By on April 24th, 2008

HP MediaSmart Server EX470 with FREE Wireless Router and FREE Hard Drive

Courtesy of newegg.com you can get the HP MediaSmart Server EX470 at the reduced price of $539.99 including free 3 business day shipping, saving $20 over their original selling price. Also included in that price is a free wireless router  (not displayed on the checkout page and offer ends 30 April) and a Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s OEM Hard Drive (offer ends 4 May). Wow, now that’s what I call a saving!

http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/AddToCart.aspx?Submit=ADD&ItemList=Combo.96524

Thanks to Home Server Hacks and Grey Lancaster for the details.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on April 22nd, 2008

Home Servers In The Digital Age

Home Servers In The Digital Age is a new 14 page PDF document by J.P. Gownder and Forester Research and is full of amazing facts and figures like:

  • Home Servers will fill a critical need in the digital home
  • Home Servers will enter 4.6 million households by 2012
  • Early Adopters Will Be Found Among The Price-Insensitive
  • Home Server Adoption Will Start Slowly

Home Servers In The Digital Home

Consumers’ growing digital assets in the form of music, photos, and video will require backup, management, and streaming. In multiple-PC households, complexity has grown, while backup behavior has stalled. Home servers can address these concerns and can also act as hubs for the digital home, streaming content across PCs and into the living room itself. While the need for home servers is clear, articulating their value proposition to most consumers will be very difficult. Technology marketers must overcome consumers’ ignorance and significant retail challenges to overcome some very high marketing hurdles. Expect Microsoft’s launch of Windows Home Server in 2008 to raise awareness and give a jolt to adoption of this product. But it will take a long time for the home server market to take off. Forrester’s forecast suggests that home servers will become an important product category for the digital home by 2012.

Available for download from here.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on April 21st, 2008

Media Server on Home Server Batch Scripts

If you are moving your music collection onto your Windows Home Server then their are a couple of batch scripts available that can help you reload the library in read only mode when using Media Server on Home Server.

More info is available in this thread.

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By on April 21st, 2008

F-Secure Home Server Security Beta

A beta of a security suite specifically for Windows Home Server users is available from F-Secure. Home Server Security beta protects Windows Home Server against all kinds of malicious content, such as viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware and riskware.

Home Server Security Beta  

Installation, configuration and management is performed through the Windows Home Server Console and notifications are sent through the WHS Connector. As a benefit F-Secure would like to offer the following to beta participants:

  • An early preview of upcoming features and the ability to provide feedback on how to improve the features.
  • A free twelve-month F-Secure Home Server Security subscription for users who send us invaluable feedback.
  • Power of influence: you can be part of making the best-of-breed security solutions.

F-Secure Home Server Security provides real-time scanning, whenever files are accessed on Windows Home Server, they are automatically scanned for viruses and spyware and with manual and scheduled scanning also being supported, the whole system or selected folder(s) can be checked by user request or on a defined schedule.

Infected files, spyware and other potentially unsafe files can be placed in quarantine where they can be reviewed, restored from and deleted and virus and spyware definition databases as well as software updates are received and applied automatically via automatic updates.

Easy to install and easy to use, quick setup and minimum configuration enables a simple deployment.

Release notes in RTF format are available for download from here and those interested in signing up for the beta program can do so from here. For instructions on how to install F-Secure Home Server Security, see the Quick Installation Guide and the F-Secure Home Server Security forum.

Other Software • Windows Home Server
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By on April 21st, 2008

Add-In: WHS Disk Management 1.0.7.2

Add-In WHS Disk Management has been updated to version 1.0.7.2 which includes the following:

  • Changed: You can now copy/paste a single line from Disk Details window
  • Fixed: Resolved erroneous white border around main window form elements after closing Settings
  • Fixed: Rebuilt MSI package using latest WiX/Votive to prevent Vista from marking the installer as invalid

whsdiskmgt_image01

The add-in allows you to identify which disk you are working with within the Windows Home Server Console and shows SMART status and disk temperature.

More info and download. 

add-ins • Windows Home Server
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By on April 21st, 2008

HP MediaSmart Server Team Q&A

We Got Served talk to the guys behind HP’s MediaSmart Server and gets answers to some  regularly asked questions like what are the Top 3 support call issues?, why did HP disable Shadow Copies on the MediaSmart Servers? and what can you tell us about the next version of the HP MediaSmart Server? These and lots more can be found on Terry’s post here.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on April 21st, 2008

Windows Home Server – Just Build It

“Windows Home Server – Just Build It” is the name of an article on the website Gear Diary. Rob Tripp tells us why he built his own Windows Home Server instead of purchasing a HP’s MediaSmart. One of his final thoughts is “Wow, that was easy…too easy…what did I mess up?”

whs-box

Read his article here.

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By on April 21st, 2008

Avideus HSE Home Server

avideus-logo

Retailer and system builder PCAlchemy who produce products for the digital home have just announced the Avideus HSE Home Server, their first product designed for Windows Home Server based on the Intel SS4200-EHW Server design.

hse 
While other companies may be building Windows Home Server products based on the Intel SS4200-EHW design, Avideus believes the HSE Home Server has a significant benefit over its competition.  Not only is the HSE competitively priced and backed by an industry leading 3 year limited warranty, HSE owners will receive the best support available from a staff of technicians that understand your digital home and are Avideus HSE Home Server users themselves.

The Avideus HSE Home Server’s storage is expandable via three internal hard-drive bays, four USB 2.0 ports and two eSATA ports and until May 15th 2008 the 1TB (2 x 500GB) storage version valued at $100 is FREE via PCAlchemy.com

More info is available at http://www.pcalchemy.com/hse.html.

Hardware • Windows Home Server
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By on April 18th, 2008

Fujitsu Siemens Scaleo Home Server Review

PC Pro reviews the Fujitsu Siemens Scaleo Home Server and give it a respectful 5 out of 6 stars. They state that the Scaleo Home Server 1900 is a well-conceived, if dear and a little chunky, home server appliance.

Read the review here.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on April 18th, 2008

Let your Mac talk to WHS

OK you have all your PC files backed up to Windows Home Server, but you have your poor Mac sitting in the corner patiently waiting to talk with WHS, which off course is not supported. Using the tutorial from the Multimedia-PCs website it is now possible to have your Mac backing up to your Home Server even though the connector software is for Windows PC’s only. Installing a piece of software known as iTimeMachine on your Mac and following the Multimedia-PCs tutorial produces a possible solution.

Read it here.

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