Customer Reviews

HP Media Vault 500 GB Network Attached Storage mv2120

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The Media Vault has made it very easy (finally) for me to put all my files in one place that everyone on my home network can access. Here's what's great about it:

1. It's very easy to install. Just plug in the power supply, plug the included ethernet cable into your router, turn it on, and it's ready to go. The Media Vault is one of the more attractive techno doo-dads out there, so you're not forced to hide it when entertaining guests. If you do want to get it out of the way, its small enclosure allows it to fit nicely in a closet or cabinet.

2. It's easy to configure. The interface is simple, even for regular folks who are new to administering a home server or shared storage device (technically, the Media Vault is a NAS, which stands for Network Attached Storage). The included software, which is PC-only, works as advertised, giving you control over user accounts, backup schedules, sharing, and other functions.

Fortunately, if you're not on a PC, or if you don't want to install yet another piece of software on your computer, you can easily control the router via your Web browser. Just type in the Media Vault's address on your network and configure to your heart's content. As far as I could tell, most of the features of the PC software are available via the Web interface. Mac users will need to opt for this method.

3. Sharing is easy. The Media Vault is set up to share videos, music, photos, and documents right out of the box. You can open, edit, and save files that live on the Media Vault just as you would with a file that lives on your computer. Another plus: the Media Vault is immediately recognized by streaming media devices such as an xbox 360 or other network-connected media players. That means you can enjoy videos and photos from the comfort of your TV room. The Media Vault also comes with a built-in iTunes server. It's great having all my music ready to play in iTunes, no matter which computer I'm using.

4. Remote sharing is surprisingly simple. The Media Vault sets you up with your own custom Web address, which people outside your network can visit to browse your files. Don't worry, they have to be authorized to do this! It's a great way to share photos and files with friends and family far away. There's even a function called "Photo Webshare" that organizes and displays photos stored on the Media Vault via the Web.

5. Backups are a snap. I configured the Media Vault to automatically back up the contents of the user folders on my PCs (My Documents, My Photos, My Music, etc.) This way, my most important files are always getting backed up to the Media Vault and I don't have to think about it. Another great feature of the Media Vault that I plan to take advantage of is the hard drive expansion bay. I can easily add another internal hard drive, allowing me to make automatic backups of the Media Vault itself. You can also back up the Media Vault by hooking up an external USB drive and copying your data to it.

And what about negatives? It would be nice if the device were a bit quieter when in use. The internal fan is a little distracting. That's why I would recommend placing the Media Vault in an out-of-the-way part of your home, or in a closet or cabinet with good ventilation. That's my only nit-pick for now, but I'll see how it goes as I use it more!

I haven't had much experience with the Windows Home Server version of HP's MediaSmart servers, but the HP MediaVault seems to offer a good deal of its functionality at HALF the cost.

True, you can't stuff as many hard drives in this unit as a MediaSmart server but the typical home, the environment that this product was designed for, 1 extra HD bay for upgrades is plenty. The greatest feature of the upgradeable HD bay is the easy, pull out tray.

The Linux system on the MediaVault is very user friendly unlike a lot of hardcore Linux environments and is very reminiscent of Windows. The best part is that you can use macs with this product to use as a basic backup drive and to browse files. Something Windows Home Server cannot do (surprise).

Another list of pros and cons that helped me a LOT when deciding on this product is the following from Gizmodo:

What's not as good as MediaSmart Windows Home Server:
* Won't do multiple streams of video like WHS
* Only two drive bays (a fixed and a spare) instead of four
* Lets you backup multiple PCs, but only one at at time from the PC itself, not through a WHS-style master control

What's the same as MediaSmart Windows Home Server:
* iTunes music aggregation
* Photo webshare
* Remote access and web-based file browsing (1-year free)
* Connect via Mac for basic use as a shared drive

What's better than MediaSmart Windows Home Server:
* Web-based remote controls work great on Macs
* Quieter, with less drive noise on a regular basis
* Easy to back-up the server itself to a USB drive
* Easier to access Windows backups, especially from a Mac
* Probably does not share the same data corruption bug as WHS

This is a surprisingly good product. The device itself seems to me to be a great value. The software is easy to install (i.e., no install failures) and at least for me, easy and intuitive to use (i.e., no need to read the manual). The cool features, like the built-in iTunes server works without any configuration, and with a small amount of configuration, the ability to make it into a secure, on-the-internet server for photo and file sharing was equally impressive. I opted to buy an additional WD 500gb drive (for about $110 here on Amazon) and run them in RAID mode, so I have a terrabyte of physical storage available as one fault-tolerant 500gb drive. Adding the 2nd drive was also effortless. Just drop the drive in the enclosure, go to the configuration panel and select "use for RAID" and then the device automatically configures the drive.

I've attached it to my Netgear wireless router and file transfers and music streaming work fine on my network.

One undocumented feature is that it works perfectly with my Mac as well as my Windows box. I just mount the drives via SMB and also the iTunes streaming works without configuration.

