The reason I ask is I have this dilemma that I have ignored for quite some time.  I have 3 bare drives that I have 3 OS’s on.  Windows 2000, Windows XP Home, and Vista Business 32-bit that I use for testing Crystalfontz LCD’s and their associated software CrystalControl2.  If I need to do some testing, I simply shut my WHS machine down, pull the WHS boot disk and replace it with one of the other boot disks.  Instant presto-chango. OK, I know you virtualization dudes are going to raise your eyebrows and give me the Evil Eye.  But since I do not need these OS’s very often (at the moment), I prefer to simply swap out HD’s.

So, what are the ghetto storage solutions?  Here is my list:

•  ”I do not have extra HD’s.  They are all in use!”  Obviously, this is not a ghetto solution, but you can leave now.  I’m wasting your time!
  
   
• “I don’t have bare drives.  Mine are all in external cases.”  Again, not a ghetto solution, but OK, you can leave also.
   

• “Storage?  Just throw them on a shelf.”  And hope they still work over time!
  
   
• “The little anti-static bag they come in.”  Kool!  A step up from nothing.
   
   
• “The original retail box the HD came in”   OK, if you bought a retail HD.  Actually, I do have a couple that I am currently using.  Works, but elegant?  Space saving?  Not quite.
   
• “A soft case used to store external HD’s.”  Expensive and really not quite that elegant.

• “A hard body case.”  Ah, yes.  Indestructible!  Elegant?  Perhaps.  Space saving?  Not.  Expensive?  To the max.
  

For various reasons, the solutions above either did not apply or I did not like.

One of the forums that I peruse is the [H]ardforum.  Recently, I came across a post which had a few blurbs about this topic.  So off I went searching for HD storage ideas.  Using “hard drive case storage” gave me lots and lots of external case hits.  This hit also came back.  It took me about 10 seconds to decide that the simple case at the top would be perfect, simple but elegant!  But  6 bucks (plus shipping)!  Forget it, I’m a cheap b**tard!  The comment, “You can get plastic storage cases for hard drives, they look like vcr boxes.”, on that [H]ard post gave me an idea, though.  I do have a ton of VHS cases around here.  Not the “cheap” boxes, the real nice cases that VHS movies came in.  So I got a couple out and tried them out.

They worked perfectly!  HD’s are almost identical in size to a VHS tape, just a bit shorter.  The cases should be naturally anti-static since VHS tapes do not respond well to static, either.  And since HD’s are shorter than a VHS tape, there is enough room to drop in one of those little silica gel packets that are shipped with most electronic equipment.

So if you have any old VHS movies laying around gathering dust, it is time to find a better use for them.  It worked for me.  Simple, but elegant!  Of course, you may not have any these cases laying around.  My suggestion is to go down to your local movie rental store.  I’m sure they a few old VHS movies that they love to unload on you.  And probably cheaper than the 6 bucks (plus shipping) alternative above.

To round out the “simple, but elegant” theme, I needed to create a sleeve template to identify these HD’s.  I did my usual Internet search, this time for “vhs tape template”.  One hit came back giving me the exact dimensions for a VHS box sleeve.  I fired up Word and created a perfect template using tables.

Attached to this post is that template.  I have also attached a template that I created a loooong time ago for CD/DVD jewel cases, for those who are looking for an elegant method of labeling those CD/DVD backups you may have lying around.

VHS Case Template

CD\DVD Jewel Case Template

Which now leads me to one question:  Did I miss any solutions?  Let me know.  I might just like your idea better.

• How to: Convert VHS Tapes to a Digital Format
• How to: Rebuild and Expand Windows Home Server Storage
• Under the Hood: Windows Home Server Backup
• How To… Add A USB Hard Drive to Windows Home Server
• MyMovies Media Center Plug-in

But the next best thing is pointing you in the right direction to show you how to do it.  So without further ado, head on over to Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows and check it out.

Now, if some vendor would just have a “buy one, get two” sale on 1TB drives, I’d be very happy!

• Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 RC Publically Available
• Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 In Depth: External Backup
• Windows Home Server Power Pack 1: Database Backup Shelved
• S1Digital to Launch Windows Home Server Hardware in 2008
• Whiist Wins the Windows Home Server Code2Fame Challenge!

First things first.  Regardless of whether you think you are going to have problems, you are going to want to download and install the Windows Home Server Toolkit v1 from the Microsoft website. Also, make sure that you have the “Help make Windows Home Server better” in the “Customer Experience Improvement” section.

Windows Home Server Toolkit V1

Download this and install this on every computer with the Power Pack 1 Connector.  That way, if and when something happens you don’t have to do it later.  It gathers information about the system and helps the WHS team to be able to diagnosis the issue and fix it.  After you install it run this command:

• “C:\Program Files\Windows Home Server\Toolkit\ConnectorTroubleshooter.exe” -a

When it comes up, click the “Server” Menu, and select the “Publish Server Add-in”.  Input the correct information and click okay. This copies the toolkit addin to Home Server so you can install it.  Now log onto the WHS Console and install the Toolkit.  There are some nice features in the toolkit for diagnosing problems anyways, but you will need to do this to properly report bugs.

