eSATA

A little over a week ago I wrote a post about what direction to head in as a Windows Home Server 1 owner. I figured a lot of WHSv1 owners are at the same point as myself, or trying to think ahead to the future. With some new options out there (such as Windows 8 […]

My first Windows Home Server lived in a beast of a case with plenty of room for 12 hard drives at a push, so when I decided to scale down and go the MediaSmart Server route it was a thought always in the back of my mind…. “What if I need more than 4 drives?” […]

Windows Home Server makes it easy to expand your storage as your needs grow, and when you have filled all the internal drive bays of your server an eSATA storage enclosure is the highest performance and most reliable way to gain more storage. The HP MediaSmart Server EX4xx and DataVault models all have a single […]

Home Server enthusiasts with storage needs that exceed the built-in 4 drive capacity of the MediaSmart Server have welcomed the recent release of the EX490, EX495 and the X510 DataVault that brings the return of port multiplier support to the eSATA connection. This allows the user to connect an external eSATA storage enclosure with up […]

As an owner of the original HP MediaSmart Server EX470 one of the features I enjoy is the eSATA port being port multiplier aware. Once my EX470 became full I purchased the Sans Digital TR4M which gave me access to another 4 bays via the eSATA port. Unfortunately, the next gen MediaSmart Server (EX48x) as well as the Acer Aspire […]

If you’ve seen the MediaSmart Server in retail stores, you’ve likely seen the demo units that are created to show off the sleek form factor and soothing blue glow of the server. These demo units are stripped down to pretty much just a shell with a power supply and LEDs. The motherboard is in the […]

I’ve been thinking about this question a lot ever since I first uncovered that the new MediaSmart Servers don’t support port multipliers on their eSATA port. HP has told me that the vast majority of their customers don’t use port multipliers on the eSATA port and so the removal of this feature from the MediaSmart […]

There are various features that are valued as part of the Home Server. For some users it is media streaming capabilities, others like the easy remote access to allow friends and family to access our shared content on the server, and many others are most interested in the ability to back up the PCs and […]