[Macworld]

Post your comments for HP unveils Mac compatible home media server here

[kelly93]

what am i missing here? something like the Buffalo Linkstation Live does everything described, network Time Machine backup, 1TB at around $225. paying that much extra just for the 4 drive bays? seems like a ripoff.

[danviento]

After checking the details, I find myself continually disappointed. This server, like all Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices, is still unsupported by Time Machine. The HP whitepaper merely says that if Apple ever decides to allow an SMB server to be compatible with Time Machine, then this device will work.
I tried hooking up my 1.5TB LaCie 2bigNetwork drive last night, and ran into this problem. This forum provided a way to at least have the mounted NAS show up on the list of places you can back up Time Machine to:
http://discussions.a...ssageID=8703821
but as my post shows, I can't seem to make it work. It doesn't seem to matter if it's the SMB server or APS server, Time Machine doesn't like NAS drives. The same seems to go with Aperture Vault backup.
I'm really hoping Apple gets their collective but in gear/act together and starts supporting NAS devices with their software. More and more people are using NAS devices for shared media storage and regular backups.
Does the fact that Macworld SAYS that this new HP server supports Time Machine mean that they know something we don't?

[Jon Seff]

This is what HP's press release says — "Mac Hard Drive Backup: backs up Macs running Leopard using Apple Time Machine software"

[Mapple]

danviento Said:
I tried hooking up my 1.5TB LaCie 2bigNetwork drive last night, and ran into this problem. This forum provided a way to at least have the mounted NAS show up on the list of places you can back up Time Machine to
It is a new device it is not on sale to the public still "The servers will be available for pre-order on January 5, 2009" you are talking about other server.

[kelly93]

just as an FYI, i did get a Buffalo Link Station (LS-CHL) to work with Time Machine. used

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

there's a config option to setup time machine on the link station (looks like it creates the folder/directory structure). there's a remarkable lack on instructions with the Linkstation (used the airport mac address first config try, time machine appears to always use the ethernet MAC address regardless of network connection), but wasn't brain surgery, took maybe 5 minutes of tinkering.

Firmware version 1.00, looks like it was released novemberish.

[Jason Snell]

The HP server definitely works with Time Machine.

[mbwelch]

There is a nice review at We got served http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/ showing all of the mac compatible time machine options.

[hmurchison]

Who woulda thunk that Microsoft with HP's help would beat Apple to the punch here. Compare this model against Time Capsule 1GB.
You get 4 bays
4 USB 2.0 ports
1 eSATA
Time Machine support and support for photos, iTunes Server and more
and you get a lot of extensibility.
I'm hoping that Apple gets off their duff and designs a Mac Home Server with robust Time Machine and iTunes support. Clearly this is a burgeoning market. I was shocked to see how many WHS (Windows Home Server) enthusiasts sites are out there. People love these things.

[Jeffco8]

Since my media collection is now over 500GB (12GB photos, 100GB music, 400GB video) I need an Apple TV with a 1TB drive!. Now I have started to add HD video to my home movie, which is going to add to this quickly. Please Apple release an apple TV with some storage on it (40GB is a joke).

[folklore]

How does the centralized iTunes library work? Can I sync iPods from client machines? Can I create playlists on client machines? Do I have to manage the files manually?

[gibarian]

One of my goals with a server would be to free up space on my hard drives--but then there is the question--how to back up the server? Hard drives eventually fail--even server ones.

[drjohndi]

Sounds good... which Buffalo drive version do you recommend for networking Leopard and Tiger laptops?



Thanks.

JD

[akira34]

gibarian said:

One of my goals with a server would be to free up space on my hard drives--but then there is the question--how to back up the server? Hard drives eventually fail--even server ones.

I have a NAS (Intel SS4200-E) which, when you install four hard drives (using standard SATA drives up all the way up to the current big 1.5TB models) defaults to RAID 5 (striped with parity). You get the space of three drives, but you get the bonus of data protection if a single drive fails. I have two spare drives on hand for my SS4200 so that I can swap out any that go bad right away and be back up and running quickly.



I like the Intel device for several reasons. Not the least of which is that it's dead silent when running (fans kick on during startup, but quickly go silent/quiet). Provides a Gb port for connecting to your LAN, requires NO monitor, keyboard, etc to function (you manage it via a web console) and does it's job extremely well. It also has two eSATA ports on it for adding additional drives/devices to it as well as USB ports. You can make it into a print server, webcam server, comes ready to be your media server, etc. An added bonus to the device is when it's connected to an UPS (mine is) it will send you an email when there's a power failure. If power isn't restored within a few minutes, it safely powers itself off. The only down side is you have to turn it back on once power comes back up.



The device also uses industry standard file share protocols including cifs, smb, and nfs making it work with ALL operating systems out there. I've connected systems, to it, running Windows XP, Vista, Fedora 8, 9, and 10, Centos 4.x and 5.x, and OSX 10.5.x. I also moved my iTunes library from my previous MacBook Pro over to the NAS and then pointed that laptop to that directory to use for it's storage. I then set two other systems to do the same thing, so they all share the same music files, just have unique libraries per platform/system.



All-in-all a very strong device, made reliably, priced pretty affordably (<$500 for the device, plus the drives you choose) and pretty easy to set up (good documentation so as long as you have some living brain cells you should be fine).



I wouldn't bank on apple coming up with anything for the home market, especially since they've also dumped making RAID devices for the enterprise market.