Version 3.0.0.3 of the iSCSI Target Storage add-in has added the following three features:

• iSCSI Initiator Tab
• CHAP Authentication
• Snapshot Revert & Convert

More information on LDisk-D can be found here.

Add-In: LDisk-D v3.0.0.3 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Version 3.0.0.3 of the iSCSI Target Storage and Disk Pooling add-in has added the following two features:

• iSCSI Initiator Tab
• CHAP Authentication

More information on LDisk is available from here.

Add-In: LDisk v3.0.0.3 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

As of version 2.0.0.1873 BETA, StableBit Scanner 2.0 added file recovery meaning that after one or more bad sectors are found on a hard drive, you now have the option of running a file scan and once completed, you’ll be able to select one or more damaged files for recovery.

To find out how this works in StableBit Scanner 2.0 head on over to their post which you can find here.

StableBit Scanner v2.0 File Recovery Engine is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

This latest release of the hard drive scanner and monitor add-in for WHS 2011 users has the following changes:

• Uninstaller fix.
  Uninstalling 1873, while DrivePool was installed, would break the Dashboard.
  To fix, install this build, start the Dashboard and remove the Scanner.

More information on StableBit Scanner for Windows Home Server 2011, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials and WHS v1 can be found here.

Add-In: StableBit Scanner v2.0.0.1878 BETA is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

We are shown how to create a self-signed certificate by using Visual Studio tools in this very comprehensive tutorial which you can find here.

Self-Sign a WSSX Add-In Package is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

CloudBerry Backup for WHS automates data backup directly to Amazon S3, Windows Azure and other cloud storage providers.

This latest version offers the following new enhancements:

The ability to store backup plan configuration in the cloud. CloudBerry customers now can export their backup plans settings to the cloud storage and use them to restore when needed and/or deploy the same settings across multiple machines.

More info http://blog.cloudberrylab.com/2012/05/cloudberry-backup-store-backup-plan.html 

A new security enhancement that allows encrypting files and folders names that in some cases can reveal highly confidential information and must be strongly protected.

http://blog.cloudberrylab.com/2012/05/how-to-encrypt-file-names-with.html

A French language has been added to over a dozen languages we supported already.

More information on CloudBerry Backup for WHS (v1, 2011 and SBS 2011)  can be found here.

Add-In: CloudBerry Backup for WHS v2.8 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Racer gives his tips for installing and configuring WHS including some for the Windows Home Server console too:

"If you work with SATA drives then you should consider whether they are operated in Native mode, in AHCI mode or RAID. For the last two variants of the imperative, it needs drivers on a USB stick if IDE drives running as RAID is the same."

You can find Racer’s list of tips here at the TechArena Community.

Tips for Installing and Configuring WHS is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

This major update to the file scan and recovery engine has the following changes:

• Cleaned up some excessive memory consumption in the service while scanning disk surface.
• Save selected sector size.
• Added file scan and recovery engine.
      * When a disk has bad sectors on it, an option will become available to scan for damaged files as a result of the on-disk damage. You will then be able to select one or more damaged files and attempt recovery to an external location.
      * The file scan and recovery engine from Scanner 1.0 was cleaned up, optimized and extended to support GPT disks and batch file recovery.
      * A brand new UI for file scan and recovery that does away with the old Wizard interface.
      * Damaged on-disk entities are listed as the file scan progresses in real-time.
      * You can attempt recovery for one or more damaged NTFS files.
• Updated all UI controls to the latest versions.
• Added per-disk maximum temperature override.
• Disabled SAT for non-USB drives by default. Enable unsafe mode to use (.config).

More information on this advanced hard disk surface scanner and monitor add-in can be found here.

Add-In: StableBit Scanner for WHS 2011 v2.0.0.0.1873 BETA is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

To help you get this setup and configured WeGotServed has a great 5 page tutorial which takes you through creating a WHS share for your SkyDrive and getting the SkyDrive application installed so that you can connect your client machines to your WHS SkyDrive share.

Its a comprehensive tutorial which you can find here.

Install SkyDrive on WHS 2011 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Its another week and its time for another episode of The Home Server Show podcast:

“We can’t stop talking about Windows 8 and Media Center. It all comes back to storage though. Plenty of server conversation as well as some follow up on cloud options and HD Home Run streaming.”

You can find episode 182 (and the video) here.

