HP Network Server ?

[Guest Henry Kolesnik]

I see that Office Depot has the HP MediaSmart with 500 gig for $600.00

which seems reasonable. I'd like to network 5 PCs, 3 with Vista and 2

with XP and printer. But in reading some of the reviews I see that HP

doesn't support printers and one has to go through a bunch of steps

which I don't want to take to get a printer. In another review I see

that if you try to use two drives for redundancy it can lose files! But

the complaints were from early this year and maybe MSFT and HPQ have

solved the problem.

So, does anyone have a suggestion for a plug and play server to handle 5

PCs, a printer, and access the Web that's easy to setup and reliable

with over 100 gig on two drives?

Thanks

Hank

[Guest Patrick Keenan]

Re: HP Network Server ?

 

"Henry Kolesnik" <kolesnik@nojunksbcglobal.net> wrote in message

news:aPajk.19254$N87.14796@nlpi068.nbdc.sbc.com...

>I see that Office Depot has the HP MediaSmart with 500 gig for $600.00

>which seems reasonable. I'd like to network 5 PCs, 3 with Vista and 2 with

>XP and printer. But in reading some of the reviews I see that HP doesn't

>support printers and one has to go through a bunch of steps which I don't

>want to take to get a printer. In another review I see that if you try to

>use two drives for redundancy it can lose files! But the complaints were

>from early this year and maybe MSFT and HPQ have solved the problem.

> So, does anyone have a suggestion for a plug and play server to handle 5

> PCs, a printer, and access the Web that's easy to setup and reliable with

> over 100 gig on two drives?

> Thanks

> Hank

 

What exactly do you want the server to do? Simple file and printer

sharing? This is actually pretty easy to set up on a Linux box using

Samba, and is a good use for such systems.

 

The question about "access the web" is not clear.

 

As to networking a printer, there are a number of inexpensive lasers that

come with ethernet cards; you just plug them into the router, install the

drivers, and you don't need to set up or run a server.

 

For example, where I am, the Samsung ML-2851ND laser is around $250. Look

for model numbers with "N". The "D" stands for Duplex, this printer will do

two-sided printing.

 

In addition, there are a number of small NAS/RAID appliances available now

that can handle pairs of 1Tb drives. The D-Link DNS-323, for example, is

around $150 where I am. Drives are not included! These devices are

getting cheaper all the time, and they don't require things like monitors or

keyboards.

 

Many do include FTP servers. It is also a good idea to read the reviews

carefully to see if these will work for you.

 

HTH

-pk