- log in
- join CNET
- welcome,
- my profile
- log out

HP MediaSmart Server ex475

Manufacturer: HP Part number: GG796AA#ABA

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Compare with most popular

$549.99 - $900.00 at 10 online stores

CNET Editor rating:
4.0 stars Excellent
Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 27 reviews

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: Microsoft's Windows Home Server is the best, easiest-to-use answer to backing up and corralling all of the disparate media files in a networked home. And delivered in this petite, relatively affordable MediaSmart Server ex745 from HP, you get plenty of storage in a well-designed hardware package. We recommend this system all the way to anyone looking to take full control of their data.
Read more

Where to buy

store	customer rating	inventory	tax & shipping	price
	Rate this store See store profile	In stock Order Now-Ships Today	Enter zip code to get total price: Price +Tax +Shipping =Total price	$629.96 Shop now as of 11/23/2008
PREMIER SOURCE of cutting edge electronics since 1973.	Rate this store See store profile	In stock FREE SHIPPING! Ships in 24 Hrs. Auth HP / Hewlett-Packa		$629.95 Shop now as of 11/23/2008
	Rate this store See store profile	In stock Order Now-Ships Today		$629.96 Shop now as of 11/23/2008
Best Computer retailer website five years running	Rate this store See store profile	In stock Home Office Solutions Direct from HP		$549.99 Shop now as of 11/23/2008
	Rate this store See store profile	In stock		$649.99 Shop now as of 11/23/2008
	Rate this store See store profile	In stock		$640.43 Shop now as of 11/23/2008
	Rate this store See store profile	In stock		$632.99 Shop now as of 11/23/2008
	Rate this store See store profile	In stock		$674.07 Shop now as of 11/23/2008
	Rate this store See store profile	In stock		$900.00 Shop now as of 11/23/2008
Next Warehouse	Not yet rated Rate this store See store profile	In stock		$751.52 Shop now as of 11/23/2008

*Total price for the HP MediaSmart Server ex475 are estimated and may vary slightly based on exact tax, shipping, manufacturer rebate or any sale/promotion on the merchant site.

show

CNET editors' review

HP MediaSmart Server ex475

price range: $549.99 - $900.00

Reviewed by: Rich Brown
Reviewed on: 11/05/2007
Released on: 11/05/2007

The good: Small enclosure is easily stashed out-of-sight, straightforward hardware and software setup; powerful server software lets you take complete control of the systems on your network as well as the files on them; easy to add storage as needed; expanded features via coming third-party software.

The bad: $749 isn't cheap; potentially cumbersome account management with the various other systems on your network.

The bottom line: Microsoft's Windows Home Server is the best, easiest-to-use answer to backing up and corralling all of the disparate media files in a networked home. And delivered in this petite, relatively affordable MediaSmart Server ex745 from HP, you get plenty of storage in a well-designed hardware package. We recommend this system all the way to anyone looking to take full control of their data.

Read full review

We've been tracking HP's MediaSmart Server and the Microsoft Windows Home Server software that powers it ever since they were both announced back in January. We got to play with an early version of the software this summer. Now we get to take a look at the complete product, by way of the HP MediaSmart Server ex475, a 1-terabyte home server that will cost you $749. In addition to the raw storage space, what you also get for that money is powerful software that's easier to use than anything else of its kind on the market. It lets you automate networkwide system backups, centralize all of your digital media files, stream them out to other devices in your home, and access them from any Windows-based, Web-enabled computer in the world. This HP MediaSmart Server also appears to be the best deal on a 1TB-equipped Home Server product, at least compared to its handful of competitors. We're sure to see other Home Server systems hit the market over the next few months, but for now, if you want to take better control of your data, this is the best solution we've seen.

Just a little thing
The actual hardware of the HP MediaSmart Server is very straightforward. It looks like a very small PC (9.75 inches high, 5.5 inches wide, and 10 inches high, to be exact), and in addition to the hard drives, it also has a processor and memory. But there's nowhere to connect a monitor, and it comes with no mouse or keyboard. Instead, the back-panel simply has a power cable input, a networking jack, and a handful of other ports for expanding your storage capacity with external drives. Once you've plugged in the power and network cables and the system has been recognized by your network, you don't really need to touch it. The vast majority of your interaction with the server will take place via the Windows Home Server software that you need to install on another Windows Vista or Windows XP-based computer on the same network. This hands-off approach gives you the freedom to put the MediaSmart Server completely out of sight in a closet or some other out-of-the-way location, eliminating visual clutter in your house.

