As I was upgrading from an extremely slow and non-expandable NAS, I had high hopes for the HP MediaSmart ex485, and once I got past the setup issues, the server has performed very well.
PROS
- Backups of my four Windows PCs went very smoothly. Some people have expressed concern about the speed – it really depends on how much data you have on your computer. You have the ability to exclude folders from the image-based backup, so you don’t have to waste time copying over music or videos that you already aggregated on the MediaSmart. Initial backup of a PC with a clean install of Windows took about 15 minutes over a gigabit Ethernet connection and 25 minutes over a 802.11n connection, and subsequent backups took just a few minutes, even over wireless.
- The hardware is very well designed, and is more than adequate for running WHS. This may seem like a minor point, but I have had a lot of hardware that seemed barely able to run the software loaded on it.
- For advanced users, the server is highly customizable: I was able to set up a print server, enable remote printing, set up uTorrent to download files to the server, set up FTP, and set up an internet proxy. For less experienced users, there are still quite a few plug-ins for WHS that are very easy to install through the WHS console.
- The remote access webpage is nice. HP gives you 1 free year of domain service so you can access your files from the internet.
- For those of you planning to use the MediaSmart with a Media Center PC, I have had no problems with streaming 1080p HD video to my HTPC through 802.11n. In fact, I’ve been able to stream two 720p videos over wireless N to different computers with no stuttering or lag (as long as you don’t start playback at the same time). I haven’t tried 2 1080p streams though.
- I decided to swap the stock 750GB system drive out for a 1TB drive before I set anything else up; the WHS restore itself took about 30 minutes and went pretty smoothly. However, there were other setup problems (see below).
CONS
- Setup was definitely a bit of a pain. First, the client software installation disk found my server but couldn’t download the WHS connector software. Googling showed that this was a known problem where, when paired with certain routers, the setup wizard would ignore the server sitting on the local network and look for other servers connected to the Internet, which of course would result in an error. Solution: assign a static local IP address to the server in your router and then edit the HOSTS file in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc to reflect the assignment.
- Beware: choose the names of your server and your client PC’s carefully. I guess Microsoft and HP felt like this wouldn’t be much of a problem for most people, but I changed the name of my server and immediately “broke” my WHS connector software installations. When I uninstalled and reinstalled, the setup wizard told me that the server needed to be updated before I could install, even though I knew it was already up to date. Solution: change the HOSTS file to reflect the name change and go through the registry replacing each instance of the old server name with the new server name. I also had to change the name of one of my PCs – after I had backed it up on the server. The home server itself actually had no problem recognizing the name change and I didn’t lose my backup, but once again, I had to go through the registry fixing all the naming issues before I could do any more backups.
- TwonkyMedia doesn’t play nice with my video collection, which is predominantly mp4. When I include the folder in TwonkyMedia, the plugin promptly crashes. To me this isn’t a big deal since I only intended to stream music anyway, but to some it may be a no-no.
- I don’t use the iTunes server or the Media Collector software, but for some reason HP still connects to my PCs every day to look for new media (that it never collects). It doesn’t impact performance, but it’s annoying.
- The folder structure of the server can’t be altered, at least not easily. WHS forces certain folders upon you (Music, Photos, Videos, Converted Videos, Software, Recorded TV, Public, Printers and Faxes). You can add your own folders, but for someone like me who has a different folder structure in mind, this can be an annoyance as well.
- WHS allows remote access to the WHS admin console as well as client PCs, but there are a few catches. First, you have to use Internet Explorer to log into the server. Also, remote access to client PCs only works with Windows XP Pro and Windows Vista Business/Enterprise/Ultimate. Even then, you have to fiddle with a bunch of settings on each computer for this to work. I chose to completely ignore this feature and go with LogMeIn Free, which works on all platforms. Another free alternative is Windows Live Mesh.
- If you have the server automatically configure port forwarding for remote access, on occasion something will go wrong and the remote access page won’t be accessible. I solved this by manually forwarding ports 80, 443, and 4125 from my router to the server.
OTHER
- Some people have complained that no good server should require clients to install a piece of software on their own computer. This is NOT necessary; you can still access the files on the server through Windows Explorer without installing any extra software. The client software is primarily for facilitating administration of the server and for performing backups. If you are an advanced user, you can remotely connect to the server with the RDP software in Windows and not install the connector software at all.
- People debate whether or not anti-virus is necessary; since there are so many ports on my server open to the Internet, I opted to install avast! WHS antivirus, which works very well. It isn’t free like the home versions, but I think it’s worth the peace of mind.
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