| HP EX495 1.5TB Mediasmart Home Server ( Black) | 
| Brand: Hewlett-Packard
List Price: $691.99
Buy New: $559.00
as of 9/10/2010 04:54 CDT details
You Save: $132.99 (19%)
Seller: kakka31
Rating:  78 reviews
Color: Black
Media: Personal Computers
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Number Of Items: 1
Operating System: Windows Home Server
CPU Manufacturer: Intel
CPU Type: Pentium
Processors: 1
Hard Drive Size: 1500
Shipping Weight (lbs): 35.3
Dimensions (in): 6.2 x 3.7 x 6
MPN: FL705AA#ABA
Model: EX495
UPC: 884962255469
EAN: 0884962255469
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | 1.5 TB SATA 7200 RPM hard drive; No tools required to add 3 additional hard drives with the 3 open expansion bays - (Total Capacity 9TB) | | • | Intel Pentium Processor Dual Core 2.5 GHZ 64-bit ; 2GB of DDR2 DRAM | | • | Connects easily to the home network through a built-in Ethernet port. | | • | Powered by Microsoft Windows Home Server software | | • | 4 USB 2.0 ports (1 front, 3 back); 1 eSATA port (back) | | • | 10/100/1000 (Gigabit) RJ45 Ethernet - Supports both wired and wireless PCs via a wireless router) | | • | Provides enhanced network throughput and video conversion performance |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The HP EX495 Media Smart Server is the all-in-one solution to manage your media: a home server that can automatically backup and protect your digital memories, centralize your media and content for sharing with family and friends, and enable you to enjoy your digital media while at home or away.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 78
 Great product. But software has bugs September 10, 2010
Amazon User
It's a great product. Pretty simple to operate. However the software has bugs that HP has not fixed for over a year!!! the Media Collector does not work well. The feature of selecting which picture folders you want sync simply does not work. You're stuck with sharing everything in MyPictures folder. The media collector also hangs.
Best product I ever tried though for backing up your computer. You don't have to do anyting. It even wakes up your computer on it's own to perform the regularly scheduled back ups. Backups are very easily accissible too.
 Not a Plug and Play Friend... September 6, 2010
Michael G. Taylor
Well, I was very excited after about a year of looking for a server that would work well with my HP computers. I have 2, One i7-940 and One Quad Core HP, and these will work well with this platform; or so I thought.
Once I got it up and running, well at least turning it on and watching the light blink, I found that I had to do some research online (LOTS OF IT) to figure out the router (Apple AirPort Extreme) and configure it with this server. So this was more of a "not knowing that my router would have any issues," than an actual argument against the product itself; these issues were coming up.
Ok, I was finally able to connect to it from my computer, and also from a remote site (like work). AWESOME!
Ok, next thing: Start the Media Server conversion of my back-up DVD collection (And yes I bought all of my DVD's - have a collection of about 300+ DVD's). Well the Media conversion setup took some getting used to since there is no clear "Walk-Through", as it looked from the advertisement of the station. Might I add that I am pretty good with computers, and not a novice by any means, so this was quite a challenge to set this puppy up right away and `click and go'. You really have to know what you are doing, and even then it is confusing to follow through with what is going on behind the data being streamed from your computer to the server.
I had to go online and search all over the net for some good advice and forums of how things are converted, even though once figuring out how to set-up the converter and setting up your basic default conversions, you are still left with the converter doing the work at a VERY, VERY, SLOW RATE. I even tried to convert an .avi file that a forum said to convert (viewed it from the computer and worked fine), to make sure that things are working, and the file did not work through the server, and said it was corrupted one time, and then the others would not play at all. All of the Codec's were installed on my computer, it just would not play remotely, like it said it would....FRUSTRATING.
This was supposed to be easy, as the advertisement said, and coming from a guy that knows his way around the computer world, this unit was NOT what it advertised. I left it on for 2 days, and it only converted (tried too, but corrupted files) 3 DVD's, and was working on the 4th, and there was no indication that it was still running, besides the STATUS bar within one of the programs on the server to say it was still working??? And a Dual Core??? WOW!!
VERY, VERY, Disappointed in this product. NOT A PLUG AND PLAY USER FRIENDLY ITEM. You must spend countless hours figuring this out, and lots of online help, and by the way the help file (worked half the time) that it came with is as useless as any Windows Help File...
A warning to any Windows 7 users, to add here, You have to update windows to allow W7 to work with this server, but that is after trying to start it up and windows sees that you installed the Windows Server, so the update after multiple restarts shows up and it will update and you have to restart again. Serious hours of setup, if not days of research.
I researched this item online and it seemed that it would be easy enough to setup, until you start the setup and find that you have to jump through portals (or ports in this case) just to get this puppy to run right; at least as a black and blue Christmas tree?!?!!?!
NOW FOR THE GREAT NEWS!!!
AMAZON.COM ROCKS!! I decided to return this item, which I downloaded the return label and dropped it back off (for free) at a local UPS shop and off it went. Got a full refund and bought an awesome NAS from Synology DiskStation DS410, from Amazon that works like a dream!!!! I am able to do so much with this station and able to watch my DVD's WITHOUT CONVERSION (RAW DVD) from this station remotely. GREAT!
Thanks Amazon.com for the quick refund, and great turn around with shipping my NAS and my 4, 1.5T Hard Drives!!
 Easy to set up and use September 3, 2010
Morganna Wolf (Pacific NW)
This is my second HP Media Server. As I switched to all 64-bit computers it really became apparent I needed a 64-bit media server. The updated interface is much easier to install and works much better than the previous sever software.
I have a total of 8T on my server and that is more than enough to:
- back up all 4 computers in my home network
- share over 125,000 photo
- share loads of video and music
Sharing music across computers is easy. I have set all computers to download to the music folder on the server. Then any computer can access new music with ease.
This is a great way to organize and share media across the home network. One small surprise was even my Blu-ray player can access pictures on it so I can display slide shows on my main TV.
All computers that access the server are 64-bit computers. I am running both Vista and Windows 7
I love the organization this brings to my files as well as the backup ability for each computer.
This is a lot easier and more reliable than the array of external hard drives I used in the past to try to manage and back up files.
 Does what it says on the tin August 29, 2010
DickDastardly
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've only been using this server for about 2 weeks so haven't yet delved in to the functionality in too much detail. I decided to go the WHS route instead of RAID based on ease of use. I slotted in an extra drive and had the server up and running quite quickly but then hit a snag on the updates which caused me some headaches. the thing of note here is that the technical support from HP was absolutely outstanding. I was in shock - I hate calling tech support normally but I was passed to three technicians and they were competent and polite. The last guy (the expert on my particular issue) spent 30 mins on the phone whilst we walked through all the steps.
As of now I've got several PC's backing up automatically and 200GB of home videos and MP3's finally stored in a central location and streaming to Xbox360, Logitech squeezebox and other PCs. Next step is to get CC security cameras hooked up to the box.
If you're not technically inclined I'd think carefully before buying this. It covers two basic needs: backup and central storage of media files and you don't really need a WHS to do this. I streamed music and video off an old gateway PC for years and you can use a service like dropbox or sugarsynch to automate backup.
The media collector software is rubbish. It works but is not smooth to use. I'm looking at alternative interfaces.
Overall it does what I want it to do. Oh, and I'm still stunned by the excellent tech support.
Quick Setup. August 27, 2010
B. Paxton
Working with for close to a month now. Works well in Vista/XP environment. Full disclosure, mostly just used as a file server and backup for PCs.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 78
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