Customer Reviews

HP EX475 MediaSmart Home Server (AMD Live, Windows Home Server, 1 TB Hard Drive)

5 star:		(78)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

*EDIT 7/7/08* Power Pack 1 has fixed all of my issues with this server - and I would give it a 5 star review but Amazon will not allow me to change the rating.

First, I am programmer that works from home, with some expertise in setting up a usable home network. This little box allows me to remote in when i am on the road, replace a few NAS drives, simplify backup, AND share music and photos. There's only one REAL BIG complaint that I have, and that's working with 64 bit systems. I will go into that...

I added 3 1TB drives to this in minutes without shutting the system down. The drive sleds are very innovative, as they require no tools to use. You just need to lift a handle, pull out the sled, and place the new HD in using pins that flex to hold the HD in place. You then just put the drive back in its bay and lock the lever/handle in place. Visually, there is a light for each drive that will show you it is ready for use. You must use the WHS console to add the drives to your existing storage, and the light goes from purple to blue - and is ready to use. What is cool here is that your users don't see 4 different drives, but just 1 with all the space as if the existing drive automatically grew. If you want to replace a drive with larger capacity, it is simple as well. You use the console to remove the drive. When you remove a drive, WHS will copy the data off of that drive to the others (if they have room to do so) and then tell you when it is safe to dismount it.

Before this, I was using 4 seats of gotomypc professional for just under $600. 3 for my machines, and 1 for my wife's. I got the pro level because I wanted to administer all of the boxes centrally. My wife is definately not as technical as I am, but she needs access to her files from work and home (she works in higher ed, and is also working on her master's). Using the network shares and the web interface, she no longer has to rely on her laptop being on with gotomypc running. She can still remote in if her laptop is on, but she now can get the files she needs, and edit them at work. And send them back so she has the most up to date at all times. I am keeping 1 account of gotomypc active, because you cannot remote into a 64 bit OS from the web interface at this time. But the cost savings here almost pay for this alone!

I have three NAS drives, and two of them are going away as obsolete. I mainly used them for backup using Retrospect. I still am keeping Retrospect for my Windows x64 boxes and my linux clients, as the backup doesn't support 64 bit OS's at this time. I am backing up to the WHS thru Retrospect, and it is being backed up to the other NAS. The WHS allows you to duplicate shares to multiple drives, so this is in a since like having 3 backups of the data. For the 32 bit Windows clients, this backup is near perfection. It's mindlessly simple to set up, and it keeps multiple backups and automatically disposes of the older ones if you need the space. The mindless backup for 32 bit clients is easily paying for the rest of the cost of this box.

So for 64 bit users, this may not quite be for you just yet. Microsoft has stated that they are working on the 64 bit client for WHS, but gives no release date. As soon as they get this, it will serve my needs much better. Both remoting and backup can be solved for 64bit OSs if you have the know-how, so it's not as terrible as some might make it, but is annoying enough that I deducted 1 star for each.

The sharing functionality for music/video is really nice. Two of the pre-existing shares are called "music", and "video" and if you have a media center extender/XBOX360, it will show up there as a media center with whatever playable content you happen to put there. It won't magically allow you to play iTunes AACs, but any format that your media center could play, it will work. If you do have iTunes - it may add more value because you can have the system create a music database from ALL of the iTunes user's machines. I use iTunes and so does my wife, but this won't work for us because I'd like to be able to use the music directory directly available to iTunes for each of us, so that we both share the same song list, and if she buys a song, then it shows up in my iTunes library and I can make a playlist with that song in it. This is *almost* how it works with the iTunes sharing here. I can see a shared system named "HP MediaSmart Server" but you can't copy the songs locally, and you can't edit the playlists it contains. Kind of a bummer, but it may work for you.

The photosharing web application is a nice idea. You can make albums using photos from your machine - but suprisingly you can't just pick from the "photos" share on the drive. So if you want to do that - you must map a drive to the "photos" share and choose them that way. Not very efficient to copy from the network instead of directly from the disk! You can then create a list of people to share the album with, and send out a message to look at your album. You can choose existing users you've set up for remote access, or create a visitor profile. This allows you send it to Grandma and not have to create a "Grandma" user on the server itself. Very nicely done.

