Hands-On: Acer Aspire easyStore Home Server

Compatible file formats are as follows:

• Music: MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, AC3, FLAC, APE, OGG, VOC, AIFF, AU, MID
• Video: WMV, ASF, MOV, AVI, MPEG, 3GP, SWF, FLV, RMVB, RM, RA, RAM, MP4, MPG, MPE, M2V, TP, TS, MLV, MKV, DIVX
• Photos: GIF, PNG, BMP, JPG, JEPG, ICO, TIFF, DXF, WMF, EMF, PICT, EPS, CDR

iTunes Server

The easyStore will also appear as a network device in iTunes, courtesy of the now-obligatory iTunes Server.

One Touch USB Backup

One of the most unique features of the new Acer home server is one touch USB backup. As the manual explains, the USB backup button on the front panel allows you to backup data from a USB storage device to the home server. Windows Home Server copies all files into the Public shared folder first then classifies the files according to media type into their corresponding shared folders – namely Music, Videos, Photos. When Windows Home Server cannot determine file type, the file is automatically stored into the Others folder.

Home Server Wake on LAN

Using Lights Out, you can allow home computers to control the power state of the home server by installing a small, invisible service that sends a Wake On LAN magic packet to the home server whenever the home computer comes out of standby.

McAfee Total Protection Service

Acer are following in HP’s footsteps with the addition of McAfee’s Total Protection Service, which provides anti-virus protection for your home server, along with emailed reports of anti-virus activity. This add-in is provided with a free 6 month subscription, before paid anti-virus updates are required.

Verdict

So Acer arrive at the Windows Home Server party with new hardware and a super low price point, but is the model worth taking a serious look at? Absoultely. $399 for a 4 bay home server packing 1.2Tb of storage is a seriously mouthwatering deal. Whilst the price is low, the product quality is certainly not bargain basement – some of the HP MediaSmart Server’s polish isn’t there, but then again, neither is the price and the easyStore Home Server is a confident, viable competitor to HP’s EX48x home server series.

As the number of home server models increase, your decision as to which to go for becomes a little harder. At the top end of the spectrum, you can pay out for the best hardware and fantastic software features in the form of the HP MediaSmart Server EX485 or EX487. Or, take a more value oriented route with HP’s new LX195, which provides a subset of those software features, with limited internal storage.

Acer’s offer sits somewhere in between the two – all of the storage capabilities of the top end HP model, and most of the basics covered in terms of add-ins (Power Management, Anti-Virus, DLNA and iTunes Server) at far lower price. You’ll miss out on the HP’s media-centric features, but that may not be top of mind for you, and third-party add-ins may help fill some of that gap in the future.

Ultimately, with HP only selling their home servers in the US right now, the decision may well have been made for you, but if the Acer Aspire easyStore Home Server is indeed the only game in your town, you can buy it with confidence, knowing you’re picking up a strong, great looking, well featured home server at a super price.