HP MediaSmart EX490 and EX495 Home Servers beef up Mac support
By Paul Miller 
posted Sep 15th 2009 2:20AM
posted Sep 15th 2009 2:20AM
HP Launches New Home Server with Enhanced Features for PCs and Macs
PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 15, 2009 – HP today launched the HP MediaSmart EX490 and EX495 Home Servers, new models offering increased capacity, high- performance processors, more control, new user interface and additional Mac support – all at a lower price.
Based on the Microsoft Windows® Home Server platform, the updated HP MediaSmart Servers have a refined user interface and a web-based home page that makes accessing and using the server easier than ever. Additionally, the new models offer a new video converter with custom settings and profiles that will automatically convert video libraries, including unprotected DVDs.(1)
The explosion of digital content is attracting a new kind of buyer to the home server space," said Jason Zajac, vice president and general manager, Worldwide Attach Group, HP. "This buyer wants all the power and capacity that past buyers wanted, but also wants it to be easy to use. The new MediaSmart ED490 and EX495 give them both."
The MediaSmart Server features a new media collector, which allows users to collect media by computer, media type or file location. The server automatically collects and organizes media files across Macs and PCs and streams it across a home network and the Internet.(2)
The HP EX490 and EX495 offer additional features for Mac users, including administration, media collection and a new disc recovery utility providing bare metal recovery on a Mac using Time Machine.(3)
"The new release of HP MediaSmart Server software and hardware continues HP's leadership in building compelling functionality on top of the Microsoft Windows Home Server platform," said Russ Madlener, director, Solutions Marketing, Microsoft. "HP is delivering a true cross-platform product by adding the ability to administer the server from a Mac using Microsoft's new Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2."
The new video converter automatically converts videos, including unprotected DVDs, into a format that can be played at the home or remotely.(4) Users are able to control how their videos are converted by selecting the device the video will be played on or choosing specific video settings using the advanced controls features.
In addition, owners of an iPod touch and iPhone can download a free HP MediaSmart Server iStream application from the Apple App Store, enabling them to stay connected to their digital media stored on the server. Users can easily access their pictures, listen to their music collections and watch their favorite videos – all streamed directly to their mobile device from their HP MediaSmart Server.
MediaSmart Server EX490 and EX495 features include: • NewHPMediaCollector • NewHPVideoConverter • Improveduserinterfacewithnewweb-basedhomepage • Macadministration,mediacollectionsandanewMacdiscrecoveryfeature • HPMediaStreamer
• ServerforiTunes • PCHardDriveBackup • Server Backup • SmartPowerManagement • Processors:
o EX495:Intel®Pentium®DualCore
o EX490:IntelCeleron®;Twogigabytes(GB)ofDRAM • Expandability:additionaldrivescanbeaddedforupto7terabytes(TB)
internal storage and 17 TB of storage using internal and external drives.(6)
Pricing and availability Manufacturer's suggested retail price for the HP MediaSmart Server EX490 with 1 TB of hard disk storage is $549 while the HP MediaSmart Server EX495 with 1.5 TB is $699.(4)
The HP MediaSmart Server can be preordered beginning today. The servers will be introduced in select European countries beginning next month.
More information is available at www.hp.com/go/mediasmartserver.
About HP HP, the world's largest technology company, simplifies the technology experience for consumers and businesses with a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com/.
(1) Wired or wireless home network required. (3) Internet access required and sold separately. (3) Requires Time Machine, a formatted USB Flash Drive and the original Mac OSX install disc. (4) Estimated U.S. retail prices. Actual prices may vary.
Windows is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. Apple and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. iPod is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. iPod is for legal or rightholder- authorized copying only. Don't steal music. Intel, Pentium, Celeron, Intel Inside and the Intel Inside logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.
This news advisory contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If such risks or uncertainties materialize or such assumptions prove incorrect, the results of HP and its consolidated subsidiaries could differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any statements concerning expected development, performance or market share relating to products and services; any statements regarding anticipated operational and financial results; any statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include macroeconomic and geopolitical trends and events; the execution and performance of contracts by HP and its customers, suppliers and partners; the achievement of expected operational and financial results; and other risks that are described in HP's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2009 and HP's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to HP's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2008. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.
© 2009 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.
PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 15, 2009 – HP today launched the HP MediaSmart EX490 and EX495 Home Servers, new models offering increased capacity, high- performance processors, more control, new user interface and additional Mac support – all at a lower price.
Based on the Microsoft Windows® Home Server platform, the updated HP MediaSmart Servers have a refined user interface and a web-based home page that makes accessing and using the server easier than ever. Additionally, the new models offer a new video converter with custom settings and profiles that will automatically convert video libraries, including unprotected DVDs.(1)
The explosion of digital content is attracting a new kind of buyer to the home server space," said Jason Zajac, vice president and general manager, Worldwide Attach Group, HP. "This buyer wants all the power and capacity that past buyers wanted, but also wants it to be easy to use. The new MediaSmart ED490 and EX495 give them both."
