Website CruchGear have a review of the EX495 MediaSmart Server from HP.

HP sure knows how to make a Windows Home Server. The company has been at it for years now and the latest model does just about everything better than the previous models. That’s how it’s suppose to be.

The pros and the cons are also highlighted but best of all CruchGear are also giving you the opportunity of winning a brand new EX495.

This weeks episode of The Home Server Show podcast has a HTPC flavor to it. Speaking about HTPC, Media Center, My Movies and Media Browser as well as Windows Home Server, you can catch episode 63 here.

TwonkyMedia have put together a list of best practices for anyone wanting to share media over a home network.

The list includes network-related tips, server & storage suggestions (including Windows Home Server), digital media adapter suggestions and media related tips which are handy for any Windows Home Server user.

So head over here to have a browse.

Website lifehacker list Five Great Add-Ins to Power Up Your Windows Home Server Console.

lifehacker list their favorites, which are:

• Windows Home Server Disk Management
• AutoExit for WindowsHomeServer
• Remote Notification
• LightsOut
• Grid Junction

You can read more about them and also watch some short related videos here.

The add-in WHS PHP Installer has been updated to version 1.04

The add-in installs a preconfigured PHP 5.2.6 install which includes the PHP software to make it easy and convenient to install PHP onto Windows Home Server.

This latest version includes a modified installer to install to c:\php5 and localized scripts missed in 1.03. and the bug in environment variable not removed on uninstall has been cleaned up.

Thanks to the German Home Server Blog for the update.

More details are available from here.

.NET developer Travis Illig is stating that a in-place upgrade for PerfectDisk doesn’t work for Windows Home Server:

PerfectDisk has a feature to "check for updates" from within the Windows Home Server console. It’s OK to use the "check for updates" feature to see if there’s an update, but do not install the update from there.

First, trying that will fail because the Windows Home Server console is open (Catch-22, eh?). Second, if you try to do the update from Windows Home Server via Terminal Services, it doesn’t quite do what you expect. I think the engine gets updated, but the console add-in doesn’t or something. Stuff gets messed up. Just don’t do it.

Travis shows us the proper sequence of events to install an update to PerfectDisk for WHS for a problem free upgrade.

You can read it here.

Version 3.1 of WHS-Download Manager is now available for download.

The add-in helps organize large amounts of data and can download ULRs. The add-in can be configured to download a specified amount of data at a specified time and is optimized for use with Rapidshare, both free and premium accounts.

Version 3.1 contains some bug fixes and adds a new feature: DLC-Container format support. Links encrypted in DLC-Files can be added to the Download-Pool.

Developer Christof Rakowski also tells us that a Client-Version, which will feed links to the Windows Home Server, will be out soon – Great news!

Grab the add-in from here.

Search in Windows 7 introduces Federated Search where you can search for items in remote locations right from within Windows Explorer.

For example you can search a web site (like mswhs.com) directly from the Windows 7 search box, and to make that possible we have made a search connector for MSWHS.com which also adds MSWHS to your favorite locations in Win7.

Just download and double click on the .osdx file to enable searching of MSWHS.com directly within Windows 7 Windows Explorer.

Download from here.

It has only been a few weeks since HP upgraded its MediaSmart home server range; we reviewed the excellent top of the range MediaSmart EX495, and found it to be a very capable and impressive little server. So what have HP got in store for us with the new StorageWorks x510 Data Vault range?

What’s different?

Well the principal difference from the EX49x server range is that the new servers are intended as small business servers rather than for home use. As such, they are essentially the same physical hardware albeit with different options on disk storage.

With the two consumer MediaSmart servers, the EX490 and the EX495 you get a single 1tb or 1.5tb hard disk respectively, but the x510 comes in three variants: a 1tb, 2tb and a 3tb (although they are all called the x510!) with the larger pair reaching their capacities using a pair of hard disks.

A pair of hard disks on the bigger two servers is a welcome addition as it allows businesses to set up folder duplication out of the box, although having said that, adding a second (or third or even forth) hard disk to the MediaSmart/StorageWorks family is so easy that it could be done by small children; well perhaps not, but the screw-less caddies do make adding hard disks very easy indeed.

