The Web's Largest Dedicated Windows Home Server Resource by Microsoft MVP Philip Churchill.
Microsoft Windows Home Server - WHS will automatically backup and restore your PCs and allow you to share and access files from any machine in the house as well as giving you remote access to those files and PC’s as well. This site will guide you on your journey of discovery with WHS.
For those of you that don’t know Windows SharePoint Services allows teams to create Web sites for information sharing and document collaboration. And it can be installed with some difficulty for free on Windows Home Server. Luckily Tom from Ramblings of a Home Server User has posted a comprehensive 12 page PDF how to guide to make life easier when installing it on Home Server.
Download How-to Install SharePoint Services 3.0 on Windows Home Server
Wow! as quick as I posted the info about this add-in, a few hours later and it’s been updated already. From version 1.0.0.0 to version 1.0.1.0, which now includes easier setup via a .msi installer, for conventional setup using the Add-Ins tab within the console. Plus a file size heading has been included within the interface.
Yotsuba has developed a great add-in for Windows Home Server entitled Duplication Info, which enables you be see what hard drives your duplicated files reside on, enabling you to see how drive extender works.
Since the add-in does not have an installer, it is a bit harder to install, but we will show you how:
This has now added a Duplication Info tab along the header in the console. You can now log off of the server machine and use the add-in from any client machine with the connector software installed.
More info, the download and uninstall details are available.
UPDATE: The add-in has now been updated with an easier installation routine. See post above for details.
We were sent a private beta of Jungle Disk for Windows Home Server, an online, off site backup solution for Home Server.
Once the add-In was installed we were able to use the new Online Backup tab under the settings dialog to configure Jungle Disk. From here we clicked the link to take us to the Amazon S3 signup page. But if you have an account already you just need to insert your two security keys as supplied.
Within this tab, you also have the option of selecting which shared folders you want to backup and the time frame in which you would like this to happen. By default it uses the time that you have set in the Backup tab. In my example 12 midnight till 8 am. Your files will now be backed up during this period each day.
After the initial backup, only new or changed files will be uploaded and If the time period you have set is not long enough for your initial backup to complete, it will continue on the next day as needed.
You also have the option of limiting the bandwidth used by the backup, in case you use upstream bandwidth intensive applications like VOIP etc, and you can also specify after how many days that you would like to remove deleted files from your online backups.
The main screen allows you to pause your next scheduled task and start a backup immediately if required. The screen is mostly taken up by a log, that shows if there are any backup warnings or errors. A shortcut is also provided to take you back into the online backup settings tab as and if needed.
The Restore Files button opens another screen that enables you to select which SERVER to restore from (in case you have more than one). From here you also have the option of displaying files that are no longer present on your server, in case of situations like accidental deletion etc. This makes it easy to restore those files that are missing, quickly and easily.
As we stated earlier, at the moment Jungle Disk for Windows Home Server is only currently available as an internal preview build but will be available shortly as a public beta. Several features which are planned for the final release version are:
We look forward to the public beta release, as I am sure many of you are too.
On Monday (05 November 2007) we will have more information from HP on the availability and pricing of the EX470 and EX475. The two models that make up the HP MediaSmart Server series. In the meantime, for your weekend enjoyment, we would like to grace you with these screen shots from the new HP interface.
The HP MediaSmart Server Installation dialog.
The Setup Assistant guides you through setting up your server.
Adding photos to a Webshare photo album.
Setting up iTunes for the PC.
The HP MediaSmart Server Web Control Center.
Developer Dave Mercer has just released a new version of the add-in WHS Event Monitor which monitors the event logs on the Home Server and emails the results to you. The new 1.0.2.0 version has the following bug fixes and enhancements:
Please note that the download link on Dave’s site is for the older version. The latest 1.0.2.0 can be downloaded from here and as usual Dave would appreciate your feedback.
If you have a Seagate hard drive in your Home Server or in one of your client machines then Seagate Technology LLC have agreed to settle a lawsuit, if it gets approved on February 7, 2008 by offering customers who purchased a hard drive from the company during the last six years a cash refund or free backup and recovery software.
It’s all because Seagate’s use of the decimal definition of the storage capacity term “gigabyte” (GB), whereby 1GB equals 1 billion bytes, this is misleading to consumers because computer operating systems instead report hard drive capacity using a binary definition of GB, whereby 1GB equals 1, 073, 741, 824 bytes – a difference of approximately 7% from Seagate’s figures.
So, if you have bought a Seagate brand hard disk drive between March 22, 2001 and December 31, 2005 then you have the right to submit an online claim form and if it ends up getting approved you’ll receive 5% cash back on the purchase price of the drive or free backup and recovery software as long as you claim by March 10, 2008. The disk drive maker sold approximately 6.2 million retail hard drives in the U.S during this period, so they could be paying out a lot of money.
To qualify for the cash payment, the hard drives must have been bought before January 1, 2006 and will require the serial number for each drive or proper documentation. If your drive was purchased between January 1, 2006 and September 26, 2007 then you are only eligible to submit an online claim for free backup and recovery software. A separate claim must be made for each individual hard drive purchased and will require a documentary proof of purchase, the specified hard drive name and model number, the amount paid, the date of purchase and the name of the merchant. The drives must have been purchased in the U.S. from an authorized Seagate retailer or distributor, separately as a Seagate product that was not preinstalled onto and bundled with a PC or any other type of electronic device.
Source: Computer World
American OEM distributor TechData has now fulfilled its backorders and have 283 copy’s of Windows Home Server remaining in stock. They are charging $161 which is the wholesale price for 1 copy of Windows Home Server. They are also offering a 5% discount on a purchase of 5 or more copies.
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