MS Windows Home Server

The Home Server Show Podcast #32 has the latest news for Windows Home Server enthusiasts as well as a review of the add-in Recorded TV Manager.

You can catch it here.

MediaSmarthome.com have just published an FAQ for the HP MediaSmart Server EX485 and EX487 which is different to the one published on the HP support site and are categorized. Basic information on why you should buy a HP unit over a NAS product are covered as well as a look at the new features, including the remote access ones specific to the HP models as well as the new media features are all covered in this detailed FAQ.

Read it here.

If you own a Mac and are thinking of buying the new HP MediaSmart Server EX485 or EX487 when they are released in February then you may want to look at the following article at MediaSmarthome.com. "Managing Your Digital Lifestyle With A Mixed Mac & PC Environment" is a five page article which takes a look at the Comparison of the MediaSmart Server’s Features on both the Mac and the PC and shows us what the different features look like on the different OS’s.

You can read it here.

Computer geek site ExtremeTech has a review on the newly released 2TB green hard drive from Western Digital. The WD20EADS GreenPower with a list price of $299 uses four platters and consumes up to 70% less power than two 1 TB drives.

The full six page review can be read here.

Servicing the IT needs of small and midsized business customers, LPI Level Platforms Inc. makers of the remote monitoring and management software for solutions providers and MSPs (Managed Service Provider’s) has announced that the company’s Managed Workplace software is now available for Windows Home Server.

It’s good to see that a managed service provider is targeting the SOHO (small office home office) and consumer markets by using Windows Home Server and is an ideal option for many small businesses that aren’t ready to leap to Windows Small Business Server.

Part of the press release:

Built on the same codebase as Windows Server 2003, Windows Home Server represents a powerful solution for the SOHO market. While the backup and recovery features are limited to 10 workstations (including Macs), Managed Workplace running on Windows Home Server can monitor and manage any number of devices operating in a workgroup environment with 100% of the functionality of larger sites including the full management of the Windows Home Server itself as well as any other servers on the network. Solution providers can also deploy additional remote backup software, specialized applications and other server based applications on the Windows Home Server to extend their service offerings. 

“We are excited to work with Level Platforms to extend the value of Windows Home Server to the Small Office/Home Office market,” said Charlie Kindel, General Manager, Windows Server Solutions Group, Microsoft.  “This solution will help Microsoft Partners introduce the benefits of Windows Server technology to a large and important market segment establishing a solid foundation for improved performance and reliability today and growth for the future.”

A new Windows Update is available which improves the capability of Windows Home Server to repair abnormalities detected in the home computer backup database on machines with 512MB of RAM.

More Information:

Windows Home Server regularly checks the home computer backups for abnormalities. If it finds any, it will prompt the user to fix them by displaying the following message – "To troubleshoot and repair backup database problems, click Repair. This should repair problems that cause the backup service to stop running." To address this issue, you are instructed to click the "Settings" tab in the Home Server Console, choose "Backup" from the left pane and click "Repair" at the bottom right.

Before the update, some users may have experienced the Windows Home Server Console crashing or losing network connection when attempting to run a repair operation. There is a greater chance of this issue occurring if the home computer backups contain a hard drive that has more than 150 GB of used space. This happens because the server may need more memory than what is available to process the backups. The fix involves using the available memory more efficiently in order to complete the task successfully.

The update will be downloaded automatically to Home Server as long as you have Windows Update turned on and more information is available in Knowledge Base article 958926.

NOTE that the link to the KB article is not live yet as of 27 Jan 09.

A couple of short videos for you:

First up Todd Headrick, Product Manager on the Windows Home server Team demonstrates new hardware which will soon be available for Home Server in this video from Microsoft’s enthusiast site Channel 10.

http://on10.net/blogs/nic/CES-2009-Windows-Home-Server-Update-New-Hardware/

Secondly, The Home server Show has a video interview with Allen Buckner of HP who demonstrates the new features of the HP MediaSmart Server EX485 and EX487 on a windows and a Mac laptop.

Allen also confirms that the Mac backup capability and the Amazon S3 secure offsite backup feature of the Ex485 and EX487 will both be available later this year for existing EX470 and EX475 owners too.

http://homeservershow.com/ces-interview-with-allen-buckner-of-hp-mediasmart-server.html