By Philip Churchill on November 26th, 2010
Drive Extender we want you Back!
Picture courtesy of ars technica
The web is awash with people asking why Microsoft removed Drive Extender (DE) from Windows Home Server Vail.
All major tech sites have articles including:
- neowin – Windows Home Server: Did Microsoft just shoot themselves in the foot?
- liveside.net – The Vail debacle: Why Microsoft still doesnt get the consumer
- ars technica – Has Microsoft just ruined Windows Home Server?
Fellow MVP Terry Walsh has written to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, asking him to personally look at this situation and meanwhile Microsoft’s Connect Website now has a staggering 3000 votes to add drive extender back to Vail. My own personal opinion is that Vail will become a glorified NAS device with backup capability without DE, as it was one of the system’s major selling points.
Drive Extender we want you back, and that’s what the vast majority of the community is requesting too!
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I have/had two major uses for WHS; backup and mass storage. Sure I use it for several other things too, but I didn’t buy my HP EX490 for those functions.
DE was/is a massive plus over a NAS allowing me to add a bunch of drives and pick specific information to spread across those drives (redundancy). The backup/restore is the other great advantage with 45 minute total restores on a gigabyte network (saves days of work).
I can create a NAS with the backup function much cheaper, but not DE. No DE means no use for a more expensive product…. Microsoft is confusing Consumer and Business needs and that will end WHS as a viable product.