You'll only need to worry about a few basic ports on the back of your MediaSmart Server.

With the physical setup out of the way, you then go to any other computer on your network and install the Windows Home Server Console software. The time from the start of the software install to the end of the initial configuration took us roughly 15 minutes. Installation is really no more complicated than a typical software install, with a license agreement and a few "Next" buttons to click. The only additional step is creating a password for the Home Server Console. Once you're in the console software, a setup help utility walks you through a six-step process of configuring your various settings.

This walkthrough is one of the tweaks that HP has made to Windows Home Server to distinguish it from the competition. Anyone familiar with the ins and outs of setting user permissions and establishing a domain name won't rely on the walkthrough too much, but for the rest of us, this kind of tweaking helps this system better embrace its target customer, the mainstream computer user.

Despite the tweaks to ease of use, the basic features of Windows Home Server remain the same since we previewed it earlier this summer. From the Home Server Console, you get a window with a series of tabs, each dealing with different capabilities.

Computers and backup
The Computers & Backup section gives you basic information about all of the systems on your home network. Here you can control the antivirus, firewall, and Windows update status for each system, and also schedule data back-up to the server. This is actually one of the more powerful tools Windows Home Server offers. Rather than create multiple redundant backup copies of files your various systems might have in common, Home Server instead keeps one master image, and then only writes new data for whatever files on a particular system have changed. In other words, you won't waste storage space with five full versions of Windows Vista backed up. Instead you'll have one master version, and then various updated individual files saved for each particular system. You can also turn this feature off for greater redundancy in case a server drive should fail. This is also a powerful tool because you can not only use it to create restore points for every system on your network, you can also apply that restore point from the Home Server Console software itself.

User accounts
From the User Accounts tab, you determine which users on your network have access to the various shared folders. You can get bogged down at this step, as it encourages you to use the user names and passwords that match those on the client PCs, which assumes you use them to begin with. If your household is less access-controlled, you can simply stick with a Guest account, which grants open access to all of the shared folders on your home network.

Shared folders
The Shared Folders tab is where you manage and create the central location for your media files, or whatever other data you want to access remotely. In addition to the basic dedicated Music, Photos, Videos, etc., each user can also create a personal folder for general storage. You can set permissions granting or restricting different kinds of access per user to each different folder. These folders can also stream content to other media devices on your home network, such as an Xbox 360. You can also access them remotely over the Web. This is another stand-out feature of Windows Home Server, as it essentially lets you get at all of your media and other data from any connected computer in the world. The major drawback is that it requires Internet Explorer, which excludes Firefox users, Macs, and any other non-Microsoft systems from using the remote access capabilities.

Server storage
The Server Storage tab shows you the amount of space on the various hard drives you have connected to your Home Server. Via the HP MediaSmart Server ex475's USB ports or its single eSATA port, you can expand your storage pool with various kinds of drives, and they'll pop up onscreen. HP also lets you hot-swap the internal hard drives, via an easy-open front panel door. Inside you'll find the same hard-drive sleds that came with the HP Blackbird 002 gaming PC. They require no screws or cables, and pop in and out of the system easily. Each new drive or storage device you connect to the system become part of a single drive partition. The Home Server software will format drives as necessary, and it all works on the fly.

The 1TB model has two drive sleds occupied, and two more to spare for aftermarket expansion.

Those four tabs make up the basics of Windows Home Server that should be common to every system that uses the software. But Microsoft is also encouraging third-party software developers to expand on Home Server's capabilities. HP has taken advantage of this out of the gate with a photo sharing application and a small program that organizes and grants access to your iTunes library across the various systems on your network. We're sure anyone who purchases the MediaSmart Server will appreciate those tweaks. Microsoft has also announced other extensions to Home Server, including a media streaming app from SageTV, a blog tool, and video conferencing software, among others. It's similar in concept to Apple's Widgets and Microsoft's own Vista Gadgets, although we don't expect that all of the Home Server programs will be free.

