27-2008, 06:22 PM

I have seen a lot of, "what about my Guardian Snap Server 4X00" type questions lately when the answers were recently provided for one of that 4X00 units cousins. So, I guess it is time for a little hardware comparison of these units.

For starters, and a lot of people do not know this, the Guardian Snap 4200, 4500, and 15000 are the same base unit. Yes, you heard me right, same base unit. Parts are interchangable and the only real difference in these units is the CPU, Memory, Drive sizes, and Interfaces installed. That's it...

CPU: The 4200's I have seen come with a 2 Ghz Celron, 2 Ghz Pentium 4, or on some occasions, a 2.4Ghz Celron. The 4500 comes with a 2.4 Ghz Pentium 4. The 15000 comes with a 3 Ghz Pentium 4. These are socket 478 Celron/Pentium 4 units with 400 Mhz or 533 Mhz FSB. One small caveat here, the 15000 has an extra plastic piece that diverts some blower fan air for extra cooling.

Memory: The 4200 comes with 256 MB or 512 MB. The 4500 comes with 512 MB. The 15000 comes with 2 GB. These units use Registered ECC DDR memory, and it aint cheap like desktop DDR is. It can get expensive. I have put up to 3 GB total in all three of these units with no problems, but I have never had any 2 GB Reg ECC DDR sticks to test.

Drives: As with all Snap Servers, there are different flavors as to brands and sizes of hard disks used. Maxtors are used most often (cheap JUNK!), but some have other brand drives as well. As for limits, I know 750 GB drives can be used, but above that, if they become available, I cannot say for sure, but I would guess they would work also (due to what I can see from the interface/chipset). The OS has a limit something like 21 TB, so I doubt it will ever be an issue with these units, depending on power requirements.

Interfaces (HBA cards): I have seen 3 factory installed types of cards for these units, SCSI, SATA, and Fibre Optic. The SCSI cards come in two brands, Adaptec and LSI Logic, LSI Logic being the most common by far, which I have always wondered about since Snap is owned by Adaptec. The 4200 most often does not have an external HBA installed, but on rare occasions may have a SCSI or SATA installed. The 4500 are about 50/50 on having a card installed, and may be either SCSI or SATA, but by far most often, SCSI. The 15000 comes with a Fibre Optic card installed, and may or may not have a SCSI or SATA also. Why an External HBA card? Simple. Tape backups, expansion units (like Snap 10 or Snap 30 etc), and those type things. These are very valuable options, do not overlook or underestimate their usefulness. Why Fibre Optic? Even more simple. Snap Disk 30!

These cards are also not dirt cheap. Do not overlook them. And the Fibre Optic card is worth it's weight in gold almost. I have yet to see one of those for less than $800 (on eBay) and they are required for a Snap Disk 30 for example.

Now for the 4400. It is not the same base unit as the 4200, 4500, and 15000 and the parts (including the drive sleds) are not interchangable. The 4400 is an older Pentium 3 unit. Now with that said, a drive can be taken from a 4400 and put in one of the others and vice versa, so long as you have the drive sled for it. The OS is interchangable.

I will say this once. The Quantum 4400 and the Snap Appliance 4400 are the same unit! 100%!!!

The 4400 does have 2 gigabit ethernet ports and 2 USB ports like the 4200/4500/15000, but does not have video and keyboard/mouse ports like they do. Being a Pentium 3 and SDRAM based unit versus a Pentium 4 and DDR based unit as the 4200/4500/15000 are, it is obviously going to be a bit slower unit (albeit will blow any Snap OS unit away). IMO, it is not bad compared, and is a very useful unit.

The 4400 is not a superior unit to the 4200, reguardless of the numbering. However, the 4400 does have one thing some would consider over the others mentioned here. The 4400 is slightly smaller, and with the CPU being much less wattage, the blower runs less often and much slower making it a very much quieter unit. This can be an advantage in home use.

CPU: The 4400 comes with 1 Ghz to 1.4 Ghz Pentium 3 coppermine or tulatin processors. There is some speed gain (not a lot) with a 1.4 Ghz Tulatin, but a cost of noise (the blower will run higher at speed and more often due to heat). I myself use 1.2 Ghz and 1 Ghz processors in my 4400 units and got rid of the 1.4 Ghz processors for noise reasons (my living room).

Memory: The units I have seen all came with 256 MB (most often) and 512 MB. They can be expanded to at least 2 GB (I have never tried higher). They use Registered ECC SDRAM.

Drives: As with all Snap Servers, there are different flavors as to brands and sizes of hard disks used. As for limits, I know 750 GB drives can be used, but above that, if they become available, I cannot say for sure.

Interfaces (HBA cards): I have only seen SCSI cards factory installed for these units. The SCSI cards come in two brands, Adaptec and LSI Logic, LSI Logic being the most common by far, which again, I have always wondered about since Snap is owned by Adaptec. The 4400 are about 25/75 on having a SCSI card installed (25% on having one) and are a half height PCI card for these units.

This should clear up some common questions with these units I hope. The bottom line is, a 4200 and 4500 are pretty much the same unit, just different CPU and Memory for the most part, with the 15000 being a bigger brother to these units with much better options installed. In the end, they are the same unit and can be upgraded/downgraded to be each other with the one small caveat of the 15000 has an extra plastic piece that diverts some blower fan air for extra cooling. The 4400 is an older, slightly smaller, slightly slower, but quieter model, and contrary to the numbering system, is NOT better than the 4200, with the 4200 being a superior Pentium 4 and DDR model. Drive limits and the OS are the same at this point and are interchangable.

I mentioned the Interface (HBA) cards above. In another message later, I will clue you in on a few minor details for this as well.