The MediaSmart Server features a new media collector, which allows users to collect media by computer, media type or file location. The server automatically collects and organizes media files across Macs and PCs and streams it across a home network and the Internet.(2)
The HP EX490 and EX495 offer additional features for Mac users, including administration, media collection and a new disc recovery utility providing bare metal recovery on a Mac using Time Machine.(3)
"The new release of HP MediaSmart Server software and hardware continues HP's leadership in building compelling functionality on top of the Microsoft Windows Home Server platform," said Russ Madlener, director, Solutions Marketing, Microsoft. "HP is delivering a true cross-platform product by adding the ability to administer the server from a Mac using Microsoft's new Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2."
The new video converter automatically converts videos, including unprotected DVDs, into a format that can be played at the home or remotely.(4) Users are able to control how their videos are converted by selecting the device the video will be played on or choosing specific video settings using the advanced controls features.
In addition, owners of an iPod touch and iPhone can download a free HP MediaSmart Server iStream application from the Apple App Store, enabling them to stay connected to their digital media stored on the server. Users can easily access their pictures, listen to their music collections and watch their favorite videos – all streamed directly to their mobile device from their HP MediaSmart Server.
MediaSmart Server EX490 and EX495 features include: • NewHPMediaCollector • NewHPVideoConverter • Improveduserinterfacewithnewweb-basedhomepage • Macadministration,mediacollectionsandanewMacdiscrecoveryfeature • HPMediaStreamer
• ServerforiTunes • PCHardDriveBackup • Server Backup • SmartPowerManagement • Processors:
o EX495:Intel®Pentium®DualCore
o EX490:IntelCeleron®;Twogigabytes(GB)ofDRAM • Expandability:additionaldrivescanbeaddedforupto7terabytes(TB)
internal storage and 17 TB of storage using internal and external drives.(6)
Pricing and availability Manufacturer's suggested retail price for the HP MediaSmart Server EX490 with 1 TB of hard disk storage is $549 while the HP MediaSmart Server EX495 with 1.5 TB is $699.(4)
The HP MediaSmart Server can be preordered beginning today. The servers will be introduced in select European countries beginning next month.
More information is available at www.hp.com/go/mediasmartserver.
About HP HP, the world's largest technology company, simplifies the technology experience for consumers and businesses with a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com/.
(1) Wired or wireless home network required. (3) Internet access required and sold separately. (3) Requires Time Machine, a formatted USB Flash Drive and the original Mac OSX install disc. (4) Estimated U.S. retail prices. Actual prices may vary.
Windows is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. Apple and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. iPod is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. iPod is for legal or rightholder- authorized copying only. Don't steal music. Intel, Pentium, Celeron, Intel Inside and the Intel Inside logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.
This news advisory contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If such risks or uncertainties materialize or such assumptions prove incorrect, the results of HP and its consolidated subsidiaries could differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any statements concerning expected development, performance or market share relating to products and services; any statements regarding anticipated operational and financial results; any statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include macroeconomic and geopolitical trends and events; the execution and performance of contracts by HP and its customers, suppliers and partners; the achievement of expected operational and financial results; and other risks that are described in HP's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2009 and HP's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to HP's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2008. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.
© 2009 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.
Mac support is getting stronger everyday I suppose.
Mac support maybe, but where's the UK support? They took the old models off the market and still haven't brought the new ones out!
UK market is a negligible 3%; if you want compatibility you should have bought a home in Microsoft America. And quit telling us about how you never get viruses over there and everything in the UK just works.
What do you mean, where's my medication?
The dual core seems like a good deal. The only thing stopping me from getting this was the mostly windows configured software. Will this let me stream my media to other computers around the world over the net?
Yes. And automatically downconvert a bunch of formats for portables too.
Is there some kind of HP event that Engadget is at that I don't know about? Or is HP sponsoring Engadget?
no kidding, is this the 4th or 5th HP article in the last couple hours?
you two may want to take a look at who the worlds largest manufacturer of PC's is by volume. they have a lot of products...
I want a case that looks like that for my next computer build, never seen anything that decent looking come from HP.
Their last full-featured home server had the same case, and that is modeled off a line of their older desktop cases from a media PC line...you must have missed those.
I don't browse HP's line up very often, cause... well, yeah... I don't think I need a reason.
Dual-core processor? Wow, that's awesome. My 1st gen HP MediaSmart Home Server is still ticking strong though, even with a lowly sempron processor. :)
Media servers are cool and all, but I really like that little servers case. If it had a green lights and some tube hanging off you'd think it was something the borg made. Resistance is futile.
More on the EX495 here:
http://www.wegotserved.com/2009/09/14/hp-mediasmart-server-ex495-unboxed/
w/o Windows Home Server, this would be an interesting peace of hardware.
Interesting hardware *if* you added video output. Rather hard to run anything other than a prebuilt solution without that.
Actually without WHS, it's a rather bland piece of hardware. Basic atom dual core barebones with an extra SATA controller for more disks. All the replication, etc, is handled at the software level. Only thing worth a damn is the case.
Do these things have any redundancy in case of drive failures?
yes, and for me it's better than RAID, it's called share duplication.
you basically tell it that certain shares you want duplicated and it makes sure the files are on more than one physical disk.
