HP MV2120 500GB Media Vault
See it at Amazon.com for $349.99Average Customer Rating
(4.0 out of 5)
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(5 out of 5)This Little Linux Box Packs a LOT
I haven't had much experience with the Windows Home Server version of HP's MediaSmart servers, but the HP MediaVault seems to offer a good deal of its functionality at HALF the cost.
True, you can't stuff as many hard drives in this unit as a MediaSmart server but the typical home, the environment that this product was designed for, 1 extra HD bay for upgrades is plenty. The greatest feature of the upgradeable HD bay is the easy, pull out tray.
The Linux system on the MediaVault is very user friendly unlike a lot of hardcore Linux environments and is very reminiscent of Windows. The best part is that you can use macs with this product to use as a basic backup drive and to browse files. Something Windows Home Server cannot do (surprise).
Another list of pros and cons that helped me a LOT when deciding on this product is the following from Gizmodo:
What's not as good as MediaSmart Windows Home Server:
* Won't do multiple streams of video like WHS
* Only two drive bays (a fixed and a spare) instead of four
* Lets you backup multiple PCs, but only one at at time from the PC itself, not through a WHS-style master control
What's the same as MediaSmart Windows Home Server:
* iTunes music aggregation
* Photo webshare
* Remote access and web-based file browsing (1-year free)
* Connect via Mac for basic use as a shared drive
What's better than MediaSmart Windows Home Server:
* Web-based remote controls work great on Macs
* Quieter, with less drive noise on a regular basis
* Easy to back-up the server itself to a USB drive
* Easier to access Windows backups, especially from a Mac
* Probably does not share the same data corruption bug as WHS
(5 out of 5)An Excellent Network Storage and Backup Solution!
The Media Vault has made it very easy (finally) for me to put all my files in one place that everyone on my home network can access. Here's what's great about it:
1. It's very easy to install. Just plug in the power supply, plug the included ethernet cable into your router, turn it on, and it's ready to go. The Media Vault is one of the more attractive techno doo-dads out there, so you're not forced to hide it when entertaining guests. If you do want to get it out of the way, its small enclosure allows it to fit nicely in a closet or cabinet.
2. It's easy to configure. The interface is simple, even for regular folks who are new to administering a home server or shared storage device (technically, the Media Vault is a NAS, which stands for Network Attached Storage). The included software, which is PC-only, works as advertised, giving you control over user accounts, backup schedules, sharing, and other functions.
Fortunately, if you're not on a PC, or if you don't want to install yet another piece of software on your computer, you can easily control the router via your Web browser. Just type in the Media Vault's address on your network and configure to your heart's content. As far as I could tell, most of the features of the PC software are available via the Web interface. Mac users will need to opt for this method.
3. Sharing is easy. The Media Vault is set up to share videos, music, photos, and documents right out of the box. You can open, edit, and save files that live on the Media Vault just as you would with a file that lives on your computer. Another plus: the Media Vault is immediately recognized by streaming media devices such as an xbox 360 or other network-connected media players. That means you can enjoy videos and photos from the comfort of your TV room. The Media Vault also comes with a built-in iTunes server. It's great having all my music ready to play in iTunes, no matter which computer I'm using.
4. Remote sharing is surprisingly simple. The Media Vault sets you up with your own custom Web address, which people outside your network can visit to browse your files. Don't worry, they have to be authorized to do this! It's a great way to share photos and files with friends and family far away. There's even a function called "Photo Webshare" that organizes and displays photos stored on the Media Vault via the Web.
5. Backups are a snap. I configured the Media Vault to automatically back up the contents of the user folders on my PCs (My Documents, My Photos, My Music, etc.) This way, my most important files are always getting backed up to the Media Vault and I don't have to think about it. Another great feature of the Media Vault that I plan to take advantage of is the hard drive expansion bay. I can easily add another internal hard drive, allowing me to make automatic backups of the Media Vault itself. You can also back up the Media Vault by hooking up an external USB drive and copying your data to it.
