Like more and more homes these days, we found ourselves with 3-4 computers (laptops & desktops) each with various photos, music, and personal files. Everything was scattered, duplicated, and very loosely backed up. Now the problem is that in our house we have a mix of PCs running Windows XP, Vista, and a couple of Macs. With 4 kids, this problem was only going to get worse. Add to this a home theater PC and our house was a digital disaster.
A few weeks ago, I took an old PC I had lying around running as a Linux server and installed Windows Home Server. After just 48 hours of using it I was amazed at what it could do to reign in our digital mess. After one night of running it it had backed up all our PCs and centralized our photos and music. Amazing! more amazingly is that it did this all transparently to users, centrally controlled from my desktop. Windows home server has got to be one of Microsoft’s best products in a long time.
A few things I quickly realized about my DIY rig was: 1.) It generated a lot of heat, 2.) it used a lot of power, 3.) the total storage I could get out of it was going to be limiting unless I relied on USB attached drives (SLOW). That’s what drove me to find the HP MediaSmart EX485. This was exactly what I needed, and on top of it, included Mac support for Time Machine backups. The 4 drive bays were what I needed to end my storage growth concerns, and it uses less than half the power my DIY box was using. So I ordered it.
Two days later I got it. Literally 20 mins after unboxing it I had it up and running. 35 minutes after unboxing it was fully operational and had self-updated. Within an hour of starting my setup I had all my PCs and my Mac connecting to it.
I thought Windows Home Server was great, but to see what HP has added on top of the base WHS is amazing. All the extras they have added make this thing more than a bargain. This is one amazing little box. It’s amazing because it can be really simple for the non-techie, but I work in IT, and this thing has more than enough techie features to keep the biggest geeks happy.
If you live a very digital life, have data you cherish, want to simplify your backups and storage, but want to do so with the least amount of hassle without sacrificing flexibility, do yourself a favor and get one of these immediately.