A new addition for the StorageWorks x510 range is that HP are promising Amazon S3 backup storage integration in November 09, which could offer the potential of hassle-free off site backups for any business who want to have the extra data security this service can provide. No details of this service were available at the time of writing, but I am sure we will bring you news of how it operates and whether it will also be available to MediaSmart owners as soon as we know.

Hands on

The x510 ships in a rather business-like plain brown box, unlike the colorful and shiny one that the MediaSmart server pitched up wearing. Packed safely inside is the server itself, a power and Ethernet cable, three recovery disks (Software installation, PC Restore and Server Recovery) and a setup poster.

Unpacking the server reveals the first major difference; look it says HP Data Vault instead of HP MediaSmart Server on the front! But other than having a pair of hard disks already installed, there seems to be no obvious differences between this and the MediaSmart EX495 server. Also present up front is a single USB 2.0 port ready for connecting USB backup hard disks without having to grope around the back of the server.

Behind the mesh front door, and with the caddies removed we can see a pair of 80cm fans to keep the heat down and four sets of SATA and power connectors ready for the hard disks.

Finally around the back we find the remaining 3 x USB 2.0 connections, an eSATA, the Gigabit Ethernet port and the power socket and switch.

In use

When active, the server gave a very respectable power consumption of around 45w which dropped to around 30w when it was idle.  The dual core Intel E5200 processor and 2gb of RAM make short work of the regular server functions, and totally rip through the HP media conversion and streaming extras.

In addition to Microsoft Windows Home Server, the StorageWorks x510 has all the extra media streaming and conversion software that the MediaSmart servers have, so if you are unfamiliar with how cool HP’s extra software is, then check out our previous EX495 review.

Even though HP have used the same basic software for the x510, their attention to detail has extended to ensuring that any reference to ‘MediaSmart’ has been replaced with ‘Data Vault’.

Verdict

This has ended up being a pretty short review simply because everything that could be said about this server has already been said in our previous review of the EX495.

I am not really sure why HP have renamed the MediaSmart server in order to sell it to businesses; but if this means that HP are able to push more servers out though their business distribution and support channels, then great, if more of these fantastic servers are available to users. And if that means that more customers outside the US can get hold of one, then that is even better news to the consumers in countries who aren’t able to buy a MediaSmart server yet.

Even though this is really a home server wearing a business suit, for any small business or regional office of a large company, the combination of Windows Home Server and the HP x510 are a cracking solution to their storage and backup needs, which will provide immediate security that will grow easily with their storage needs. The protection of of the data stored on this server can only be strengthened when the Amazon S3 integration ships later in the year.

This is still a great server package whatever name HP call it.

If you would like to install Team Foundation Server (TFS) onto Windows Home Server you are in luck.

TFS is a team collaboration server that provides work item tracking, source control, reporting, process guidance and more. Version 2010 Beta2 can be installed on WHS by using a remote desktop connection and website “Gaffer-Tape Engineering” takes us through the steps and also explains how to export the Home Server certificate which is also required.

You can read the full tutorial here.

The Windows Home Server Blog has a short video interview with Jonas Svensson, Community Program Manager on the WHS team who tells us what his role entails as well as telling us his favorite features in Windows Home Server as well details on his two WHS machines.

Show 62 of The Home Server Show podcast with some great chat on Windows Home Server as well as Windows 7.

Get it here.

Episode 229 of The Media Center Show podcast has an interview with fellow MVP Andrew Edney about Windows Home Server, the latest hardware from HP and Lenovo, Power Pack 3 and Windows 7 including Andrew’s new book Windows 7 Tweaks, Tips and Tricks.

You can give it a listen here.

PC Pro has given the HP MediaSmart Server EX490 a recommended badge, giving it 5 out of 6 for it’s overall rating :

So while the MediaSmart EX490 gets a definite thumbs up, we suggest you take stock of your needs – and the devices on your home network – before taking the plunge. For basic home server duties a cheaper, simpler option, such as the Tranquil T2, may work just as well. But if the sophistications of the EX490 fit your home and your budget then go for it: it’s a capable and excellently designed little server.

You can read the review here.