02-27-2008, 06:22 PM	#1
Phoenix32 Thermophile Join Date: May 2006 Location: Yakima, WA Posts: 1,282	4400 vs 4200 vs 4500 vs 15000 I have seen a lot of, "what about my Guardian Snap Server 4X00" type questions lately when the answers were recently provided for one of that 4X00 units cousins. So, I guess it is time for a little hardware comparison of these units. For starters, and a lot of people do not know this, the Guardian Snap 4200, 4500, and 15000 are the same base unit. Yes, you heard me right, same base unit. Parts are interchangable and the only real difference in these units is the CPU, Memory, Drive sizes, and Interfaces installed. That's it... CPU: The 4200's I have seen come with a 2 Ghz Celron, 2 Ghz Pentium 4, or on some occasions, a 2.4Ghz Celron. The 4500 comes with a 2.4 Ghz Pentium 4. The 15000 comes with a 3 Ghz Pentium 4. These are socket 478 Celron/Pentium 4 units with 400 Mhz or 533 Mhz FSB. One small caveat here, the 15000 has an extra plastic piece that diverts some blower fan air for extra cooling. Memory: The 4200 comes with 256 MB or 512 MB. The 4500 comes with 512 MB. The 15000 comes with 2 GB. These units use Registered ECC DDR memory, and it aint cheap like desktop DDR is. It can get expensive. I have put up to 3 GB total in all three of these units with no problems, but I have never had any 2 GB Reg ECC DDR sticks to test. Drives: As with all Snap Servers, there are different flavors as to brands and sizes of hard disks used. Maxtors are used most often (cheap JUNK!), but some have other brand drives as well. As for limits, I know 750 GB drives can be used, but above that, if they become available, I cannot say for sure, but I would guess they would work also (due to what I can see from the interface/chipset). The OS has a limit something like 21 TB, so I doubt it will ever be an issue with these units, depending on power requirements. Interfaces (HBA cards): I have seen 3 factory installed types of cards for these units, SCSI, SATA, and Fibre Optic. The SCSI cards come in two brands, Adaptec and LSI Logic, LSI Logic being the most common by far, which I have always wondered about since Snap is owned by Adaptec. The 4200 most often does not have an external HBA installed, but on rare occasions may have a SCSI or SATA installed. The 4500 are about 50/50 on having a card installed, and may be either SCSI or SATA, but by far most often, SCSI. The 15000 comes with a Fibre Optic card installed, and may or may not have a SCSI or SATA also. Why an External HBA card? Simple. Tape backups, expansion units (like Snap 10 or Snap 30 etc), and those type things. These are very valuable options, do not overlook or underestimate their usefulness. Why Fibre Optic? Even more simple. Snap Disk 30! These cards are also not dirt cheap. Do not overlook them. And the Fibre Optic card is worth it's weight in gold almost. I have yet to see one of those for less than $800 (on eBay) and they are required for a Snap Disk 30 for example. Now for the 4400. It is not the same base unit as the 4200, 4500, and 15000 and the parts (including the drive sleds) are not interchangable. The 4400 is an older Pentium 3 unit. Now with that said, a drive can be taken from a 4400 and put in one of the others and vice versa, so long as you have the drive sled for it. The OS is interchangable. I will say this once. The Quantum 4400 and the Snap Appliance 4400 are the same unit! 100%!!! The 4400 does have 2 gigabit ethernet ports and 2 USB ports like the 4200/4500/15000, but does not have video and keyboard/mouse ports like they do. Being a Pentium 3 and SDRAM based unit versus a Pentium 4 and DDR based unit as the 4200/4500/15000 are, it is obviously going to be a bit slower unit (albeit will blow any Snap OS unit away). IMO, it is not bad compared, and is a very useful unit. The 4400 is not a superior unit to the 4200, reguardless of the numbering. However, the 4400 does have one thing some would consider over the others mentioned here. The 4400 is slightly smaller, and with the CPU being much less wattage, the blower runs less often and much slower making it a very much quieter unit. This can be an advantage in home use. CPU: The 4400 comes with 1 Ghz to 1.4 Ghz Pentium 3 coppermine or tulatin processors. There is some speed gain (not a lot) with a 1.4 Ghz Tulatin, but a cost of noise (the blower will run higher at speed and more often due to heat). I myself use 1.2 Ghz and 1 Ghz processors in my 4400 units and got rid of the 1.4 Ghz processors for noise reasons (my living room). Memory: The units I have seen all came with 256 MB (most often) and 512 MB. They can be expanded to at least 2 GB (I have never tried higher). They use Registered ECC SDRAM. Drives: As with all Snap Servers, there are different flavors as to brands and sizes of hard disks used. As for limits, I know 750 GB drives can be used, but above that, if they become available, I cannot say for sure. Interfaces (HBA cards): I have only seen SCSI cards factory installed for these units. The SCSI cards come in two brands, Adaptec and LSI Logic, LSI Logic being the most common by far, which again, I have always wondered about since Snap is owned by Adaptec. The 4400 are about 25/75 on having a SCSI card installed (25% on having one) and are a half height PCI card for these units. This should clear up some common questions with these units I hope. The bottom line is, a 4200 and 4500 are pretty much the same unit, just different CPU and Memory for the most part, with the 15000 being a bigger brother to these units with much better options installed. In the end, they are the same unit and can be upgraded/downgraded to be each other with the one small caveat of the 15000 has an extra plastic piece that diverts some blower fan air for extra cooling. The 4400 is an older, slightly smaller, slightly slower, but quieter model, and contrary to the numbering system, is NOT better than the 4200, with the 4200 being a superior Pentium 4 and DDR model. Drive limits and the OS are the same at this point and are interchangable. I mentioned the Interface (HBA) cards above. In another message later, I will clue you in on a few minor details for this as well.