As far as this particular MediaSmart Server ex475, HP gives you two 500GB, 7,200rpm hard drives, for 1TB total. It also offers the 500GB MediaSmart Server ex470, for $599. With four internal slots overall, you can extend the internal storage on either of these systems to 4TB with the current drives on the market. You can also add external drives via the aforementioned USB and eSATA ports. As these are servers and mostly just shuttling data around, they don't need a fast processor or gobs of system memory. The ex475 comes with a lowly 1.8GHz AMD Sempron processor and 512MB of system RAM. Velocity Micro is promising higher-end specs in its Home Server systems, and we'll keep an open mind, but we didn't have any particular performance gripes with the HP. You can also find the Windows Home Server software on sale by itself for around $175. Because of the low-grade hardware requirements, it's easy to imagine repurposing an out-of-date PC into a DIY Home Server box.

The warranty coverage for the MediaSmart Server ex475 is about the same you'd find in a desktop of this price. You get a year of parts and labor coverage, plus 24-7 phone support. There is no standalone support application with this system like you can find on HP's Pavilion desktops, but there are so many links in the Home Server software itself explaining what does what, that you should be well taken care of. The paper manual also provides 192 pages of useful information. You also get server restore disks in case the server software itself become corrupt.

See pricing

show

User reviews

Write Review

Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 27 reviews
My rating: 0 stars

Showing opinion 1 to 10 out of 27

Sort by:
9 stars

Best Solution for Home Users

by cringgen on November 13, 2007

Pros: Easy, Fast, Expandable, Strong HP add-on Software

Cons: Can always be less expensive. Limited Mac support

Summary: I am fortunate to have a shipping version of the ex475 now. After only a couple weeks of use, it has delivered everything promised.

PRO's: Setup was easy. 1TB

...

Read more

Summary: I am fortunate to have a shipping version of the ex475 now. After only a couple weeks of use, it has delivered everything promised.

PRO's: Setup was easy. 1TB is enough initial storage, with lots of expansion options. HP Support was great with my two questions. Warranty is good. Looks good, although I have it stored next to my router in the basement. HP add-on software really differentiates this solutions vs any other Microsoft Home Server solution.

CON's: $749 list price may be $100 too high, but not bad given the easy of use vs. competition. No support for automatic backup for my Macbook Pro. (Everything else is supported.)

I bought this to take advantage of all the key selling points, (backup, photo-sharing, file-sharing, iTunes centralization, etc.). However, one of the best side benefits has been the ability to leverage this with a new HP 47" 1080P LCD HDTV with MediaSmart. I can now access all our videos, photos, and music directly from the TV. Prior to having the server, I had to stream music or photos from specific PC's located throughout the house. This server eliminates that requirement and give me "wire speed" access to ALL media files. Very nice.

HP seems to be ahead of the field currently. Others are sure to ship solutions over the next few months, but this will win the holiday shoppers wallet for 2007.

Finally, the tweaks made to this software by Microsoft, with input from HP, were worth the extra 60 day wait. Microsoft may have actually provided a solid product right out of the gate.

Show less

13 out of 13 users found this user opinion helpful.
2 stars

Not ready for prime time

by miller.90 on March 10, 2008

Pros: The HP hardware is very good

Cons: The WHS software should NOT have been released

Summary: The WHS software is so buggy that Medion, a major German OEM has refused to allow their brand of a WHS server onto the market yet. It's to HP'...