What’s the easiest way to get your hands on a Windows Home Server?

You can either buy a commercial model or build your own and lifehacker, the website that helps you get things done smarter and more efficiently takes us through both scenarios as well as showing us how to take full advantage of the available features including add-ins of Windows Home Server.

Read it here.

What would you expect to find in a Hello Kitty doll’s house?

Perhaps an Acer H340 Windows Home Server (1) alongside a Windows 7 PC (2) and a printer (3)!

I may be a married man in my 40s, but I now want a dolls house! (for the wife of course).

Thanks to fellow MVP Yoshihiro Okabe for the pics taken at the Windows Home Server booth at ITpro EXPO 2009 in Tokyo.

The radio talk show "Computer Outlook" has Steven Leonard the Senior Product Manager on the Windows Home Server team and Jonas Svensson the Program Manager for Windows Home Server on the show chatting Windows Home Server.

From an overview to different builds with lots of questions answered too, including on Windows 7 you can find the show under 10/25/09 Java with John.

D-Links most popular home security cameras can now be managed and accessed within the Windows Home Server console.

After a longer than usual install process (compared to other add-ins) the D-ViewCam add-in adds a D-Link IP Camera tab in the WHS console. Video and motion monitoring are recorded from D-Link security cameras directly to the server where users can configure the recording schedules and access recorded or streaming video from the home server using a web browser.

As well as this users can remotely access their IP surveillance system from any computer with Internet access. 

As you can see four cameras can be viewed at once on a single screen.

At the current time the DCS-1100, DCS-1130, DCS-2121 and DCS-920 D-Link network camera models are compatible with the D-ViewCam add-in for Windows Home Server, although D-Link have stated that they are working on developing more D-Link devices which are WHS compatible

Steven Leonard, Microsoft Senior Product Manager for WHS had this to say:

We are pleased that D-Link is continuing to extend the value of Windows Home Server with the D-ViewCam Add-in, Windows Home Server provides a perfect platform for D-Link’s popular surveillance solutions, providing peace-of-mind for customers at home and in their business.

As well as the add-in D-Link are also providing a 65 page PDF User Manual which are all available from here.

For 3 days only you can get PerfectDisk 10 Windows Home Server for 30% off, and this applies to either the single pack which also includes a license for 1 connected PC too or the site license which also includes 10 licenses for other connected PCs.

Single Pack includes 1 PerfectDisk Pro license to also defrag 1 PC in your WHS environment Normally $ 49.99 NOW $34.99 Saving $15

Site License includes 10 PerfectDisk Pro licenses to also defrag every connected PC in your WHS environment Normally $ 99.99 NOW $69.99 Saving $30

Ssssh keep this 3-day secret sales event secret, it says – Or if it was it isn’t now! Just enter code PDSECRET30 at checkout, but hurry as it expires Thursday 29th October.

More details and to order are available here.

Automated Home has a great home build article their calling the JukeBox MkII

Comprising a 2.60GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5300 on a ASUS P5Q Deluxe motherboard with 4GB of RAM and a Corsair 450W “80 Plus” PSU this build is impressive especially once you add the 8 SATA hard drives to the mix.

Read it here.

Website Paraesthesia asks the question “One year on is Windows Home Server all I thought it would be?”

The post goes through the decent parts of WHS as well as the not so decent parts. The author of the post concludes the article by asking, would I still recommend a Windows Home Server?

You can find the answer here.

Last week to coincide with the launch of Windows 7 we were offering a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate and a copy of Windows Home Server to one lucky person who sent us a tweet telling us the best thing they like about Windows 7 and WHS together as one.

Yesterday we had a marvelous piece of technology pick a winner (my wife picking a winner from a winter hat) and we would like to say congratulations to Brian Coats, the winner of both Windows 7 and a copy of Windows Home Server. We have been in contact with Brian and both pieces of software are in the post to him today – Well done!

With all the latest Windows Home Server news and views this weeks episode is also on Windows 7.

Catch show #61 here.

Another review of the MediaSmart EX495 from HP, this time courtesy of Gizmodo.

The review explains what the unit still does compared with the EX48x range and what it does even better.

Read it here.