The Home Server Show Podcast Episode 182 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

In their 10 page review the performance and energy consumption are taken a look at as well as the disk partition scheme and the software itself.

You can find it here.

LaCie 5big Office+ Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials Review is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Drive Bender have released version 1.3.1.0 of their Drive Extender type add-in for Windows Home Server 2011 users.

This latest version adds polish to the Tomcat release prior to them moving on to v2 aka Hornet:

• Bug fix: When deleting a pool, the dashboard may not refresh correctly.
• Update: When adding a pool, the newly added pool is automatically selected.
• Added: Introduced a start-up specific log file. This captures all start up logging and ensures it does not get deleted during log rotation.
• Update: Improved file balancing algorithm.
• Update: The way duplication is handled when moving a folder within the same folder tree has changed. For details please visit support.drivebender.com
• Added: Better support for slower connecting drives (i.e. USB drives). Drive Bender will now wait for these drives to connect for a period of 2 minutes.
• Bug fix: If none of the drives within the pool are connected at start up, the loading of the mount point will no longer be aborted.
• Update: Improved mount point conflict resolution.
• Bug fix: You were not able to change some key properties if user security was enabled.
• Bug fix: Remounting of networked mount points.
• Added: Automated release license request option under support.
• Bug fix: Issue with user security and session time out resolved.
• Bug fix: The progress screen in the WHS addin may not close at start-up.

More info on Drive Bender can be found here.

Add-In: Drive Bender v1.3.1.0 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

The 47 page guide describes how to migrate an existing Windows SBS 2003 domain to Windows SBS 2011 Essentials on new hardware, and then to migrate the settings and data. The guide also describes how to remove your existing server from the Windows SBS 2011 Essentials network after you finish the migration.

You can find it here.

Migrate from Windows SBS 2003 to Windows SBS 2011 Essentials is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

As well as saving by using the coupon code EMCNENB246 (with free shipping) Newegg are also offering a free $10 promotional gift card with the purchase.

Microsoft Windows Home Server 2011 64-bit OEM System Builder

But hurry as the discounted price and promo codes are valid till 11:59pm PT 05/09/2012.

WHS 2011 for $40 with Free $10 Gift Card is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Episode 85 of the BYOB podcast is up:

“Special Guest Chris Barnes from the DMZ podcast thEndUsr joins us to discuss his systems. We’ll also tackle nVidia’s GTX690. Amazon plays me too with their cloud drive. Playon is told to move on. Welcome to Episode 85 of the BYOB Podcast.”

You can find episode 85 here.

The BYOB Podcast Episode 85 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Home Server SMART 2012 is an add-in for Windows Home Server 2011, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials.

The free add-in automatically and continuously monitors the health of most of your hard disks attached to WHS. Home Server SMART examines the S.M.A.R.T. data exposed by your disks and determines the health of the disk. If problems are detected, Home Server SMART informs you which attribute(s) are critical or problematic, and it presents a summary of problems found. If the problems are serious, Home Server SMART will make a recommendation to you that you replace the disk.

More information is available from here.

Add-In: Home Server SMART 2012 v2.2.5.2 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

So what’s the deal?

You get 10% of any order you place on line, during May 2012 by using the coupon code 10THSPECIAL10 during checkout BUT if you order online before May 10th using coupon code 10THSPECIAL20 then you can get 20% off of your order.

So what are you waiting for, to order a Home Server or Media Centre machine you can check out their online catalogue here.

20% Off at Tranquil PC is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

For the details of over ten different log files and where they are located then have a look at this post here.

Log File Locations in WHS 2011 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Your weekly dose of The Home Server Show podcast is available with episode 181 just being published:

“The Home Server Crew is back and we have a marathon for you. There was plenty to cover since we missed a week.  We have a lot of media related news and gadgets to talk about but the big topic is cloud services.  How many do you have? Use?  It was eye opening just trying to list all of the ones we use.  We hope you enjoy.”

you can find episode 181 here.

The Home Server Show Podcast Episode 181 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

LDisk-D does not require a blank hard drive to do its job (unlike LDisk) but does not do Disk Pooling instead being an iSCSI solution for WHS 2011 users.

Available for $59 for WHS 2011 users, more information can be found here.

InteliSAN Release LDisk-D Add-In is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

The Home Edition of Drive Bender plus life time support and maintenance normally costs $40 but the 50% discount lowers this to just $20.

