Reviewing Microsoft Windows Home Server
As a self-proclaimed gadget whore I’ve purchased and owned my fair share of amazing new gadgets. TiVo/DVRs, iPods, Zunes, an iPhone, an Xbox 360, a Nintendo Wii, a 50″ Plasma, a 52″ LCD and on and on and on… and the one gadget that I’m glad to have in my life now is my HP MediaSmart Server running Windows Home Server. Sure Tivo has replaced canines as man’s best friend but out of all of my current gadget loves my Windows Home Server is now my savior.
So why so much love for Windows Home Server? Well, there are a ton of reasons why this little black box is the most important item in my house… and I’ll let you know of a few of them. First of all I love it because all of my precious files that I’ve been hording over the past 12+ years are now tucked safely away in a central location that automatically backs itself up every morning. I have over a decade of MP3s, movies, pictures and personal files that I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of hours acquiring and arranging just how I want them and it is good to know that those files are safe.
Secondly, not only are my files stored away on the server and backed up but all of the computers in my house are backed up nightly as well. If I have a computer crash or hardware failure all it takes it popping in a recovery CD and after a few minutes my precious notebook or desktop are back up and operational saving me hours of frustration and loss. Unfortunately at this time my desktop is running the 64-bit version of Windows Vista Ultimate which isn’t currently supported by WHS so it isn’t being backed up right now but with the upcoming release ofWHS Power Pack 1I’ll be nearly loss-proof (I’m in the beta of the Power Pack and will make a post about the install and improvements).
The third reason I love my Windows Home Server is STORAGE, STORAGE, STORAGE! That’s right, now with a ton of centralized storage I no longer have to transfer files back and forth from my desktop to my notebook and back again, now I can have them in one centralized location and use offline files as needed on the notebook. I also can keep multiple versions of all files and never delete any unneeded file if I don’t want to. It might sound silly but it is awesome being able to pull up any of the thousands of pictures I’ve taken in the past decade, good or bad. With three spare drive bays and a USB 2.0 port storage for my server is easily expandable, I’m now up to 2TB with a third coming soon… and an external drive will be added for extra backups. With 1TB drives for only 120 dollars storage will never be a problem for me again.
Since I have enough space to do literally whatever I want that brings me to the fourth reason why I love this little black box. I am currently going through the process of ripping my gigantic DVD collection of over 500 DVDs and HD-DVDs to the Divx format so I never have to go to the DVD shelf again… Since I own a PC and Notebook running Vista Ultimate I get to enjoy the beauty that is Windows Media Center, and since I own an Xbox 360 I can use that as a Media Center Extender. So now I can watch my entire DVD collection via my televisions and my computers and/or Xbox 360 running Windows Media Center. Burning all of my DVDs to a digital format will be time consuming, I have over 150 so far but in the end it will be well worth it.
The fifth reason I love my Windows Home Server is Microsoft’s brilliant inclusion of Add-Ins. Microsoft has allowed the WHS community to spawn a group of people who develop Add-Ins to expand upon the functionality and accessibility of your Home Server. My favorite Add-In to date isWebGuide, an easy to use and easy to setup plugin that allows you to view all of your multimedia files online via your WHS logon. You can stream your music and videos as well as view all of your images right from your server.homeserver.com address. This Add-In was so popular that Microsoft actually purchased it. Microsoft made it easy to access your server from the web with it’s super-simple Remote Access configuration.
I could literally talk for hours about how much I love Windows Media Server, and HP’s MediaSmart server is a great deal and a nice and sleek product for the price… you’d be hard pressed to build your own for the price, especially one with a hot-swappable drive bay. With Windows Home Server Microsoft has produced a fantastic product that is completely expandable and they’ve made it easy to personalize your WHS to do just about anything you’d like. Their inclusion of IIS and a free security certificate allows you to access your home server from anywhere in the world… you can do nearly everything with your WHS that you could do with an actual full-blown server, they’ve simply made it easier. Every twenty-first century home should have a Home Server.
