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HP MediaSmart Server Update Delayed Until February

By on December 18, 2009 in Software

I’ve had literally hundreds of emails from readers this month asking for an update on the status of HP’s MediaSmart Server update for the EX470 and EX480 series. The company previously announced a v2.5 update would be available in the Autumn before subsequently pulling that release and announcing the release of a v3.0 update this month.

Bad news reaches us today from HP…

HP MediaSmart Server 3.0 Software Update Progress

In the latter stages of testing our 3.0 software update, a couple of issues were discovered with the upgrade disks.  One was related to compatibility with Power Pack 3 and the other with the media streaming software.  Both issues have fixes and we are now going back through our build and testing process.  As a result, the 3.0 software update DVD availability will now be in February.  While this delay was unexpected, we remain committed to providing this upgrade path for owners of our EX470/475/485/487 products.  As previously communicated, these upgrades will be available as a server recovery solution.

The cost of the upgrade DVD has been finalized and will be US$25 or €25.

Given the WGS mailbox has been bulging with questions on this topic, I know many of you will be very disappointed with the news, and the temptation is to question whether the update truly exists.

I can confirm that the update is definitely real. How do I know? Well, HP released beta disks with the update to a very small number of testers, including WGS, a couple of weeks ago.

IMG 184431 thumb HP MediaSmart Server Update Delayed Until February 661 thumb HP MediaSmart Server Update Delayed Until February

I’ve successfully updated an EX475 from the original software to v3.0 as you can see from the image above, using the beta upgrade disk (which require a server recovery). You’ll notice the AMD Sempron processor from the EX475 is listed in Windows Home Server’s Settings page on top of the v3.0 design MediaSmart Server Console Tab, which shows the update in action.

It’s unfortunate (and frustrating!) that late breaking bugs in have delayed release of the update by a further two months. Fingers crossed we see the update released once and for all in February.


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About Terry Walsh

Terry Walsh is the founding editor and owner of We Got Served. Since February 2007, the site has provided detailed coverage and analysis of the emerging home server category, and has subsequently grown into a trusted outlet for digital home news and reviews.
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  • http://twitter.com/nicksak Nick

    Well, that sucks… but I guess that news is better than no news at all, right?

    Dumb question: When I finally get to upgrade my EX485 using the final version of 3.0 – which, since the beta required it, will most likely mean a server recovery – what will that do to the data that I have stored onto the four drives that reside inside my Smartserver? Do I need to back up everything first, or will all pictures/movies/files/whatnots remain intact even after then installation?

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/tezzer Terry Walsh

      Your data ill be fine – just the system partition is replaced. You will need to set up your users, add-ins and remote access again, however.

      • http://twitter.com/nicksak Nick

        Thanks, Terry. And thanks for keeping us all updated – and showing us proof that the update does indeed exist. Paranoia has a tendency to kick in when these kind of delays occur. :)

  • Bodog (WGS)

    oh well – at least we have an update on the update – and a price (what an irony that they can announce that at the same time as we get the bad news)

  • ilieke

    Thank you HP for this nice christmas present.

  • Slap

    I swear for ……..Hp Its one thing or another with that company. I bet they push it back further til the summer 2010.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/FalconFour FalconFour

    Awesome. A delayed update that you actually have to PAY for. HP rules.

    I'm so glad I built my own server and convinced a friend to buy an Acer instead.

  • PaulG

    Thanks for the update, Terry — including the verification that this UFO actually exists.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/RichNY RichNY

    Hopefully they have underpromised (the new date) and they will overdeliver.
    As software doesnt grow on trees, sometimes it's delayed even though I was looking forward to this.
    Better to wait than to install something that could corrupt the WHS.
    BTW – I think HP listened to their customers in agreeing to the update and following through.

    • Chad`

      I'm with you. I figured they were waiting for pp3 to be finished so they could beta the 3.0 software against it. Looks like that might be what happened. I can wait, at least they are offering the update and it's reasonably priced. I hope they do an ISO download option though are at least a preorder. I'd much rather a bug free release then a release that crashes a important piece of hardware every time I stream something.

