My job is systems analyst a media company, but at the same time I have only had my EX485 for just over a month.

My understanding of WHS is that it is a variation of Windows Server 2003 with certain functionality removed, and a few thigns added. Most of the things removed are specific to larger businesses but some home users that work with server enviroments might miss. The added functionality is what is Drive extender, automated backups, remote access, and an attempt to setup a headless unit for home users. Because this is a server, there is also the ability to load Add-in's(extra software). The biggest thing to keep in mind with additional software is you want to ensure it is written for WHS or that you can use the network share to access storage. Not doiing so can cause issues with Drive Extender(What I have heard)

Drive Extender is in my opionion the biggest unknown. The concept behind it is simple. Instead of haveing to educate the home user on the merits and meathods of RAID, drive extender tries to provide the same level of data saftey without the potential complexitities of figuring out what raid setup you are going to run. My expectation is that in a NAS you will be running raid for redundency.
For home use I like drive extender as it will somehwat reduce the cost and potential issues with raid. Basically the only thing you have to be concerned about is making sure you tell WHS what you want duplicated for data protection and you should be good to go. There is also the potential to get allot more storage from what you buy. A real breif explination is like this.

If you buy 3 2TB Seagate drives and run Raid 5 you will only get 4 TB of storage after raid is setup. But you have zero risk of loosing data, and it will remain avaliable with one drive failur. that could be allot of storage lost if you find you really only care about maybe 500 gig of storage being protected from loss. If you just run Drive extender and don't raid the drives you only loose the storgae of duplicating what you want protected. So then you would have the capacity of all 3 drives and just loose 500 gig from the duplication on an extra drive.

One of the nice things about the EX series WHS is that the added software from HP can do some really cool stuff. With Twonky media, the itunes server and the MAC Backup for TimeMachine, there is allot of extra functionality that provides a great multimedia experience.

I believe there are some SAN devices that can do UPNP and DLNA for multimedia though. My expectation is that the biggest difference would be the ability to added additional programs and drive extender compared to raid 1 or 5(depends on how many drives) in a NAS

Mavrrick

HTPC1(Phenom 9950/8GB/HDPVR/HVR-2250)(Bedroom computer and TV with 24" Dell Ultrasharp)
HTPC2(Athlon II 7750/2GB/HVR-1800)(Serves living room TV)
MSS EX485 with Pentium Dual Core E5200(2x1.5TB,1x750GB,1x2TB)

I just looked up the Synology DS209 on www.smallnetworkbuilders.com to learn a bit more about it. The reviews of is actually pretty impressive. It has a good variety of features and seem pretty feature rich. One thing I noted was that it was only a dual drive system. That added in with runing either raid 0 or 1 means you will have potentially very limited storage in it. The review also pointed out something similar to what I stated with performance. The review pointed to it being about the same as 1 drive or a little better. I think the Synology is probably a very good NAS system, if it does everything you want then it would probably be an ok deal.

Mavrrick

HTPC1(Phenom 9950/8GB/HDPVR/HVR-2250)(Bedroom computer and TV with 24" Dell Ultrasharp)
HTPC2(Athlon II 7750/2GB/HVR-1800)(Serves living room TV)
MSS EX485 with Pentium Dual Core E5200(2x1.5TB,1x750GB,1x2TB)

If you don't mind me asking what are you going to use it for. I can really only think of a few things that can really kill storage on a grand scale. Multimedia and backups, are the most pronounced ones that stick out to me. Other then that what are you thinking you will need the massive storage for.

Even backups aren't that bad. I am not sure about Time Machine but the backup that WHS does for my Windows systems take less then 300gig for 2 machines on my system. My storage killers are the movies I have. I have archived them on my MSS so that my daughter can't get to the physical media. Those darn things add up real fast and it is just crazy once you start including blu-ray. But that is even largely dependent on how you do it.

Another thought is to look for a deal on the ex485. I know it is lacking port multipler for the ESata port but if you can deal with the limit of 4 drives then you can get those fairly cheap. I didn't pay anywere near full price for mine.

Although if you want the Pentium Dual Core in the EX495 I would probably do that instead of getting the EX485 and upgradeing it. First you keep the warrenty and secondly the upgrade process is a real pain in the arse. After getting the CPU i still had to buy the VGA cable. There was a work around found on how to update settings with a bios hack, but better to just not have to deal with it.

