HP MediaSmart EX490, Windows Home Server w/ Intel Celeron 2.2 Ghz 2GB DDR2 1TB HDD installed (three open bay), 4 USB & 1 eSATA expansion ports , Mac Compatible, TiVO support

Pros: Small, quiet, simple, backs up workstations, shares data, has website you can stream media from, many add-ons and based on server 2003 so you can add most other software, hard drives readable from other computers, upgradeable, and expandable via USB2.0 and eSATA

Not RAID, so if the device or the RAID breaks, you don't lose your data. Whole files are stored on individual drives, specified redundant directories are stored on two drives.

Cons: Twonky saturates CPU usage at 100% if it ever finds peculiar media and gets stuck on it, I have many Divx files and had to exclude my video directory from Twonky to be able to even interact with the server again. The Celeron single core was unusable with that running. Way too tedious to determine which file is the culprit, no error.

Not RAID, so HD performance is not as good (but you are limited by Ethernet anyway)

Other Thoughts: This is for storage, not databases. Speed is not a strong point here, capacity, simplicity, flexibility, and redundancy are.

I put in an E8400@ 3.00 GHz, don't need RAM yet. (install, bootup wait 10 min or so then reboot. It does not actually acknowledge new hardware to you) Disassembly was moderate-difficult, about like a laptop. I have five computers joined and backed up, one is even on a domain, at work and backs up over a Hamachi VPN.

Drive extender is the only reason I bought this, and had to once Vail was announced as dropping that feature. Other decent NAS boxes cost as much with just RAID and few features. If the NAS dies, the RAID data goes with it. These drives are readable in other Windows systems.

Size of a NAS, power of a full server, simplicity of a console

Pros: This little box sits on my desktop and does everything it is supposed to do without much drama. Easy to set up, does the backups without fail. Can share out my CD and DVD library easily across the network.

Cons: The stock processor is a dog, pure and simple. Lived with it until the day after the warranty expired. Mine was constantly running at 50% memory usage or higher, again, upgraded that as well. The Seagate drive that came with it died the day after coverage so that had to be changed out.

Other Thoughts: So, I have popped in an Intel E8500 I had sitting around, and WOW that helped things nicely. I dropped in a 4 gig stick of Mushkin of memory which also helped out (for $74 i can live with it only using 3 of 4 gigs). I pulled the 1 TB Seagate and replaced it with a 2 TB Hitachi and the temps jumped a bit but, nothing to loose sleep over.
I have had to deal with HP support with a few items and they have been TOP NOTCH, call me lucky but, I cannot knock those guys at all. All in all very pleased with this addition to my network and rest easier knowing everything is backed up here at home.

Pros: Works as advertised. I use it to back up our home desktop computer, HTPC, and 2 laptops. I couldn't have been more pleased with the support and the software.

Cons: HP has discontinued this product and they have said they will not do any more software or hardware upgrades. Shame on HP. After all the hype, this is what we get. Yes I'm upset.

Other Thoughts: The old HP had the business plan to build the best in the industry. What happened, now they seem to be chasing the buck. Check out search engines for Windows home server blogs before you buy. If you buy, know it has been discontinued, support will end at the end of one year. This is just a warning, buyer beware. I bought both a EX490 and a EX495 from Newegg. Not Neweggs fault, the fault lies on HP. In the future I will look to HP's competition for my $$$, they lost a good customer.

Pros: It's the perfect home server right out of the box. Easy easy setup.

Cons: The packaging from new egg was horrible. Shame on you. After years of great service, I will no longer shop with you.

Other Thoughts: Set up the server on my laptop. Immediately, my laptop got the blue screen of death. Seems to be fine now.

Pros: Small, quiet, full of features on top of WHS

Cons: HP dropped WHS (as we all know)

Other Thoughts: I got it on the day of the HP announcement and was torn whether I should send it back. Glad I didn't.
At the end what tilted me towards keeping it is the amount of popular support of it. I'd rather have the system that's near perfection NOW, than get some "work in progress" thing.
As upgrade goes, I've added a couple drives (one of them is WD 20EARS 2 Tb drive - be sure to shorten the 7-8 pins for optimal performance) and dropped in the E5500 Pentium. Very easy.

Pros: People are raving about it...

Cons: HP has officially dropped WHS and the whole MediaSmart line.

Other Thoughts: I'm torn, whether I should go along with it, or send it back and get on more conventional RAID setup, or other brand altogether.

Pros: After comparing the EX490 to the EX495 I decided to go with this one - the EX490 - because I knew that I could take it to a level superior than the higher priced EX495 by buying a dual core processor separately. It seems silly to the uninformed but for the cost difference you can get a much better dual core processor for less than $100 than is factory installed in the EX495. If you are going to use your server for a lot of media services, video conversions, web serving - I suggest you do the same. Neither the EX490 or the EX495 has a strong enough processor to handle the heavy stuff. Add the Mushkin 4GB Single 240 Pin DDR2 stick of Ram and your little server will fly through its toughest requests.

Cons: Why would anyone build a product as a server with only one hard drive? I know HP wants to try to keep the cost low but come on guys. The whole point of the server is to have duplication functions. You can't truly protect your data unless it's on at least two hard drives.

Other Thoughts: For the money - you can't beat it even if you will need to spend $250 more to have a fully functioning server

Pros: Fantastic Product and works really great and Tech support is very very help full and friendly, always there 24 -7. Easy to set up with a little help from HP Tech. Updates take awhile when you first install server but after that they are automatic. Attorneys should think about getting one for all there files. I have installed 3 of them for Attorneys already

Cons: A little slow but who cares it backs up at midnight and I am, asleep

Other Thoughts: The Motherboard is the same as the 495 so you can change the processor after Guarantee to the fast one if you want to fro about $60 bucks.

Pros: Simple to use and setup, but also allows me to backend in with RDP as needed. Covers the spectrum of users

Cons: Some people will struggle with the way this tool is used, as in USB access only (so no real monitor port) but I did not have a problem with it.

Other Thoughts: I set up a couple of other TB drives on this server without any problem and I am using to backup my office as well as access my multimedia. I have a Roku and I can use Chaneru to stream my videos and my music through my TV and surround sound with very little effort. I did not use the pre-supplied Twonky because of some of the reviews about pegging the CPU, but find that the Chaneru and Roku solution using the HP built in Converted Videos option works just great. Really extremely happy with this purchase - solved a lot of issues for me.

Pros: Looks cool- 1 star
Quiet- 1 star

Cons: Poor case design. Many people reporting constant drive failure due to heat issues. Mine arrived and I had an awful time setting it up. It would not complete the install for anything. Called tech support. They could not figure it out. Pulled out the 1TB seagate drive that came with after the 5th try (2 hours each attempt) and replaced with one of my new Hitachi drives. At that point I was able to complete the install. I HATE the raid setup. I setup four Hitachi drives (1x1TB, 3x2TB) and heat is pushing max without driving the server. You have NO way of knowing where your stored data goes. If 1 drive fails and your data file is spread between 4 drives, GUESS WHAT? Microsoft Homeserver is completely useless for people who were actually intending to use this as a server. If you are not willing to let Microsoft take over your life, forget it. This thing is a catastrophe waiting to happen.

Other Thoughts: Oh yeah, the windows live data streaming? Read the EULA for windows live. It seams Microsoft wants the privilege of searching though your server at any time they desire to find incriminating evidence to turn over to the feds. Yeah, you know which finger I'm holding up.