HP Media Vault mv2020 (500GB)

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"Great until it fails!!!"
1.5 stars

on February 3, 2008 by swsnow

Pros: Not sure what can be considered Pros when you loose 250GB of data/media/memories

Cons: No easy way to recover in case of OS error

Summary: Six months into using this device, I added another 500GB disk and configured this device to mirror (RAID)! I was confident enough that I moved almost everything of value on this device thinking that if one disk failed, mirrored copy will be there.

I just got off almost 30+ minutes long phone call with tech support, and have learned that OS has become corrupt. I was told by a very friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable tech support person (who knew what he was talking about) that chances are .... (1) OS has become corrupt, (2) I may have to take out my primary disk, install it in a desktop, and format it! (3) I have had a mirrored set-up to mirror 500GB on a secondary drive, but I have been told that I may have lost that mirror BECAUSE of OS corruption!!!!!

***!!! I have spent my career working as a senior portfolio architect for Fortune 50 companies, and all I do in my day job is to architect solutions to avoid such situations! Now I am at a point where I risk loosing almost all my memories, tax returns and important data files because of a defective design from HP!(http://reviews.cnet.com/external-hard-drives/hp-media-vault-mv2020/4864-3190_7-32104518.html?ctype=msgid&messageSiteID=7&messageID=2492036&cval=2492036&tag=uolst)

Again, its a great piece of hardware as long as there are no issues. If you still decide to buy, I highly recommend using following wonderful resource - Don't leave home without it because you will not find a better comprehensive knowledge base on any product anywhere (http://www.k0lee.com/hpmediavault/)

I am keeping my fingers crossed, hoping that my mirror is still safe and that replacing the system disk will help me recover the data.

Good luck!
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1 reply to this review

reply on May 21, 2008 by andiamo93

This product worked beautifully for 1.5 years. Then one morning I encountered a flashing red triangle and a hideous constant beep. It was the same problem as swsnow. I am hoping I can recover the data on the mirrored disk (did you have success SW?) but I am not optimistic. HP uses a proprietary format method (Modifed Reiser, I believe) which can only be read by a MediaVault. So it is not as simple as putting the mirror disk into another box.<br><br>My suggestion is to skip the mirror concept and use the product as a server for streaming music and photos. It works well for this. You will need a separate solution to backup the MV itself because it is not reliable as a backup device.

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