One significant missing feature in my view is that the available USB ports on the device are only for backing up the drives (i.e., output of the unit) not for uploading. This means that my first backups were much slower than needed, as I had to mount my external USB drive to my computer and then transfer my 100gb of lossless music via Ethernet, which was a lot slower. When I first backed up my Mac (using SuperDuper, which is better than Apple's TimeMachine in my view), it took 11 hours to back up 200gb. Doing the transfer via USB would have taken maybe 4-7 hours.

I liked this product so much that I bought a second one for use at my office. I think this is a terrific value.

UPDATE: They now seem to know why this out of disk space error occurs. The file system is optimized for large files; ie MP3's, JPEG's, MPEG's, etc. The MediaVault 2120 is a Linux File EXT3 system and is formatted for a maximum of 473,000 files/folders on a 500 GB disk. That may sound like a lot - but I have data that includes many small files. Only a SMALL portion of the data on my Fujitsu Tablet (with only a 60 GB disk) will copy to the 500 GB MediaVault disk before the MediaVault reads as "full".

If you plan on using this system with media type data - you will probably be fine. If - like me - you have a lot of small files - beware. I would not recommend this product to anyone with my type of data. BTW - still no communication regarding how long till a fix is available - if ever.

ORIGINAL POST: I installed this without doing any customizing and have yet to get it to work properly. When I copy files to the system, it gives me a disk full error - yet the system shows only a small percentage of the disk is actually being used. After hours on the phone with HP support - who really seemed to try - they were unable to explain the issue let alone resolve it. They even had me reload the linux OS for the system and reformat the drive. The issue was escalated to senior tech who acknowleged that others were having the same issue. He has since left the company. The issue is in the hands of the HP product development/software team. As of now they have no fix. This has gone on for almost over a month. I have been promised emails with a status report on the issue. The only contact is when I call them. At least its an 800 number. I would not recommend this product to anyone. Many seem to have no issues, but several have had the same problem as me.

Let me preface by saying that perhaps I got a defective unit. I purchased this unit from Amazon and couldn't wait to set it up. Unfortunately, I've had several problems with it from the get go. I set it up and all was fine. Then I started copying my music and videos over from my PC. I happened to copy some files that were flagged as read only and those attributes carried over. Unfortunately, with those read only attributes on the files... I was then unable to delete those files with an error of permission denied on the MV2120. I tried making the folder a public folder with no restrictions and same thing. The only way I could delete the file was to SSH into the MV2120 and find the file that way and either chmod the permissions or do an rm on the file.

The second problem I ran into is that permissions on the folders doesn't seem to work right on this specific unit. I set two folders as private and created a userid with full access to those folders. When I try to view the contents of the folder through windows explorer, it prompts me for my userid and password. So far so good. I enter my credentials and can't get to it. This worked one night and the next it didn't. I tried restarting the MV2120 and rebooted my PC and same thing. Sure I can set all the shares to public, but what good is that if I want to remote access to these folders from outside my home network?

Perhaps I'm wrong to expect that this thing should be relatively easy to configure (and the interface is easy and straightforward but it doesn't work all the time). Sure i know how to ssh to it and know some Unix commands to do what I need with the files, but this really should be much easier to setup and use. Oh and I did contact HP support (once) and they were of no help to me.

I like the concept of this product, but sadly, will be returning this to Amazon in the next few days. I am inclined to try the WHS version to see if that one is better as I really would like to use this or something like this.

Got the unit yesterday at Fry's.
I set it as a mirror disk (2x500GB.)
Seems to work fine, so we started loaded files into the unit.... until we reached 64GB and then the system stop with the error that we have no more disk space. When you look at the system control panel, it says that we have ~400GB available disk space....
Call HP support, spent about 2 hrs over the phone with two guys and eventually they told me that this system is one month old, clearly they are clueless regarding the problem and suggested:
(a) exchange the unit where you purchased it
(b) they will send a replacement system disk (you pay for it...)
(c) wait until they release a fix at unknown date in the future

Bottom line, pre-mature version. don't touch it

I wanted to move my music collection off my laptop but be able to access it via my home network. I also wanted the capability to have a mirrored backup in case the hard drive fails. I had looked at the Windows Home server version of this box but the $500 price was too much. This machine does everything I wanted at a much more affordable price.

I ordered it from Amazon and have had a great experience with it so far. Streams perfectly, even streams video to my TV via Xbox.

I was looking for some way to access my files from home without having to sign up for one of those subscription services like megaupload.com. I first tried the ReadyNAS from Netgear with much dissapointment. It was extremely complicated to setup and required a reasonable amount of networking knowledge that I did not have.

I then tried the HP Media Vault:

First off it has a very sexy casing which looks just awesome!!! It's about the size of a small toaster and is actually very quiet both when the drive is active and when it's in sleep mode. I was suprised at how cool the unit was even after running for several straight days. If you want you can also use the admin tool to dim and or turn off the indicator lights on the front panel. It was also about half the price of the ReadyNAS with the same amount of storage capacity (500GB). Setup was a breeze, I was up and running in about five minutes. The admin software was very user friendly and intuitive and I was able to understand where I needed to go to do what I wanted to do. It found my network with no problem and I was able add and remove files quickly and easily. Then it came time to setup remote access....