Read more

Summary: The WHS software is so buggy that Medion, a major German OEM has refused to allow their brand of a WHS server onto the market yet. It's to HP's discredit that they launched their version and that they continue to promote it.
1 -- The data-corruption bug is a show stopper, and MS announced today, March 11, that they'll probably not have a fix for it before June. It's true that it does not happen on one-drive servers, but without at least one more drive, data duplication cannot be enabled, defeating the purpose of such a device. MS originally stated that only files being opened from the server could be corrupted, but it's been shown that even read-only files can be corrupted.
2 -- The backup system is simply buggy. There are many reports of users not being able to restore failed computers and therefore losing lots of data.
3 -- Many users are frequently seeing "Health Notifications" that the SYS drive in the MediaSmart is failing. This means that it must be "Repaired," a WHS function that supposedly repairs corruption of backup indexes or something. It usually works, but could anyone be inspired by seeing a message that his WHS drives are "failing" all the time??
4 -- The backups cannot be validated, either manually or automatically, meaning that a backup can be corrupted and useless for months while the user is never notified. The user can find out about the corruption only by opening a backup. This means that if you want to rely on the WHS as a backup device, you have to try to open a backup almost every day. This is not a bug, just a show-stopping, deal-busting omission. I'd ask if anyone has EVER heard of ANY backup program that does not allow validation of its backups?
5 -- There is currently no way to backup the WHS, itself. Because of the Drive Extender technology, not even third-party programs can be used for this purpose. This is another show-stopping omission because if something happens to the C: drive in the WHS, the OS must be reinstalled. It preserves the data files, but it results in losing ALL the backups stored to that point. Many users have been forced to reinstall WHS: Bye-bye backups, start over. (This functionality may be added to WHS by the Power Pack due by July.)
The MediaSmart server is a very nice and reasonably-priced piece of hardware, but Microsoft's WHS software was released, IMHO at least 8 months too early. I'd advise that NO ONE buy any WHS software or hardware until MS proves that they've corrected the data-corruption bug -- i.e., not before mid-summer of 2008. Even then, it will probably be impossible to fully trust WHS backups, meaning that the MAIN REASON for the software's existence has not been met.

Show less

4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 stars

Vista 64 support soon

by gbedford on November 7, 2007

Pros: Plenty of power and ease of use for a home sever

Cons: small amount of add ons currently.

Summary: Vista 64 support will come soon. Since each connection requires client software, the Vista 64 version is not yet ready. Keep in mind that Vista 64 support for the Zune ...

Read more

Summary: Vista 64 support will come soon. Since each connection requires client software, the Vista 64 version is not yet ready. Keep in mind that Vista 64 support for the Zune came out two months after it shipped (works great for me now). Also, Bunny questioned storage and called it built in obsolence. Just about every IT department is struggling with data storage issues. Given that you can put in additional internal drivers, and add external storage, this platform is super flexible. Remember, hard drives have gained storage capacity but the form factor hasn't changed for years. So 5 years down the road, you'll probably be able to plug in a 2tb drive into 1 of those slots or connect it externally.

Show less

3 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
7 stars

Vista x64 not supported

by rblacher on November 6, 2007

Pros: Great backup and shared file capabilities

Cons: The title says it all

Summary: This is really about the WHS software, not HP's product.

Potential buyers should note that the client software will *not* run on 64-bit operating systems, including Vista.

Rumor has

...

Read more

Summary: This is really about the WHS software, not HP's product.

Potential buyers should note that the client software will *not* run on 64-bit operating systems, including Vista.

Rumor has it MSFT is working on a 64-bit client but no release date has been set.

Show less

3 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
4 stars

Good, but WILL format hard drive

by Spinky_ on March 3, 2008

Pros: small,nice looking, fast, silent

Cons: It will format any hard drive BEFORE you can use them

Summary: The pros :
This is a good little server. You can upload/download files via a web interface. Use it as a iTunes server too. You can install different add-in like
...

Read more

Summary: The pros :
This is a good little server. You can upload/download files via a web interface. Use it as a iTunes server too. You can install different add-in like uTorrent. It's also possible to connect to the server from the internet and manage it from anywhere. I've not been able to do that. To be able to use the full option, the server must be use with IE.... with firefox, I was unable to control the server from the web.
You can use it as a backup server when installing the right software.
The server can also duplicate files on the server, if one drive fails, your files a not lost.
Fast server, use SATA drives with a 1Gigabit network, and it will be very fast
My others computers saw the shares on the drives as soon as I finished installing the server.

The cons :
When you add a hard drive, SATA or USB, or eSata, the wizard adds it to the 'main storage'. If you already have a 500Gig and adds another 500Gig, you won't have 2 drives of 500Gig, like D: E: as in any other GOOD OS, but ONE of 1Tera, D: The wizard informs you that the drive WILL BE FORMATED before you can use it. BE CAREFULL. Once you copy files to the server, let say you want to remove a SATA drive. You must tell the server you will do so, and will transfer the files from the hard drive you want to remove, to the others.... This could take a long time. And when you physically remove the drive, you have an **empty** drive. What's the point if I can remove the drive, but not the files ? I didn't try to shutdown the server and remove a drive, without 'telling' the server. What I think is that the files a partially on each drive.

Formating the drives before using them was the reason why I return this product.

