HP MV2120 500GB Media Vault | I love this very simple backup solution

HP MV2120 500GB Media Vault | Plug N Play and go...

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HP MV2120 500GB Me...

	HP MV2120 500GB Media Vault Hewlett Packard Hewlett Packard, 2008 average customer review:based on 23 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Media Vault mv2120 gives you remote access to your files when you're away from home, automatic backups, media streaming across your home network, a photo sharing Web site, and expandable storage. This quietly operating network-attached storage supports 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet and both wired and wireless networking. Back up and share data and media across your home network, automatically back up important files Back up the media vault's contents to an external hard disk and store in a separate location Remotely access files and applications from any Internet-connected PC Stream media files to your home entertainment center or PCs on your network Share photos and files with friends and colleagues by creating a photo Web site on the media vault, you can also give visitors permission to add their own files Marvell SOC Processor 128MB DDR2 DRAM Memory 10/100/1000 (Gigabit) RJ45 Ethernet Network Support Compatibility - Windows XP or more-recent Microsoft operating system Dimensions - Width 5.47 x Height 5.37 x Depth 9.62

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I love this very simple backup solution

I purchased this to tame an increasingly jumbled set of backups that I had hacked together on my home network (4 pc's on the network, backed up to various internal drives, external hard drives, etc....everything was backed up but it was getting out of control).

All I'm using it for right now is backup (not media serving) but it's super-simple:

1. Plug drive into router and turn on power (1 minute).
2. Load software onto the first computer you want to backup (3 or 4 minutes).
3. Find the files/folders/drives you want to backup and assign them a backup location, press "start" (3 or 4 minutes).
4. Repeat on each computer in the network.

One small annoyance that I've seen mentioned elsewhere -- the HP software pops up and asks to search for updates, but there are no updates to be found. Should be smarter than that...

So: works as advertised. Simple to use. No headaches so far.

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Plug N Play and go...

I had been looking at other "NAS" devices, and had been waiting for the Ximeta NetDisk Home whenever they finally came out. I finally got tired of waiting, and found this little thing. My main requirements were NAS (not direct attached) and RAID 1. This has it all.

Plugged it in turned it on. Went to my PC to load the software, and forgot my CD drive was busted. Decided to browse the network anyway and see what I could see, and there it was, ready and waiting for me to copy files to it. I had been worried about my PC hard drive failing, and losing all my pictures, but got them backed up right away. (Oh, by the way, the Media Vault does have Gig Ethernet, so just upgraded my switch to Gig, and now planning to upgrade my PC.)

Once I fixed my CD, I loaded the software, and was able to setup automatic backups of my PC to the Media Vault. You can setup various situations: everytime I change a file on my PC, or only once a week for example. You can keep multiple previous versions which I don't need.

The Media Vault only comes with one drive, so to setup RAID 1 I had bought a second drive. Now came the time to add the second drive (keeping my fingers crossed). Worked like a champ: turn off the MV, open the case, drop the second drive in, push in (no need to worry about cables), turn it back on. Go to the software control center, click the button for RAID 1, and it's done.

I have both Vista and XP clients that connect to it. There were a few unusual issues from Vista when trying to manage the settings on the MV, but no problems with file copies/transfers/backups.

Haven't yet setup iTunes on it (it somehow integrates into your iTunes), nor used it for Windows Media Center, so will have further testing to do.

But for now I'm suitably impressed with this box.

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HP MV2120 Media Vault

Easy to hookup out of the box. Setup to the network went well. I have not used it yet for media so I don't know about the speed. I have also bought an additional hard drive to take advantage of the raid ability. It can be put in any room, noise is not an issue.

I wanted to like it more

Well, I wanted to like it. In the end I returned it.

The software/firmware just isn't mature yet...like it was built by a small team that didn't have time to do a bunch of things (like create truly useful help documentation). You are left to guess when using features like the iTunes capability.

Talked a few times with support. Hard to get through the phone tree (I think the key was to select "other" early on, and then media vault.) Once you got through, they were helpful. Online support materials are "thin".

I could never get device to back up to external USB2 drive in FAT32 mode...unit seemed to keep reformatting to EXT3 (despite what you had requested through UI).

That all being said, hardware is good. Quiet, doesn't get warm (I had it in an upper kitchen cabinet, with second mirror drive installed).

Maybe just a dot release away from perfect...I just don't have the patience to wait.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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