By on August 02nd, 2012

HP ProLiant ML110 G7 Server and WHS 2011 for $400

newegg Business are offering the HP ProLiant ML110 G7 Tower Server System bundled with Windows Home Server 2011 for just $399.99

HP ProLiant ML110 G7

The HP ProLiant ML110 G7 is powered by an Intel Core i3 2120 CPU running at 3.3GHz (2Cores/4Threads), has 2GB of memory and comes with a LFF SATA 250GB HDD.

The combined total for the HP ProLiant ML110 G7 and a copy of WHS 2011 should be $549.98 but the combo discount of $149.99 brings the total down to just $399.99, which you can find here.

News • Windows Home Server
Full Story
By on August 01st, 2012

Windows Server 2012 Released To Manufacturing

The Windows Server Blog today announced that Windows Server 2012 has been released to manufacturing (also known as RTM).

Windows Server 2012 Logo

The post also stated that Windows Server 2012 will be generally available for evaluation and purchase by all customers around the world on September 4th

Going by previous experience this would mean that Windows Server 2012 Essentials will RTM the beginning of October and be available for purchase in early December hopefully in time for the holiday season.

The other news is that Windows 8 was also released to manufacturing today will it being available worldwide on October 26th, whilst MSDN and TechNet subscribers can get it in a couple of weeks time on August 15th.

News • Windows Home Server
Full Story
By on August 01st, 2012

2TB Seagate Barracuda for $100

Deal-of-the-Week

Newegg have a 2TB Seagate Barracuda for just $99.99

The 2TB Seagate Barracuda (ST2000DM001) is a 7200 RPM 3.5” internal hard drive with 64MB Cache and is SATA 6.0Gb/s to maximize data transfer rates.

The drive was originally $119.99 and is currently listed for $109.99 but by using coupon code EMCNCGJ37 an additional $10 is taken off the price bringing the total down to a cent less than $100.

Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Coupon code expires 6th August.

Deal of the Week • Windows Home Server
Full Story
By on July 31st, 2012

A Technology Journalists opinion on WS2012e

Technology journalist Simon Bisson gives us his opinion on the beta preview of Windows Server 2012 Essentials:

“Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials was disappointing, but there’s a lot to like in its successor, which provides a small file-and-print server with integrated systems management and backup tools that’s ideal for a small business or a home office.”

wse-2012-dashboard

You can read his full account on ZDNet.

News • Windows Home Server
Full Story
By on July 31st, 2012

WD Red vs. Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 Hard Drives

SmallNetBuilder is back testing the WD Red NAS hard drives but this time against some Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 drives.

Western-Digital-WD-Red-Series-WD30EFRX

A shorter test this time but in conclusion the writer added:

“I suspect that the real advantage of the Reds will come from improved reliability, mainly from tweaks made in drive error recovery firmware aimed at keeping drives from unnecessarily falling out of RAID volumes due to excessive error recovery times.”

You can read their report here.

News • Windows Home Server
Full Story
By on July 31st, 2012

Manage iTunes on WHS with iHomeServer

Website "The Doc’s World" have updated their post on iHomeServer.

iHomeServer for iTunes allows you to install and run iTunes on Windows Home Server allowing you to manage iTunes without having to physically access your computer.

iHomeServer Management Console

The Doc’s World explains why you would use iHomeServer:

  • Multi-computer households as it will allow almost anyone on the network to add content to iTunes from any computer without the need to access iTunes.
  • Simplifies adding content to iTunes.  Easy as copying things to a folder.
  • Teamed with ripping/conversion software, you can completely automate the process of creating a portable version of movie to add to iTunes (more on this in a future article).

In their post they explain how to setup and configure ripping CDs to a monitored folder, getting iHomeServer to copy it to iTunes and update it’s library and finally getting Wi-Fi Sync to get the content on your IOS device.

Tutorial • Windows Home Server
Full Story
By on July 30th, 2012

Installing WHS 2011 on a SSD in a HP MicroServer N40L

If you are thinking of installing an SSD into a HP N40L MicroServer when we have a post for you.

Joe Miner takes us through his experience of installing a 60GB SSD into his ProLiant MicroServer hosting WHS 2011.

Joe Miners N40L

A great read which is full of tips and performance data which you can find here.

Tutorial • Windows Home Server
Full Story
By on July 30th, 2012

The BYOB Podcast Episode 93

BYOB Logo

Its time for another episode of the BYOB podcast and in this weeks edition:

Special guests, Steve Dail (aka TimeKills) and Renny Phipps (aka Renny) join me for some tech talk.  We talk about their setups, hardware, networks as well as their thoughts on Windows 8 and Server 2012 Essentials.  We discuss Steve’s new MSI GT60 laptop, and Renny’s new Z77 I5-3550 system complete with Vertex 3.  Steve walks us through setting up a VPN in 2012 Essentials.

