Seagate Green Hard Drives are no Longer

Seagate are phasing out their flagship Barracuda desktop hard drives from 5900rpm in favor of 7200rpm ones.

This move away from lower-speed drives is based on the new read/write head technology that has allowed Seagate to squeeze more data onto a drive platter and still be able to read it. This move to 7,200 rpm drives across the Barracuda range also means that Seagate is the first company to offer a 1TB of capacity at this rotation speed.

Seagate also announced its new2 OptiCache technology, which boosts overall performance by as much as 45 percent over previous generation Barracuda drives. OptiCache is based on a new dual core microprocessor and a move from DDR1 to faster DDR2 DRAM on the drive. The technology allows the hard drive to use the full 64MB of DRAM cache as a single unit. Previously, Barracuda drives split up cache into smaller chunks that were less efficient.

Seagate-Barracuda-Green-HDD

This new read/write head technology signals an end to Seagate’s line of "green" Barracuda drives, which the company has been selling since 2009 . The Barracuda LP (low power) green series, is a lineup of 3.5-inch drives that Seagate marketed as consuming 50 percent less power than its previous 7,200 rpm drives.

"While it is lower power consumption, we’re waking up to the fact that it doesn’t save that much electricity," said David Burks, product marketing manager for Seagate’s desktop drive division.

Seagate also stated that it will be converting its line of Barracuda XT 3.5-in. hard drives to a hybrid drive technology by adding NAND flash to the drives as a type of inexpensive cache. The most frequently used data is kept on the NAND flash board to increase performance.

More details on this story are available from Computerworld.

Office 365 Beta Add-In Available for SBS 2011 Essentials

Microsoft have announced that the Office 365 Integration Module is now available for Windows SBS 2011 Essentials.

Office 365 Integration Module Tab

This latest module joins the Windows 7 Professional Pack for Small Business Server 2011 and the Windows Server Solutions Phone Connector Add-in.

The Office 365 Integration Module extends the features of the server Dashboard by providing integration with Office 365 services, enabling you to:

  • Subscribe to Office 365 or configure the server to use an existing subscription.
  • Perform the following Office 365 account management tasks from the Dashboard:
  1. Bulk create Office 365 accounts for network user accounts.
  2. Assign new or existing Office 365 accounts to network user accounts.
  3. Manage the Office 365 account assigned to a user account throughout the lifecycle of the user account. For example, deactivating a network user account also deactivates the Office 365 account that is assigned to the user account.
  • Synchronize passwords for network user accounts and Office 365 accounts. This allows network users to sign in to Office 365 using their Windows password.
  • Link a professional Internet domain that you have set up on Window SBS to Office 365.
  • View information about your Office 365 subscription.
  • Access your Office 365 management portal from the Office 365 page of the server Dashboard.

Here’s what Microsoft had to say about the Office 365 Integration Module:

Office 365 helps drive productivity by giving employees virtually anywhere access to professional-grade email, web conferencing tools, documents, shared portals, contacts, and calendars delivered through the cloud. At a glance, Office 365 includes (click here for more details):

  • Microsoft® Exchange Online, offering email, calendar and contacts
  • Microsoft® SharePoint Online, a central place to share documents and information
  • Microsoft® Lync Online, a next-generation cloud communications service
  • Microsoft® Office Web Apps, convenient online companions to the Microsoft® Office suite

The solution allows companies to use the productivity tools they need while eliminating the complexity, management, and maintenance requirements of in-house messaging infrastructure. Small businesses can now combine the power of an on-premise server solution and the flexibility and convenience of cloud-based applications to help improve productivity, enhance collaboration and communication, and keep business data safe and secure.
 
If you’re not familiar with the benefits of SBS 2011 Essentials and the Office 365 Integration Module, let me share with you some compelling advantages for small businesses:
 
Get More Done – SBS 2011 Essentials and the Office 365 help small businesses employees who are always on the move that need readily accessible information and applications to service their customers or make the next sale. Office 365 enables workers to increase productivity from virtually anywhere by allowing real-time access to information and tools from a variety of devices and platforms.
 
Enjoy a Simplified, Flexible Solution – Small businesses are typically limited by a lack of experience and resources dedicated to in-house IT systems. Together, SBS 2011 Essentials and Office 365 offer enhanced flexibility and help reduce IT complexity with a seamless combination of comprehensive server functionality and cloud-based productivity tools that make it easy for people to connect and work together.
 
Help Safeguard Work – Every smart business takes precautions when it comes to safeguarding its work. Office 365 helps maintain a dependable and secure data environment allowing small businesses to rest assured knowing important business data stored in SharePoint Online is protected from loss or theft and kept safe with advanced security and reliability features.
 
In addition to these benefits, the Office 365 Integration Module also enables small businesses to easily administer both local and cloud users in one single place, such as adding all SBS user accounts into Office 365 and using a single custom domain name for both SBS 2011 Essentials and Office 365.

You can download the Office 365 Integration Module from Microsoft’s Connect website.

Also MediaSmartServer.net has a great installation walkthrough which you can find here.

£100 CashBack on the Newer Faster HP MicroServer

HP are now offering £100 cashback for our UK readers on the new model HP ProLiant MicroServer.

The new N40L is a faster model sporting the 1.5GHz Turion II, making it an ideal server for your WHS 2011 build.

proliant_microserver

ServersPlus.com are offering it for £239.94 inc VAT which brings it down to an incredible £139.94 after cash back.