Remote access was a little more problematic but to be fair the fault was not with the media vault. The Media Vault is basically a mini web server and like any web server you'll need at least three things 1.) A static IP address, 2.) A domain name that points to the static IP, 3.) The ability to receive requests via port 80 on your cable modem/router. It turned out that my cable provider was using Dynamic DNS which basically emulates a static IP address, so I was good there. The MediaVault took care of the domain name setup for me (something you had to do yourself with the ReadyNAS from Netgear). The domain name registration is free for one year but you'll need to renew it at about $15 every year, which is way worth it to avoid having to use a subscription service to access your files online. The only problem remaining was opening port 80. Most ISPs including mine block port 80 for security purposes, in order for me open up port 80 on my cable modem, I had to contact my cable provider and purchase an additional service at about $10 bucks a month. Once I did that I was able to access my files from work etc, with no problems.

The only thing I wasn't thrilled about was how access privileges are managed. If you make a folder (or share as is referred to) "Public" it can only be seen on your home network. You can map a drive letter to the directory and access the files easily but the files in those folders can not be accessed online. In order to access those files online you have to make the folder "Private" and then issue access rights to each individual user. The downside to this is that when you go back to view the files on your home network you have to put in a password to access them. It's definitely not a deal killer but it was a bit annoying.

Two things to be weary of. If you access the files from your home network and then use your personal domain to test online access while still in your home network, you may not be able to access your folders. Apparently the system caches the connection which prevents multiple users from logging on with the same credentials. I had to use a DOS prompt to kill all the active connections, it didn't damage anything, but I lost all my drive mappings. The other thing to watch out for is while I was setting up remote access the admin tool has a function to test remote connectivity which was giving me a false positive. Again remote access will not work if port 80 is not open on your cable modem/router.

Beyond the few little hiccups I had setting up remote access the HP Media Vault makes an awesome addition to my home network. I highly recommend it.

First off, I just want to say that I am not a gadget freak, or an expert when it comes to gadgets. Nor do i have time or money to spend money on gadgets to explore dfferences between different products. With that said, I did alot of research when it came to buying the Hp MediaVault 2120.
I also want to state that my main reason for wanting to purchase the MV2120 was of course for space. I have a fairly old computer with only a 80 GB HDD, and I love movies, so naturally 80 Gb is definitely not enough space. The second reason, and probably just as important as space, for wanting to get a NAS storage device was so that I could connect it to my network and stream movies, music and photos to my different devices on my network, mainly my XBOX 360's (yes, I have two).
If i had to sum this product up in one word, it would be WOWTASTIC!!!! I honestly purchased this unit a little confused as to the streaming capabilities were concerned. I looked on many different websites, but none of them were very clear when it came to streaming. But regardless of the lack of information on the webstes, and several calls to HP Customer Care, I went ahead and purchased the unit.
Setup was a breeze. You simply install the software on your computers, which at this time is incompatible with Mac computers, and you are good to go. The NAS Interface is a little clunky and slow, and when the hard drive goes into sleep mode, it does take more than normal times to speed up the drive, but it works like a charm. My biggest concern was actually streaming to my Xbox's. Just so you know how it went, I simply plugged up my NAS to my network, set up the software on the computer, and went into the settings and set up the Media Vault just like I wanted. Then i turned on my 360's, and the Media Vault automatically came up on the selection screen. It was litterally as simple as connecting the cable and turning on the Xbox. From there, I was able to stream all music, photos, and videos that I have in my collection. Of course, remember that the files have to be a certain format for the 360 to be able to read it, but if they are, then it will work without flaws.
I was curious as to how i could stream video, and I decided to put the MV2120 to the test. The tet was simple. To find out how many multiple streams it could do. So what I did was I turned on both of my Xbox 360's and played two seperate movies from the MV2120, and fast-forwarded them, jsut to test out the capabilities, and believe me when i tell you, there was absolutely no difference when i ran the two movies on the seperate 360's. I do want to let you know, I tried it with three devices (2 Xbox 360's, and one laptop) and it didnt work so well. So if you just so happen that you have 3 Xbox's, be warned that it may not work as well.
To be honest, I havent tried the remote desktop feature, or the photoshare, which to me are added features, that I was not that interested with in the first place, so I am unable to comment on those features. And for that, I do apologize.
To conclude, my main reason for purchasing the Media Vault was to add more storage to my current configuration, and have a central location for streaming my media files over to my HDTV's via my Xbox 360's. All I can say is that it blew away my expectations, and If you are looking to do the same thing that I have attempted for a much lower price than the "Microsoft branded Servers" then you will definitely be pleased with this unit. Thank you HP.

This is a great little machine. The interface for the server is very cool and easy to use but a little slow. The transfer speeds are pretty good. I bought it mostly to stream 1080p's and it does that fine. It writes at something like 70-80mbps and reads at around 60-70 mbps.