  • diehard

    If I recall, when HP came out with their 2nd software update during PP2, they had to pull it and fix it. So I'm guessing they didn't want to erk people this time again and held off to see how it worked with PP3 and it needed some touches.

  • raaaaaa

    they want to sell more units simple as that….I bet the 490 models will be around $350 at the same time….also it will not be $25 more like $45

  • Julien

    Let's roll back… HP stated they'd deliver the 3.0 update in…May 2009. And they started sampling Beta discs…. in early December 2009 to a select group of testers.

    In may they promise to deliver the update in the fall…. and they start working on it in december ? Is that a joke ? Com'on !

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Kelpler Kepler

      Where did they say this? Do you have a reference? …just curious.

  • diehard

    I'm guessing that their priority was to silently release the EX490/5 x510's and hope that 1st/2nd gen owners might jumpt to that.

  • Guido

    Has anybody sucessfully tested to install the v 3.0 server recovery disk from the x510 on an 470(with 2GB RAM) ?

    • http://twitter.com/Dieharder @Dieharder

      The CPU is different and so is the esata chip, so it can't be done unless you extract just the right stuff. It becomes a more interesting solution because of this release delay.

  • http://numbersusa.com Scott

    I don't feel like I'm being obnoxious at all. It's not my fault HP didn't do any serious upgrade path planning.

    You talk about what you don't see other companies doing. I don't see many other companies sending out crippled software. Saying here is a unit that will back up your computers…Oh! but don't use more than one drive or it will corrupt your data.

    Kepler, I'm going to give a gift in 1 hour….no wait, in 1 day…. no wait, in 1 month.

    THAT'S what's obnoxious.

    • Etoa

      The data corruption bug was Microsofts not HPs so lets be fair about this and keep the facts straight.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Kelpler Kepler

      Yea, you're right…the largest computer vendor in the world would never think about upgrade path planning. Those EX48x and EX49x models are fabrications of my imagination. The updated versions of software? Fantasy. The topic of this article is a whole delusion…HP obviously did not plan this.

      The data corruption bug was a Microsoft issue. Are you aware that we are talking about HP's OEM software that runs on their EX series MediaSmart servers? Are you also aware that this affected all WHS installs? Ok, because for a second I thought maybe you didn't know what you were talking about.

      …but that wouldn't be obnoxious, would it?

      • http://numbersusa.com Jarrod

        If you had read just a post or two down you would have seen that I admitted my mistake.

        It's obnoxious to reply to posts without seeing if the very thing you're pointing out has already been mentioned.

        • http://numbersusa.com Scott

          Jarrod = Scott

          I unintentionally typed my first name rather than middle.

  • Confused

    HP is doing nothing different than any other company. We don't expect a Win7 driver to be created for that legacy printer we bought with our then-new Windows 95 PC. This is no different. It's a legacy product with legacy s/w.

    New products come out (what, did u think they were only going to make 1 version of WHS??) all the time. We know this, yet we buy anyway knowing that in the future a new iteration will be cheaper and better equipped but we don't want to wait, we want it now so we buy it now. And yet we have the odacity to complain when they do something that other companies wouldn't dream of. How's that for obnoxious?

    How about the fact that they still help me (and you) troubleshoot any problems we may have above and beyond the 1 yr warranty? who else does that?

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/FalconFour FalconFour

      There is only one version of WHS, smart one…

      • Confused

        should have read: What, did you think they [HP] were only going to make one version of the WHS equipped MediaSmart Server?, smart one…

  • Confused

    Scott – wasn't it the microsoft s/w on these units that caused data corruption and prompted the power pack release to repair what they inadvertantly created?

    HP just gets to take the slack for it lol.

    I like the fact that the support is in canada…kind of exotic!! lol

    • http://daveramsey.com Scott

      Yes, now that I think about it I think your right. That just means that Microsoft sucks too. Sorry, I'm bitter.

