Personal Computer World are reporting that German OEM Medion are delaying the release of their long-awaited Windows Home Server hardware in Europe until Microsoft release a fix for the Data Corruption Bug which has been identified in the product.
Whilst the device is on show at Cebit over in Germany this week, UK product manager Rick Munday said it would not sell the device until Microsoft fixed a data corruption flaw that can in rare circumstances scramble files.
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bug, cebit, corruption, data, delay, Hardware, kb, medion, oem, release
This post was written by:
Terry Walsh - who has written 573 posts on We Got Served.
Hi - I'm Terry and I'm the Owner of We Got Served. The site's been covering everything to do with Windows Home Server since February 2007.
I live in Silverstone, UK with my wife and when I'm not working on We Got Served, I have a career as an Innovation Consultant to contend with.
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March 7th, 2008 at 1:39 am
Good on them! Its clear that they do not want to deal with irate customers that suffer from this bug and call their support lines.
MS really need to pull their finger out here because its a still born product otherwise.
March 7th, 2008 at 5:23 am
Blah blah blah. Complain about corruption. I’ve been using WHS since it was beta, and I’ve not had one single issue arise. Don’t use the apps listed in their KB and you’re fine.
I don’t see the point in coming here to complain about WHS on a WHS enthusiast website. We don’t care about your bashing and attempted discredit. I love the product. Go troll somewhere else.
March 7th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Keith, that’s such a negative and unhelpful comment. I agree with Lee - it’s good to see a company take a stance, rather than just try to make a quick buck and shove a flaky product out there. (Of course, they will also be thinking of themselves, in that if people buy a Medion WHS and get corruption then they will almost certainly complain to Medion in the first instance.)
“Blah blah blah. Complain about corruption. I’ve been using WHS since it was beta, and I’ve not had one single issue arise. Don’t use the apps listed in their KB and you’re fine.”
Big deal - you’ve not had any corruption. Well bully for you - I’m sure that will make all the people who have lost data feel MUCH better…
The apps listed in the KB include WMP, which the recent developments have shown can corrupt files by changing metadata, even when you are only playing media off the WHS. Therefore, the problem currently means it’s not safe to access any photographs, music files, or much in the way of video media off a WHS to an MCE or VMC machine without taking a risk.
As it happens, *I* love WHS as well. I just want to see this fixed, not swept under the carpet. That’s the reason it’s actually VITAL that real enthusiasts gather on a WHS site and discuss the problems, rather than being branded as trolls and chased away.
March 7th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I agree with Keith. It only happens when you use more than one hard drive and the apps listed anyway. I’ve had zero trouble in almost a year of use.
March 7th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I would say that if you have a WHS with only one disc, then the security of the data on your server can’t be much of a concern to you anyway?
It all depends on the usage scenario - the difference between using the server as your file repository, or simply to back up other locations.
March 7th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
I have a Windows Media Center, I like sync toy, and this bug has kept me from buying/building a WHS. I read an enthusiast site because I would already have a WHS and be an enthusiast if this bug didn’t exist. I don’t want to have to worry about data corruption on my back-up system and media server. That’s kind of the point of the server, so I don’t have to worry about losing my data.
I am patiently waiting, but I won’t wait forever.
- Chris
March 7th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
I bought a copy of WHS to use at our small/medium church as a way to backup the 6 pc’s we have there. I was ok until we had this problem with Excel files getting corrupted for no apparent reason. I had enabled offline files for their MyDocuments and it started munching files!
Now the server sits idly while I wait for a fix.
Usually, when you put the word “Server” on a product, it implies “stable.” No so here. I hope we hear something from MSFT soon, so I can justify the purchase of the software.
March 7th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Well Dan,
you really scared me…. I have a self build WHS with 6 disks (1×160 + 5×500GB) with all my music / docs & photo’s (with duplication) and about 150 ripped DVD’s (that I own, not illiegal ones, not duplicated)… I thought I was save for the bug because I allways copy my files locally to my pc before editing….but are you now saying that even playing mp3’s from the WHS with WMP11 is all that it takes to corrupt my files ??? Question: are it only the played files who become corrupt ? Or can a “data corruption” while playing ans mp3 destroy any of my photo’s ??
I think WHS is awsome (I really, really, really love the backup thing), but if I understand your info correct, I’m in a -serious - bit of potential trouble ( I can’t backup 2 TB to another location ;(
Geert
March 7th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
I think that WHS is a great product with tons of potential but agree that vendors should take a stand and it should be discussed by enthusiasts.
It has been about 2.5 months since the bug was announced and the community has been very patient but at some point that patience is going to end. I know mine is anyway.
March 7th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Wow, I caused a stir…. well that’s nice considering I wasn’t bashing I was making a point! I have an EX470 and two drives and clearly Keith has no idea that if you use WMP or ITunes and have your library updated by those apps (think tags here) then you might well find your library gets corrupted over time. I also agree, if you have one drive you aren’t really protecting your data because if it fails where does that leave you?
