Recommendation wanted: Sheeva or Guru ?

[i373]

Hello everyone,

I would be glad if someone could give me some kind of recommendation

I wanted some kind of linux based device, that works as a server and puts my USB HDs into my network for a long time now.

Things I want to use:
- Samba Shares for my USB HDD(s) with different user accounts
- Software Raid 1 (later)
- LAMP Server
- Streaming to my PS3 (Music and SD-Video)
- Truecrypt (optional)
- virtual XServer (for some programs that need a GUI)

The LAMP server will only be used as a testsystem and not productive.


I planned to buy a NSLU2 but now am convinced to buy a Sheeva or Guru due to the NSLU2s low perfomance.
(I know that Truecrypt would have never been possible on the NSLU2...but it is optional anyway)

So now I have a decision to make: Sheeva Plug or Sheeva Plug eSATA or Guru Plug Server or Guru Plug Server Plus.
I would only buy the Guru Server Plus if there is some major feature I have missed, as I want my solution to be as cheap as possible.

Please note: I currently plan to use my USB HDDs with the plug only...so actually I think I don't need eSATA or is there any other added fearture in the Sheeva eSATA compard to the "standard" Sheeva Plug.


So which plug would you recommend for my purposes?
I do know that the Guru is the most advanced plug...but at least in the standard version it does not have a SD-card slot anymore and I might need the extra JTAG addon... so is the standard SheevaPlug the best device for me (as it has USB, JTAG included and the SD slot)?

Thank you in advance and sorry for my English.

Regards

[obarthelemy]

any will do, so I guess the cheapest is best.

I strongly advise against raid in general for homes, and over USB in particular . Raid gives you speed (over USB ? don't dream), high availability (if that's a requirement, don't use a $80 plug, nor USB). What you need is backups, and backups are: off-line, off-site, multiple, and tested. RAID is none of that. Get an extra disk, mirror to it once a week, and in the mean time keep it in a drawer at work.

[hungarianhc]

I have a sheevaplug, and I use it for what you do, more or less. I use the Sheevaplug + 500GB external HD. The external HD has a 2GB swap partition, 350GB for a NAS, and the rest is my music partition. Works great! However, I wish I had a little more CPU umph and that disk usage were a bit faster. I think using eSata would improve both (as CPU utilization for USB is higher than for eSata). So... in your shoes, I'd probably get a guruplug.

But for what you want to do, it shouldn't matter much.

[peter a]

This is my Esata sheevaplugs workload for today :-
It`s main job is a torrent server and nas  ( 1.5TB ) , but not watched anything over the network today , that’s why the ech0 is so low, But  11:00pm –  9:00am is my off-peak 3.5mb download time using transmission , which should give a clue if Esata is way to go.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3223130/workload.jpg

[LrdShaper]

If you don't really need an esata port then I also think the sheevaplug is a better choice. It's the cheapest among the group if you consider the jtag port which are sold separately for the Gurulugs

[mceranski]

I previously had a NSLU2 device from Linksys. When looking at the various SheevaPlugs I decided on the Guru Plug Server because I liked the wireless option and the ability to use a Mini SD Card. My NSLU2 is 5 years old and I have pushed it to the limits. I tried using it as a LAMP server but it does not have enough memory (32 MB). I think the 512 MB on the Guru Plug should be adequate. I wrote a post on my blog about my experience with the NSLU2 and how I derived on my decision to buy a plug computer. Can't wait till the device arrives at my house!
 
http://www.codecapers.com/post/The-Plug-Computer.aspx