      Still I think FalconFour nailed it.

  • dugn

    Hmmm. $25 for an upgrade to 2 year old software? I spent nearly that much on 1 of 10 software upgrades of my favorite software this last year alone. An as an added bonus, I get to go from being a 'forgotten' early adopter of the EX470 series HP MediaSmart servers to being on the same software version as the 3rd and latest generation of HP home servers? All of this on my hopped-up 2GB server with on-board eSATA?

    $25 is a deal.

  • http://twitter.com/nickdotvr @nickdotvr

    I really look forward to this.

    The amount of features included make it well worth it (especially since I got my refurbished EX475 from newegg at a killer price – think half that of new EX495s) – the only thing I wonder if I'd be able to get away with my 1GB of ram.

    I was going to buy 2GB for it and I am still consdering it but I happened to have 2x1GB of DDR2 667 from another HP machine [has the same kind of HP seal as the original 512MB stick that was inside the server] so now it's running 1GB and I'm not even sure how huge of a performance boost it'd be to upgrade from 1 to 2 – 512 to 1 was noticeable, I'm not sure if 1 to 2 would be as noticeable/worth it.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/FalconFour FalconFour

    "Obnoxious" is double posting and not even refreshing to see your mistake and correct it. *facepalm*

    "Obnoxious" is charging any money AT ALL for any sort of "update" that only works on a product that the company also sold (and that you already paid for). Apple only got away with it for a significant update, and they could hardly be considered having "gotten away with it" – the whole damn Internet hates Apple for that kind of dirty practice.

    "Obnoxious" is infinitely delaying a product update set to fix problems and maybe add a little more functionality to a system that is plenty capable of it. Windows Home Server has always been based on the same old legacy code it was originally founded on – WHS was obsolete out of the box (a Vista-based install bootstrapper, installing XP code branded as "Server 2003" as a product called Windows Home Server). Nothing has changed, there's no new WHS version, merely an automatic update that everyone with a WHS also gets. This is no more significant an update than HP updating their driver software. Where do they get off charging money for it?

    "Obnoxious" is calling the same piece of hardware still being sold today "antiqued". We've moved from Celerons to Atoms and gotten bigger hard drives. That's about it. No huge change from IDE to SATA or Pentium 4 to Core 2. Just a class shift and capacity improvement. You seriously call that old?

    Looks like you (and HP for that matter) are the one(s) being "obnoxious" here…

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/tezzer Terry Walsh

      Kepler did send me a mail last night saying he'd double posted in error due to a login issue. I've only just had the chance to correct it. I guess that makes me obnoxious too! :$

      • http://intensedebate.com/people/FalconFour FalconFour

        Not really… there _is_ a "delete" button after all! ^_^

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Kelpler Kepler

      Yup. I accidently double-posted. Sorry…you got me there. I'm out of control and because so, making all sorts of illogical claims.

      So let me get this strait. When you bought Windows XP, it is "obnoxious" for them to charge for Vista, Windows 7, etc? How about when Symantec brings out a new Antivirus suite each year? They all have the same code base. Because so, they all should be free too, right? Are you serious?!?

      Have you used both ver.1 AND ver.3 yet? Sounds like you have and know there is nothing different except "driver updates." Yup…you obviously know what you're talking about.

      Yes, the EX49x is almost as twice as powerful as the EX47x series…and as we roll into 2011, even more so. I will happily buy a computer today and pit it against one from three to four years ago. I'll happily call that "antiqued."

      Oh, and what OEM WHS server are you using that has an IDE bus? Just curiuos…

      Please, FalconFour, please run along now.

  • motzingw

    I'm wondering if the "server recovery" process required to upgrade involves loosing the data on the storage drives. Anyone know?

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/urmaster urmaster

      Already answered, look at the top.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/urmaster urmaster

    I don't mind the delay, further testing means a better product.

  • Confused

    motzingw; you should not lose any data, it only re-creates the data on the sys partition (the o/s) leaving data intact.

