Hardware Geeks

Today HP announced the newest version of their MediaSmart server, a server for your home that runs the Windows HomeServer Operating System. 

The new HP MediaSmart server received a memory upgrade over the previous version (2GB of memory by default now) it also has an Intel CPU (bye bye AMD), and it now comes with 750 GB (EX485) or 1.5 TB (EX487) two 750 GB drives.

But the shocker of this announcement isn’t the added memory or increased default storage, the shocker is that the new HP MediaSmart Server supports Macs! HP has launched the first Windows HomeServer with Mac Support, and it is also the first network attached storage device that isn’t made by Apple that works with Time Machine. Please correct me if I am wrong about this.

If you are a current HP MediaSmart server owner, do not worry HP will make an update available for you to get all the cool features in the new version, however I highly recommend you upgrade your memory. Click here to find out how.

HP’s first MediaSmart server was a huge success and with the addition of Mac Support in the newer version, it will be an even bigger success.

The original MediaSmart Server was an amazing and highly anticipated product, so many people wanted it, that when it launched in November it skyrocketed to the top of Amazon.com most purchased items list, and I predict the newer version (which should hit store shelves at the end of January early February) will do the same.

Having used the original HP MediaSmart server for nearly a year, I can tell you that it is probably the easiest product to work with. In fact, it’s so easy that a lot of us techie guys considered the HP MediaSmart server a boring product because there wasn’t really anything for us to do with it.  In other words, it works perfectly and is so easy your mom could set it up.

So I wondered, aside from the obvious hardware improvements, how else can HP improve upon it? Well back in September I got my answer. They wanted to make it easier.

When HP told me that, I thought they were crazy. Make it easier HOW? It’s as easy as it can get. I mean sure some aspects of it are a bit complicated but there really isn’t much to make easier.

I thought they were crazy, and when they said make it “easier”. I feared the worst, I thought they would fill it with bloated add-ons and make it unusable. But then they began to tell me what they did and I felt at ease, because it sounded good. Then I got one of my own to test out and have had it for nearly 3 months now.

The first thing I noticed with my MediaSmart server was how much faster it was over the original, and that is mostly due to the new CPU in the MediaSmart server. The EX485 and EX487 are both powered by an Intel Celeron 440 CPU @ 2.0 GHz and comes with 2 Gigs of ram pre-installed. Boot times are about half as long as the original.

Another thing I noticed was when using the Windows Homeserver Connector things seemed to save and load faster than with the original.

Just like the original MediaSmart server, with the newer version you can stream your iTunes songs from the server.  If you don’t have iTunes, you can use the TwonkyMedia server, which will allow you to share your music, videos, and pictures with all the devices in your home, be it an Xbox 360, HP MediaSmart Connect, MediaCenter Extender, Playstation 3 or any other device on your network along with computers.

New to the HP MediaSmart Server version 2, is online backup. If you have an Amazon S3 account, you can back up the backups on your Homeserver to the cloud via Amazon.com’s S3 service. Currently it only works with Amazon S3 and because of the confusing pricing Amazon has for their cloud storage I was afraid to test it out.

But I spoke with several others who have the new HP MediaSmart server and some of them have tried the Amazon S3 service and say it works wonders with the HP MediaSmart server. I am however surprised you can’t back up currently to HP’s Upline service.

Also new and probably the most amazing feature on the new HP MediaSmart server is the Media Collector. The Media Collector scans for music, pictures and videos on all of your computers that have media sharing enabled, and places those files on the server. So you can access them from the server as well remotely or locally. This is a great feature especially if you buy a new computer, you can simply pull the files from the server and place them on your computer.

You can restrict the Media Collector from accessing certain computers or folders, so no need to worry about your secret picture or video stash from getting on to the server so everyone can access it.  It does it so easily that you really don’t have to configure anything just enable it.

Since the media collector is bringing your music over to the server, it would be nice if you could stream that music to any pc even if you aren’t at home. Well you can. The HP MediaSmart server has a music streamer (Web Media Streamer) that will stream your music files to any PC. It will not stream DRM files though.

The Web Media Streamer is a web based application and works in any browser that supports flash. You can also use the Web Media Streamer to view your pictures.

As you saw from the screen shot above, the Web Media Streamer has a pretty sexy user interface, and although the Web Media Streamer does pictures as well, there is a photo viewer web app, with the same UI where you can create slideshows for your family members to check out.

You can even upload pictures to popular websites such as flickr, Facebook, Picasa and Snapfish.

HP really wanted to give as many options as they could to the user, and I am sure as time goes by, more and more options will be added not only by HP but by third party add-on creators.

The picture viewer isn’t the only thing that got a face lift, the Windows Homeserver Connector got one too!

As you can see from the above image, HP has put everything on the main tab. You can pretty much configure everything from it and access key components of the Homeserver with just one click. You can even customize the menu on the main tab by simply dragging and dropping the tiles to a higher or lower position.

You guys are now probably wondering, how does it handle Macs? Well I don’t have a Mac as my iBook which I recently reclaimed doesn’t work, but I did see the Mac version at work. First you do need a PC to set it up on your network you can’t do it with just a Mac, but once it is on your network you simply install some HP Software onto your Mac that makes the HP MediaSmart server appear as a USB connected device in Time Machine. Time Machine then backs up to it, you can even access the folders on your HP MediaSmart server.

The MediaSmart Server itself had some cosmetic changes, the casing of the HP MediaSmart server is similar to the original, but it does have some differences. The original had a grey top and bottom, the top and bottom on the HP newer version is black. Also the lights on the original were a darker blue, the lights on the newer version are an aqua blue, and finally when you open the drive doors on the Original the brackets holding the drives in place were completely black. The newer version has a red area which is an indicator to let you know where to press on the bracket to release the drive. However some of you may buy a new version of the HP MediaSmart server and the brackets are completely black. This is because HP still had a lot of the solid black ones available.

Overall the HP MediaSmart Server version 2 is amazing and all I have to say is “OMG THEY DID MAKE IT EASIER, AND PRETTIER”.

We award the HP MediaSmart Server version 2, our 5 Star Gold Editors because we believe it will be one of their best products of 2009.

As I said above the HP MediaSmart server Version 2 should be available at the end of January early February. It will be available at major retailers like Best Buy and online at Amazon.com and HP Shopping.

Post Tags: review  hp  server  mediasmart  mediasmart server  windowshome server 

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