Mavrrick

HTPC1(Phenom 9950/8GB/HDPVR/HVR-2250)(Bedroom computer and TV with 24" Dell Ultrasharp)
HTPC2(Athlon II 7750/2GB/HVR-1800)(Serves living room TV)
MSS EX485 with Pentium Dual Core E5200(2x1.5TB,1x750GB,1x2TB)

I think Matt can probably answer it better, but from what I have read the EX49x models have the hp3.0 software and currently the ex485's have have 2.5. Later this year we are suppose to be able to purchase the HP 3.0 software for the server for like $25. I believe that the processor the EX490 has is of the same line just slightly faster cpu. Something like going from a celeron 440 to a 450. But I haven't seen anything that says for sure what cpu is in the EX490.
I would like to see forsure what is in it myself. I also think that there are suppose to be some improvements in cooling with the EX49x

After working with it for a while I have come to the conclusion that the extra processor is mostly if you are going to do the video trancodeing on the EX485(or anything else i guess that ends up being really cpu intensive). There really isn't anything else that comes with it that chews up cpu to the same scale. The only other time I have seen the cpu peg is when listening to software via Twonkymedia remotely. I am going to wait till 3.0 before I give that much of a second look as the video converter in 2.5 isn't really a fully functional product for it. I like the idea of just setting it and forgetting it instead of constantly messing with the video's on my desktop. I upgraded for the prupose of multithreading. I felt mine was a little sluggis when the video converter/or twonkeymedia pegged the system. But I really haven't seen an improvement with the CPU.

I can't imagine the transfer speed varying much as that will be the speed of the hard drives on both sides. But the more USB drives you connect they can effect it.

Thx Matt for clarifing my statement. I tend to forget about USB for external storage.

Mavrrick

HTPC1(Phenom 9950/8GB/HDPVR/HVR-2250)(Bedroom computer and TV with 24" Dell Ultrasharp)
HTPC2(Athlon II 7750/2GB/HVR-1800)(Serves living room TV)
MSS EX485 with Pentium Dual Core E5200(2x1.5TB,1x750GB,1x2TB)

Mavrrick said: I think Matt can probably answer it better, but from what I have read the EX49x models have the hp3.0 software and currently the ex485's have have 2.5. Later this year we are suppose to be able to purchase the HP 3.0 software for the server for like $25. I believe that the processor the EX490 has is of the same line just slightly faster cpu. Something like going from a celeron 440 to a 450. But I haven't seen anything that says for sure what cpu is in the EX490. I would like to see forsure what is in it myself. I also think that there are suppose to be some improvements in cooling with the EX49x After working with it for a while I have come to the conclusion that the extra processor is mostly if you are going to do the video trancodeing on the EX485(or anything else i guess that ends up being really cpu intensive). There really isn't anything else that comes with it that chews up cpu to the same scale. The only other time I have seen the cpu peg is when listening to software via Twonkymedia remotely. I am going to wait till 3.0 before I give that much of a second look as the video converter in 2.5 isn't really a fully functional product for it. I like the idea of just setting it and forgetting it instead of constantly messing with the video's on my desktop. I upgraded for the prupose of multithreading. I felt mine was a little sluggis when the video converter/or twonkeymedia pegged the system. But I really haven't seen an improvement with the CPU. I can't imagine the transfer speed varying much as that will be the speed of the hard drives on both sides. But the more USB drives you connect they can effect it. Thx Matt for clarifing my statement. I tend to forget about USB for external storage.

Correct, the current 49x ships with the latest rev of MediaSmart Software (3.0), while the 485/7 ships with 2.5.  48x owners will be able to get the upgrade this fall, final pricing and details haven't been announced, but here's HP's latest word: http://www.mediasmarthome.com/blog/entry/13048/HP-Confirms-3.0-Upgrade-for-Le...

The EX490 ships with the Celeron 450. Based on what I've been told, the internals are the same between the two. Uprading the 490 to the E5200 would be easy since the board would detect the proc and adjust everything, like the cooling, automatically. Much easier than upgrading the 485/7.

In my testing with the 487, I haven't really noticed any performance differences when the converter is running, but have noticed some slowdown when streaming with townky, particularly if other things are going on. I'm currently trying different scenarios to determine, other than video converting,  if the dual core proc really does any good if you use it for the basic stock functions. Obviously, if you toss a lot of extra functionality in the form of add ins, depending on the add in, it will make a difference. I'm putting together a comparison piece between the three to help guide shoppers, so I'll be sharing more on this topic in the days ahead.