Another small caveat is if you use TZO for Dynamic DNS currently. You need to call TZO to get your existing account setup correctly on the box.

Update 3/11/08:

I've had the EX470 for 4 months now, and I am still confident that at this time it warrants a 3 of 5 star review. There is still no connector to Vista Ultimate 64bit. I have not used the photo sharing application because there are just much better options on the internet. I do stream to my XBOX 360 and PS3 - but you can't stream MP4 based video - so this means no M4Vs, no DivX/Xvid. It has no problems streaming MPEG movies, so this is a limitation of both the PS3 and 360.

In terms of add-ins - I have tried a lot of them, but kept 2 - Jungle Disk and LobsterTunes. Jungle Disk uses the Amazon S3 SOAP APIs to back up your home server's share files online. It is slow, but it works and is very cheap to use. It does not backup the WHS OS or local files - just the shares. LobsterTunes exposes my music collection to my smart phone. It does not stream them, but makes a local copy on the device - so make sure you have an unlimited and fast data plan for this. I've used it to pull up obscure music for a friend to sample, and it's a keeper. I have also installed Raxco's PerfectDisk software to keep the drives from becoming overly fragmented.

I have upgraded the memory to two gigabytes as well. This should be the standard in these servers. It made a HUGE difference in throughput and response times from the WHS OS. I have also installed my own SSL certificate because I was sick and tired of seeing the bad certificate message everytime I used the web interface. Most people won't get this problem because they are using the standard windowshomeserver.com domain. Those that use custom domains will know what I mean.

Microsoft had promised a patch due at first in January, then slipped to February, then March. Known as Power Pack 1, it is supposed to add support for 64 bit Windows clients, allow you to back up the OS itself, and other smaller niceties. I wouldn't hold your breath for this patch. The slippage occurred because of a nasty bug in WHS ( google for KB #946676). This bug causes files to get corrupted if you attempt to modify the files directly on the home server. It will only affect WHS boxes that have multiple hard drives for storage. Now, all storage drives on the OS will show as one drive, with WHS constantly monitoring and moving the files around to "balance" the amount of space used on each drive. The problem is that in order to show the shares as a single drive, their contents are mapped and cached in memory. It's basically like a switchboard operator that knows where your files are supposed to be. Most of the time, there is no problems, but the mechanism to update the switchboard operator's lookup is not keeping up with the balancing when there is a lot going on. So instead of getting Klondike 5-3226, now your getting mostly that, but maybe a bit of Klondike 5-3227.

I've only had this happen once, to my wife. She wanted to archive some of her Outlook email, so she created a PST on the server and moved the emails over to the new PST. The corruption occured in the middle of this - and she lost all of the emails that were copying over to the share. This was an easy solve issue, because the WHS backup had run and she only ended up loosing the last 5 emails she received. Now, I have trained her to save locally and copy to the server, and pull down from the server first, modify and repeat. There have been no problems since.

I pre-ordered after figuring out I could not put together as nice of a box for twice the price. Good Call!

This is really close to a perfect product right out of the chute. The difficulties I ran into mostly had to do with some complicated PC configurations I have. If you are moderately comfortable with your operating system then you probably won't have too much trouble. I wouldn't dump it in a novice's lap, though.

Couple of quick tips...

1. Don't run more than 1 anti-virus/spyware/security package on your pc. This caused some difficult complications for me.
2. Before you install the server allow your PC's firewall to forward all IP traffic from your local network. This will allow the installer to find the server and do its thing without any blocking.
3. Check your services and make sure Volume Shadow Copy and COM+ are enabled and set to Auto.
4. It seems best to setup all your pcs with the same user names and strong passwords. The MediaSmart doesn't organize things by name but rather identifies each PC individually. This REALLY simplifies things!