Photography website PhotoDoto is giving away a HP MediaSmart EX490 Server.

All you need to do is leave a comment to their post explaining how you would use the MediaSmart server, but make sure you do before the competition ends on the 6th November.

More details and the rules are here.

The add-in CloudBerry Backup for Windows Home Server is now available for download in beta.

We mentioned CloudBerry Online Backup back in August, and today they have released a beta release for you to download. The add-in utilizes Amazons S3 storage to provide additional peace of find in case of fire or theft etc by backing up your data to the cloud.

This 1.3.0.338 release is beta so please send CloudBerry Lab any feedback on what you like and don’t like and let them know if you have any problems.

More details are available from here as well as the download.

With Windows 7 being officially available today we wanted to treat you to something special.

So if you have not got yourself a copy of Windows 7 yet or you haven’t got a copy of Windows Home Server (What!) then we have a copy of both up for grabs, both courtesy of our friends at Microsoft HQ. And the copy of Windows 7 is the Ultimate build with both the 32 and 64-bit versions, full version NOT upgrade.

One lucky person can win both by telling us the best thing you like about Windows 7 and WHS together as one.

To enter follow us on Twitter and send us a Tweet with your answer, re-tweeting about this competition with a link to this post will give you an extra 2 free entries – Let the Twittering commence!

One winner will be announced Sunday 25th October, competition closes Midnight Saturday 24th October, comments left to this post below will not be entered, Tweeting and re-tweeting is the only method of entry.

WHS Mobile. the add-in for our mobile devices has been updated to version 1.5.3

This latest update now works fine with my iPhone whereas the previous version did not. Developer Brent Friendman has now added a PDF help document to help you setup and configure the Home Server add-in and the app for either your iPhone/iPod Touch or your Windows Mobile device.

iPhone/iPod Touch Updates:

• UI Improvements
• No more waiting for a folder’s thumbnails to load
• Uploading Fix
• Enhanced Security
• Added support for high-bitrate
• Added document viewing (PDF, HTML, XLS, and DOC formats)
• Search has been redone
• Space error fixed
• Now configures correctly on non-English Home Server’s

Windows Mobile Updates:

• Asynchronous thumbnail loading (like the iPhone)
• Bug Fixes
• Smartphone edition (non-touch screen devices) support – With the Smartphone edition, uploading and downloading is currently not supported because the prompts have to be re-written.

More information is available from here.

Today’s a big day as Windows 7 has hit General Availability (GA) and is now available for purchase by the masses.

Windows 7 includes an improved Backup and Restore Center, which integrates well with Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 (PP3), with Home Server being the best way to backup off course as its a setup and forget routine instead of a manual backup process.

Although currently in beta, PP3 will suppress the Windows 7 Action Center Backup warnings and you will no longer receive a notification to back up your computer when its being handled by WHS.

PP3 also adds the Music, Photos and Videos shared folders on your home server to Windows 7 Libraries making the content available in Windows Explorer, Windows Media Center, Windows Media Player and other applications that use Windows 7 Libraries. This allows you to quickly access all your content in one organized place that is always available, searchable and expandable. You can also search a specific library without having to know where the files are stored.

And remember if you are doing an upgrade to Windows 7 make sure that you do a manual backup of your PC from within the Windows Home Server console, Computers & Backup, Backup Now and naming the backup something like "Pre 7 Backup".

P.S. If you would like to watch the live Windows 7 launch event from New York with Steve Ballmer it will be available from here today (Oct 22) at 8 a.m. PDT/11:00 a.m. EDT

I have looked at everyone’s comments from part 1 and have to say I agree with them, so I want to clarify what it is I am trying to convey. Hyper-v isn’t going to be for everyone, I except that, and I also except that hyper-v is not going to be for the average user that only uses WHS for just backing up, maybe a laptop and desktop, then maybe accessing some files on their WHS from work. At the same time, that same person, probably won’t be reading this article, this article is for enthusiasts, professionals and anybody else interested in enhancing their use of not just WHS but a completely different way of working with multiple OS’s.