    I agree with the others as far as preferring a delay to 'perfect' it rather than getting it right away and then a patch every week to repair something. (like Microsft and others have done ;-) The problem is that no matter how much lab testing they do it's never enough to mimic what some people have going on in their network.

  • Darius

    I'm thinking about purchasing the EX490 (and upgrade processor) or an X510 (as I'm in the UK and can't buy the EX495). I hadn't really though what I would do with the EX470 but I'm wondering whether I should upgrade the processor on the EX470 and use as a spare. Would this update be affected by a processor upgrade?

    • http://twitter.com/Dieharder @Dieharder

      That's what I did. I purchased a EX490 it was $200 cheaper than the $495 and will upgrade the CPU. I have a EX470 with a BE-2300 dual-core which will work nicely with v3. There should not be a problem. I heard mixed stories on the LE-1640 CPU. I would recommend an upgrade.

    • Akin Koksal

      I upgared the CPU of EX475, but system was crashing due to hi temp when room temp was around +25C.

      Later I noticed that there is a CPU fan power connection on the board that is not used, so I found a 1" cpu fan and fixed it onto the heat sink. My CPU is running around 32C when idle…

  • dhamsher

    i am starting to run short of drive space and i have no drive bays left. given that this is a system recovery, will i have the opportunity to replace my system drive with something larger (2 gb instead of the 500mb it came with, for example) thereby killing two birds with one stone? how difficult is the restore process?

    • John

      To do a system recovery should be easy (if it is like the EX470 restore disc) just pop the disc in and follow the instructions, however if you wish to replace your system drive I believe you will need to backup all of your files first and then do a complete factory reset, putting your files back after. So unless you have enough storage capacity other than your server I would think you will be stuck with the original drive.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/urmaster urmaster

      This is what I done a few weeks back before PP3. Backup to a large external HDD then swap out the system disc for the single largest drive (you might want 1-2TB) . Pop the restore disc in a windows machine and restore. Remember initial setup must be run on 32-Bit OS so make sure you have one of those handy. If you have an existing 1 TB disc that might be a better candidate for the system drive since it has already proven its reliability.

  • Protholl

    I'm just waiting to find out if this update will allow my 470 to sleep when not in use. I've tried the plug-ins and instructions, and each time I had to recover my server to get it working correctly. Please HP make this update work right! Go green HP!! (I've replaced all HDs with Western Digital Green to cut down on the power consumed 24×7)

  • Mikehell

    My last update was on 11/02.2009; when I check for new updates, no new updates are ever found. If I attempt to reconfigure updates to automatically check and install- I get a message saying mcafee was unable to save the scheduled scan. Is that unusual? Does anyone have a solution?

  • AndersR

    Is it possible to use 2 HomeServers in same net? I have 1 EX470 and 1 HP STORAGEWORKS X510 DATA VAULT. Wich seems to be another type of HomeServer. So I would like to use the old EX470 as a separate back up station. Can it work?

    • http://twitter.com/Dieharder @Dieharder

      Yes, by default both server have different server names. HPSERVER & HPSTORAGE. You can only backup to one or the other. When you setup the PC connector software, you are choosing the machine you want. They are both the same type of server just that the EX510 is the current model and the EX470 is the 1st gen model.

  • kshub

    quick question guys: I haveEX470 and would like to upgrade the system disk at the same time as I perform the update. Would the'new' restore CD's allow me to do so without losing my backups, media, etc..?

    Thanks!

  • Bryan

    Any news on a release date? Is there a pre-order link

  • PuReBaSs

    Called HP on the update…was told to check mid to late February and that the update would be available on hpshopping.com for the confirmed 25 USD

  • http://gizmodo.com Ted

    I'm getting pretty psyched for the next delay!!

  • http://drudgereport.com Ted

    Even if the release date isn't until the end of the month, wouldn't it be common courtesy to at least say "hey kids get those credit cards ready, we're releasing on the 28th!"? At least then we wouldn't have to look for updates every day.

    If they don't know the release date by now there are some serious break downs in the planning process at HP.