The point I was trying to make was the pressure that a manufacturer has delayed release because of this bug must be fairly large and that’s good. Remember that Medion would not have taken this decision likely because their years financial forecast would not take this type of activity into account!
Microsoft definitely dropped the ball here and considering I am a WHS enthusiast (who has invested in a machine that was designed specifically for it) I have complete rights to say what I like just as you do. You have completely overreacted to my comments Keith and seriously, if you are using the product as its designed then it’s more likely you would have seen the bug. The scary thing is - have you corrupt files already that you don’t know about (and that’s the fear I have even though I have a complete backup prior to using WHS).
So I am patiently waiting for MS to issue something tangible for us to alleviate my fear and this news is only positive (in a roundabout way) in my opinion.
March 7th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Sorry - typo - meant to say that Medion wouldnt have taken the decision liGHTly not likely!
March 7th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
I like this product too and have been using it since beta, but it does put a limit on what you can do. I’ve corrupted a few streaming audio files due to copying data to the WHS.
This has to be a marketing nightmare for the MS team. I just hope they get it resolved sooner rather than later. It is never a good sign when OEM’s start putting the breaks on production.
March 8th, 2008 at 1:40 am
It looks like we will be getting an update on Monday. Check out this site: http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2968545&SiteID=50
March 8th, 2008 at 7:28 am
I think its fair enough if they want to delay until the corruption bug issue is resolved. Personally I have been thinking of shutting mine down until this is fixed, just need to asses a few things first.
WHS is a great product and i love its features and plan to use it in my home for many years to come, But this corruption bug is not good, should not have happened and need to be addressed to restore consumer/community confidence in WHS.
I look forward to the fix and power pack 1.
RB
March 10th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Quote from Forum:
Yes - this coming Monday. We have been heads down - working on this non-stop, and come Monday we will update status and give a prelim schedule based on our best estimates.
Thanks to everybody for the honest and open feedback. I can’t fault people for sharing their feelings. I work on the team and use Windows Home Server at home. I have been following the guidance from the KB 946676 article. I too am waiting for the issue to be addressed.
My home server backs up my home PCs every night, and I use the Remote Access functionality. I also stream music to my old stereo that has a ROKU hooked up and access content from my Xbox - all that - while following the guidance in the KB article.
more soon …have a good weekend!
Windows Home Server Team
March 12th, 2008 at 4:42 am
Maybe Lee or some others here were being honest and fair… but far too many times I come here and see people just ranting and ranting, without warrant, about how WHS sucks and the data corruption bug is eating all their data. Actually, it’s more the case that I see people ranting about how the corruption bug is so severe that it is holding them back from buying a WHS. So they just complain about what they think to be true … they don’t even know first hand. it just doesn’t work like people are saying, and you’re not going to convince me otherwise. Follow the recommendations by MS, don’t use certain apps, don’t modify data directly through the shares… do those things, and you’re fine.
I have 1 OS drive, 4 data drives. I’m running Webguide, which streams music and video - about 4 people are streaming at any given time during the day, and my music collection is near 300gb. I have maybe 5gb of family photos, I’m running other websites off the box, including a great CMS called Graffiti. I’m using the Jungledisk addon to backup most of my data to Amazon s3. I am using Hamachi, installed as a service through some ‘hacks’, so I can easily access my data from work. All this and more, and I’ve never even once had an issue - not with performance, not with data corruption - and the machine is a piece of crap Dell OptiPlex GX280 P4 3GHz with 2GB RAM, the OS drive is SATA I, the 4 data drives are 250gb IDE drives connected via USB enclosures.
I’ve been wanting to move to a much nicer home built machine, but just haven’t had the motivation since things are going so well with my current crappy hardware. So don’t come here whining and moaning about some supposed ultra critical, doom and gloom bug.
March 12th, 2008 at 9:59 am
I wonder how many people are now wishing data corruption on Keith?!
March 12th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Hey Keith,
I hope your not refering to me….because a) I do have a WHS (since beta) b) I wasn’t bashing on WHS (great product), but on MS because it take so long to fix it and I really think there advice sucks. I know that following their advice will “solve” the problem but working without duplication, with read-only share, and not using the apps in the list …. is like not working at all….. (maybe the next time you go the your doctor and you tell hem your chest hurts when you breath, he should answer : stop breathing ;).
I realise that most people, including me (I hope) are not affected by the bug…but the real problem is that you don’t know for sure…. i have about 4000 MP3’s, around 150 DVD’s and lots of photo’s on my home server just to put them save (and I do have a backup on a NAS, with networking replication one-way between the WHS and the NAS…. problem is that corrupted files on the WHS, will corrupt the copy on the NAS) and there seems to be no way to tell if destruction has hit.
greetz
Geert