Hurry and grab this bargain from here.

The Home Edition is a single license for home use and is for private use only, and cannot be used in a commercial or business environment.

50% Off Drive Bender Just $20 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Priced at £2.99 the eBook takes you step by step on migrating to SBS 2011 Essentials from SBS 2003 R2. Starting from preparing your source server to finalizing the migration with network cleanup, its an excellent read for those of you planning this upgrade.

More details including a sample preview can be found here.

Migrating to SBS 2011 Essentials eBook is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

“Since I have many computers on my internal network, I decided that rather than installing it [SkyDrive] on each computer, I would install it on Windows Home Server and make it accessible for all the systems.”

PCDoc explains in this tutorial how to get SkyDrive setup to run as a service with the right parameters enabling it to be accessed from anywhere on any system in your network.

You can find the tutorial here.

SkyDrive on WHS 2011 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Episode 84 of the BYOB podcast is up, and this week:

“Z77, Ivy Bridge, Windows 8 talk, SplashTop, and Cloud Drives.  Tonight we have some in depth discussions on the new Ivy Bridge CPU’s and the Z77 chipsets.  We also hash out some differences on the various cloud drives such as Dropbox, SkyDrive, and G Drive and talk about the pros and cons of each.  We discuss the recent Windows 8 skews to see what it means to us.”

You can find episode 84 here.

The BYOB Podcast Episode 84 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Thankfully a DOS-based utility to modify the behavior of the HDD to wait longer before invoking idle mode is available which can be used on the following affected drives:

WD20EADS, WD20EARS, WD15EADS, WD15EARS, WD10EADS, WD10EARS, WD8000AARS, WD7500AADS, WD7500AARS, WD6400AADS, WD6400AARS, WD5000AADS, WD5000AARS, WD1000FYPS, WD7500AYPS, WD7501AYPS and WD2001FASS

More details are available from here.

WD Caviar Green HDD Intellipark Fix is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

For example to add videos with the .FLV extension you need to do the following.

On your home server’s desktop:

1. Start –> Control Panel –> Administrative Tools –> Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager
2. Right-click your server, choose Properties
3. Click MIME Types
4. Click Add
5. Enter ".flv" and a mime type of "video/x-flv" (without quotes, of course)
6. Click OK, OK, and OK
7. Start –> Run –> iisreset, click OK

To add .MP4 you will need to set Extension: mp4 and MIME Type: video/mp4

Add MIME Types to WHS 2011 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

If so then PCWorld have an article on RAID Made Easy:

“What is RAID, why do you need it, and what are all those mode numbers that are constantly bandied about?”

The article explains the difference between the RAID modes and also takes a look at Drive Extender from v1 of Home Server.

The article finally ends with a cheat sheet on choosing RAID. An informative read which you can find here.

Choosing RAID is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Drive Bender have an extended trial key available which allows you to trial their Drive Extender type add-in for WHS 2011 users until the 1st July.

If you also have tried Drive Bender in the past and wish to try it again, or simply want to extend your current trial period, just use this key:

ENS70-10C00-G1HJK-M8P9Q-1R1AK-QIDSI-9HCAAWPCM

To install, open the activate dialog and enter the key.

More details on Drive Bender including the downloads can be found here.

Drive Bender Extended Trial Version Available is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

After completing this 30 minute lab you will understand how to manage storage with storage spaces by creating a new storage pool and virtual disk and then you will work with the virtual disks by using both Server Manager and Control Panel.

You can start the “Implementing Storage Pools and Storage Spaces” Virtual Lab directly using this link.

Implementing Storage Pools and Storage Spaces Virtual Lab is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Version 1.3 of Drive Bender (also known as the Tomcat release) is now available for download.

• Update: New Windows and WHS interface.
• Bug fix: File count feature could report the incorrect number of files.
• Update: Minor health monitor improvements.
• Bug fix: Networked mount points are non-writable on Windows 2008 R2.
• Update: If a drive removal process fails, the drive is no longer mark with an error. The pool will continue to operate a normal.
• Added: Drive swap feature. This allows a pooled drive to be swapped out with a new drive.
• Update: Smooth Stream performance improvements with high volume, small file reads.
• Bug fix: The drive removal process could fail with a "not enough free space in the pool" error.
• Update: Thin provisioning has been implemented.
• Bug fix: Folder rename and delete functions can fail on a folder marked for duplication.