Using a Remote Desktop Connection you can access the underlying WHS operating system. I set mine up with a static IP and changed the Workgroup to match the rest of my LAN. Also, I checked the performance and everything is cool even during a backup with a remote connection. I also plugged in my LaserJet 1300 and used WHS to add the printer for sharing. This didn't go well until I went to device manager and updated the printer driver from there. Then it was like butter and the printing speed is super quick.

I considered upgrading to 1GB of ram, but it seems really unnecessary. If you'd like to... Kingston #KVR667D2N5/1G has worked for another - it's PC2 5300, fyi. Messing around in WHS is at your own risk, of course! But my gigabit network is fast and server discovery is bullet fast. I use a Netgear GS108 ProSafe switch and Cat6 cables. iTunes sharing is awesome, too.

I connected from work through a large corporate network and it worked like a charm, fyi.

I loaded it up to a total of 2.5TB but that may be overkill. Two wired dual-boot PC's and a wireless connection comprise my home network. The router is a Buffalo WHR-G54S firmware flashed with dd-WRT. The server auto-configured the unit flawlessly. It is amazing how the backup operation conserves space amongst multiple PC's.

Nice Job MS, HP and Amazon!!!

"You need a what? Why do we NEED a home server?" is what my wife asked incredulously when I told her I had to have the EX470 MediaSmart Home Server. If you're like our family, you have more than 2 PCs (we have 6 PCs, 1 media center, 2 XBOXs, and 2 MP3 players) and your music, photos, and multi-media are spread throughout the network. You also have never done a single backup of any of the PCs in your house and you're one hard-drive failure from losing those precious moments.

The HP MediaSmart Home Server, based on Microsoft's Home Server Edition is not your plain-vanilla backup drive. Instead it has some killer features:

- Speedy, intuitive setup in a great looking machine (took me literally 10 minutes to setup)
- Automatic backup with optional folder duplication
- Hot-pluggable storage allows you to expand storage up to 16 terabytes on the fly (we have 1 terabyte)
- Login remotely and upload/download files from anywhere
- Access other computers on your network remotely (like Go-to-My-PC)
- File/media serving and print serving (centralize your media and access it from any device)
- Setup a domain in a few clicks so you can share your folders with friends and family over the web
- Monitor all your PCs for security...you will get alerts if antivirus or the firewall aren't working
- Extensible "Add-ins" allow developers to build and offer (usually freeware) some cool features like remote management, mobile access, and dozens of other custom applications
- You can also sign-up for internet storage and backup your Home Server automatically (for additional safety) to offsite providers for as little as $5/month for unlimited storage

Overall, I consider the Home Server to be a breakthrough in home technology. There's no other backup drive or NAS on the market that offers the breadth of features or extensibility, in a centralized and automated fashion (for those lazy home administrators). I am really happy with this purchase and particularly happy that all of our family pictures are finally safe from hard-drive failure. I heartily recommend the MediaSmart Home Server.

I'm updating this review again because PowerPack 1 has just been released which fixes several problems and the data corruption bug.

THE GOOD: The remote access to files works VERY well. I've been able to upload and download files to/from work and while travelling. The web interface has been improved and there is now an ActiveX control that allows multiple files to be uploaded while showing a progress bar and the status of the files (this only works in I.E., Firefox still uses the old interface).

The software is very easy to set up and use. The console lets you manage most everything.

The photo sharing software works great and lets you share photo galleries with your family and friends without having to use up any of your allotted 10 user I.D.'s.

Adding more storage is a breeze, you don't even need a screwdriver.

The server box looks great, is very small, and is very quiet, with far less fan noise than the computers to which it is connected.

With PowerPack 1, the shared drives can be backed up to an external hard drive for off-site backup peace of mind. The software can now wake up all PC's on your network to back them up. There is a repair utility for corrupt backup files. I've been backing up files for about 8 months now, though, and have never had a problem.

THE BAD: Support is non-existent. E-mails are not answered, and, after an hour on the phone, I was told that phone support has yet to be established for this product because it is too new. I don't know if this has been fixed since I haven't had to call support again.

