HP EX475 MediaSmart Home Server (AMD Live, Windows Home Server, 1 TB Hard Drive) | List Price: $885.00
Discount Price: $719.99
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Brand: Hewlett-Packard
Binding: Electronics
Features: - Conveniently centralize your files and access them from an internet-connected computer
- 1 TB of storage space on 2 500GB hard drives, expands via 2 additional hard drive bays.
- Automatically backup and protect the digital memories on your home PCs running Windows XP and later operating systems
- Stream photos, music and videos to PCs on your network or to your TV or stereo system
- Powered by Microsoft Windows Home Server and 1.8 GHz, 64-bit AMD Sempron processor
Data Corruption Bug plauges this product [Posted on 2008-03-16]
Although this is a very well designed and easy to use product, there is a very serious data corruption bug that plauges this device. It affects all multi-drive Windows Home Servers including this device. Microsoft plans to release a patch in June 2008. DO NOT PURCHASE UNTIL THEN. This is a very bad bug that corrupted my Quicken financial data with 5 years of data. It also affects programs like Office, Money, QuickBooks, iTunes, Media Player, etc.
I purchased it at Circuit City, but they are going to be charging me a 15% restocking fee ($112), even though the Operating System itself doesn't work. This has been a very diffcult week in computers...
Data Corrupting Software Cripples Stellar Hardware [Posted on 2008-03-19]
Don't buy this (yet).
There's a notorious bug with Microsoft's software that can actually destroy the files on the server just with normal use. Currently they hope to have the problem corrected by June 2008, but use Google to check the progress of the patch before moving forward.
If it weren't for that issue, this would be one slick machine. I've never seen a consumer machine with hot-swappable drive bays, and the potential for expansion to add physical drives to the same logical drive, plus all the other cool features would have made this one beautiful machine!
Unfortunately, the bug attacks the safety of the primary purpose of this machine.
That said, it only affects machines with more than one drive, so if you can stand only having 500 GB of space and still want the rest of the benefits this machine offers, then the single-drive MediaSmart HP EX470 is a better buy for the moment. Just don't add hard drives to the system until the bug is fixed.
Not ready for prime time [Posted on 2008-03-22]
I should have done more research. While the HP box is, by itself, functional, the software provided by MS is still being debugged (as usual.) This is not a product for the novice. The software interface is gorgeous. Too bad you don't always get what you expect, if anything, when clicking on the selections.
The day I placed the order for the HP EX475, MS issued a KB stating they would have their software "fixed" by June 2008. ????!! I tried to cancel but Amazon is too efficient for that and had already shipped to me.
Give this product a little more maturity time unless you just want to have a back-up device. But for streaming media? Not so much.
Near Flawless [Posted on 2008-03-22]
I've had it running for about 3 months now. As always, I had to have one just as soon as it was released for sale. (An OEM WHS, that is.)
It installed in about 20 minutes on my first computer and less than that on my other computers. I elected to buy a new "N" wifi router that had gigabyte ethernet as both my desktop computer and the WHS supported it. Glad I did. 50 or 100 Meg file transfer almost instantly.
The Media server has been as reliable as an anvil. It just sits there and works.
The much over-discussed "data coruption bug" is supposed to be fixed by Microsoft in June. Meantime, the workaround is a no brainer. Just drag the file you want from the server to your computer, open it and do what you want and when you're done, drag it back to the WHS. The fix, I hear, will allow you just to open the data on the server. Minor and temporary inconvenience.
Much more serious was changing the the dumb welcome screen picture to one of my own. :-)
The webshare photo album is great and really easy to use. Remote access using the HP offered dynamic IP access site works flawlessly. I have my work files available wherever I need them.
Really a great, great product that does exactly what it's supposed to do.
Joe
A Great Product Once You Get Passed All the FUD [Posted on 2008-04-19]
Last year my wife's computer died. Of course she hadn't backed up her computer in months (or was it years) even though she had a USB Drive with a semi-automated (One Touch) backup system. Backing up her computer should have been trivial, but it required a manual step, which she never remembered to do. She lost irreplaceable data and pictures.
This isn't the first time we've lived through this scenario. In her frustration, she asked me to solve this problem once and for all. I knew that there were expensive commercial systems to automate backups (we use them at work). After looking around for a while, I considered piecing together a system and buying commercial software. Then I ran across the Windows Home Server from HP. The system was less expensive than what I was considering building and it was turn-key. It seemed like a slam-dunk.
I bought the HP WHS system in December. It was trivial to hook up. I had the computers in our house automatically backing up in just an hour or so. It also gives me a status of the server and of the computers that have been configured for backup. If it detects something amiss, it lets me know about it. That's a big win.
There are several other cool features that I consider a bonus:
1. PC software for backup and recovery is on the server file system. I can easily install it as I need it without hunting for CD's.
2. I can access the server remotely (via the internet) to access files and to remotely log into my home systems. This is very nice feature.
3. The HP system comes with extra drive bays. If I need more storage I just buy a drive and slam it in, the server takes care of the rest.
4. The unit is tiny and quiet. This makes it much easier to find a place to put it.
Not long after I got the server I heard about the infamous KB946676 "Data Corruption" bug. At first I was very concerned - after all I was putting my trust in its ability to safely backup my computers. But after looking into it further, it turns out I have a 0% chance of running into this problem (which is true for most people). To see for yourself read the following article [...]. In my case, I normally use the system for backups so this problem is not going to affect my typical usage.
I believe that you can safely ignore much of the negative comments based on KB946676. The negative bias based on KB946676 is mostly a knee-jerk reaction. Having said that, you should probably avoid editing files on the server while it is heavily loaded (which is something I never do). It is my understanding that this is the only time this bug can occur.
The bottom line is that I would heartily recommend this system to any family with multiple computers.
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