I want to clear a few things up now, firstly I mentioned in part 1 that hyper-v offers more flexibility, and by this I mean gives you more control over how much how much RAM, Disk Space and most importantly what percentage of the CPU is allowed to be consumed by a virtual WHS. These three things are extremely important for me in order to use my server effectively and efficiently. The reason for this is I might want to allocate a higher percentage of RAM and CPU resources, to my Virtual Server 2008 Active Directory machine, because I know I am going to have people remotely accessing this server for use with terminal services. I understand that not many would have this scenario play out, but the principles are there for you to apply this to your own situation.

Energy saving was something else that was commented about in part 1, energy savings are none comparable to having 3 or, maybe 4 separate machines, each having powered at one time a Hard Drive, Motherboard, CD drive and other additional devices. This again is not a direct reflection of WHS but multiple OS’s combined, with effective use of resource allocation as above, makes for a major saving in electricity bills. Again I except that this is not the case for the average user, but from experience the majority of WHS users are professionals and enthusiasts at the moment, all of whom this article is applicable.

Ok then so picking from part 1, you should now have hyper-v installed on your machine, if you have had any problems installing hyper-v you can see full instructions here, these instructions are from a beta install but haven’t changed since as you only need to follow from 1 – 4. I do just want to point out at this stage, if you are running windows 7 pro or ultimate, you will need to download the “Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7” and install, this will provide you with the hyper-v remote management console.

You should now be looking at your console as below, you should also be able to see that I have called my hyper-v server “HOST_SERVER” the name of your server should be displayed here at the moment.

Now all you need to do is create a virtual machine and install WHS. First of all you will see in the far right hand side “New”, click New and then “Virtual Machine”

You should now see the above, enter a name for your Virtual WHS and change the store directory where relevant, and then click next.

You can now allocate the amount of RAM you wish your Virtual WHS to use, I would advise around 2GB if possible, then click next.

You are now able to select your network adapter, at the moment we have not set this up, so leave as “Not Connected”.

At this point it asks you about a Virtual Hard Drive, from here you can create, use existing or attach one later.

You will also notice that it is asking how much space you would like to allocate to the drive. Now, don’t worry too much, this can be changed later, so you can extend the amount of space within the drive, even after WHS has been installed, although you will need some partition editing software such “Acronis Disk Editor” so this isn’t a screen to get hung up about. My advice at this point is, if this is the first virtual disk you are creating for your virtual WHS, and for most of you it will be, I would allocate a small amount of disk space maybe around 40GB – 60GB, for reasons I will go through later, just remember this space isn’t instantly taken from your physical hard drive, the virtual disk grows as you add data to the Virtual Disk through WHS this is called a Dynamically Expanding Virtual Disk.

Once you have done click next.

At this stage you are able to install an OS immediately using an ISO, Physical Disk, Virtual Floppy or a Network Install. I always choose “Install an Operating System Later” the reason for this, is I like to look over the settings of the virtual machine before it is booted, also we still need to add a network adapter that we haven’t yet setup.

Once you have clicked finish you should see the Virtual WHS in the Management Console, and in the top right hand side you will see “Virtual Network Manager” click here to open this and to create your virtual network adapter.

Now at this point I want to point out the importance and advantages of having 2 network adapters in your host server, 2 network adapters allow for 1 to be used for all your virtual machines including WHS, and 1 solely dedicated to your host server. The advantage of having a separate network adapters for the host server is that internal remote administration and management of the host server can be done on one network adapter, and all other communications for guest sessions will occur over a different network adapter. This setup provides isolated administrative control to the host server from the direct access, communications, and control of the guest sessions. The other reason in a different environment such as business, with only one adapter, once one person has control on that network, they could then take full control of the host server, and all other virtual machines running on that host server, but that is a completely different example altogether but still a security feature never the less.

You should new see the above, there are three different types of adapters you can create, but we are just using external, so select and click “add”.

Now you get to name your adapter whatever you like, select the relevant external adapter you are going to use for your virtual WHS, remember if you have 2 adapters try and leave one completely separate from your virtual machines.

Once you are done click ok.

Now in the Hyper-v management console, right click your virtual WHS machine and select settings.

Here you can check all the settings for your virtual WHS, also you can assign the network adapter you have just created, change RAM and BIOS settings that sort of thing.

