HP EX490 1TB Mediasmart Home Server (Black)
HP EX490 1TB Mediasmart Home Server (Black) see short title
Product Rating:
The HP EX490 Media Smart Server is the all-in-one solution to manage your media: a home server that can automatically backup and protect your digital memories, centralize your media and content for sharing with family and friends, and enable you to enjoy your digital media while at home or away. Network-based backup of PCs using Windows Home Server as well as Macs using Apple’s Time Machine. Media streaming of photos, music and videos to PCs, t... » full description
The HP EX490 Media Smart Server is the all-in-one solution to manage your media: a home server that can automatically backup and protect your digital memories, centralize your media and content for sharing with family and friends, and enable you to enjoy your digital media while at home or away. Network-based backup of PCs using Windows Home Server as well as Macs using Apple’s Time Machine. Media streaming of photos, music and videos to PCs, the entertainment center and remote devices including the iPhone. What's in the box: HP EX495 (1TB plus 3 unused expansion bays) MediaSmart Server, Power cord, Ethernet cable, Software installation disc , PC restore disc, Server recovery disc and Setup Poster and HP support guides. One year limited warranty and our dedicated software technical support available from date of purchase both online and by phone. « short desciption
User Reviews
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Review Date: 2009-11-24
This little box rocks!! You got to spend some time looking into this marvel's specs. Trust me, it is worth the time!!! Close your eyes and buy it!
User: Otto Brill
Rating:
Summary: Ex490 Rocks!!
Helpful Votes: 0
Total Votes: 0
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Review Date: 2009-11-23
I'm technically inclined, but not an engineer. I have some experience with this topic... I built my own server with spare parts.
That said, Windows made windows home server, and HP made it better. You can build your own, yes. But value for money and time invested, this device is a good purchase and I know so because I installed one for a relative a couple months ago.
The WHS software by itself is great because if you built a home-theatre pc, or are recording tv shows on a PC, you can offload your shows here, and still stream them giving you instant access anytime.
Second, if you have media files that you want to convert for viewing on a mobile device, HP has transcoding software on this so you can offload that work to here and not tie up your computer while you'd rather be surfing or playing games or whatever else you do to make things better.
Bottom line, there are plenty of stock WHS solutions. But my take is that HP has put a lot behind making this a great product, and I have to say I'm impressed (and I'm picky about this stuff).
User: Stanltaaf
Rating:
Summary: Useful and good quality!
Helpful Votes: 1
Total Votes: 1
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Review Date: 2009-11-23
My wife has too many pictures and videos that are way too large. She gets a blue screen every other month and I've been nervous about all her media, knowing that it is going to hit the fan when the loses it all.
I received this in the mail, unwrapped it, plugged it in and it started running updates. I installed the connector on our office computer, my laptop and my wife's laptop. Done! All our documents, images, videos, and computer images get backed up nightly. I get notified (small tooltip) when a backup doesn't run (like my computer was turned off). I then installed the free IPhone app and now I can browse all our media from my phone from anywhere....
My server came with a 1 terabyte drive and I've got three hot-swap style bays to add more storage if I need. I love the product! It's also very good looking and VERY quiet. I highly recommend this product to anyone with more then one computer in the house.
User: B. Linden
Rating:
Summary: As easy as you've read
Helpful Votes: 1
Total Votes: 1
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Review Date: 2009-11-17
I upgraded from an EX475, and had a LOT of issues initially. About a week after I received my EX495 HP released a patch that fixed a lot of the issues (drive LEDs not working properly, etc.). I was still having issues with the Media Collector side of it, so I bit the bullit and installed SP3 Beta. I'm very hesitant to use Beta software (once bitten, twice shy), but in this case it was the best thing I've ever done. Can't wait for the final SP3 release.
User: Charles C. Deano Jr.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of initial pain
Helpful Votes: 1
Total Votes: 1
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Review Date: 2009-11-13
Bought it and quickly had it set up to back up my PC. HP and WHS has made it a snap to get it working. Very easy to use. However, I encountered 100% CPU usage at all times days after backup is completed. Even when there is zero network activity. This makes the server extremely slow, console is almost unresponsive. Very frustrating for me, as it took me hours of trouble shooting to determine that it is no fault of my own. So I called up HP. Their tech support is friendly and knowledgeable, but also confirmed that they have received many complains from EX490 users of the same. I provided the data to them and they promised to look into the matter with their software engineers.
Too bad, it is a well built, quiet WHS box. If this problem did not happen, I might have kept it.
User: J. Li
Rating:
Summary: Promising, but the 100% CPU usage ruined it.
Helpful Votes: 1
Total Votes: 1
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Product Details
- 1.0 TB SATA 7200 RPM hard drive; 3 open expansion bays for Hard drives - (Total Capacity 9TB)
- Intel Celeron Processor 2.2 GHZ 64-bit; 2GB of DDR2 DRAM
- 10/100/1000 (Gigabit) RJ45 Ethernet - Supports both wired and wireless PCs via a wireless router).
- Powered by Microsoft Windows Home Server software
- 4 USB 2.0 ports (1 front, 3 back); 1 eSATA port (back)
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