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How To Turn Off Your HP MediaSmart Server

Matt Whitlock

HP MediaSmart Server Webinar and Q&A Transcript

Matt Whitlock — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:01:06 GMT

If you didn't get a chance to catch June 25th's MediaSmart Server Webinar hosted by Microsoft and HP, we've got the full webinar and Q&A transcript to make sure that you can get the answers to many common (and many not-so-common) HP MediaSmart Server questions posed during the event.

HP MediaSmart Home Server EX470/EX475 Reviews

Ron Repking — Fri, 30 May 2008 17:45:38 GMT

There are a lot of reviews on the HP MediaSmart Home Server on the Internet. I thought it would be useful to summarize them in one place for ease of access for all of the MediaSmarthome.com users. I've separated what I found into 2 groups - one for "professional reviews" and one for "user reviews". I know that this list is nowhere near complete, so if you have written a review on your site or know of a review missing from this list, please let me know and we'll add it in! Professional Reviews CNet: HP MediaSmart Server EX475 - Nov 2007 PC Mag: HP MediaSmart Server EX470 Review - Jan 2008 SmallNetBuilder: HP MediaSmart Server EX470 / EX475: Sexy, but not that Smart - Nov 2007 Supersite for Windows: HP MediaSmart Server Review - Nov 2007 WeGotServed: HP MediaSmart Server EX475 Hands On Review - Nov 2007 ZDNet: HP's new home server is small, smart, and impressively simple - Nov 2007 User Reviews Amazon: HP EX470 MediaSmart Home Server Review and HP EX475 MediaSmart Home Server Review Epinions: Hewlett Packard MediaSmart Server EX470 - Jan 2008 Viewpoints: Hewlett Packard MediaSmart Server EX475 Review - Feb 2008

My Files Don't Appear on My Digital Media Receiver! What Should I Do?

HP — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:51:56 GMT

Digital Media Adapters (DMA, or Digital Media Receivers - DMR) use the Universal Plug 'n Play (UPnP) protocol to automatically discover Digital Media Servers (DMS). The HP MediaSmart Server uses Windows Media Connect 2.0 (WMC) as its DMS. In order for a DMA to discover the HP MediaSmart Server and access its content, WMC must be enabled. WMC defaults to being disabled; it is automatically enabled for all DMAs when the server administrator selects one or more of the three media shared folders (Music, Photos and Videos) for media sharing. On your DMA, you should then see the HP MediaSmart Server listed as: <YourServerName>: 1 : Windows Media Connect NOTE: Some DMAs aggregate the content from all DMSs into a single view; in such a case you may not be able to identify each DMS individually. Further troubleshooting steps form DMA follow: Once WMC has been enabled to share a shared folder, it continually monitors the folder for new files. Open the Control Center on one of your home PCs. Select the Tools tab at the bottom. On the Tools tab, click on the Home Server Console (HSC) icon. On the HSC password screen, type in the Administrator's password ....

How To Contribute Your Add-In to the MediaSmart Home Community

Matt Whitlock — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:43:54 GMT

If you're a Windows Home Server Add-In Author, you can help enhance the MediaSmart Server and Windows Home Server experience by making it easy to help others find and enjoy the add-ins that innovative folks like you have worked so hard to produce. In a few simple steps, you can present your work to one of the largest populations of Home Server owners, HP MediaSmart Server owners . To submit your add-in for download on the MediaSmart Home Add-In page: Step 1: Create your free MediaSmart Home user account To submit your add-in, you'll need to create a free MediaSmart Home user account . Setting up your account only takes a minute. It's recommended that Add-In authors choose a display name that they'll want associated with their add-in here on the site. Step 2: Visit the Add-Ins page and submit your add-in Once you've verified and activated your free community account, log in and go to the Add-Ins page here at MediaSmart Home . In the upper right hand corne, you'll see a link to "Submit New Add-In." In the form that's presented to you, you'll see three fields: File: Click the "browse" button to navigate to the .zip or...

How To Convert FAT/FAT32 to NTFS

Matt Whitlock — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:02:28 GMT

Newcomers to the MediaSmart Server may encounter a strange message when they install the Home Server Connector software on their computer. This message can occur when the software goes to set up the automatic backup process, and states that your computer uses an incompatible file format for backup or "Windows Home Server can only backup NTFS drives." In fact, this message graced the computer screen of my wife's laptop when I went to set it up with the MediaSmart Server. Being a bit of a computer nerd, I instantly knew what the problem was, but hadn't realized the ACER laptop (which runs Windows XP Home edition) was formatted with the age old FAT32 file system. For those a who are a little less tech savvy, Windows XP has the option of formatting the internal hard drive in one of two file formats upon install. If your computer was purchased at retail and preinstalled with Windows XP from the factory, it's possible that your computer was formatted with the older FAT32 file system, as I discovered this laptop was. For most things, you probably wouldn't notice the difference between the two, even though NTFS offers several benefits that FAT32 doesn't offer....

Getting to Know the HP MediaSmart Server - Overview From a New Owner

Matt Whitlock — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:45:13 GMT

Those who went through high school with a basic computer course were often told to “save early, save often” by their instructors. Of course, gone are the days when floppy disks held our important documents, though even to this day that piece of advice holds true. As computers have evolved to be a central hub of information, entertainment, and personal information, retaining and protecting those digital bits of information is becoming increasingly important. Computers are NOT infallible machines, and with one crash of a hard drive, everything on your computer can be lost forever. We’re not just talking about old essays and e-mails; digital photos, tax returns, financial statements, home videos, and other irreplaceable files could be gone in an instant. You may save early and often, but the more relevant advice you’ve heard over and over again, “Backup, backup, backup,” is sadly often overlooked. Times have changed in other ways, too; it’s not a one computer per family environment anymore. More and more families are adopting dedicated computers for different people or tasks. It’s not uncommon now for little Jimmy and Mom to each have their own laptops, Dad to have a work PC in the office, and the...

Jerry McCollom's MediaSmart Drive Labeler

Jerry M — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:52:00 GMT

Jerry McCollom's MediaSmart Drive Labeler updates the labels on the drives in the Storage tab of the Windows Home Server Console on the HP MediaSmart Server. The drive labels are updated as follows: * Drives are correctly labeled as SATA rather than SCSI. * The drive bay location is appended to internal SATA drives * External SATA drives are correctly shown as External rather than Internal. Download Jerry McCollom's MediaSmart Drive Labeler v 1.0.0.5 Revision Log ---------------- Version 1.0.0.5 corrects the display for non-storage pool drives (bug introduced in my 1.0.0.4 change, thanks to Cougar for helping me track down the issue!). Version 1.0.0.4 fixes a fat-finger logic error in the previous version. I cleaned up my drive identifier detection code and have tested this version with internal and external drives to verify it works as advertised! Version 1.0.0.3 fixes an exception condition that could occur when external SATA drives are connected. Version 1.0.0.2 is the initial public release. ---------------- To discuss Jerry McCollom's Drive Labeler Add-In, join the MediaSmart Home community by creating your free member account. It only takes a moment, and gives you access to the many benefits only members can enjoy.