| |  | PC Hardware HP EX470 MediaSmart Home Server (AMD Live, Windows Home Server, 500 GB Hard Drive) |  | | | | | | | | | | Rating:  - Quick and Easy
Out of the box, into the structured wiring closet, connected, up and operating without a glitch. If you need additional storage and the security of automatic system backup, this is a great machine.
Rating: - My take is,this is an around good compact home server for the price.
I purchase the EX-470 from Amazon about 3 weeks ago with and intend to warehouse my backups from multiple PC's in the house. I would say this server is far better than my expectations. You can not build a small MS Vista Server this nice.The box is small and quite, It sits on the back side of my desk with little noise and no vibrations noted.My recommendation is to take your time learning the features and functions,This is a very powerful versatile box from home users and learning and using all the functions takes times ....I have moved all of iTunes and MP3 libraries, work file backup and critical files from all the PC's in the house onto the server to allow the multiple PC's in the house access. I've fired up the Web options and can access my files from anywhere outside of the house on the WEB...I've linked up a couple of my friends and business partners to access Files folder I designate with Passwords as well as they can upload files into designated restricted folders I assign to them. Depending if you want to move into more options and support there is several nice Vista add-in software giving it more function as well as antivirus options.
If you going to consider using this as a Web access server I would consider adding more memory (the HP website now suggests the warranty is not voided with memory swap) And there is AMD processor upgrade available (This would void the warranty, but it is low risk). After about two weeks of running I swapped out the 512meg memory for a 2gb for about $30.There's a notable improvement in file movement.Then after a couple days I installed a new 2.6GHz AMD LE-1640 Orleans (45W) processor,besides mving from a 1.8 GHz increasingspeed, it also increases the processor's L2 cache to 1MB (from 256KB in the Original AMD Sempron Chip).Both the memory and Processor swap out is very simple. This is the first time I've ever swapped out these types of items ... Piece of cake! No software changes and it can be completed in about 15 minutes using a #0 & #1Phillips and a standard blade screwdrivers. Homeserverhacks . com has a lot of good information and illustrations to do this change.. The processor was about $45 and made a notable difference in access speed and file transfer time on my Gignet Router and as well on the PCs in the house that do not support Gig net yet.
I installed a Western Digital SATA II 1TB Variable Speed Drive "Green Drive" . Simple to install and the drive is very quite.The most notable difference is when you look at the temperature menu the Green drive is running 15 degrees cooler that the base non green drive.No notable response time issues with the variable drive speeds. This is the way to go I will only use these drive on the other two drive bays later.
I am not saying here this is a perfect server. But you can not come close to this package anywhere else.And the upgrade I did not note a required item... My take is this is an around good, compact home server. If you're looking for maximum storage capacity down the road! Think about purchasing the 1TB server to start off with, you will not have to endure the pain on software replacement down the road. I did not and I'm limited on one drive bay to the base 500GB drive for now.
Rating: - Love it
Install was a breeze. It now holds itunes from my computer and my wife's. It also backs up both computers every night. I highly recommend upgrading the ram.
Rating:  - Didn't work out for me
First off, I bought this unit strictly to handle backups. I like the idea of having a device in the background that handles this. I previously had a Mirra server but it crapped out, so I got this. On the first day of use, the management console stopped letting me log in, it just returned to the login screen as if I had not typed anything. So I had to get on with HP tech support. At least I can say that for this device, the tech support is all on shore and the MediaSmart tech staff is very good. So I had to perform a complete factory reset - twice. Then the unit appeared to be working all right.
After a day or two, I noticed that the only Vista machine (which is my most critical from a backup perspective) was failing on backup. The C: drive was backing up okay, but not the D: partition (Data). Bummer. So back on with HP.
The technician was helpful and pointed me to a number of Microsoft KB articles regarding VSS (volume shadow service). Look, if there was a registry hack to do, or some software to install, or a patch to run, I'm up to it. But the fact is that Vista users seemed to be having lots of backup problems with this device as well as Windows backup all related to VSS. And there was no simple or straight-forward resolution. So that was it for me. Took it back (to Costco)
We have a Synology DS207+ at work which really does everything this device can do and seems to work very well. I recommend it. With two 500GB drives it came in under $[...]
And that's my story.
Rating: - WOW You don't have to be a geek to use this!
I ordered this directly from Amazon with standard shipping and got it in two days directly from a depot.
Installation was very satisfactory for such a complicated product.I didn't have enough Ethernet ports coming out of my router (an older Motorola Wireless-G) so I ordered a Linkysis 5 port switch at the same time.I chained the switch to my router and took a couple of connections off the router so I could connect the Homeserver Directly to the router.
Setup is complicated, but the written and on screen instructions are very good.Be sure to write down all the usernames and passwords and pick as simple a name as possible for the remote homeserver internet name.
I would say 80-90% of the setup went off without any problem.I got one PC (Windows XP) set up and used this as the install console access.Then set this unit up for remote access and created the Microsoft homeserver (it's free) web ID.Keep in mind that the address is https:// not www.
Password requirements are stiff.
With unit #1 set up for access, automatic back-up and remote file access I then set up my laptop (wireless connection) using a different username.
Both units performed backups the first evening.I figured out how to quickly get to the user and other directories on the drive (I ordered the small 500GB unit for starters).It was quick and easy to transfer data files, photos and video files to the server.
The next step was remote access.This was only partially successful during my initial install which I did in stages over about two days.Through the internet, I was able to log onto the Homeserver and upload and download files.I eventually created another user just for the fileserver so I could allow others to access files that pertained to a joint project (just like a VPN that the big boy s use).Outside users had no difficulty uploading 15MB CAD files to the server.
Now for the 10-20% difficult part.A couple of times I had to restart the server (full power off) to get around some difficulties or clear a reported problem.That wasn't bad. What really bothered me was that I couldn't get the Remote Access feature to allow me to access the programs, files and printer resources of my PC via the internet.Everything seemed to be in order but I received errors which indicated Remote Access was blocked.I thought some router settings would need to be changed, but didn't know what to do so I just decided this was not something I needed to bang my head against the wall for.
Finally after about one month of running I got some sort of error that the server could not connect to the internet.One of the recommended fixes was to add the remote access internet site https://xxx.homeserver.com to the list of trusted sites.After doing this, on a hunch, I used my laptop to remote access my PC through the internet.It worked.After logging on with username and password I took control of the PC.I picked a fairly complicated application that I had on the PC but not on the laptop and ran a program using data on the PC.Then still at the laptop remote access, I printed the document.Not only did it work, but the speed was amazingly fast.
Now I'm at 98% satisfaction.(Some people can never be fully satisfied)The only remaining abnormality is that I have things to display Network Health Notifications and sometimes the notifications are not so important (such as laptop not backed up for 8 days---it was in the bag!!)and other times when the notification icon stayed "unhealthy" while everything worked properly.Eventually the second issue cleared itself after 10 hours.
One big item of caution!Unless you have more that one disk drive in the unit, you cannot take advantage of the "duplicate" function.If you use the homeserver as the primary and only source for files, you have no backup unless there is more than one drive in the box and you set it up for duplication.
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