Many people forget about USB expansion, which is much more affordable than an eSATA port multiplier, and the speed hit isn't terrible.

CaLcid,

You touched on several different streaming concepts in your statments above so lets first try to quantify each of them to describe what can be expected.

First lets talk about the PS3. I believe that the PS3 uses either UPNP or DNLA to get the stream from it server and then display it on the screen. These are common technologies that depend on the server software to provide compatability to the destination host(PS3,Xbox360,DLNA TV's, other network media players). I belive that the MSS no mater what variant uses TwonkyMedia Server to provide UNPN/DLNA to it's hosts. The biggest delay's I have noticed with Twonkymedia Server is that the first time I access content it has to do some prep work(it appears that way) and chews some cpu cycles before the content is avaliable. I have experience this when remotely accessing music on my MSS were the first time i try to load a song it does not work. I wait about 10 seconds(with my E5200 about 30 with the celeron 440) and then just try again and normally it is complete and works. That could also be a result of the MSS Meadia Streamer software instead of TwonkyMedia Server. What would be interesting and Matt may be able to answer is does the new 3.0 MediaSmart Server software have the newer version of Twonky Media Server. I haven't noticed anything dramatic with Twonky once it is fully able to stream the content. It is just that initial prep work that takes a moment, and that is what triggered my CPU upgraded in my ex485. My hope was that by haveing multiple cpu threads I wouldn't have any delay in processing. It does seem to of helped but hasn't prevented Twonky from flaking out on the first try to access content.

You also have your MAC books, and Iphone which will use a different software to stream content for those systems. There is a iTunes Server that is also part of the setup. I can't speak for it's sucess but I know it is there. So that is another seperate item that could be of use to stream your content to those devices. There are several good threads here in the forums about the iTunes server component of the MSS. I just personally don't like iTunes so i can't provide much here other then to say it is there, and that I have read a few threads with several very happy people with it's support. I dare say that it may even be better then the Microsoft multimedia enviroment.

There is also the ability to do things like I do were the MSS is more of a storage repository and then you stream content via network shares. Considering you are already using the PS3 I just won't go there, but it is possible and really just makes the performance more about how well the files can be transmittend and not about the media server.

Yes you can stream content over the internet if you so desire, but unless you find some third party software to do it, you will be using the MediaSmart Media Streamer to do it. That means you will be dependent on TwonkeyMedia server as Mediastreamer depends on it for it's content. You also will probably not stream HD content. HD content requires allot of bandwith within a home to stream. Blu-rays chew about 20-40mbps and HD tv can easily chew up anywere between 9 to 19mbps. Most HSD services only allow you to upload at a max of about 1.5mbps. So remotely view HD content will be a pain. That is were the video converter can come in. You can have it convert your HD content into Mobile quality to be streamed via media streamer. Streaming HD within a home is fairly easy from a bandwith perspective though so no issues there.

Drive performance can be very subjective and i understand why Matt would say that it isn't much of a hit. Think of it like this. We have a few network technologies involved Gig/E(1000mbps),DraftN(250-300mbps),MOCA(290mbps),FastEthernet(100mbps),Wireless A,G(54mbps). The theortical speeds respecively are 120MB/s, 30-36MB/s, 35MB/s, 12MB/S, 6.5MB/s in megabytes per second. Typically a good (E)SATA drive will run anywere from just over 100MB/s to down to around 50MB/s generally averaging around the 70MB/s range. Your USB connected SATA drives will run in the range of 20-35MB/s depending on a few things. So basically unless you are running Gig/E you can't really even exceed the speed of a USB enabled drive over the other technologies. That is where I would expect the good enough for this setup concept to come from. I doubt most people are running Gig/E

Mavrrick

HTPC1(Phenom 9950/8GB/HDPVR/HVR-2250)(Bedroom computer and TV with 24" Dell Ultrasharp)
HTPC2(Athlon II 7750/2GB/HVR-1800)(Serves living room TV)
MSS EX485 with Pentium Dual Core E5200(2x1.5TB,1x750GB,1x2TB)

The funny thing about that is did you see the price of the EX485

Mavrrick

HTPC1(Phenom 9950/8GB/HDPVR/HVR-2250)(Bedroom computer and TV with 24" Dell Ultrasharp)
HTPC2(Athlon II 7750/2GB/HVR-1800)(Serves living room TV)
MSS EX485 with Pentium Dual Core E5200(2x1.5TB,1x750GB,1x2TB)