The incluced 512mb of RAM is not enough to do anything serious with this server, especially with all of the various add-ons now available. I found instructions online to upgrade to 2 gigs, and did so successfully, but this is not for the faint of heart since it involves disassembling the box (and voiding the warranty). The server should come with 2 gigs out of the box, even if it means upping the price $50.

THE BOTTOM LINE: This server is now a mature product. I would change my rating to five stars if I could.

The MediaSmart server is a very nice product for any multiple computer home. It offers a luxurious amount of storage space for all of your huge media files, and makes sharing and backup for all computers on the network downright simple. It is VERY easily upgraded - you don't even need any tools to add a new hard drive, just snap it into the tray, slide the tray in, and it only takes a couple of clicks to add the drive. The four trays will offer years of upgrading.

Note that, despite the high points of the product, there are some rough spots. First, it is significantly short of memory. Windows Home Server, the MediaSmart's operating system, is a very trimmed down version of Windows Server to fit into 512mb... but HP added a number of features, bloating it back up to about 700mb. As a result, the server, in its default configuration, will tend to repeatedly read the virtual memory, SIGNIFICANTLY slowing down the server. It's best to upgrade the server from 512mb to a far more comfortable 2gb... but note, this requires practically dismantling it, voiding the warranty.

The other issue is one not of the MediaSmart server itself, but of the Windows Home Server operating system. As of the time of this review, it has an extremely critical bug that causes file corruption. There are specific conditions that prompt this, but it's a relatively common condition - Editing a file that's in a shared directory, on a MediaSmart server with multiple hard drives (which the EX475 comes with by default). The bug is slated to be fixed, but until Microsoft releases the patch to correct them, it will limit much of the utility of the server. Until the patch is released, the bug can be worked around by copying the file to a local computer to edit it, then copying it back, but it does, unfortunately, mean that it isn't possible to run BitTorrent on the server itself until the bug is fixed.

Overall, it's a nice little server if you need some extra space to share files between computers, and you'd like something you can either tuck back into a closet and never worry about or display nicely on a bookshelf. I would primarily recommend it to those who are not afraid to pop it open due to the memory issue, however - the lack of memory is a huge stumbling block to the use of the device if it's unupgraded. The WHS issue will be corrected, hopefully soon, and I purchased the server despite already knowing of the issue since I knew I could work around it until it was fixed.

-- Edit --

Took a little while, but Microsoft finally got around to cleaning up the problems with Windows Home Server. Also, HP decided not to void the warranty on units with upgraded memory since the unit tended to be so anemic with the stock memory stick that the upgrade was practically essential for basic operation. With the fixes, it makes the HP Mediasmart a fantastic piece of home network equipment - it has changed my computer usage patterns to such a degree that I'd be lost without it.

I have owned and operated HP micro and mini computers since 1982. The name "Hewlett Packard" has for me always stood for quality (except when Compaq was acquired). I just got my EX470 direct from HP. Since the holidays are here I couldn't wait for a preordered unit from Amazon - so I paid a little more to get it direct from HP. [If you are not in a hurry then Amazon is the way to go - as I would not trust any other mail order house to order sophisticated electronics]. The EX470 is a one 500GB windows home server. The EX475 has two 500GB drives. I opted for the one 500GB drive so that I could fill the other 3 bays with 1 TB Seagates (7200.11) so that I could have 3.5TB of needed storage. [See Tomshardware dot com for a great review of those drives. If you are interested I ordered the drives for a great great price from NewEgg.] It is important that you have at least 2 drives in this unit to enable the server to make 2nd backup copies of important files that are backed up from your several PCs on your network, otherwise you risk losing your backup in the event that a hard drive on your server quits.

Anyway, the unit is a piece of art - you can't stick the thing in a closet - as it is too pretty! Very well made hardware. This is not a piece of plastic that rattles, rather it is tightly assembled, dense (surprisingly) and well, beautifully put together. Mark my words, you are getting far more for your money by buying this hardware than anything you have purchased for less than $600 in the past! I simply plugged in the power and the gigabit lan and presto - we're connected. After a minute or so system test you incert the appropriate discs into one of your networked computers and within 15 minutes you are up and running.

