HP EX4xx MSS Owners Thread

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Mar 30, 2006
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Hi Everyone ---

I figured I would set up a thread so we can all start doing some communication on our servers. I *just* bought my EX490 recently for $389 on Newegg. I swapped out the 1TB system drive for a coozy 4 X 2TB drives. This server will be replacing my Drobo USB 2.0, a great product for storage, but not for sharing.

I figured in this thread we could share information about CPU swaps, favorite add-in, etc.

I'll be posting my setup for my EX490 of where I have it located, maybe you guys can post some suggestions as well. :D Cheers!
 
I think most of this information is covered in the WHS master thread and through other online communities, but I will add to this anyway.

I have an HP EX470 I bought about a year ago to consolidate my media to a single, portable, redundant storage array. Within about a month, I upgraded the RAM, but haven't found the need to upgrade the CPU. I like the eSATA port replicator.

My 470 hosts all of my data and duplicates everything important. It does nightly backups of my main computer and transfers critical data to an external drive every few weeks. It handles downloads, torrents, podcasts, and any other background task I choose, and acts as a 'limitless' storage server for LAN parties.

The add-ins I use daily include AdminiMe, Disk Manager, and File Manager.

-Cool-
 
I think most of this information is covered in the WHS master thread and through other online communities, but I will add to this anyway.

I have an HP EX470 I bought about a year ago to consolidate my media to a single, portable, redundant storage array. Within about a month, I upgraded the RAM, but haven't found the need to upgrade the CPU. I like the eSATA port replicator.

My 470 hosts all of my data and duplicates everything important. It does nightly backups of my main computer and transfers critical data to an external drive every few weeks. It handles downloads, torrents, podcasts, and any other background task I choose, and acts as a 'limitless' storage server for LAN parties.

The add-ins I use daily include AdminiMe, Disk Manager, and File Manager.

-Cool-

Thanks for the update -- I'm playing with the idea of upgrading the CPU to an E5400 -- but I'm wondering if I should push it more with Vail around the corner. How much ram do you have in yours?

Maybe you can give me some suggestions on hosting media --
-I'd like to set up my iTunes library on the server while being able to sync/add music from any computer in my house (my 2 laptops and desktop)
-How do you have your torrents set up on your server? (uTorrent etc?)

I'm just trying to get the most out of it, I've started converting my entire media collection from wmv/mkv/avi's to H.264 MP4's.
 
I use uTorrent with the WebUI running as a service. It starts with the server and monitors a folder for torrent files. I set it up so that I drop a torrent in the folder, uTorrent picks the file up, starts the download, seeds if necessary, stops it automatically, and saves the completed file in a non-duplicated share. I can manage almost everything from my web browser.

I don't use iTunes (or anything else) to manage my music on the server, but I know HP has software for syncing an iTunes library. However, if it involves Twonkey, dont use it (it's 100% CPU "cant log into server" bad). There should also be an HP media aggregation feature that can take music found on other computers and copy it to the server, and then by running iTunes as a service when the server starts, iTunes can sort and organize it for you. Then all you would have to do is share your iTunes library.

Be wary of heat issues when upgrading the CPU, as the package is quite small and the CPU is essentially cooled passively. I have 2GB RAM; typically it uses 1/2 of it just idling, and the most I've seen is 3/4 under intense multi-tasking activity.

-Cool-
 
I use uTorrent with the WebUI running as a service. It starts with the server and monitors a folder for torrent files. I set it up so that I drop a torrent in the folder, uTorrent picks the file up, starts the download, seeds if necessary, stops it automatically, and saves the completed file in a non-duplicated share. I can manage almost everything from my web browser.

I don't use iTunes (or anything else) to manage my music on the server, but I know HP has software for syncing an iTunes library. However, if it involves Twonkey, dont use it (it's 100% CPU "cant log into server" bad). There should also be an HP media aggregation feature that can take music found on other computers and copy it to the server, and then by running iTunes as a service when the server starts, iTunes can sort and organize it for you. Then all you would have to do is share your iTunes library.

Be wary of heat issues when upgrading the CPU, as the package is quite small and the CPU is essentially cooled passively. I have 2GB RAM; typically it uses 1/2 of it just idling, and the most I've seen is 3/4 under intense multi-tasking activity.

-Cool-

Thanks for the info on uTorrent -- I'm currently doing some testing for my music library, it may take me some time to trust having it on the server.

Did you upgrade the CPU on your EX470?
 
Nah, I decided it wasn't worth the expense; my server performs fine and I am not doing any transcoding on it at this time.

-Cool-
 
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