Short version: A pre-built Windows Home Server box that offers a bit more than standard NAS’s.
Specs:
- 1TB
- Gigabyte Ethernet
- AMD 1.8GHz 64-Bit Sempron CPU
- One eSATA and four USB 2.0 ports
- Four SATA HDD bays
- Micro-tower case
HP has a winner on its hands with the MediaSmart, which combines the Windows Home Server OS with additional HP proprietary software in a great looking and functional package. The whole system works well and the HP software compliments Microsoft’s offering nicely. The price isn’t too bad and if you don’t want to assemble a WHS yourself, this could be a welcome addition to any home network.
Microsoft’s Windows Home Server powers this HP MediaSmart, but throw out all the preconceived Microsoft-hate’n notions — WHS is great. Seriously. I have been running a Windows Home Server machine in my house for just under a year and I can tell you that the software is rock-solid. It might not be a UNIX box, but by golly, it works very well on my predominantly Mac network.
Windows Home Server provides all sorts of true server-centric functions through a simple control panel. The server software is designed to run on a monitor-free box — the HP MediaSmart doesn’t have any video outputs — rather opting for control through custom connection software or Windows Remote Connect. HP adds some user-friendly walkthroughs that step first time users through the backup, remote connect, and media server setup; not necessarily important for geeks like you or me, but your dad might appreciate the help.
The HP software adds some extra functions to the rather stark Windows Home Server software suite. The iTunes server consolidates users’ music collections in one spot and checks for new music automatically. The Photo Share App easily and quickly creates a photo sharing site hosted by the server. These types of apps are what makes this HP-made box worth buying. The OEM Windows home server doesn’t offer these types of functions.
It seems that HP spent a good amount of time on the server case, as it simply rocks. It isn’t overwhelming, offers tool-less hard drive removal, and sports some killer LED action. I just wish the power button wasn’t on the back. Even though the server was designed to stay on all the time, it would be nice to have the button on the front rather than fumbling around on the back panel trying to find it. Also, the fans are a little on the loud side. You can definitely tell when this thing is on and I would rather see a fan-less case if reliability wasn’t compromised.
Let’s say you wanna add a hard drive, or two – or even three – to the existing storage. The WHS server and the tool-less case makes the task do-able in less than a few minutes. Word to the wise though, WHS’s storage scheme involves a mandatory format in order to add the drive to the RAID cluster. The software also allows for external HDD additions through USB, but the same formatting rule still applies.
Overall, this is one killer piece of hardware backed by a great software suite. Truth be told though, you can build a WHS server and it doesn’t require new hardware to run well. Mine consists of a 7-year old AMD Athlon XP 1900 and five PATA hard drives that I run uTorrent on along with media server software 24/7.
That doesn’t mean the HP MediaSmart isn’t great, though. It provides a more user-friendly environment and extra software that isn’t available on a home-built WHS computer. If you’re looking for a server that provides more than just backup functions, this is a great solution that almost anyone can use.
Oh, and HP is allowing us to give away this server. Yup, you have a chance to win this 1 TB Windows Home Server. How, you ask? Just comment below with a statement on why you need a 1TB server. A random commenter will be picked in 72 hours, but give us a little more insight than a one word answer that starts with a ‘P’ and ends with ‘orn.’ M’kay?
First Comment! I need a terabyte for
pornthe articles.Pick me Pick Me!
I’d love to have this server to keep backups of all my music (~70gb), pictures (~15gb), video (simpsons episodes alone > 50gb, not to mention a couple of dozen other tv shows in their entirety and about 100 movies). Right now I’ve got everything parsed along 3 500gb external drives.
Since I got married, I don’t have the money I used to to spend on toys like this. It’d be a wonderful prize to win.
I could use this to store my project files that I create during the process of putting together promotional videos for my fraternity (AKPsi). The video files can get quite large. This would help out my storage space issues a lot. (Oh yeah, I could also use it to store other “special” video files.) Thanks Crunchgear.
I want one because I’m going to BUY one this week if I don’t win one. I work from home and I need a reliable and redundant network storage solution and WHS is the cheapest way to get that done from the solutions I’ve looked at.
1 TB? Shared media stored for Vista MCE recordings!
1 TB? Shared iTunes libary (helped along by some apparently decent HP software)!
1 TB? Room left over for some Time Machine backups.
Sounds like a win-win-win.
I NEED a NAS for my house. I have 4 computers and right now I have to go to each one with an external hard drive and back up each one one night a week. It would be awesome to not have to do this anymore.
Oh, and I could use it to store movies and TV shows from my media center!
a place to keep my BSG and other TV recordings from vista media center.
And also wouldn’t be bad to finally backup data from my 2 laptops.
To back up my extensive vinyl collection of Nicaraguan donkey yodeling of course.
Donkey yodeling huh… sounds like it should be a laser disc collection instead…
Trying to set up a new media center for my collection of “entertainment” and this would be a big help. Thanks.
why? 6+ unripped boxes of music cd’s, and another several hundred cd’s in sleeves; home movies and photos burned on multiple, redundant, scattered cd’s & dvd’s; all in a household with multiple laptops and no anchored backup device.
Would love a central place to store family photos. Also been eying this for a while as a media server so I can archive all my DVDs.
I need this box because my plans for world domination are overspilling the random collection of Moleskines, index cards, cocktail napkins and papyrus scrolls upon which they are currently inscribed. The frickin lasers require space, darn it.