And what about negatives? It would be nice if the device were a bit quieter when in use. The internal fan is a little distracting. That's why I would recommend placing the Media Vault in an out-of-the-way part of your home, or in a closet or cabinet with good ventilation. That's my only nit-pick for now, but I'll see how it goes as I use it more!
(1 out of 5)Don't buy it (yet....)
Got the unit yesterday at Fry's.
I set it as a mirror disk (2x500GB.)
Seems to work fine, so we started loaded files into the unit.... until we reached 64GB and then the system stop with the error that we have no more disk space. When you look at the system control panel, it says that we have ~400GB available disk space....
Call HP support, spent about 2 hrs over the phone with two guys and eventually they told me that this system is one month old, clearly they are clueless regarding the problem and suggested:
(a) exchange the unit where you purchased it
(b) they will send a replacement system disk (you pay for it...)
(c) wait until they release a fix at unknown date in the future
Bottom line, pre-mature version. don't touch it
(5 out of 5)HP got it really right with this product
This is a surprisingly good product. The device itself seems to me to be a great value. The software is easy to install (i.e., no install failures) and at least for me, easy and intuitive to use (i.e., no need to read the manual). The cool features, like the built-in iTunes server works without any configuration, and with a small amount of configuration, the ability to make it into a secure, on-the-internet server for photo and file sharing was equally impressive. I opted to buy an additional WD 500gb drive (for about $110 here on Amazon) and run them in RAID mode, so I have a terrabyte of physical storage available as one fault-tolerant 500gb drive. Adding the 2nd drive was also effortless. Just drop the drive in the enclosure, go to the configuration panel and select "use for RAID" and then the device automatically configures the drive.
I've attached it to my Netgear wireless router and file transfers and music streaming work fine on my network.
One undocumented feature is that it works perfectly with my Mac as well as my Windows box. I just mount the drives via SMB and also the iTunes streaming works without configuration.
One significant missing feature in my view is that the available USB ports on the device are only for backing up the drives (i.e., output of the unit) not for uploading. This means that my first backups were much slower than needed, as I had to mount my external USB drive to my computer and then transfer my 100gb of lossless music via Ethernet, which was a lot slower. When I first backed up my Mac (using SuperDuper, which is better than Apple's TimeMachine in my view), it took 11 hours to back up 200gb. Doing the transfer via USB would have taken maybe 4-7 hours.
I liked this product so much that I bought a second one for use at my office. I think this is a terrific value.
(1 out of 5)Great concept, but poor execution
Let me preface by saying that perhaps I got a defective unit. I purchased this unit from Amazon and couldn't wait to set it up. Unfortunately, I've had several problems with it from the get go. I set it up and all was fine. Then I started copying my music and videos over from my PC. I happened to copy some files that were flagged as read only and those attributes carried over. Unfortunately, with those read only attributes on the files... I was then unable to delete those files with an error of permission denied on the MV2120. I tried making the folder a public folder with no restrictions and same thing. The only way I could delete the file was to SSH into the MV2120 and find the file that way and either chmod the permissions or do an rm on the file.
The second problem I ran into is that permissions on the folders doesn't seem to work right on this specific unit. I set two folders as private and created a userid with full access to those folders. When I try to view the contents of the folder through windows explorer, it prompts me for my userid and password. So far so good. I enter my credentials and can't get to it. This worked one night and the next it didn't. I tried restarting the MV2120 and rebooted my PC and same thing. Sure I can set all the shares to public, but what good is that if I want to remote access to these folders from outside my home network?
Perhaps I'm wrong to expect that this thing should be relatively easy to configure (and the interface is easy and straightforward but it doesn't work all the time). Sure i know how to ssh to it and know some Unix commands to do what I need with the files, but this really should be much easier to setup and use. Oh and I did contact HP support (once) and they were of no help to me.
I like the concept of this product, but sadly, will be returning this to Amazon in the next few days. I am inclined to try the WHS version to see if that one is better as I really would like to use this or something like this.