I have yet to configure the remote capabilities of the server and will wait until I understand what I am doing. One thing you don't want to do is make all your personal data available to anyone on the internet! So I will go a little slow in that department. Once I get my other Seagate drives on Monday I hope to add to this post. If for some reason I gave too many stars to this review I will make it known in that supplement that my opinion has changed. However I doubt that that will happen! :) Buy it - you'll like it.

UPDATE: OK it is now January 9, 2008. Since my initial review I have replaced the original Seagate 500GB drive with a 1TB Seagate 7200.11 one, and installed 3 other 1TB Seagate's in the other 3 bays. In addition, I have also added a Rosewill eSATA external HD enclosure and added another 1TB Seagate drive. Now I have 5TBs and I feel I will need more space after a year or so.

For those of you who are kicking the tires on this Windows Home Server, I would stick with HP. In a few more weeks both HP and Microsoft will be coming out with a series of software upgrades and enhancements. There will be features for you to actually backup all or part of your Windows Home Server. 64 bit clients as well as 32 bit clients will have complete functionality. Moreover, McAfee virus protection will be added on a 6 month free trial (which is good if you plan to do remote sharing). [Microsoft is also working on a fix of certain corruption problems people have had using certain software to edit and save to the server directly.] So far I am completely happy with my purchase. I am looking forward to the exciting new add-ins that will be available for this unit in the future. I would give this unit six stars if I could. :)

I have been using a beta version of the HP MediaSmart for quite a few months. Two weeks ago I discovered that over a month ago during some quick "I need disk space delete non-essential stuff" exercise, I had accidentally erased a large directory of travel photos from my laptop. And I discovered that I had not first copied them to my usual "Photos" directory on my home server first. I was totally bummed for a few hours until i realized that my laptop has been automatically backed up on the home server for months. I went back to the old backups (they are set to save there for a long time), and was thrilled to find the photos right where they were before i deleted them. What a relief. That alone paid for the product times 10.

Update: (April 14, 2009)
After more than a year, my enthusiasm for the MediaSmart Home Server is just as great. Since I installed it in March 2008, it has never been turned off. It has occasionally been rebooted after it's downloaded a software update, but that's done from a laptop or whatever is being backed up. So that's it. I'm not sure how it could get much better. (end update)

Disclosure: I was a beta tester on software of this product beginning a year ago, so I have a rather strong bias in favor of it.

Since I build my own computers, I used Microsoft's beta version of Windows Home Server as it moved slowly through various beta versions. I agonized as various bugs appeared, but never did I lose any backups and with each new version WHS became more stable. When the final version was released in late fall 2007, I managed to snag a copy and installed it on an old computer. It ran like a champ.

So why did I opt for the HP version? Quite simply, I wanted a small server (this thing's a lot smaller than it looks) that would use far less energy than my old "warhorse" from days gone by. So what do you need to know that other reviews may not have told you?

1. For optimal performance, you really need to be running a gigabit network. This may be as simple as buying a gigabit switch. You may have a salesman tell you that CAT5e cable won't run gigabit, but that's not true. As long as you don't have huge cable runs, you'll be just fine. If you can't run a gigabit network, you'll have a really long first backup, but after that WHS is smart enough to only backup what's changed, so things will go faster.

2 You can't back up a computer with FAT32 formatting. Surprise! My wife's old computer is still FAT32 and I get a message saying I have to convert the drive to NTFS. Ok, but that means I have to find a way to backup her data before I back it up. Hmmm . . .

3. Now this is cool: I set my computers to run backups between 1:00 and 4:00 AM. Then I put the computers in sleep mode, which effectively shuts them down. During the middle of the night the server wakes up the computers, does the backup, then puts them back to sleep. A lot of energy saved there! You can have up to 10 home computers installed, not likely, but it's there if you want it.