Show less

2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 stars

A server should Never Corrupt Data.

by AutomationJunkie on February 26, 2008

Pros: Good Hardware, Size, Expandibility.

Cons: Windows Home Server Data Corruption Bug!

Summary: Microsoft knows that Windows Home Server has issues with Data Corruption, and has been unable to track down the issue. Their own support forums show this issue as known, and ...

Read more

Summary: Microsoft knows that Windows Home Server has issues with Data Corruption, and has been unable to track down the issue. Their own support forums show this issue as known, and they don't have a fix! In my opinion this seems to be another instance of a OS that has been rushed to market, and the customers left as Alpha testers. The function of this device is data centralization and integrity. The device to fail in that area makes it a total loss. Until Microsoft fixes this issue with Windows home server, this product is crippled by a failure of an OS! But HP did a nice job on the hardware, too bad Windows Home Server makes it unusable.

Show less

2 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
4 stars

Help! This box isn't RAID capable - why do I want it?

by patlar1950 on February 21, 2008

Pros: Reasonable price, decent curb appeal, seemingly easy set-up.

Cons: Not RAID capable - will loose you stuff just like any other PC.

Summary: Help me here. I'm looking to install some sort of Home Server that will protect all my sensitive data, photos and other stuff. While this cute little box will ...

Read more

Summary: Help me here. I'm looking to install some sort of Home Server that will protect all my sensitive data, photos and other stuff. While this cute little box will back-up all your files, it's just a likely to loose your data as any other PC. The Windows Home Server software seems to be a simple - maybe quite attractive - back-up software with a few extra bells and whistles. Nothing that I've been able to find about the HP hardware or the Micorsoft software implies that your critical data will survive a catastrophic hard drive failure. I'm back to thinking about converting an old Dell PC to a server of some sort with SATA cards and Linex software. Thoughts....?

Show less

1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Awesome product

by markosullivan on November 14, 2007

Pros: Great way to backup PCs, set up remote networks

Cons: Not an entry level product, only for serious users

Summary: I love this product. It's a much better solution for backing up all my PCs than my current NAS. The iTunes backup feature is cool and I love the ...

Read more

Summary: I love this product. It's a much better solution for backing up all my PCs than my current NAS. The iTunes backup feature is cool and I love the remote access.

Show less

1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
7 stars

How about a print server function

by mwwilk on November 7, 2007

Pros: Great initial features

Cons: No print server

Summary: As others have, I had a pre-release version of WHS running on a test box. Very promising. One feature I'd like MS to think about in future releases is ...

Read more

Summary: As others have, I had a pre-release version of WHS running on a test box. Very promising. One feature I'd like MS to think about in future releases is a print server function. As homes increasingly go digital and network their PCs and media, it would be nice to be able to integrate network-capable printers through a WHS box for easy client printing.

Show less

1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
10 stars

BEST SERVER ON EARTH PERIOD

by THE COMPUTER HEALER on January 3, 2008

Pros: EASY EXPANSION, SOFTWARE, REMOTE USE, ETC

Cons: IT TOOK SOMEONE 2000 YEARS TO MAKE THIS

Summary: this is server is in a class of its own.
i normally tear the box up when i get new toys, but i was skeptical about this server. that was
...

Read more

Summary: this is server is in a class of its own.
i normally tear the box up when i get new toys, but i was skeptical about this server. that was untill i set it up and noticed it took all of 30 min to set up 4 hp slimline pcs, laptop, 2 xbox 360, and a ps3. i had time to actually read the getting started booklet. i especially like the fact that i can use my hp ipaq hw6925 to stream my music anywhere i get att service. what mp3 player you know has a 6tb hard drive! this whs is a piece of mind.
Updated
i'm editing my posting for the user who found my previous posting unhelpful.
this server lets you do everything right out the box. functionality is very user friendly. i have'nt found any compatibility issues yet. printer serving would've been nice but you can add that on your own. i'm not a big fan of wireless streaming but you can add a router also. one last note. the server has four storage bays. all occupied bays should be equal in size example:
seagate 500gb is good with hitachi 500gb,
seagate 500gb isn't good with seagate 750gb.
however, the usb ports which i use for external 2tb and 1tb hard drives is not restricted this way. i hope this helped.

Show less

1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

HP MediaSmart Server ex475

Where to buy

CNET editors' review

User reviews

Submit your review