Conveniently centralize your files and access them from an internet-connected computer
500 GB hard drive, expands via 4 hard drive bays
Automatically backup and protect the digital memories on your home PCs running Windows XP and later operating systems
Stream photos, music and videos to PCs on your network or to your TV or stereo system
Powered by Microsoft Windows Home Server software and 1.8 GHz, 64-bit AMD Sempron processor
Rating: - Works as promised
Beautiful product! Simple to set up and configure - rock solid. Surprised a Windows product can be this good. Adding drives, remote access - no problem. Kudos to HP. Apple is no longer the only user-friendly product in town...
Rating: - Excellent product, HP gets a A+ from me
Most computer manufacturers are scared to release anything that won't sell. I'm sure this will not be a core HP product, but at least they released it! The main purpose(s) of this product are to:
Backup all your home PC's
Remotely access them via the web (You must run XP Pro or Vista Business on your PC's for this to work)
It works perfectly as described. It is extremely fast to backup a PC, does not use a lot of resources, and remote access is a dream come true if you have multiple PC's in your home.
There are no drawbacks. For remote access, you do need to read the instructions. Chances are, you will need to forward a port on your router. It's extremely simple, if you read the destructions!
A+ for you HP, thanks for releasing a great product!
Rating: - Great.......but no RAID!
first experience was misleading; inserted the CD, the autorun tried to run but the program was corrupt, instead manually ran the setup.exe and everything worked fine. Typical Microsoft experience, first, it downloads a whole load of patches and corrections, afterwards, the famous reboot, you are then presented with some setup options. Easy to configure, straight forward for any IT aware person. Nice interface for the user, was setup in a matter of minutes.
Shame there is no hardware RAID, it says you can mirror specific folders onto different disks, but I still have yet to discover how this works. Quiet..and ...discret.....I think I'll like it!
Also of note: way too much packaging of the device, outlayer of carboard packaging with a inner box of carboard. (this excludes the carboard box of Amazon).....far too much carboard used in todays "sustainable development" culture. As well, a hefty printed manual that alot of people will hardly ever use, ideally this whould have been included on a CDrom as a PDF. Wake up HP! How many '000s of units are you planning on selling?
Rating: - Outstanding server and backup solution.
I purchased the EX470 primarily as a server for music and video. But, in the last two weeks I had the need to restore a laptop that would no longer boot up due to a damaged boot sector. And, I wanted to restore a program on a desktop computer that had ceased functioning even after reloading it. In both cases the EX470 worked flawlessly. The laptop was completely restored and is working without any errors. The desktop software was restored to its operating environment prior to the software failure. Even Microsoft's Restore couldn't fix what the EX470's PC Restorer was able to do.
By the way, the music and video serving is meeting and exceeding all my expectations.
HP EX470 MediaSmart Home Server (AMD Live, Windows Home Server, 500 GB Hard Drive) Reviews
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