SmallNetBuilder

Introduction

HP recently added a new member to its Media Vault NAS line. The Media Vault Pro is intended to appeal to small business owners with expanded storage capacity (1 TB) and a bundled online backup storage service.

With the mv2040, HP's Media Vault line now includes 3 models:

• HP Media Vault (mv2010 / mv2020)
• 300GB / 500GB of storage
• Bourne Identity movie included
• 2 free downloads from CinemaNow
• NTI Backup

• HP Media Vault Pro (mv2040)
• 1TB of storage
• Spare Backup CD and service (2 GB storage included, more available for additional cost)
• NTI Backup

Jim Buzbee reviewed the mv2020 last November and liked it a lot. Since he covered most of the features of the base Media Vault, I'll be concentrating more on the "bare metal" backup option provided by the bundled NTI Backup program and Spare Backup online storage feature.

Most NAS vendors now use some sort of tray to ease insertion and removal of SATA drives. HP also uses a tray for the single drive that is user-replaceable (the other drive is obviously not intended to be customer-replaceable since it requires disassembly of the enclosure).

As you can see in the product picture above, the tray has both a front pull release lever, and a round twisting lock above the drawer. The twist lock requires a tool (a dime worked for me) to unlock the tray, allowing the drive to be removed and reinserted. But you can also leave the lock unlocked and the drive works just fine. Belt-and-suspender award to HP for physical security.