  • Kenneth

    Like Ted wrote here, why cannot HP give us a date.

    But the thing I´m wondering about is, why cannot HP sell this DVD´s online for download?
    The best thing for me would be to download and burn them and not wait for some dude somewhere in the world to pack and ship them…

  • dstevek

    You reckon February release means the 29th?

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/tezzer Terry Walsh

    From what I gather, the update is currently in final testing and as long as all goes well, should be available in the second half of the month.

    • Kenneth

      Yes I know Terry, I am aware that there is a full operating system on the CD and the licensing, it is just boring to wait .
      <wishful thinking>
      They should make it capable to download trough the update, and the update should create an iso in the software folder. Lock it to only work with the correct BIOS & HW.
      </ wishful thinking>

  • Mark Radabaugh

    Terry, will there be a way for HP to notify us when it gets released?

  • http://drudgereport.com Ted

    Terry….I couldn't help but broken heartedly notice that the update article on the v3.0 software and all the links to it have disappeared….is there a reason for that?

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/tezzer Terry Walsh

      Yes – I wasn't meant to post it, but the email from their PR didn't make that clear ;)

      • http://drudgereport.com Ted

        Whew! Thanks.

  • Eidos

    I was wondering, with all the new features should I update my EX470 to the AMD 1640 CPU to gain some more speed. Will all these new features overwhelm my EX470 with only the memory upgrade installed?____I have the AMD 1640 in the original box sitting on a shelf.

  • Globespy

    I spoke to Mediasmart Support today……..could not give specific date but suggested me to check back in March!! Seriously, can the bugs be any worse than the original release on ex475??
    Hype is over on this…..IMO

  • Globespy

    And support mentioned that users of the new V3 MUST UPGRADE TO 2MB RAM……

    • Mr. Wonka

      2GB RAM, I bet the majority of users have already done that.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/pmdci pmdci

      Since like many others here, I did the 2GB memory upgrade for my EX740x, I would be much more upset with HP if I actually had to get a MediaSmart model in order to get the new software.

      I think HP is showing us that they care for customer loyalty.

      • supe

        I'm a little peeved that I was advised by HP to get the EX47x model when I inquired about the best bang for the buck. The rep said the 3.0 software coming Dec( was Nov when I called). would offer the features I wanted with a better price in the EX47x series. I did the Ram upgrade in preparation and even swapped out all the fans because it was too noisy.
        … now what, how come I'm still waiting?

  • http://drudgereport.com Steve

    Terry posted an update from HP saying that everything was still on track for the second half of February. Then, HP PR made him take it down, saying that he wasn't supposed to post it in the first place. The only reason I can think of that they wouldn't want good news like that to get out is if they didn't really believe they were going to make that date and didn't want to get our hopes up right before another delay.

  • MarkG

    I really don't understand HP on this. All they need to do is say something….anything. People that have no information get irritated. I run IT operations for a small biotech and have learned long ago that you have to communicate issues to the user community. People will forgive even the worst problem or system failure if you are open with them and keep them informed as to what is going on.
    This lack of communications by HP is a management problem. I would lay odds the development group is working hard on this in an effort to get it right. Why not say so. If it’s late, it’s late, so be it. Not knowing is pissing me off.

  • GatsbyAssassin

    I spoke to HP Support last week. The guy on the phone was very helpful and he said that there was still no ETA. You can however raise a trouble ticket and they will notify you when the update becomes available via email. Sweet!

  • http://HP.com Steve

    The guy I talked to yesterday seemed pretty clueless. He just said "we're uhm…not sure what the release date on that will be". Maybe they're not aware of how many people are anxious for this software, perhaps we should all call inquiring about it. Maybe if everyone and their brother working at HP is telling their boss that they've answered 300 phone calls concerning the update, then maybe we can get at least a status update.

    1-800-HP-INVENT then just a couple of automated steps and when you're asked what product you're calling about say "mediasmart server"

  • http://xkcd.com Fred

    check the main page! 3.0 is coming out this week!

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