More details are available here.

Add-In: Home Server Status 2.1

The add-in for Windows Home Server 2011 users which puts notifications back in the system tray or taskbar has had an update.

Home Server Status 2.1

Version 2.1 of Home Server Status includes the following changes:

  • Added the ability to ‘Enable Alerts From Other PCs’  running the HSS application, via UDP on port 2564.

This addition will enable tray notifications containing the computer name and backup status for any computer running HSS on your network.

Once you have opened the application, navigate to the ‘Settings’ menu where you will find the option to enable this feature under the Admin section. Once enabled and after running a backup on your machine or another machine running HSS, you will find an additional menu item in the context list, whether you use the taskbar button or the task tray icon, called Backup Reports. This item will only show up and be enabled in your menu when a backup report exists.

NOTE: Because of the UDP addition, you will be required to allow permissions to your Windows Firewall which will open during installation. The only permissions you need is to your private network, NOT public.

You can download this latest release directly from here.

A license for Home Server Status costs $6.95 after the free trial period and can be purchased from within the add-in.

Add-In: WHS–Download Manager 3.3.1

The add-in WHS – Download Manager has been updated to version 3.3.1.

WHS-Download Manager is a download manager for your home network, centrally installed on your Home Server.

WHS-Download Manager 3.2.9

This latest release adds file host wupload.com and fixes some issues with file host filesonic.

WHS-Download Manager now supports 13 different file hosts:

  • wupload.com Premium Account
  • filesonic.com Premium Account
  • share-online.biz Premium Account
  • oron.com Premium Account
  • depositfiles.com Premium Account
  • fileserve.com Premium Account
  • uploaded.to Premium Account
  • megaupload.com Premium Account
  • rapidshare.com Premium + Free Account
  • netload.in Premium Account
  • save.tv Premium Account + Record Download Service
  • hotfile.com Premium Account

You can download version 3.3.1 of WHS – Download Manager from here.

BYOB Podcast Episode 64

BYOB Logo

Another week and its time for another episode of the Build Your Own Box podcast.

“Bleeding edge SSDs from OCZ? Michael discusses his desire to cut the cord, with some discussion on why and how to achieve total independence. All on this week’s on the BYOB Podcast.”

You can catch episode 64 here.

Drobo Beta Add-In for WHS 2011 Users

If you have a Drobo and you are a Windows Home Server 2011 user then you may be interested in the following private beta.

drobo_s

As part of a competition a user by the name of Ross Dargan has released an add-in for WHS 2011 users which enables them to monitor their Drobo’s from within the Dashboard. So if you would like to try it out just Tweet @RossDargan to be part of the private beta.

Add-In: Stablebit Scanner for WHS V1 1.0.5.2601

hbar_scanner_icon

Stablebit Scanner for Windows Home Server (v1) has had a couple of updates from when we last looked at it.

Build 1.0.4.2590 had the following changes:

  • Do not re-attempt Direct I/O if the last attempt failed.
  • Reduced the thread priority of the AppDomain runner used by the file scanner.
  • Fixed native call for USB pass-through. Would cause some USB devices not to work with Direct I/O.
  • Addressed NTFS file time parsing errors.

And version 1.0.5.2601:

  • License transfer fix.
  • Put error trapping around WHS queries that are crashing on some systems.
  • Thread priority is being ignored by .NET. Updated code to use Win32 and made it optional in the config.

StableBit Scanner for version 1 of Windows Home Server is available for a 1 month free trial after which it will cost you $24.95.

More details on this advanced hard disk surface scanner add-in can be found here.

Add-In: StableBit Scanner for WHS 2011 2.0.0.1217

StableBit Scanner for WHS 2011 Complex View

A couple of updates for StableBit Scanner 2.0 for WHS 2011 users:

Version 2.0.0.1188 included the following changes:

  • Reworked the controller enumeration code to handle disks that don’t have controllers or return errors when enumerating their controllers.
  • Put in some error handlers to guard against invalid disks.

And version 2.0.0.1217:

  • Under some circumstances, licensing could have asked you to transfer your license when you plugged in a new disk.

StableBit Scanner for Windows Home Server 2011, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials users is available for a 1 month free trial after which it will cost you $24.95.

More details on this advanced hard disk surface scanner add-in can be found here.

Add-In: ISO Mounter

ISO Mounter is a new add-in for both Windows Home Server v1 and 2011 users.

The software allows WHS users to mount (both manually and automatically) ISO images (CD and DVD image files) on their server to expose the ISO image as a regular folder (any file within the iso image is directly assessable directly through the server share).  This makes it easy to install software downloaded in iso format directly from the server on all of your PC. Mac, and Linux clients without installing ISO mounting software on each client. 

ISO Mounter for WHS v1

Product features:

  • Supports Windows Home Server (V1)
  • Supports Windows Home & Small Business Server 2011
  • Integrates directly into the Server Console/Dashboard for simple administration
  • File system browser allows you to search and manually select any ISO file
  • Mount any ISO file (CD or DVD image) directly on the servers file system
  • Configurable "Auto-mount" folders to allow automatic mounting of new ISO files
  • ISO files will appear directly in the Server folders as a browsable read-only folder
  • Simple, easy-to-view heads-up status display to monitor status
  • Quick-launch feature allows viewing contents of ISO files directly from the Dashboard

ISO Mounter for WHS 2011

ISO Mounter is available for $14.99. More information is available here.