At this point we have only got one hard drive assigned to the virtual WHS, and for the installation that’s all you really need, I would advise adding more virtual hard drives later after the install, I will explain why and go through the install in Part 3.

Matthew Glover
www.matthewglover.co.uk

Tech writer Bob Rankin asks the question Is Your Hard Drive Dying?

Although not specifically written for Windows Home Server his post is good reading as it highlights the signs to watch out for for WHEN* your  hard drive is about to fail, whether it is in your Home Server, your client PC or some other place.

Bob’s post is available to read here.

*Notice we used the word WHEN and not IF, because ALL hard drives DO eventually fail – Another reason to make sure that you have a Windows Home Server automatically backing up your computers every evening.

Mobile computing site Notebooks.com have given the HP MediaSmart EX495 a Editor’s Choice Award.

Reviewer Xavier stated:

The MediaSmart Server EX495 is the best backup and media sharing solution I’ve found for people that have a combination of Macs and PCs scattered around the house.

The full review which includes a 10 minute video on the iStream App for the iPhone is available here.

Small business specialist Pete Cullen tells us why Windows Home Server is an ideal product for those of you running a small business from home.

You can read his article here.

VIA is pretty well known for its chipsets, processors and boards, but less so for complete systems. So I find myself here with the NSD-7800 server, which is a complete system from VIA, well not really a complete system as it ships without hard disks or operating system, so that makes it a bare bones system then.

Hardware

For the NSD-7800, VIA have taken their embedded NAS-7800 board and popped it into a compact little eight drive bay case, and the case is smaller than you expect an eight drive bay case to be, measuring approximately 13.5 L x 6 W x 13.5 H (34 x 15 x 34 cm).

Inside, the NAS-7800 board is equipped with VIA’s own C7-D processor running at 1.5Ghz, a DDR2 RAM slot with a maximum capacity of 1gb and 8 SATA connections. Interestingly this board also sports a bootable type-I Compact Flash slot for any system builders who fancy putting an embedded operating system onto that particular medium. An embedded VIA VT6130 LAN card and VIA Unichrome Pro Graphics are also present and correct.

Finally inside, we find a 300w ATX power supply, and a 120cm fan keeping everything nice and cool.

Outside, the case has normal glossy black finished metal we all expect our servers to be wearing this year, along with four rear USB sockets, a gigabit Ethernet connection and power in. Up front are some status lights an a power button.

Opening up the mesh front door reveals the eight hard disk caddies which can are removed by sliding the silver section on the right hand side and pulling the lever that pops out; all pretty straightforward stuff.

Installation

The NSD-7800 has been designed to operate as a headless server, and as such is has no VGA connection on the rear panel. Unlike the HP MediaSmart servers which use TFTP to load the operating system, the NSD-7800 requires you to install an operating system locally; so how do you manage this with no VGA connection? Well thankfully there is a VGA pin header on the motherboard, and VIA supply a VGA cable to convert the header pins to a proper VGA socket allowing you to connect up a screen.

With the monitor dutifully connected, the installation of Windows Home Server still presents a couple of challenges. For one thing, the lack of a built-in CD/DVD drive presents you with an initial hurdle of how to install the operating system. This is of course easily remedied with either a USB DVD drive or by transferring the WHS installation media over to a USB memory stick.

Installing a hard disk into one of the caddies wasn’t a great chore, four screws and in it went. Not as simple as a MediaSmart server, but easier than installing it internally on a regular case. The next question was which of the eight drive bays should the system disk go in? As I have been used to using an HP MediaSmart server, I automatically went for the lower bay. This turns out to be a mistake with the NSD-7800 as the lower 4 bays are connected to the RAID controller which means the Windows installer disk can’t see them. A better bet then is the top most drive bay which is connected to the regular SATA controller.

Lastly connect up a USB keyboard and mouse, power and Ethernet and you are ready to go with the installation.

Using my newly created installation USB thumb drive, the NSD-7800 loaded Windows Home Server without any problems, and everything seemed fine until I tried to access the server from another PC across the network. What could be wrong? Well simply that the Windows Home Server installation media doesn’t contain the drivers for the NSD-7800’s embedded VT6130 network card (it didn’t have the RAID drivers either, but never mind). A quick trip to VIA driver web site soon sorted things out and we are up and running on the network.

