As announced previously Todd Headrick the Product Manager of the Windows Home Server Team posted a question over on the WHS forums asking if you would like Power Pack 1 released prior to June 2008, the date when the Data Corruption fix is due.
More than 220 replies later and with Windows home Server MVP Ken Warren doing the maths there are (so far) 152 votes to ship Power Pack 1 as soon as reasonably possible and 11 votes to hold it for now. Everyone who weighed in on the side of “Hold” expressed a preference to devote all available resources to the KB946676 fix.
Of the “Ship” votes, not everyone expressed a reason (and some expressed more than one), but the reasons that were expressed were as follows:
Wants the Vista x64 connector: 71
Server backup to alleviate the KB946676 bug: 25
Server backup, other reasons: 12
Remote access improvements: 2
“Wake from sleep”: 1
Pending HP updates: 1
As we can see from these sums it’s pretty clear that the community is overwhelmingly in favor of getting PP1 out the door before KB946676 if it’s basically ready to go now.
Some users requested that only some components from PP1 were released, Todd replied with the following:
The various features and components of the Power Pack 1 release cannot be separated. A few things require other things to be updated so they work. For example, the Windows Home Server Connector for Windows Vista x64 requires updates to the Windows Home Server Console. And the package is tested as a whole, breaking out components would require a restart of a complete test pass.
Others requested the WHS Connector software for Windows XP x64 edition but which has always been the case the Windows Home Server Connector software will not work on home computers running Windows XP x64 edition. It is not tested and will not be supported.
Todd also mentioned that when Power Pack 1 is released, that it would go out via Windows Update during the end of the month. The earliest this could happen would be April as the check-in for March has long since passed. There are a tremendous number of steps/sign-offs that have to be got through as part of the release management process. The next step is for the feedback to be taken to the team and see what can happen and by when. There are many people that need to be consulted about the idea of releasing Power Pack 1 prior to the data corruption fix, but thanks to the feedback from the community Todd added I have data to support a potential new proposal.
March 13, 2008 at 2:35 pm
[...] WHS Power Pack 1 could be available end of April [...]
March 13, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Some choice, wait for Vista 64bit support or wait for data corruption to be fix. Either way, WHS customers wait, but what’s more interesting is for all those who already have XP, Microsoft has decided to hold off even longer to support Vista instead of the already established and mainstream XP operating system from experiencing data corruption when saving, copying, editing and modifying your WHS files and data from XP clients.
In addition, this early release (delayed) of WHS PP1 doesn’t resolve data corruption for either Vista or XP, which you would think would have been given more attention due to the fact this design flaw has been around way too long to be fixed.
So, it appears for all those who are NOT using Vista 64bit, we must wait even more to be unable to use our WHS as a real server. WHS is nothing but a very expensive backup appliance, if you don’t mind your data at risk, for the rest of us. Backup files are NOT immune from the WHS DE design flaw as drive pooling can effect your data/files.
Why should anyone take Microsoft’s assumptions that backup files are 100%, rock solid and without risk or worry from a proven data corruption product? MSWHS already had posted even an unscheduled reboot can lead to data corruption of all your backup files at once. Has this issue been resolved? Or must an additional UPS backup system be purchased here as well?
This isn’t what real people want to be bothered with when using WHS even if additional Vista 64bit is added via PP1.
I didn’t buy WHS for this… Did you? And yes, I don’t use Vista 64bit because of the lack of Vista 64bit hardware drivers and software available. Even Vista 32bit lacks driver support for many applications and devices even still.
So by all means, leave the rest of us waiting, forgetting most of us are using XP, just to accommodate Vista 64bit, when the fact is the larger majority of us suffer with this data corruption design flaw.
March 13, 2008 at 4:54 pm
By adding Vista 64bit, WHS has just made it more possible to corrupt even more data, as without Vista 64bit, there wouldn’t be the risk of data corruption.
In addition, there has been NO word about whether or not Vista Bitlocker is going to be supported, as currently even on Vista 32bit it’s NOT working with WHS at all!
WHS doesn’t even see the partition…
March 31, 2008 at 1:42 pm
As WHS doesn’t work, how can I return it to Microsoft and get a refund?
April 9, 2008 at 9:53 pm
I guess I must be lucky. I have been using WHS since it first became available as RC and have not experienced data corruption eventhough I am using 5 unmatched harddrives. I have edited files stored on the server without any problem. I use it with Vista64 and Windows XP. In addition to maintaining copies of my data files, its major function so far has to be a sharepoint for items that require access by more than one user and as a multimedia server. It is great for streaming audio and video to ohter Windows Connect devices on my network and even across the Internet to my computer at work.
The only thing missing is the backup of Vista64. I would welcome the Power Pack to get this capability and for the new views of files when connected via the Internet.
April 19, 2008 at 1:47 pm
I have been using WHS for the last 2 months. I have 2 32-bit Vista Machines (Home Prem. and Ultimate). I also have 1 32-bit XP Pro Machine. WHS backs up all 3 machines each night. I have tested the backup function multiple times and it seems to work great. It really simplified remote access for me. I can access all 3 machines remotely.
I built my WHS. I have 3 largish mismatched hard drives a dual core processor and 2 GB of ram. I’m sure this is more than is required. But, it feels good.
I have also changed all my machines “Documents” folders (such as Music, Video, Photos) to point to the home server instead of locally. It works great. My wife saves pictures from our camera directly to the home server and she doesn’t even know it. This saves me the headache of finding all the locations the pictures are saved when she wants to get them developed.
In the past I have wanted a solution similiar to this one. Most of them were complicated by my dynamic IP through comcast. I have tried Server 03, Small Business Server 03, and other open source NAS software, to put a solution into place that accomplished all the WHS tasks. They all required too much maintence and at times were above my understanding. I am very happy with WHS. It is working well for me (One of the few Microsoft products that I am overall very pleased with.)
I also use WHS to share Music and Videos with my PS3. It works really well. The PS3 only plays certain video files though which means most of my video files are Not Supported by the PS3. I could convert them if I wanted but it’s really just too much work.
Shortly after the Power Pack comes out, I’m going to try out Amazon’s Jungle Disc Solution for backing up my home server “off site”. I belive there are an add in or 2 that can help me do that.
I have a Buffalo LinkStation Live NAS (500GB). It’s a piece of junk. It’s horribly slow, doesn’t work well with my Vista machines, and I’ve had to replace it once in the 6 months I’ve had it (bought the “extended service plan”). I originally purchased the Buffalo NAS to accomplish many of the tasks of my WHS. WHS does a much better job and gives me more options than the NAS.
Over all, I would recommend WHS to anyone. You don’t need to be super technical to set it up. After it’s setup you almost forget about it (except for that warm glow you get each time you use it.). I dont have to perform frequent restarts or updates. The WHS just takes care of itself.
The add ins I have are: One that allows me to “minimize to desktop” the WHS Console when remotely connected to the server. This is valuable for me because it allows me to access my Buffalo NAS through the WHS desktop.
One that sends me notification emails. It is suppose to send me email notifications on a regular basis, even text my cell phone if there is something I should know. But, I’ve been having trouble getting it configured. It would be nice to have this add in working. Mostly for cool points. But also so I can observe system restarts, updates, and problems. I have SBS 03 R2 installed at the office and it’s really nice to receive monitoring notifications from the SBS on a biweekly basis.
WHS is a good tool to have on my network. Microsoft doesn’t always build get products. But, WHS is one of the best products I have used from Microsoft.