You can find episode 93 here.

News • Windows Home Server
Full Story
By on July 29th, 2012

Add-In: My Movies for Windows Home Server 2011 v2.11 (build 2)

My Movies for Windows Home Server Logo

My Movies for Windows Home Server 2011 has been updated to version 2.11 (build 2). Here is the change log for both 2.11 and 2.11 (Build 2):

My Movies for Windows Home Server 2011 2.11 (Build 2)

  • Fix: Some databases could have been updated incorrect.

My Movies for Windows Home Server 2011 2.11

  • Added: Better messages when attempting to start services without the required amount of points.
  • Added: Converter now supports ISO files that are coupled to a title as ‘Online File’.
  • Added: better handling of situations where converter hasn’t converted the title on a disc.
  • Added: Popcorn Hour NMJ storage.
  • Added: Path for converted discs is now stored.
  • Added: Third and Fourth priority in searches.
  • Added: Data service API function to retrieve data in external applications.
  • Added: Back-end support for downloading of converted movies from WHS to mobile devices.
  • Added: Meta-data storage for MediaBrowser (Requires 500 points).
  • Added: Meta-data storage for JRiver MediaCenter (Requires 500 points).
  • Added: Option to specify target directory name for DVD and Blu-ray’s, and by that also specify to separate the two when copying.
  • Added: Profiles for New iPad and Apple TV 3
  • Added: MPEG2 converter profile added. MPEG2 conversion is now removed from a target to be part of video converter.
  • Added: Possibity to use mencoder in converter profiles
  • Added: The system will now check media info for titles where the information for some reason could not be read at the time the title was added or edited
  • Added: Installers "My Movies for Windows Home Server 2011 Integrators" option.
  • Update: Remote Server API updates, including setting API key in configuration.
  • Change: Event handling functionality now requires 2500 points or integrator license.
  • Change: New handbrake version for video converter.
  • Change: Ability to process unidentified discs have been split into when system was online, available for all, and when system was offline (boat functionality), which is available only for users with 2500 points or installer integrators version.
  • Change: MPEG-2 option deprecated as copy target, and instead added as part of video converter.
  • Change: Updated Nimbie drivers for Nimbie NB21.
  • Change: Rename of Apple TV profiles from MP4 to M4V which should be better handled by iTunes.
  • Change: Updated SDK for Nimbie, to support latest Nimbie NB21.
  • Change: Better handling of database upgrades, so that later versions does not need all clients to be upgraded when server is upgraded.
  • Change: Updated for iOS 1.82 WHS connection options.
  • Fix: Minor error with empty image list on Collection List.
  • Fix: Services autostart did not respect users choice when setting it, but instead set it if they were started previously.
  • Fix: Missing message about required points for video converter.
  • Fix: Audio lookup on mounted Blu-ray wasn’t done on the mounted drive.
  • Fix: Audiotracks for blu-rays were not in the same order as handbrake uses.
  • Fix: Video converter only checked for 1250 points, despite it requirering 2500.
  • Fix: Some requests could time out when downloading from WHS to apps.
  • Fix: AnyDVD panel did not show for installers when clicking for it.
  • Fix: If you hit update on your account to update points, it did not always correctly enable the service options.
  • Fix: Delete after conversion checkbox is now only available when a conversion goes to the same folder as the original.
  • Fix: Error when new converter profiles are added without the converter was restarted.
  • Fix: Dune meta-data for TV Series was not stored with a full meta-data update.
  • Fix: Unidentified discs were not updated as expected.
  • Fix: Universal video converter profile did not have correct supported devices comments.
  • Fix: Converter could loop on specific discs, when they were seen as TV Series but no episodes could be found (Blu-ray problem).
  • Fix: File locking bug when changing cover on copied music disc.
  • Fix: Special sized DVD’s did not copy correct with AnyDVD.

More information on My Movies for Windows Home Server 2011 can be found here.

add-ins • Windows Home Server
Full Story
By on July 28th, 2012

LaCie 5big Office + with Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials Reviewed

WeGotServed has a review on the LaCie 5big Office + which uses Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials.

The 7 page review looks at what is included in the box, the units features and specifications, the initial setup process, which is then followed by plenty of performance testing.

5big-Office_two-views-504x360

The LaCie 5big Office + was awarded 7/10 by WeGotServed. You can read their full review here.

News • Windows Home Server
Full Story