In use

Power consumption using a single hard disk was a respectable 40w, and the NSD-7800 ran pretty quiet and cool during use.

The NSD-7800’s little C7-D 1.5ghz processor and 1gb of RAM are never going to set the world on fire in raw CPU horsepower, but they seemed perfectly sufficient to power Windows Home Server to an acceptable level of performance. If you like to add a plethora of other applications onto your home server, then you should perhaps consider another platform as I would expect the NSD-7800 will run out of steam pretty quickly, but as a basic Windows Home Server box you should be fine.

And here lies the strength of this little system; as a simple file server this server can currently pack up to 16tb of storage into a small form factor, low power consumption package, not forgetting that this can be extended further using the four USB sockets up to a possible 24tb if you wish (assuming all of your disks are 2tb). Not many other systems of this size can boast that amount of storage capacity.

Verdict

It would be unfair to compare the NSD-7800 with complete and ready to go servers like the recently release HP MediaSmart server. This is because the NSD-7800 is a barebones system, supplied without any hard disk or even an operating system. In fact the NSD-7800 isn’t even specifically intended as a Windows Home Server, as other operating systems will work just fine on it.

However, it is impossible to ignore the fact that you can get a ready to go HP MediaSmart EX490 with all its extra media streaming bells and whistles for around $550, which is only marginally more than the NSD-7800 which is available for around $530 (www.e-itx.com or www.via-itx.com), and this is before you buy any hard disks or a copy of Windows Home Server.

So the NSD-7800’s strengths are as a workhorse system, able to provide a single box solution for a large amount of storage, but with weaknesses being the additional cost and perhaps lacking the extra power to offer the media conversion and streaming tricks of an HP MediaSmart server.

VIA NSD-7800 News Release

Computer Shopper online has a short look at at HPs EX490 MediaSmart Server.

In their first look report, writer Alan Lu had this to say:

Our initial impressions of HP’s MediaSmart EX490 are positive, but it will face stiff competition from the latest NAS models, such as Netgear’s upcoming Stora which can also automatically post your photos online.

You can read it here.

Fellow Windows Home Server MVP Olaf Engelke has written a great post on How to Troubleshoot Network Connection Problems with Windows Home Server.

Available on the official WHS Forums the how to explains what to do when:

..you try to install the Connector software from CD, the shared folder \\Server\Software\Home Server Connector Software or the Website http://server:55000 the server cannot be found at some point. The same can happen at a later time, if you try to open the console from the context menu of the already installed Connector. The error messages may vary, they may look like Server not found, The operation cannot be completed at this time or Password incorrect.

Olaf goes through 3 different methods to resolve this problem, which you can find here.

For those of you who don’t know, Tekzilla is tech internet television and the latest episode 110 looks at how to build yourself a Windows Home Server (10 Minutes in).

Maximum PCs Editor in Chief Will Smith chats to host  Patrick Norton about hardware for your home build as well as some useful tips, which you can watch here.

The latest edition of The Home Server Show podcast is out and this weeks episode has some great chat about the HP MediaSmart Server’s as well as the latest news, listeners emails and off course the add-in of the week.

Episode 60 is available from here.

We have talked about P80 in the past but now developer Kris Rodenhausen has released P80 as a proper add-in which can be installed and uninstalled like other add-ins via the console.

P80 is a website that you can view via your homepage and gives a central overview of various kinds of information that you normally would need to query from all kinds of places (WHS Console, RDP etc).

P80 provides a lot of information into one compact website, which also has the advantage that it can be viewed using a web enabled mobile phone,  which you can also use to shut down and reboot your machines too as long as you have AutoExit 2008R2 or 2009 installed too.

More information is available from here.

Microsoft employee Scott Hanselman explains how he recovered a PC by using the Windows Home Server recovery CD although it hadn’t got network drivers installed.

Since the PC being recovered was only used on a dial-up connection network drivers had never been installed so naturally the restore process stopped in its tracks. But by using a USB stick and a trip to Dell,s support site things were back on normal.

You can read Scott’s adventures here.