By on November 10th, 2012

Western Digital 2TB Red Hard Drive for $110

Newegg have the Western Digital Red 2TB hard drives which are designed for NAS devices for just $110 after discount.

WD Red 2TB Offer on Newegg

The 2TB WD20EFRX IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive is normally $180 and is currently on sale for $160. But if you use coupon code EMCJJNA46 you will get an additional $50 off bringing the total price to just $110. But hurry as the promo code ends 11/11

Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Deal of the Week • Windows Home Server
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By on November 09th, 2012

What’s New in StableBit DrivePool 1.2.1 BETA

Version 1.2.1 BETA of StableBit DrivePool includes a complete rewrite of file size tracking which is faster and more accurate.

StableBit DrivePool 1.2.1 BETA Measuring

To fill us in the guys behind StableBit DrivePool have a blog post on this latest beta release:

DrivePool 1.2.1 BETA is purely a nuts and bolts release.

No new functionality has been added from the user’s perspective, but it is still a very important release because it makes some fundamental improvements in the reliability and performance of real-time file size tracking, which is the backbone of the new balancing system introduced in DrivePool 1.2.

The complete post including inside information on what is coming up next for StableBit DrivePool can be found here.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on November 09th, 2012

Add-In: StableBit DrivePool v1.2.1.7123 BETA

Stablebit_drivepool_M4_logo

The beta build of StableBit DrivePool has had an update.

Version 1.2.1.7123 BETA has the following changes:

  • Folder duplication changes will now only perform a background duplication pass over that folder instead or the entire pool (in most cases).
  • Retired DrivePool’s folder size tracking. Folder sizes are now all reported using Windows Search.
    Folder sizes are not used by DrivePool for anything internally, they are only reported to the user.
  • [D] Implemented a 100% kernel mode file size tracking solution. It’s even faster than the old one and is directly synchronized with the file system.
        – Full pool access even while re-measuring. Size modifications are kept track of.
        – Keeps track of file size changes directly in the kernel with no user mode services involved.
        – Saves pool part file sizes in the pool parts themselves, so sizes will even migrate between OS re-installs.
        – Synchronized with background duplication (when changing the duplication level of a folder).
        – Synchronized with re-balancing.
        – Will need to re-measure the pool:
            – After removing a disk.
            – After accidentally unplugging a disk while the system is running.
  • [D] Retired hybrid kernel / user-mode real-time file size tracking.

[D] = Driver was modified (reboot required after update)

You can download this latest beta release from here.

add-ins • Windows Home Server
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By on November 08th, 2012

The Home Server Show Podcast Episode 204

home_server_show_small

Its time for another episode of "The Home Server Show" podcast, and this week:

Jim and Dave tackle the news after taking Halloween night off. Some real server news! Dave and Jim discuss moving from 2011 to 2012 Essentials.  Dave needs to do this and use the same hardware.  How to do it?  CES, Cloudberry, Tonido, PogoPlug, Icy Dock, Windows 8 Pro Pack, and some Drobo. Media Center on Windows 8?  How about for free? Lots to talk about in this show!

You can find the audio here or watch the video below:

News • Windows Home Server
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By on November 07th, 2012

Windows Server 2012 Essentials Management Pack

Microsoft have released the "Windows Server 2012 Essentials Management Pack".

The Windows Server 2012 Essentials Management Pack allows you to monitor Windows Server 2012 Essentials with System Center Operation Manager 2012.

Windows Server 2012 Essentials Management Pack Download Page

A great tool which you can find here.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on November 07th, 2012

Take Advantage of Cloud-Based Services in WS2012e

If you are a WS 2012 Essentials user and wondering how you can take advantage of cloud-based services, then we have an article for you courtesy of Microsoft’s Server & Tools Blogs.

Depending on your specific needs and level of comfort with technology you have the flexibility to choose the approach that’s right for you:

  • On-premises
  • Hosted IT
  • Outsourced

The article goes into these options in greater detail and gives some use case scenario’s too.

…the answer to whether you should go for on-premises, hosted, or cloud-based IT implementation depends on your particular business needs and situation. The good news is that WS2012 Essentials give you options that you can combine in various ways to customize your solution to fit your individual business needs.

The full article can be found here.

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By on November 06th, 2012

Video: RAID 5 Array using HighPoint Version 2 Software

Mike Faucher aka pcdoc shows us how to create and expand a RAID 5 Array using HighPoint Version 2 software.

In the following videos we are shown how to create, partition, format and initialize a RAID 5 array and then expand it by adding another drive.

creating a RAID 5 Volume
Initializing and Formatting your Volume
Expanding your RAID

Be warned expanding your array will take significantly longer than when you first created it.

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By on November 05th, 2012

The BYOB Podcast Episode 103

BYOB Logo

Another episode of the BYOB podcast is up, and in this week’s edition:

“Special guest Christopher Lux joins for his perspective. More Windows 8 discussion. Surface RT, the honeymoon is over. Bluetooth streaming for your home receiver or vehicle.”

You can find episode 103 here.

News • Windows Home Server
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By on November 04th, 2012

Add-In: Drive Bender v1.4

Drive Bender Logo

Version 1.4 of Drive Bender for WHS has been released.

And here’s the change log for this release:

  • Bug fix: Pool property file is restored if deleted from the pooled hard drive.
  • Bug fix: Pool property description attribute is not written correctly.
  • Bug fix: Setting thin provisioning could fail with an error if the size being set is smaller that the total space available.
  • Update: Reduced the maximum amount of memory the Smooth Stream feature can use (there were instance when system resources were stretched).
  • Update: Some additions and tweaks.

More details on Drive Bender are available from here.

add-ins • Windows Home Server
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By on November 03rd, 2012

Unable to Connect to Windows 7 SP1 Client on a SBS 2011 Essentials Domain

If you are unable to connect to a Windows 7 SP1 client on SBS 2011 Essentials domain after it has been updated with RDP 8 update, then Microsoft have an answer for you.

This happens after you have applied updates from KB 2574819 and 2592687 to enable Remote Desktop Protocol 8.0 on a client running Windows 7 Service Pack 1 on a Small Business Server 2011 Essentials domain.

Remote Desktop Connection Error Message with Server 2011 Essentials

This issue occurs because in the Inbound Rules of Windows Firewall with Advanced Security, the rule Remote Desktop – RemoteFX (TCP-In) is not enabled on the client.

So if you are experiencing this issue, head on over here for the solution.

Tutorial • Windows Home Server
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