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HP EX475 MediaSmart Home Server (AMD Live, Windows Home Server, 1 TB Hard Drive)
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HP EX475 MediaSmart Home Server (AMD Live, Windows Home Server, 1 TB Hard Drive) |
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List price: $785.00
Our price: Too low to display
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Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: November 20th, 2008 10:32:10 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Does just what i want it to
Works great, quiet. Bought with 2 640GB Seagate drives, which are cooler, quieter and less likely to die than the largest ones. I use the homeserver with Adobe Lightroom - I've redirected my Photos folder to the Server so that everything I do is backed up immediately, and i don't have to use 80+GB on my laptop for my photos.
 If you are running 64-bit Windows, you will have problems!
I recently purchased an EX470 and my initial glee upon its arrival has been somewhat dampened by the fact that you cannot setup the server if you are running 64-bit Windows client PCs.
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br /The software discs supplied by HP with the EX470 will *only* run on 32-bit Windows, and both of our PCs are running 64-bit Vista.
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br /The Microsoft Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 adds 64-bit client support to Windows Home Server, and this is available for download from the Microsoft Web site. However, to perform the initial configuration and to install this update along with other updates from HP you will need console access to the server, and you can't access the console from a 64-bit client in order to carry out the necessary updates....
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br /The included server restore disc (to recover the EX470 in case of a drive failure, etc.) also only works with 32-bit Windows.
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br /Oh well, now I'm going to have to wait to borrow a laptop running 32-bit Windows from someone so that I can configure and update the EX470.....
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br /It would all be so much easier if HP had updated ISO images available for download which contained 64-bit client software.
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br /The other issue I have had so far is that the MAC address isn't printed on the EX470. (Along with the existing serial numbers, etc. on the bottom of the unit for instance). It would have been a lot easier to setup on my network if I knew the MAC address beforehand!!
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br /By the way, IMHO a really good choice of upgrade/expansion drive for this unit is the Samsung HD103UJ 1TB drive (32MB cache), which currently sell for around $105. We have Samsung drives running with RAID 0 in two PCs, a Mac Pro, a Linux box, and a hardware RAID NAS device with zero problems/drive failures.
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br /It is also possible to upgrade the memory in your EX470/EX475 MediaSmart Server, which consists of a single PC2-5300 DIMM, from 512 MB to 2 GB. [...] is an excellent site for info.
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 The good and the Bad of the MediaSmart Home Server.
The actual server is easy to set up. One problem during the install is that you no sooner get the software set up, with accounts then you get an update notice. A service pack installs, and you do the basic setup again. It also does not like Window Live.com for an Internet access site. I finally went with TZO but had to email them to get the one free year.
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br /Getting it to work over the Internet is a different story. Takes 3 days (?) for TZO to set up your account. I am still writing back and forth to their tech support site. When I attempt go to my HTTP://(my site).hpshare.net I get redirected to a HP Product ad site.
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br /I have the server connected to one wired and three wireless computers. The first back-up's take considerable time. Subsequent back-ups are quicker. All of the back-ups have worked well.
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br /My major complaints are the setting up of the photo and music sharing. The products needs a real manual. There are websites that can be gotten to from TZO, but there is a lot of searching with trial and error.
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br /One word of caution. Don't request the trial software from Microsoft. It is included in the package and their have been reports of Microsoft attempting to bill customers who have requested, but did not use.
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.
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.
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br /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 increasing speed, 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 #1 Phillips 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.
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br /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.
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br /I am not saying here this is a perfect server. Nut 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.
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