MS Windows Home Server

As we reported back in August, the Japanese version of Windows Home Server is available in the Epson Endeavor SV110H. And here are some more shots courtesy of ubergizmo.com.

Very cute (the cats as well!) is the Endeavor. Although the SV110H can only accept a single 2.5′ hard drive, it is extendable via external USB drives. And I must say it’s very small.

IT Trainer, Community Leader and MVP Mitch Garvis has written a post regarding Windows Home Server on his blog "The World According to Mitch".

Mitch states:

“…how simple WHS is to install, use, and maintain…I am hooked on the product, but why shouldn’t I be… I’ll never have to touch it again! ”

Give Windows Home Server – How did I ever live without it? a read.

One enterprising Home Server user has integrated Vista Media Center (VMC) and Windows Home Server (WHS) in a novel way. Within his customized white case, (which he hand sprayed himself) are mounted two Micro ATX motherboards on top of each other. One is for Vista Ultimate, and thus VMC and the other is dedicated to Home Server. Off course having 2 motherboards within the one case also requires two PSUs and this setup is accomplished with a mixture of four SATA and PATA hard drives. Three are housed in the drive bay and are for the exclusive use of WHS and the other is mounted in a box within the case for Vista’s use.

The custom setup is completed with an internal mounted miniature USB powered auto sensing hub which connects the Ethernet inputs from both motherboards to a single output. And he has also bi-wired the power and reset buttons to the front panel so the switches control both motherboards at once.

Impressive stuff! More details of the build including a 10 minute video of the project is available from here.

The latest Home Server Show #18 is now available. The 17 minute podcast has the latest news as well as information on the Power Pack 1 fix (KB950133) and details on the memory announcement from HP. Your host Dave reads the latest emails and also has some requests for add-ins, which the community would like to see developed.

Listen from here.

Based on customer feedback HP are now allowing owners of MediaSmart Server’s to upgrade the memory without voiding the warranty after research showed that some customers were installing multiple add-ins and/or additional software, which could lead to a need for additional memory.

This is great news as now upgrading the memory, in itself, will not void the warranty on the MediaSmart Server, but HP did state that damage to any part of the MediaSmart Server during the upgrade may violate the warranty on the unit, leaving the cost for repairs the responsibility of the customer.

HP also stated that they are only providing an upgrade path for memory at this time and that HP does not support any other hardware upgrade paths, such as processor upgrades, on the MediaSmart Server apart from the disk drives

Those requiring the memory upgrade will have to do it their selves as customers will not be able to send their MediaSmart Server’s to HP for the upgrade and authorized resellers will not be recommended or trained to do so either.

HP has not qualified any particular DIMMs, but compatible memory includes 1GB or 2GB – DDR2 667 MHz DIMMs and customers should not upgrade beyond 2 GB of memory. It is also a good idea to perform a backup to an external device before adding additional memory.

Microsoft has published a Knowledge Base article (KB950193) for users running Power Pack 1 (PP1).

If you remove a hard drive incorrectly by NOT using the Remove a Hard Drive Wizard before physically removing a hard drive OR a hard drive experiences a physical failure THEN some files may be unrecoverable on Windows Home Server BUT only if the shared folders has Folder Duplication enabled.

This would show via a health notification in the console reporting that a hard drive is missing.

To avoid this issue make sure that you use the Remove a Hard Drive Wizard before physically removing any hard drives from your Home Server, which is available on the Server Storage tab within the Windows Home Server Console.

But, what about if a hard drive fails?
Well that is not going to be a problem either, as a small update has been made available on the Windows Update/Microsoft Update site which will resolve the problem. To receive it make sure that Windows Home Server is set to install updates automatically, which can be set from within the Console – Settings –General page, Windows Update section – On (recommended).

As you may be aware Microsoft publish a variety of Technical Brief’s for Windows Home Server (see here), three of which have been recently updated to incorporate PP1 information:

Technical Brief for Home Networking November 2007 Version 1.0 – August 2008 Version 1.1
Technical Brief for Windows Home Server Drive Extender October 2007 Version 1.0 – August 2008 Version 1.1
Technical Brief for Home Computer Backup and Restore November 2007 Version 1.0 – 1.1 August 2008 Version 1.1