DE Removal – More Information Surfaces
Windows writer Paul Thurrott shared some additional information on his blog on why the Drive Extender technology was removed from Windows Home Server Vail:
In a briefing last month, I was told that Microsoft and its partners discovered problems with Drive Extender once they began typical server loads (i.e. server applications) on the system. This came about because Drive Extender was being moved from a simple system, WHS, to a more complex, server-like OS )(SBS "Aurora") that would in fact be used to run true server applications. And these applications were causing problems.
"Drive Extender was a neat feature, but the implementation was off, and we discovered some application compatibility and disk tool problems related to its ability to correct data errors on the fly," Microsoft general manager Kevin Kean told me. "We don’t want to give customers problems; we want to give them solutions. So ultimately, we decided that we needed to cut out Drive Extender. Removing Drive Extender will make file shares easy, and it’s possible to accomplish most of its features otherwise. For example, you use the server’s centralized backup or even RAID as an alternative to data duplication."
The full details are available here.
Share this WHS Article with Others:
So there were problems! Microsoft should continue to provide a “simple” product with DE technology then.
I thought this headline was a joke when I first saw it. Seriously, I was trying to figure out of there was something special to make this some sort of April fools type thing.
Billions of dollars in R&D, the deepest pockets in the world, some of the best programmers, and a functioning version in WHS1 and they can’t “fix” it for WHS2?
So much for WHS…I will be running WHS1 till it dies and looking elsewhere for the future.
Bob
Let me get this straight: they tried to import the technology over to a non-WHS scenario, failed, and therefore decided to remove it from the scenario where it worked?
NO WONDER APPLE IS WINNING. FailVail.
Apple has a home server alternative?
I agree with your outrage in the first bit, though.
I don’t care about DE. My problem is with the MVPs who knew this decision was coming several weeks ago and continued to hype ‘Vail’ causing my company to invest in hardware that we will not need and please don’t give me the Non disclosure BS. That’s just a cover up. This deception is the ethical equivalent to insider trading
Seriously? I cannot believe this decision was made. This is the ultimate nail in the coffin. I love WHS because I store terabytes worth of video on my server. The great thing about the drive extender is that i can continually add more drive space without needing to re-arrange anything on my network shares. The last time I checked, Seagate, WD, etc. weren’t making 5TB drives yet. Yes, I realize you could set up a hardware RAID, but that does nothing if I need to add space to it.
Without the DE, this just became a fancy backup server for my PC’s. I can accomplish the same thing with a $50 copy of true image home edition.