Photography website PhotoDoto is giving away a HP MediaSmart EX490 Server.
All you need to do is leave a comment to their post explaining how you would use the MediaSmart server, but make sure you do before the competition ends on the 6th November.
More details and the rules are here.
The add-in CloudBerry Backup for Windows Home Server is now available for download in beta.
We mentioned CloudBerry Online Backup back in August, and today they have released a beta release for you to download. The add-in utilizes Amazons S3 storage to provide additional peace of find in case of fire or theft etc by backing up your data to the cloud.
This 1.3.0.338 release is beta so please send CloudBerry Lab any feedback on what you like and don’t like and let them know if you have any problems.
More details are available from here as well as the download.
With Windows 7 being officially available today we wanted to treat you to something special.
So if you have not got yourself a copy of Windows 7 yet or you haven’t got a copy of Windows Home Server (What!) then we have a copy of both up for grabs, both courtesy of our friends at Microsoft HQ. And the copy of Windows 7 is the Ultimate build with both the 32 and 64-bit versions, full version NOT upgrade.
One lucky person can win both by telling us the best thing you like about Windows 7 and WHS together as one.
To enter follow us on Twitter and send us a Tweet with your answer, re-tweeting about this competition with a link to this post will give you an extra 2 free entries – Let the Twittering commence!
WHS Mobile. the add-in for our mobile devices has been updated to version 1.5.3
This latest update now works fine with my iPhone whereas the previous version did not. Developer Brent Friendman has now added a PDF help document to help you setup and configure the Home Server add-in and the app for either your iPhone/iPod Touch or your Windows Mobile device.
iPhone/iPod Touch Updates:
Windows Mobile Updates:
More information is available from here.
Today’s a big day as Windows 7 has hit General Availability (GA) and is now available for purchase by the masses.
Windows 7 includes an improved Backup and Restore Center, which integrates well with Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 (PP3), with Home Server being the best way to backup off course as its a setup and forget routine instead of a manual backup process.
Although currently in beta, PP3 will suppress the Windows 7 Action Center Backup warnings and you will no longer receive a notification to back up your computer when its being handled by WHS.
PP3 also adds the Music, Photos and Videos shared folders on your home server to Windows 7 Libraries making the content available in Windows Explorer, Windows Media Center, Windows Media Player and other applications that use Windows 7 Libraries. This allows you to quickly access all your content in one organized place that is always available, searchable and expandable. You can also search a specific library without having to know where the files are stored.
And remember if you are doing an upgrade to Windows 7 make sure that you do a manual backup of your PC from within the Windows Home Server console, Computers & Backup, Backup Now and naming the backup something like "Pre 7 Backup".
P.S. If you would like to watch the live Windows 7 launch event from New York with Steve Ballmer it will be available from here today (Oct 22) at 8 a.m. PDT/11:00 a.m. EDT
I have looked at everyone’s comments from part 1 and have to say I agree with them, so I want to clarify what it is I am trying to convey. Hyper-v isn’t going to be for everyone, I except that, and I also except that hyper-v is not going to be for the average user that only uses WHS for just backing up, maybe a laptop and desktop, then maybe accessing some files on their WHS from work. At the same time, that same person, probably won’t be reading this article, this article is for enthusiasts, professionals and anybody else interested in enhancing their use of not just WHS but a completely different way of working with multiple OS’s.
Tech writer Bob Rankin asks the question Is Your Hard Drive Dying?
Although not specifically written for Windows Home Server his post is good reading as it highlights the signs to watch out for for WHEN* your hard drive is about to fail, whether it is in your Home Server, your client PC or some other place.
Bob’s post is available to read here.
*Notice we used the word WHEN and not IF, because ALL hard drives DO eventually fail – Another reason to make sure that you have a Windows Home Server automatically backing up your computers every evening.
Mobile computing site Notebooks.com have given the HP MediaSmart EX495 a Editor’s Choice Award.
Reviewer Xavier stated:
The MediaSmart Server EX495 is the best backup and media sharing solution I’ve found for people that have a combination of Macs and PCs scattered around the house.
The full review which includes a 10 minute video on the iStream App for the iPhone is available here.
Small business specialist Pete Cullen tells us why Windows Home Server is an ideal product for those of you running a small business from home.
You can read his article here.
VIA is pretty well known for its chipsets, processors and boards, but less so for complete systems. So I find myself here with the NSD-7800 server, which is a complete system from VIA, well not really a complete system as it ships without hard disks or operating system, so that makes it a bare bones system then.
For the NSD-7800, VIA have taken their embedded NAS-7800 board and popped it into a compact little eight drive bay case, and the case is smaller than you expect an eight drive bay case to be, measuring approximately 13.5 L x 6 W x 13.5 H (34 x 15 x 34 cm).
