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 Home Server is great addition to multiple PC home Aug 30, 2008
We have 2 laptops, 2 desktops, 2 networked printers, and several other devices on the network. The hassle of my recent hard drive crash brought to light the need for a large data store and automated backup scheme. The HP EX475 I bought from AMazon was great. It came from their warehouse returns I believe and although the box was damaged, the server was perfect. They used an outside shipping carton as well as the factory box. I am very happy with this purchase and I am still learning how to use the server.
 As promised Aug 28, 2008
I'm impressed with this box. It's really two products that should be reviewed: Windows Home Server and the HP Hardware.
Windows Home Server is simple, intuitive, and functional. Setup instructions are a one page poster. While the install wasn't totally seamless, it was probably the best experience I've had with a Windows product. There was some jiggering with my router settings and fdisking my drives, but now it's all up and running. Remote access is great!
As for the box, it's top-notch. It's small (about the size of a bookshelf speaker), it's quiet, and it looks pretty cool. The drive bays are great - very straightforward to expand the capacity.
All in all, nice work from HP & Microsoft.
Serving up on a platter Jul 12, 2008
I bought this unit the first day it came out. It's small, quiet, easy to set up, easy to update. You need a CatE5 cable to effectively back up data through a gigabit card. If one hopes to do it over a wireless router it will take a long time.
I mainly purchased it for music, to combine music from all three pc's and both back them up and keep them central for playback. That works. I wish there was more control over which files to back up on each of my drives. I also wish that both my pictures would back up automatically and into the picture folders. They don't. Overall I love the idea and the execution of this little server. I'd buy it again.
Backup function is still not reliable Jul 08 Jul 11, 2008
I just finished setting this great new little server up for my home network and things were going great. Installation was a snap and easy and as you install software on each new machine on the network it adds them to the automatic backup routine. That is where it blew up today after working great four days. I had six systems in our household set up over the last few days and as promised the server automatically was backing them up at night. Love it.... until today a big red warning popped up saying Network Health Critical and the Backup Server Was Not Running. I clicked on the link to how to fix and went through the steps and it did not fix it so I called HP Support. Here I learned the only fix was to click on the DELETE ALL backups button in backup settings and reset the backup server process. I said what???? There is no reason this just popped up on my screen it stopped working and the only resolution is to wipe out all my backups of the six computers. I was shocked and said that it is impossible to rely on this product then as my backup system and that is a major feature of the server. He acknowledged I was right and said he understands an upcoming update of the software will make it more reliable..... Great so don't buy this and think it will give you a reliable backup. Keep your existing backup routine until at least the first update in software after July 10th! Otherwise, I love this thing. Having a simple photowebserver and internet access to my files is super. Of course you have to sign up for a webaddress for an extra $10 a year and then be the manager and set up access accounts for all you want to be able to get to your files or photos or photo albums. Oh year, if you want to get directly to your computer my docs files you must be running Vista Ultimate or Business or XP Pro which I never new until I bought the machine. Thats Ok because I set up a filed folder on the server for my user account and called it My Documents and think keep in synced with the My Docs folder on my computer. I can access that folder from the internet when travelling. So this is a great new tool for us with home or small business networks, but it is new and still has a bug in the backup area so that feature is not reliable yet. Otherwise, having one terabyte of data available to everyone in the house and over the net when I want it is fantastic. So not a five star yet but I would buy it again even without the automatic system backup feature that blew up today for no apparent reason.
Excellent, exactly what I was looking for! Jul 05, 2008
I was using external hard drives to backup my media files, but juggling 3 or 4 different hard drives at a time became a real hassle. With the media server, I had it connected and working within minutes.
I now backup my computers on a nightly basis and I can access my media files from anywhere on the net. I couldn't be happier with how this purchase worked out!
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