You can add password protection and specify FTP, web browser, or standard network (SMB) access and assign read-only or full access for each. Under Shared Folders you can create/delete/modify your various shared folders. It’s too much to cover the options in depth in this review but I will give you a brief overview. This allows you to fully configure your NAS box, from changing its IP address to creating a RAID. Most users will be happy to let the various wizards and applications take care of things but, if you need to do anymore in-depth configuration you will need to use the web based configuration utility. The Help & Support tab does exactly what it says on the tin provides access to the user’s guide, an online support page, a registration site, and the HP website. Both pieces of software are very easy and intuitive to use and offer comprehensive scheduling options so, once setup, you don’t need to touch anything again – at least until you need to perform a recovery. NTI Shadow deals with files, rather than whole discs, and includes a Previous Version option that enables you to specify up to nine previous versions of a file to be kept in your backup. The data is stored as a single file which you can choose to have compressed – this obviously saves space but the compression procedure will take some time. NTI DriveBackup creates full backups of an entire hard drive and enables you to create a boot disk so you can recover your system drive, should disaster strike. Likewise, the other two options just open the NTI DriveBackup software. The first option just opens the NTI Shadow backup utility, which is a separate piece of software that you can access from the start menu. Moving to the Backup tab, you have the option to backup individual files, your entire hard disc, or restore your entire hard disc. The third option opens the web interface configuration utility. The second option brings up a custom interface that enables you to assign a drive letter for your network folders (otherwise known as mapping a drive).
The Start Browsing option just opens your Media Vault folder in explorer. Once you’ve installed the software and started it up you are greeted with the following screen. Or, if you know what IP your network has assigned the unit, you can just access the web interface directly – by typing the unit’s IP into your browser – and start setting it up from there. Once you’ve added an additional hard disc (if you require one) and powered up the device, you can run the Windows-only configuration utility to find the device on your network and setup default folders on your computer for you. Round the back you’ll find a power socket, Gigabit Ethernet port, two USB 2.0 ports, a reset button, and a blanking plate for the aforementioned phantom expansion card.
The front panel has a door to access the additional drive bay, a USB 2.0 port, power button, and a row of status LEDs. Of course, none of this really matters as you are likely to hide the box away under the stairs or behind a desk. Styling also left a lot to be desired with a pretty thin coat of generic silvery grey paint covering the steel case and a flimsy plastic panel adorning the front. However, opening her up revealed a less than optimal use of space and where the expansion card slot should be there was just the solder blobs on the PCB, so it’s actually just wasted space.
This does seem to make sense as it squeezes in space for a second disc and an expansion card, an integrated power supply, and the motherboard and CPU that controls it all. Physically, the Media Vault is larger than most NAS appliances of similar capacities and bares more resemblance to a slim line desktop case than an external hard drive. Both versions feature the same comprehensive list of features that includes space for an additional SATA hard drive, print server support, Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, SMB/FTP/http access, and RAID-1 and JBOD. The HP Media Vault comes in two varieties, the mv2010 and mv2020, with capacities of 300GB and 500GB and RRPs of £249 and £349 respectively.