Hey all,

A while back I bought an HP Media Smart server, hoping it would be what I needed. It turned out that it wasn't.....so now I need something that is :)...

I was looking at a sans digital 8 hard drive bay model that was around $200, but the reviews are mixed... I need something that I can hook drives into, and plug into my current PC via USB or ESata and have it show up on my PC as extra drives for easy use...

My Tivo hard drives are starting to pile up, and so are the files from my camcorder shoots..

any recommendations?

thanks!

If the server itself worked well for you, then why not simply install an extra 2GB hard drive? Easy to do if you are handy with computers. Else, get a trusted geek to do it ... ideally 15 mins work.

Andrew

heya,

problem with the HP sever was that it's meant more for backup purposes....In order to use a new drive on that machine, you have to format it for use on that machine, it's not just plug and play.


I need something that can act like a second USB drive so files can be easily swappable on the main PC.....that's why the HP one didn't work out..

You don't have to reformat drives you install into the HP servers. You do have to format the drives if you want to add them to the MAIN storage pool.

The way to do what you want with the HP gear you already have is to connect the drive you want to share then remote desktop into the server and add a share on the new drive from windows explorer. Thats it. It will show up as a separate storage location on the server. You will need to set your permissions up manually on the drive and not use the WHS control panel.

I do it all the time on mine. You can it with any drive attached on the machine (internal, usb, or Esata).

I'll give it a shot....

but what I was also thinking of doing was using that for it's original backup purposes...

With a main 8 or less bay server, I could put all my main drives there, and use the HP for backup of only the important files...