By on May 13th, 2009

HP EX475 and EX487 – The Differences

Website Missing Remote has a battle between the first generation EX475 from HP and the new EX487 model.

The 5 page article looks at the appearance, the spec and the software differences between the two models.

In conclusion the writer Make Garcen (ShadyMG) states that:

“Either way, you can’t go wrong, as both systems are great and have set the bar quite high for other competing WHS boxes.”

You can read the full article here.

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By on May 13th, 2009

FreeNAS and Windows Home Server

Website techbustr is after a NAS solution and has been testing both FreeNAS and Windows Home Server.

freenas_logo  whs-logo

The FreeNAS experiences are first which has a formidable lead. This will be followed with a test of Windows Home Server.

You can read part 1 here.

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By on May 12th, 2009

Install Windows 7 with the Help of WHS

If you are going to upgrade your PC to the Release Candidate of Windows 7 then there are 2 pieces of software which can help you. Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and Windows Home Server.

Upgrade to Windows 7 RC

If you want too know what too do with them both then Keith Elder has the details, which you can read about here.

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By on May 11th, 2009

Add-In: KeepVault for Windows Home Server 3.0

One of the online backup solutions for Windows Home Server has just been revamped and updated – Version 3.0 of KeepVault for Windows Home Server is now live.

KeepVault’s highly secure servers store information online and are ready to instantly recover a single file or several files in the event of a failure. As well as this KeepVault also includes 128-bit encryption to keep your information safe and secure.

The Key Features of Version 3.0 are:

  • Improved performance – Now up to 30 percent faster backup uploads and downloads from the KeepVault server bank – best-in-class performance versus other online storage providers
  • An extra layer of protection – Ability to create local backups of information on internal/external hard disks and NAS servers so you can restore quickly if an Internet connection is unavailable
  • Ability to backup any file on the Windows Home Server – not just the photo, music, and video shares
  • Improved management of online content for optimized storage usage
  • Failure notification via Twitter, Email, or SMS if there is a backup failure

KeepVault 3.0 Settings 3.0

As you can see apart from the speed improvements over version 2, this latest version also allows you to backup your Windows Home Server content to a local devices as well as to the “cloud”

KeepVault Local Backup 3.0

Additional features include:

  • New Event Log for easy status tracking
  • Optimized resource handling for lower CPU usage
  • Faster file search and protection history queries
  • Optimized database handling to decrease network access
  • Improved user interface layout with at-a-glance view
  • Multiple protection profiles
  • Improved scheduling; specify any start and end time
  • Option to delete directories from your online storage account

This new version has a reduced load on the Windows Home Server and backups can be scheduled for any time of the day or in real time, and to save on your upload bandwidth files can be compressed and the bandwidth limited if the need arises.

KeepVault Online Backup 3.0

Your online backups can also be managed via the console and there is an option for single file restore and all-file restore

KeepVault 3.0 File Recovery 1

KeepVault 3.0 File Recovery 2

KeepVault is a cost-effective choice when compared with other online storage systems. For example, a 200GB KeepVault plan costs $188 per year, compared with $350 for Amazon’s S3, which is a savings of $162 per year. There are several plans available starting from $4.00/month for 40GB of storage which are backed by a 30-day, risk-free promise.

More information is available from here.

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By on May 08th, 2009

Share a WHS Printer to a 64Bit Operating System

Adrabba.net has a great tip for those of you sharing a printer which is connected to Windows Home Server to a 64bit operating system on a client machine.

AdditionalDrivers 

Operating systems have the ability to host drivers for the printers they share so that when you connect to the printer, the driver is downloaded. Once you Remote Desktop to WHS, there is an Additional Drivers button on the Sharing tab of the printer properties:

“WHS is based on Windows Server 2003 so it doesn’t intrinsically know anything about Windows Vista or Windows 7. It does know about 64-bit Windows XP, though. By default the x64 checkbox is unchecked and the driver isn’t installed. When you check the box, you’re prompted to enter the DVD containing the driver. Unfortunately, WHS is 32-bit only so inserting the WHS DVD doesn’t help. I found a copy of Windows Server 2003 64-bit on an old MSDN DVD and used that to provide a copy of the 64-bit driver. This gives me a ‘Yes’ in the Additional Drivers dialog and now I can connect to the printer from Windows 7. When I do, Windows prompts me to elevate permissions so that the driver can be installed and all is well.”

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By on May 08th, 2009

I Found Nirvana and her name is Windows Home Server

This title is a comment that a Canadian guy wrote about whilst building a Windows Home Server into a Shuttle system. He used a Shuttle XPC K45 Barebones Mini PC which is both fast and quiet. The author states that his laptop is louder than this machine at full roar.

The build list can be found here.

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By on May 08th, 2009

Hazmat Windows Home Server

The website ISTRICK is all about a techie guy who lives in Kuwait who has just upgraded his own named “Hazmat” Windows Home Server from 7.5TB to 11.14TB.

Hazmatt WHS

You can follow his adventure here.

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By on May 07th, 2009

How to Permanently Stop Internet Explorer 8 From Installing

The great add-in Advanced Admin Console (AAC) breaks when Internet Explorer 8 (ie8) is installed on Windows Home Server, and as of March 2009 ie8 is classed as a Critical Update and is automatically installed onto WHS.

So how do we correct this problem?

First of all AAC will crash when you click on an administrative item in the Advanced Admin Console, so the best way of fixing this is to not install ie8, but if it is already installed then you need to remote desktop into your Windows Home Server and from Start – Control Panel – Add or Remove Programs, scroll to the bottom and remove "Windows Internet Explorer 8".

Remove ie8 

During this process it may complain about another ie8 update which will be uninstalled during the process. Just let it continue and restart the server when prompted.

Once this procedure is complete you will need to stop Windows Update from installing it again in the future, this is accomplished by going to Start – All Programs – Windows Update. Your Home Server may want you to install an update to continue, so just let it continue.  On the right hand side click  "Custom" and let it find the ie8 update again but this time unselect the install checkbox, expand the title by clicking the “+” box and select "Don’t show this update again".

Windows Update ie8

Voila – Problem solved – Windows Update will no longer find or install Internet Explorer 8.

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By on May 07th, 2009

Intel's Atom Processor and WHS

PCWorld Logo

With the Atom processor finding its way into more Home Servers, PCWorld.com takes a look at this chip from Intel and wonders why its being used instead of Intel’s Celeron or AMDs Sempron.

Read the story here.

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By on May 07th, 2009

HPs EX487 Wins Editors Choice Award

PCMag.com takes a look at 3 network-attached storage devices. The Apple Time Capsule, the HP MediaSmart Server EX487 and the Linksys by Cisco MediaHub.

PCMag Logo

I’m glad to say that the MediaSmart Server got the Editors’ Choice award and the reviewer added that: “It’s one of the best NAS servers I’ve tested”.

You can read details on all 3 devices here.

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