THE USUAL WINDOWS HOME SERVER CONSOLE STUFF
And here are the screenshots of the usual Windows Home Server Console elements.
It is interesting to note the version of the software running on the X310 – version 3.1.2.34881 (dated 4/7/2010). The X510 is currently running 3.3.1.35433 (dated 2/3/2010).
As usual you get the Shared Folders icon and the HP Data Vault icon on your desktop.
If you double-click the HP Data Vault icon you will launch your web browser and it will go to the Data Vault Home page (on your WHS).
From here you can access all the usual features.
A new feature on the X310 is the front numbers to indicate how many drives are in place and in use. In the case of the picture below, I only had the initial drive in place – hence one 1 being lit up.
FINAL THOUGHTS
First things first, because of the lower spec processor in the X310 it is not as fast as the X510. Does this matter? Well, only you can answer that? If you want to use the X310 as a “bog standard” Windows Home Server, backing up your computer, sharing data, and so on, then honestly, I don’t think it is a problem at all.
The lower processor is mainly because of the removal of the various additional media capabilities that most businesses wont want, and so they wont miss them!
The Windows Home Server Console seemed a little slower that on the X510, again I guess due to the processor, but nothing that will cause anyone a problem.
The X310 does look a little more plastic that the X510, but again, is that a problem? After all it is unlikely that it is going to be on display – and even if it is, it is not that bad.
The most important thing is that it does it’s job – and that I can honestly say it does. Which is exactly what you would come to expect from HP.
The surprising thing about the X310 is the warranty length of 1 year. HP made quite a big deal about increasing the warranty length on the X510 to 3 years as that is what businesses expect, so to only have 1 year seems a little odd. Obviously you could buy an extended warranty but then you may as well spend that money and buy the X510 instead and get a better processor and a box that looks slightly nicer! Oh yeah, and the added features whether you want them or not!
Price wise the X310 is around $150 cheaper than the X510, although as usual there are deals to be had. $150 is a lot of money to save for features that may not be needed. You can use that money to buy some more disks!
LambdaTek here in the UK are showing the X311 for just under £360:
http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?origin=gbase1.9&prodID=2018199
And Amazon are showing the X310 for under $399.
So again, cheaper in the US than in the UK – probably not cheap enough to warrant importing one though this time.
Thanks for the lenghty review. Removing some of the HP software might prove to be a more stable box. Problems with Twonky and media collection has given owners of the EX49x/X510 boxes a unhappy feeling about their purchase. It's buggy.
Looks like from your review, HP put a hold on updating the V3 software for the EX49x/X510 boxes to work on the X31x version, delaying to update Twonky, hence unhappy EX49x/X510 owners.