Drive Bender is available as a unlimited 30 day trial after which it will cost you $40 for a single license for home use.

More information on Drive Bender can be found here.

Add-In: Drive Bender Tomcat Release Available is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Service Pack 2 adds many new features to this add-in which is used to put a Windows Home Server into suspended mode or hibernation and resume on user defined events, the most important one being the new Mac Agent which is supported on both WHS 2011 and v1.

What’s new in version 1.5.2 Build 1737 (Service Pack 2)

New Mac Agent for OS X!

A client package is now available for all users running Apple Mac Computers with their Windows Home Server 2011.

See here for installation and operation.

New option for client action after backup

Service Pack 2 introduces a new client option called “Force end action”. This option is enabled by default to ensure the previous behavior. If you disable this option, the action after backup is only executed if a start-up or wake-up for a scheduled backup has been detected AND if there has been no user activity in the last 10 minutes or during backup.

This new features prevents a standby or shutdown (after backup) if a user is already working on the machine. It also prevents a standby or shutdown (after backup) if the machine is already running before the backup has been started. For more details see Client action after Backup.

Changed handling of Gateways or Repeaters

Problem: Devices connected via a router (or a repeater or VPN gateway) are not visible to the Lights-Out network scanner because for each IP address we always get the same gateway MAC address. Manually added devices with fixed IP addresses sometimes lost the IP address because Lights-Out wrongly detected an IP address conflict and changed that fixed IP address to 0.0.0.0.

Service pack 2 addresses this problem with two changes: Manually added devices are marked with a “fixed IP flag” and are no longer changed to 0.0.0.0 on a conflict.

The second change is a new flag for routers (and repeaters or gateways). Setting this flag in the device properties (Lights-Out computers tab) allows Lights-Out to handle manually added devices with a fixed IP.

If you have a setup, where devices are connect via a repeater or router, assign a fixed IP address and add these devices manually in Lights-Out. Then run the network scanner and Lights-Out should automatically find and mark the router (or repeater/gateway).

User Action instead of Standby or Shutdown

Service Pack 2 introduces a new user action. When you select “User Action” in Lights-Out settings, a new text box is displayed where you can enter a command file. See here for more information.

Command line client for Windows Computers

Those who like to control the server via batch files can now use the Lights-Out command line client.

Lots of bug fixes

• Fixed MAC detection on server with bridged server NICs
• Fixed unwanted client standby when started from shutdown for backup
• Fixed problem with wake-up on client when no IPv4 route was available
• Fixed remote access detection after IIS restart
• Fixed handling of IP clients without a MAC
• Fixed problem with incomplete xml data files
• Fixed wrong date formatting in calendar for some regions like Japanese
• Fixed wrong backup date when client backup is disabled
• Fixed problem with deleted tasklist (delete was not handled, tasks were not removed)
• Fixed bug in edit properties dialog
• Fixed wrong listing of next calendar events for tasks which span midnight
• Fixed a bug in calendar file processing which created unwanted wake-ups
• Changed internal structure of services (both server and client) to fix start-up problems
• Changed handling of IP and MAC detection for WHS clients
• Added force option to action after backup
• Added new option for devices which work as router or repeater
• Added a user action to run a user defined command instead of standby
• Added handling of additional routers or gateways
• Added client command line application
• Added handling (starting) of dependent services on server resume
• Added Apple Mac OS X support (Mac Agent)

Known issues

• Resizing the Dashboard to the smallest possible window size creates a distorted Status sub-tab. Workaround: resize the Dashboard
• You can’t load an existing Windows Home Server v1 Lights-Out license into this version. Lights-Out for WHS 2011 requires a new license file.
• Client GUI application is not started automatically after first client push installation. Workaround: Run via Start->All Programs->Startup, Lights-Out Client or log off and log on again.
• Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials wakes up every 30 minutes by Server Infrastructure License Service (silsvc). This bug is logged in Microsoft Connect under ID 642301 and 669083. See Server Infrastructure License Service (silsvc) wakes server every 30 minutes and vote for this bug!

More information on the Mac Agent context menu can be found here, whilst more info on Lights-Out can be found here.

Add-In: Lights-Out 1.5.2 Build 1737 (Service Pack 2) is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

The tweet from the Building Windows 8 team came from Japan’s Windows 8 Dev Days conference where Windows chief Steven Sinofsky announced the news.