Oh yeah, also the music and videos and stuff.
I would need a server to i can experience this cloud computing madness. I think it would go perfect with the new netbook i just got.
I have lots of stuff, music, movies, tv-shows
that’s why I want it???
I need one because my boss promised me one over 6 months ago and still hasn’t delivered. Despite making all sorts of much larger capital expenditures.
I’m an amateur photographer with a ton of digital files. I’m running a wireless home network and would like to be able to access all of my photo files rather than just the newest as well as stream iTunes and movies files across the network!
And this system rocks!!
I’d use it to store my music and my vast collection of “educational” videos.
I need one because my wife promised me i could get one 6 months ago and I still haven’t received one.
I need! I need! For all my video, music, and photos of the family.
I need this as a Christmas present for my wife. That way I don’t have to buy more stacks of blank DVDs or thumb drives that always seem to get lost.
Oh, I do need this to handle all my files- Photo reference, Video, Art scans, Retouching work and music, Podcasts, and movies. Oh, Yep! A good answer to my needs.
I would love to win this MediaSmart Server ( since I never win other contests). Then I can have everything in one location. Thanks.
I have been wanting this exact server for months.
I have a couple gigs of music. This would be perfect for sharing to the 360. I’d probably rip a couple hundred of my DVDs on there as well.
I need more storage for all of my pictures, I have been scanning in slides and such dating back to the early 50’s for my family and am sick of using multiple locations to store all the photos and old home movies.
And I thought I was the only one that needed a 1TB storage solution for an extensive vinyl collection of Nicaraguan donkey yodeling…
I could really use this. I have a old homemade server at the house and running out of space. With a new born baby all funds are going to her and the gadget pool is gone. This would help fill that void.
I’ve been searching for a way to share my music library across my network of laptops, but switching the external hard drive from machine to machine is becoming a pain in the ass. I also need to archive some “home” movies and pictures.
This would be great for all the pictures and videos of the kids. Also, this will help setting up a streaming service to my TV.
I have 6 pcs to support at home and this would make some of those tasks manageable and my digital home life stable.
I need one to store all my HD movies and stream them over LAN.
Music, movies, family pictures, and my wife’s photography business stuff. Oh and PopcORN.
I need 1 tb storage for the mass amount of tv/movies ahem legally obtained *wink* taking up massive amounts of room (full seasons of 24 simpsons family guy every movie in the last year)
A Media Smart Server would complete my life as I have about 5 external hard drives with Home Videos, photos and music floating around on each of them. There has to be a way to centralize it all oh wait there is, an HP Media Smart server :-)
I am an animator by profession and I would love to be able to store all my work in one place to be able to show people in real time instead having to pull it from 300 Digi Beta tapes and thousands of data DVD’s. One of our biggest clients is being taken over by a foreign company and this would be great if I have to be looking for work soon.
Please stop playing this hORN!
Play my favorite song from kORN!
(gotta work :))
I need this to replace my tape drive!
I don’t need one – but if I won I could give my home-made WHS to my brother. A great place to store priceless family photos, videos, etc.
I have a 500 CD music collection, plus dozens of assorted records and other sundry media. I’ve gone all-digital using lossless formats only, and I need more space.
But hey, don’t think about me – think about the kids! Don’t you want future generations to be able to experience Kool Moe Dee and Vanilla Fudge the way David Geffen intended? Okay, I kid. I have a bunch of irreplaceable indie music that I don’t want to lose. And I don’t want to go through the painful process of ripping hundreds of CDs using CDex again.
It would be great to have a central storage solution that doesn’t waste power like my main desktop. It would make backup a breeze with automatic backups.
I need a 1TB server for a couple reasons:
A. Backing up my DVD collection, the roughly 25,000 photos of my daughter that I have taken in the first 6 months of her life and my reasonably large music collection has monopolized all of my current 250GB External Drive.
B. I just bought my wife a Dell Mini for Christmas and one of the things I was struggling with was how to get her access to our photo, video and music collections as the hard drive on those things is nearly nonexistent and I couldn’t afford the server option as I’m coasting in on empty in the checking account after getting her the Mini.
I don’t have a fantastic story or plight in life that says that I need this. I am married, have 2 kids and the extra storage space for pictures, videos, and files would be a nice addition to my setup.
I don’t have a fantastic story or plight in life that says that I need this. I am married, have 2 kids and the extra storage space for pictures, videos, and files would be a nice addition to my setup.
Oh, and I have a bunch of old Daily Shows, Bears football games, and World Cup matches Tivoed and stored on my PC. I’ll have to delete soon unless I get some major storage.
Right now I have my media distributed over a half-dozen SATA and PATA HDDs that are stacked next to my computer. Help me.
my music & movie collection keeps growing
Video Editing….. Need I say more?
Can you imagine how much stuff spmeone could store on this monster of a beast? This thing is a Trekkers/Gamers/Pirates dream!!!
It would be great to backup my itunes library and serve it out to multiple home PCs, save some DVDs on disk, and improve the backups for my family!
I’ve read lots of good stuff about this box, wish I could afford one!
This would help me to reach my ultimate goal of having a media center PC at every tv with shows recorded and stored on my network – accessible from everywhere. Life would rock!
I have a ton of CDs and DVDs which I want to move to digital format which I can stream to my home theater system. A 1TB server would go a long way to making that a reality.