Fri, Nov 16, 2007 | Terry Walsh
Finally got the chance to get the HP Mediasmart Server unboxed - and wow, it really is small. Not as small the the Tranquil T7-HSA, but considering this is holding 4 drive bays, it’s tiny!
So, I’ll be putting the Mediasmart Server through its paces tomorrow for next week’s review - if you have any questions, shout now and I’ll do my best to answer.
Terry Walsh - who has written 654 posts on We Got Served.
Hi - I'm Terry and I'm the Owner of We Got Served. The site's been covering everything to do with Windows Home Server since February 2007.
I live in Silverstone, UK with my wife and when I'm not working on We Got Served, I have a career as an Innovation Consultant to contend with.
November 16th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
I would be really interested to learn if this machine can be started by WoL (wakeup on LAN). This is a crucial feature for me as I would like to start it from my notebook via WLAN.
Looking forward to the review!
November 16th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
W00t! Nice one!
November 16th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
because it will be always on, what’s the power consumpion?
Thanks!
November 17th, 2007 at 10:58 am
TB - you should be able to start any WHS machine via the WoL add-ins available here: http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/windows-home-server-add-ins/
November 17th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
ion,
Power consumption is as follows:
EX470 (single drive): ~52 W idle state, ~60 W full load
EX475 (two drives): ~60W idle state, ~73 W full load
With three drives: ~68W idle state, ~86 W full load
With four drives: ~76W idle state, ~99 W full load
Cheers
Terry
November 17th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Terry - good to finally see power factors - can you please confirm these are ‘measured’ by you, or are they from some other source. Shame that a home server has to take so much power consumption (on 24/7) - 60W = approx 6-8 low power light bulbs (burning 24/7).
November 17th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Hi David
No, these aren’t measured by me - they’re HP’s statistics, taken from the EX475 manual.
Best wishes
Terry
November 17th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Terry,
Thanks for all of your insight to date. I ordered my EX475 last week, based largely on your reviews of WHS. My goal is to eventually replace my existing network of four Replay TVs with a system based on Windows Media Center (Vista) to stream recorded TV shows between those four rooms. Currently I can watch shows recorded in any room from any room. I’m a little confused as to whether I would have the same capability with say four Vista Ultimate (or Home Premium) PCs connected to the EX475 without adding some third party software to the EX475.
Thanks again for you time!
Charlie
November 17th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Does the new mediasmart have a print server?
November 17th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Dan, it couldn’t be any easier - check out our tests and experiences : http://green-pcs.co.uk/2007/08/18/whs-and-usb-printers/
November 17th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Hi Dan,
As David points out, one of the great things about WHS is that it can act as a print server out of the box, so you can use any WHS box as a print server.
Cheers
Terry
November 17th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Charlie
The only issue you’ll face with a Media Center setup as you describe is that Windows Home Server does not automatically backup Media Center’s Recorded TV folder (due to its size) - it classes it as a temporary folder.
As long as you had sufficient bandwidth on your network, you can of course stream between Media Center PCs without involving the server, or if you were to manually move the recorded TV files to the home server, you would be able view the files from any PC on the home server.
Terry
November 17th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Hi Terry
I’ve three questions:
1 How hot does it get?
2 How quiet is it?
3 Is 512MB of RAM sufficient / how easy would it be to increase the RAM?
Thanks.
Miles
November 17th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
I have a few more weeks left on my WHS beta copy which I am running on a box built from spare parts with both an internal and external drives. I am trying to decide if I want to buy WHS to use with this or another computer, or to buy an HP (or another hardware companies) server package. If I just buy the OEM software one of the options I have been conisdering is getting a small HP or Dell desktops (used) and using my current drives. I figure this last option would cost around $300US including the computer and software.
My question is other than the size and conveninece of HP’s Mediacenter hardware, what does HP provide other than the basic WHS features and the ability to share photos?
November 17th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Walter,
The only extras on top of what you say is an in built iTunes Server, which copies your files from each iTunes library on your home computers and builds a master library on the home server. Secondly, the HP Mediasmart also offers the choice of a bespoke domain name for your home server’s website (this is a paid option after 1 year).
Cheers
Terry
November 17th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Miles
Will get back to you on 1&2, but on 3, it’s very difficult to upgrade the RAM as the unit is sealed. 512Mb is sufficient for a home server, though.
Terry
November 17th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Terry
1.0How much drives do you have installed
and how much data have you transferred,
November 17th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Sorry hit send before I had finished
does the server balance storage endlessly
Regards
November 17th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
Miles,
Question 2: It’s not all that quiet - there are fans in the rear of the unit which spin quite loudly - it’s certainly as loud as the WHS box I built. So I wouldn’t call this a “silent runner”.
Terry
November 18th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Brian
There’s 2 x 500Gb drives installed with about 80 Gb being backed up. Storage Balancing has completed, so no, it’s not going endlessly.
Cheers
Terry
December 4th, 2007 at 1:43 am
I have a PS3 set up in the living room and an Xbox 360 set up in my bedroom, can i connect both of these to my EX475 and use them as a media extender to play content through my tv? I think the Xbox should be ok because it is obviously running on microsoft software but the ps3 might not work?
December 4th, 2007 at 3:02 am
Hi Callum
You should be fine with both - just make sure Media Sharing is switched on on your EX475 (Settings Tab in the WHS Console)
Terry
January 28th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Why does my MediaSmert EX475 server regularly ‘balance’ without PC back-ups, without new files being transferred, without the server having been used at all?
March 7th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
I just go my WHS/HPMediaSmart475 in and hooked up.
I have a coule questions:
1-Can the 512 RAM be upgraded to 1GB?
2-How can I set up the server to give out a Good Certificate. Every time I log into the server I get the Certificate Error.
Appreciate your time.