UPDATE: The Windows Server Blog has also stated that they plan to deliver a release candidate of Windows Server 2012 in the same timeframe too.

Windows 8 Release Preview in Early June is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

WHS Quicken 2011 is a complete rewrite, of the WHS Quicken for WHS V1 add-in that provides individual user-level access to Intuit’s Quicken application from your Windows Server Solutions server.

WHS Quicken 2011 can run a server-installed copy of Quicken from any computer just as if it were running directly on the local computer. Quicken runs in its own fully resizable window with its own entry in the taskbar. Its popup windows are redirected to the local desktop, its notification area icons (if any) appear in the local computer’s notification area, and the local computer’s drives and printers can be redirected to it; making a completely seamless “Quicken” experience for your end-users.
 
With WHS Quicken 2011, a single server-side installation of Quicken can be shared by up to 10 computers on your network (up to 25 for WSBS and WSS). Saving you money as well as providing each of your users with full access to their very own instance of Quicken locally, from their network-attached computer, or remotely from anywhere in the world using the server’s built-in Remote Web Access website.

WHS Quicken 2011 is available as a fully functional 21 day trial version, after which it will cost you $39.99 ($29.99 for a WHS Quicken v2 to WHS Quicken 2011 Upgrade)

More information is available from here.

Add-In: WHS Quicken 2011 Released is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

WHS QuickBooks 2011 is a complete rewrite, of the WHS QuickBooks for WHS V1 add-in that provides individual user-level access to Intuit’s QuickBooks application from your Windows Server Solutions server.

Available for Windows Home Server 2011, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials WHS QuickBooks 2011 can run a server-installed copy of QuickBooks from any computer just as if it were running directly on the local computer. QuickBooks runs in its own fully resizable window with its own entry in the taskbar. Its popup windows are redirected to the local desktop, its notification area icons (if any) appear in the local computer’s notification area, and the local computer’s drives and printers can be redirected to it; making a completely seamless “QuickBooks” experience for your end-users.

A single server-side installation of QuickBooks can be shared by up to 10 computers on your network (up to 25 for WSBS and WSS). Saving you money as well as providing each of your users with full access to their very own instance of QuickBooks locally, from their network-attached computer, or remotely from anywhere in the world using the server’s built-in Remote Web Access website.

A a fully functional 21 day trial version is available after which the add-in will cost you $49.99 ($39.99 for a WHS QuickBooks v2 to WHS QuickBooks 2011 Upgrade).

More information on WHS QuickBooks 2011 is available from here.

Add-In: WHS QuickBooks 2011 Released is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

WHS Office 2011 is a complete rewrite, of the WHS Office for WHS V1 add-in that provides individual user-level access to each of the Microsoft Office applications (Access, Excel, Lync, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, Word, and the Microsoft Office Picture Manager) from your Windows Server Solutions server.

This new add-in works on Windows Home Server 2011, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials.

WHS Office 2011 can run a server-installed copy of each of the Microsoft Office applications from any computer just as if they were running directly on the local computer. Each application runs in its own fully resizable window with its own entry in the taskbar. Its popup windows are redirected to the local desktop, its notification area icons (if any) appear in the local computer’s notification area, and the local computer’s drives and printers can be redirected to it; making a completely seamless “Office” experience for your end-users.
 
With WHS Office 2011, a single server-side installation of Microsoft Office can be shared by up to 10 computers on your network (up to 25 for WSBS and WSS). Saving you money as well as providing each of your users with full access to their very own instance of the individual Microsoft Office applications locally, from their network-attached computer, or remotely from anywhere in the world using the server’s built-in Remote Web Access website.

A fully functional 21 day evaluation copy is available after which WHS Office 2011 will cost you $49.99 or $39.99 if upgrading from the previous add-in.

More details are available from here.

Add-In: WHS Office 2011 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

John Keller explains to us how to force change newly created accounts initial passwords upon logging into your home server for the first time.

“There are two main reasons you would want to do this, One the intended user can choose a password that they can hopefully remember it and two you as the family or small business administrator don’t have to send a permanent password to where it could be possibly be intercepted by an unknown third party.”

The rest of the tutorial you can find here.

