Let’s stop to ponder the following set of questions:
- Do you have such an obsession with your music/media collection that your significant other is jealous?
- Do you get chills at the idea of losing years worth of digital photos and videos you’ve saved on your computer? (baby’s first step, weddings, parties, family, etc)
- Are you clueless about how to rebuild your computer if it fails (and the idea of spending $$$ for the Geek Squad to do it sound unpleasant)?
- Do you own an XBOX360 or a PS3?
- Do you own multiple computers, or a combination of Windows and Mac machines?
If you answered “Yes” (or even “Maybe”, or even “No” because your significant other is reading this article over your shoulder), it sounds like you may be a prime candidate for one of HP’s MediaSmart Servers (as mentioned in my previous article HP MediaSmart Server: Windows Home Server & Mac Support). I know I’ve mentioned snippets about these wonderful devices before, but I thought it worthwhile to really dive in and explain why you should truly consider purchasing one of these devices.
But I Have Mac Computers.
Let’s tackle this one first as I feel it is important. I have read many articles and talked with a number of Mac users on the benefits of “Time Machine” backups. Well guess what, the HP MediaSmart servers allow Mac disc recovery! Yes, Time Machine is a great thing, but it clearly solves only a single problem (i.e. backup and restore) in the connected, digital-centric world we live in. Outside of that, you need a combination of additional hardware (AirTunes, AppleTV, etc) or software to accomplish the functionality of a single Windows Home Server. Read on Mac Users.
Effortless Backup and Bare-Metal Restores
HP’s MediaSmart servers (running Windows Home Server or WHS) make backup and restore easy! From the WHS console, you can schedule backups for your machines with zero effort. If you accidentally delete a file, you can easily restore it from the backups within WHS. But what if your computer suffers a hard drive failure? WHS provides a CD which allows you to boot the computer and restore the entire contents of the computer from scratch (a “bare-metal” restore). This will get you up and running MUCH faster than if you were simply backing up your important data (such as media, documents, etc). Again, if you’re a Mac user, the MediaSmart servers have you covered.
Centralized Media Collections
Yes, there are a number of ways to “share” files between computers, but it generally requires a different setup on each computer (as well as remembering how to access those files)! MediaSmart servers tackle that by automatically collecting media and files from all your computers, organizing them into collections, and streaming them to all your computer or the Internet. (Note: Mac users must manually copy their files as the media collector doesn’t currently work on OS X.) Once the Media Collection is populated, you no longer need to remember which computer has this or that, it is always on the server. You also don’t have to worry about teaching the rest of your family how to access the files – no matter which computer they’re on, they access those files the same way.
Easy Photo, Media, and File Sharing
The MediaSmart servers can be configured to provide remote access to media and files remotely through a web browser. There is also a tool that allows you to share photos directly from the MediaSmart server, or via popular sites such as Facebook and Picasa. You can stream media through popular programs like iTunes (Windows and Mac) and to Digital Media Receivers (such as XBOX or PS3).
As a bonus, you can also convert unprotected DVD’s for streaming to your devices (computers, gaming systems, or “Media Connect” compatible devices). If you have an iPhone, you can download an application which allows you to stream your media from the MediaSmart server to your iPhone.
Easy Storage and Expansion
The MediaSmart servers can expand to seven Terabytes of storage internally, or up to 17 Terabytes of storage using external USB drives. That means you’ll probably never run out of space on your home server, and it should be able to last you quite a while. But fear not, adding the storage doesn’t require some complex installation process. Simply plug in the USB drive (or insert the eSATA drive via the tray), and then add it to the storage pool with a few clicks in the WHS console. WHS also has a built-in process to help keep your data from becoming toast if one of the drives fails. For those of you that are paranoid about losing data, you can also configure an Online Backup provider (such as iDrive) to copy all your data out into the cloud.
Conclusions
Microsoft and HP have done a great job of creating an easy-to-use device for aggregating and sharing documents and media files. If you’re like me, and trying to reduce the number of devices cluttering up your house, this one gives you a great deal of functionality in a very small footprint. I saw Amazon had them on sale, and put a quick link to the two newest ones (EX490 and EX495) in my A-store. Check it out, and feel free to Contact Me if you have any questions.
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Ah!!! at last I found what I was looking for. Somtimes it takes so much effort to find even tiny useful piece of information.
Nice post. Thanks
I recently bought and reviewed the EX495, although not as completely as you did. So far so good, I’ve been ableto mount backups and do file and folder restores (came in handy when I forgot to export my Firefox bookmarks!) and while I hope to never have to do a bare metel restore it is nice to know that option exists.
The only thing I don’t like so far is that I can’t add folder level security to my Xbox 360 Extender – I would like to be able to exclude some folders for some Xbox users and enable for others but it seems to be all or none.
Overall, great little server. And cute too!