With the latest news of the 3.0 software for HP MediaSmart owners here (nearly), you would have read that EX47x owners will need to upgrade their memory to at least 1GB to get the full experience of the software. Now since the MediaSmart’s are not the easiest units to get in to, the Home Server Show website has a nice 2 part video to get you into the innards of the machine.
You can find the vids here.
Setting up the Windows Media Center Connector to Windows Home Server is quite simple, but if you need a helping hand then the How-To Geek is there to help.
They have a great illustrated guide which you can find here.
If you are thinking of upgrading your MediaSmart EX47x or EX48x to the latest 3.0 software then you will need to familiarize yourself with the appropriate HP upgrade guide.
HP are providing a comprehensive upgrade guide in PDF format to help you through the upgrade process, one for the EX470/EX475 and another for the EX480/EX485. The 14 page documents come on the appropriate upgrade disk, put we also provide them here for your reference.
HP are offering current EX48X owners the possibility to upgrade their HP MediaSmart Server software from v.2 to v.3 which is basically the EX49X specification, with the introduction of a chargeable upgrade. As yet the pricing hasn’t been announced but we are hopeful that this will be kept to an absolute minimum.
With this upgrade you get 3 replacement discs – the server restore disc, the software installation disc and the PC restore disc. The important one is the server restore disc as this contains all the upgraded WHS software, but the other two are important to maintain the integrity of the installation and restore process.
HP have decided to release their MediaSmart v3 software to owners of the EX47x and EX48x range of Windows Home Servers. Good news, as this upgrade contains some extra features that will add real value to the older MediaSmart servers.
But do all these extra features work on the lower specification servers? In theory they should, although HP does suggest that owners upgrade from the standard 512mb RAM on the EX470/475 to at least 1gb.
This review is for all of those early MediaSmart owners who won’t be tackling a RAM upgrade. We are going to perform the V3 upgrade on a stock EX475 to see how it performs and decide if it a wise move without the recommended extra RAM.
At the heart of the EX475 server is a 1.8GHz AMD Sempron 3400 processor and 512mb of RAM. This review should apply equally to the EX470 as the only difference between the two models is the amount of 500gb hard disk installed in the factory; one for the EX470 and two for the EX475.
The 3.0 software update is finally here for for those of you with the previous EX470/475 and EX480/485 models.
You will be able to order the software from later this week, with shipments taking place next week. And the good news is that it is only $25 (€25) for the software.
We have had the opportunity of testing the software for the last few months, and you can find our results both here and here.
Here is the official release:
HP MediaSmart Server 3.0 Software Update Availability
The 3.0 software update DVD will be available to order beginning later this week, with shipments beginning next week. These optional updates are available to purchase for owners of our EX470/475/485/487 products who want to upgrade their servers to the latest 3.0 software that is shipping on the EX490/495 products.
Please note the previously communicated information related to these updates:
1) The cost of the upgrade DVD has been finalized and will be US$25 or €25.
2) These upgrades will be available as a server recovery solution. HP recommends that you back up all server files prior to installing the upgrade.
3) This upgrade is not recommended for EX470/475 owners who have not already upgraded their Server DRAM to 1GB as certain features will not function.
To order the upgrade DVD, visit www.hp.com and enter your product model number in the “Support and Drivers” section. Then follow the path for your MediaSmart Server model number to order the upgrades.
We thank everyone for their continued support of the MediaSmart Server family of products.
A review of the recently updated Disk Management add-in for Windows Home Server is up on the "Using Windows Home Server" website.
Reviewer Timothy Daleo takes it through its paces, and adds 2 videos explaining the installation and configuration process of the add-in, which also goes into the wireframe setup.
You can find Tim’s review here.
The "Tenniswood Blog" has a great tip for those of you who use Microsoft Remote Desktop connection in Windows – What do you mean you don’t!
The tip explains how to shut down or restart Windows Home Server (or Media Center) from within a Remote Desktop Connection, which you can find here.
The "Using Windows Home Server" website has a great post on backing up a remote PC (e.g. your parents or a relative) to Windows Home Server using Hamachi.
Once the Hamachi network is configured between the remote PC and WHS, automatic backups can be performed as well streaming music to that remote location as well.
The only gotchers are that the initial backup needs to be performed locally on your LAN, otherwise this first backup will take forever and secondly if you need to do a restore then the remote machine must be brought back to the LAN to do the restore.
Otherwise also read the comments to the post as "welchwerks" also provides step by step instructions on how to get Hamachi up and running.
You can find the post (and comments) here.
"The Mother of All Add-Ins" might finally not be too far away, and what add-in may this be I here you cry, laugh, scream?
That would be "Add-In Central", which is the first and only centralized add-in manager that allows you to browse, download and update add-ins conveniently and automatically through your Windows Home Server Console.
I have had the pleasure to have used the add-in for the last 2 months and it is both fast and simple, and provides you with the information you need when determining which add-ins are right for you.
Here’s the features of Add-In Central:
More details on availability will be available soon as the add-in is nearing its final beta. In the meantime more information is available from here.