Why I like this over a RAID-1/5/10 setup is that I have videos and downloads that I don't really care about, and music that my friends have as well so I don't need to waste the drive space to have them duplicated.
Same with my PC backup files, if i have 500GB to backup from my PC, I don't need the backup to be on RAID because I'm willing to deal with the risk of either the PC drive or the server drive dying, but don't need to waste the space to stop both one drive from the server and my pc drive from dying at the same time. That's not too likely.
I have the old hp server and it's still great and much faster than most standalone NAS devices until you start spending more money on them than the HP costs.
I can see your point but for people who value all of their data, this method requires more work and will use more drive space than RAID 5.
You can still keep everything duplicated, except the OS. So recovering from a system drive failure will take slightly longer than recovering from any of the others. But losing any other drive, recovering that will be faster than a RAID (you don't have to wait for the array to rebuild before you can use the server--it'll do so in the background), and easier (you don't have to match the drive specs of the drive your replacing).
As for that one tradeoff, would your typical RAID array have the OS in the array anyways, or on its own disk? I would have expected the latter, meaning it's not any worse here. :)
Not only internal hardware redundancy but you can back up the whole server to a external drive and move it off site using usb or ESATA. Perfect.
Does this new software get rolled out as an update for the old servers? I specifically bought into the HP WHS line for the Mac support.
According to WeGotServed.net, yes.
http://www.wegotserved.com/2009/09/14/new-hp-mediaserver-ex490-ex495-home-servers-announced/ (second-to-last paragraph)
Here's the "Home Server" I want to see:
Four CableCard HD tuners that can be set from anywhere in the house (or over the Internet), and from which I can download my recordings in any format I wish.
Call me when you roll this out...
You don't need the tuner cards in the home server. Any computer on the network recording TV via Windows Media Center can archive to the server with the Power Pack 3 add-on for WHS.
http://blogs.technet.com/homeserver/archive/2009/07/17/windows-home-server-power-pack-3-beta-includes-enhancements-for-windows-7-based-computers.aspx
Damn I just got my EX485 2 weeks ago!
well looks like my parents just scored a new piece of hardware
EX495 here I come!
the mac is running remote desktop connection... o_O
that's how the HP MSS console works, on both Mac and PC. It runs in a little custom rdp session.
I have the MV2120 its 500gb x 2, installed the second bay, with music/movies etc...
crashed after 2 months, primary hard drive died, took 4 months for customer service to tell me that.
Doesn't work, keeps ignoring the second bay.
Just a Heads up .. i own the 1st gen and love it .. But HP stopped supporting it with new software as soon as the next rolled out .. its a damn shame
There was at least one software release for the first generation after the EX480 came out. And there's less hardware difference between the EX480 and the EX490 (as far as I can tell, it's the same but with a slightly faster processor), meaning that software updates aren't going to suffer from the same hardware limitations.
Due to the outpouring of community "love", HP backtracked and is releasing a software update this Fall for their first gen servers that includes most of the second gen features:
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2009/05/05/hp-announces-software-upgrades-and-european-availability-for-mediasmart-servers/
There are also instructions on some of the home server sites on how to do it yourself today if you are so inclined.
Shame they didn't add an extra ethernet port or two.
It has that Dead Space-ish blue glow to it. I like the mesh grill. It would go great next to my Cooler Master cm 690 PC case. Sigh... time to buy more hard drives.
I picked up the Acer MediaSmart HomeServer or whatever they call it. 1TB, similar stats (Atom processor instead of Celeron), but the big difference was the $375 price that pushed me over. It runs everything fine so far, streaming HD content to our 360 Media Center Extender without issue, and with that price, I can easily pack it with 4TB for the price of the HP one.
The HP one does have some proprietary tech that handles -- like this article said -- Mac backups in TimeMachine and a few other things, but other than that, everything that the HP advertises works on the Acer box because it's WinServer 2008.
Why have no hardware manufacturers made a case that is as awesome as these HP Home Server cases? I want one!
Also, when will there be a price drop on these things? Since their inception, the prices have dropped from insane (~$700) to moderate (~350). Don't give me any drives, just the hardware for about $200 and I'm sold!
I really hate the way they turn their backs on the older models. Even if you upgrade it on your own, you can't enable the newer features like compatibility with the iPhone app etc. As if that is too complex.
So far they have said they will release the new software for the old platforms this fall. They haven't said anything specific about will and won't be supported in it. But they did say it will not be available as an online upgrade, you have to use the install DVD to install it from scratch.
So, is this the same hardware as an EX-485/487 but with different CPUs? And, of course added software.
Read: can I just upgrade my EX-485 to a dual core processor?
Yeah, I've read up on people actually doing that already, but I wonder how HP has coped with the hotter processors- improved things or just left it as is since it may have originally been overengineered anyway?
Still prefer the Acer H340, only downer is that it dont do Time Machine.
Too bad the ACER EASYSTORE is 1/2 the price and comes with better hard drives......
Looks like the recovery of the EX495 doesn't work in Windows 7. You gotta be kidding me that they didn't test this before releasing it. I had to bring my work laptop running Windows XP home to rebuild the thing.
I hope that someone shares their CD media for us EX485 users to upgrade.