4. Adding storage is ridiculously easy. You just slide out a tray in the HP Server, drop in a drive and slide it back in. No screws or wires. And everything is on the front. Also, the server runs "headless" which means you don't need a keyboard, mouse, or monitor to set it up.

5. I added another 500GB drive (for $109) which gives me 1TB of storage. The HP Server comes with a Seagate 500GB drive installed and a 1TB version is also available. Here's another cool feature. In case you don't want to trust all of your backups to one drive you can set up your HP home server to write your data to two drives, so if one fails, you've got a complete backup on the other drive. Of course this takes more space, but . . .

6. The WHS software only backs up one instance of each file. So if you have the same picture on three computers, it saves space by only writing one instance of the file. Really smart.

7. Remember, WHS is not just for backups, but for sharing files across your network, and potentially across the world. Depending on your ISP, that may be easy or potentially difficult, but that's not really the fault of WHS.

Other goodies: You can check the server temperature, fan RPM's and voltages from any computer on the network -- if there's a problem you'll be alerted on your computer; the front of the server has status lights which change colors according to the health/status of the server, and you can set the brightness of the lights (in case it's in your bedroom). It's quiet, but I have it in the basement and anything would seem quiet next to the multi-fan monster it replaced.

And finally, WHS is based on the business Windows Server 2003, which is rock stable. While the HP EX470 is not going to wind up in every home in America, if you're a computer enthusiast you won't have much trouble justifying this purchase. I've spent a lot more money over the years on backup solutions that were tedious and didn't really put a backed up file within easy reach. With WHS you can restore a single file or the entire drive. I restored my laptop drive when I upgraded to a larger drive and it worked quickly and perfectly.

So stop worrying about your backups. Yes, it's a bit pricey, but you get what you pay for. Microsoft and HP hit a homerun with the HP EX470.

It's hard to describe how happy I am about this product without sounding like an idiot.

First of all the basics; it's a nice looking device. It's VERY quiet, and cabling is nice and simple; power and ethernet. Included in the box is the device, the cables you need, a set of CD's and a getting started guide.

On the back is an eSATA port (not shown in the Amazon photos or mentioned), 3 USB ports for more storage and a USB port on the front.

You plug it into your network, install the CD and you are good to go. No fooling around with product activation, no 30 minute setup.

The software; it's spectacular. Microsoft made this easy to use without treating you like a fool. Setting up shared storage and scheduling a backup couldn't be easier. If you ever need to restore, then you just pop in the included boot CD into the target machine and it'll let you restore backups stored on the server.

The 500Gb (or 1Tb) drive is fine for most people, but in my case I added some more drives. You just pop them into the cradle, slide them into the server and select "add" in the control panel. It automatically turns them into one large drive you can access. You can then select in the control panel which directories you want to duplicate (mirror) and it will make a backup copy onto one of the other drives. If you ever need to remove a drive, it will let you copy the contents onto the other drive(s) before doing so.

Another cool feature is the iTunes server; it will copy your local iTunes library onto the server in the background so you free up space on your PC and have a network accessible iTunes server on your lan.

All in all $577 WELL SPENT. There are other solutions out there (Drobo, Infrant, FreeNAS) but this integrates perfectly in Windows and is in my opinion the best value for money.

Have you ever
- Lost a hard drive with all your personal pictures/documents.
- Spent hundreds of dollars on backup hardware to have it fail
due to a tape failure.
- Have your personal pictures/files storied across several computers.
- Needed a file when you were hundreds of miles from your computer.
- Looking for a way to share your photos and videos with friends and
family.

All of these issues were a common problem for me and Microsoft and HP has come up with a perfect solution.

The most common issue that I have noted that I have seen as I reviewed the product was based on the cost. If you add up the cost of hardware and software that can and will back up your data this system is a great value. As a bonus it will continue to grow, not only in storage space but also in applications.

I don't normally give reviews, but I feel very strongly about what a great product EX475 with WHS is.

For you small business owner... take a good look at this product. It will save you time and money.