Force Change the Initial Password for a Newly Created WHS Account is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Another week and another episode of The Home Server Show:

I crawled out from underneath my rock and found out how popular this Hunger Games stuff is.  Also, Microsoft drops a bombshell on the Media Center enthusiast crowd.  Media Center is now an add on software only on the Windows 8 Pro edition.  John, Jim, and Dave are dropped into the Hunger Games arena to battle it out on this issue.  Will a victor emerge?  Other topics include virtual machines on your home server, Windows 8 on the iPad, SkyDrive can tweet, Raid, and Drive Extender alternatives.  Enjoy.

You can find episode 180 here.

The Home Server Show Podcast Episode 180 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

News of another Cloud service which may be of use to Home Server users:

LogMeIn Inc. the company behind the popular namesake remote access service, has just opened the beta of ‘Cubby’, an all new cloud data service to simply and securely share information across PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, Android devices, or with other people. The first service built on LogMeIn’s very own cloud data sync and storage platform, Cubby lets people turn any number of PC or Mac folders into ‘cubbies’ that can be accessed from other devices, stored in the cloud, and shared with colleagues and friends. Cubby also gives people the option to simply share or sync an unlimited amount of information across their devices for free, and without ever counting against cloud storage limits. As a result, people have the flexibility to share and access information across their devices without having to worry about creating a new, separate version of their digital life in the cloud.

People interested in participating in the Cubby beta, which includes 5GB of cloud storage, free unlimited syncing across devices, as well as apps for the iPad, iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows, can request an invitation at Cubby.com.

"When it comes to sharing data in the cloud today, most solutions on the market are ultra simple but inflexible, or highly flexible but inherently complex. We see Cubby as an opportunity to deliver an ideal balance of simplicity and flexibility," said Marton Anka, LogMeIn’s CTO. "It is designed to adapt to the way people naturally interact with their information — to deliver the benefits of the cloud without forcing people to change their behavior."

Cubby highlights:

• Any folder can be a cubby — People can simply use the folders they have — their existing PC or Mac folders — or they can take advantage of a simple, easy-to-use default cubby. There’s no need to put files and documents into a single cloud folder/box, and no need to recreate existing folders.
• Share your stuff across devices for free, cloud optional — People can share their stuff across their devices for free, without being restricted by cloud data storage limitations. Cubbies can be stored to the cloud or simply synced across devices.
• Decide what content gets shared across which devices — Any cubby and its content can be synced to selected devices. So people can keep their work, personal and family information as separate as they’d like. No need to have those family holiday photos on your work PC or a copy of the latest TPS report from the office on your kid’s Macbook.
• Multiple ways to share and collaborate with others — Cubbies and their content can be shared with others either by inviting them into a cubby, which lets both parties see, work with, and sync content; or they can simply send people read-only links to files and cubbies.
• Simple access from anywhere, any device — Cubby can be accessed from any web browser, comes standard with Mac and PC desktop apps, and offers a free iPad and iPhone app in the Apple App Store and a free Android app in Google Play.
• Architected for security — Built on the same architecture used for LogMeIn’s connectivity products, Cubby takes advantage of industry best encryption standards to ensure data is protected at all times. As a key additional step, Cubby is designed in a way that gives users the ability to be the sole owner and holder of their encryption keys.

More information is available at Cubby.

Cubby Another Cloud Service is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

Home Server SMART 2012, is a SMART disk monitoring add-in for Windows Home Server 2011, and is currently available as a public beta.

The version of Home Server SMART released is Beta 6. This is a pre-release version of the software. It is very reasonable that some significant bugs remain, but for the most part, the add-in is feature complete, with two major exceptions. Beta 6 will be the last "series" of betas–there will be a beta 6a and possibly 6b, after which the plan is to move into Release Candidate status, hopefully by mid-to-late May.

More info including the download can be found here.

Add-In: Home Server SMART 2012 v2.2.4.17 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!

After naming the desktop and ARM editions of Windows 8, Microsoft have also announced that Windows Server 8 will be known as Windows Server 2012 when it is released later this year.

The next version of Windows Home Server will be based on this server edition which will include Microsoft’s new Resilient File System (ReFS), and as we can see the naming convention is in line with existing server naming. e.g. 2003, 2008.

Windows Server 8 becomes Windows Server 2012 is a post from: MS Windows Home Server - Your Personal Guide to Microsoft Windows Home Server!