Now when you do discover a bug, head over to Connect.  You will have to search for exsisting bugs before you can submit.  This is to prevent a large number of duplicate bugs that would have to be linked together.  This may take us slightly longer, but then again, if you are able to confirm a bug, that helps the WHS team that much more to be able to isolate it and fix it.

CAD IDs

Every time you report a bug, you are going to need to report CAD IDs.  These identify your system and configuration and any errors your system encountered.  These allow the WHS Team to track down problems.  On your client computers, to get your CAD number, click the start menu, find the “Windows Home Server Toolkit” directory, and run “Error Reporting”.  Click “Y” when the prompt asks.  It will give you the CAD number. Write this down or immediately add it to the bug summision form.  On the server, open the Console.  Click the “Settings” button, and open up the “Toolkit” page.  Click the “Support” tab and click the “Send” button in the “Send Logs Files for Problem Investigation” section.  Again, you will need these numbers every time you report a bug.  If you don’t or you forget to, they will email you with a notice to do so.  Trust me, I’ve already gotten the email.

Reporting a Bug

When you do find a bug, head over to Microsoft Connect.  Click on the feedback link.  Now you can select “Submit Feedback” button, but it will force you to search for you bug first, or you can just seach first.  If you find a bug that matches yours, open it up and comment, verify, vote or add to it.  This way the WHS team knows how many it effects, and don’t forget to add your CAD IDs somewhere.  That way they will have an easier time isolating the bug.  If you can’t find anything that matches your specific problem, click the “Submit Feedback” button at the bottom of the page, and use the WHS Power Pack 1 Public Beta Bug Report Form.  Try to be as detailed as possible. The more detailed you are, the easier it is on the WHS Team and they have already done so much for us.  Why not give them a break!  If you can, include screen shots of the problem just to verify and show them exactly what you mean.  A picture says a thousand words, and the description is limited to 5000 characters!

Trying to Break Power Pack 1

AKA: Beta testing Power Pack 1.  Now we are going to go over the various testing scenarios for testing PP1.  Remember, you could very easily break your box this way, but be sure that it isn’t that likely.  It is in RC4 after all, and most of the big nasty bugs should have been squashed by now.  But that is what we are checking for isn’t it!

Windows Home Server Connector Scenarios

Might as well start here. I mean,  if the connector doesn’t work 100% properly, there isn’t any real point to test anything else is there?  So we are going to go over what the Team wants you to test out in the Beta.

Test a clean installation and upgrade of the Windows Home Server Connector, from both the newtwork shares and from the new Connector CD.  Also, try testing installing the old connector and the functionality of mismatched versions of the Windows Home Server and the Connector software.  Try installing the PP1 Connector software on both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista.  It should not install on Windows XP x64.  There are some other tests to perform, but most of use don’t have previous versions of Power Pack 1 so they don’t really apply to most of us.

Server Storage And Shared Folders

There is a known issue with the server blue screening with the specific “THIRD_PARTY_FILE_SYSTEM_FAILURE (108)” error code. This blue scree is generated to verify a specific code path in the Drive Extender filter driver and it does not indicate failure.  However, the WHS Team does want a report of the frequency of these blue screens.    Check out the Beta testing documentation for more details on this this.

Try coping, creating, and modifying files on the Windows Home server shared folders using a variety of applications.  Also, try running PP1 for a couple of days, uninstall if from the add/remove programs, and then modify files, copy files and the like and then reinstall PP1 Beta.  Also try filling the drives, adding and removing drives, enabling/disabling duplication and adding/removing shared folders.  Additionally, backup and restore shared folders using the Home Server Data Bakup feature.

On of the other things, is to report the number of “File Conflict” issues, and the overall performance change due to the hourly migration pass over the V1 method.

Home Server Data Backup

Try backing up data using the new Data Backup feature. Try backing up shared files, delete them and then restore them.  Also, back up a shared folder, delete the shared folder and restore them.  And absolutely try multiple back ups over many days, both leaving the drive attached and removing the drive every day.

Another thing to try is to backup up the files, delete or modify them and the restore from the backup, and verify that the modified and deleted files are restored correctly.  This last part is for the more brave.  Try backing up files, completely wipe the hard drive, reinstall WHS with PP1 and then restore the backed up files.

Remote Access

This part is easier.  Basically, test out the different access permissions (computers, shared folders, both, none) to make sure they are working properly, try changing them.  Try reconfiguring the router and domain name and verify everything is reported correctly. Also, test out the thumbnail views, and downloading files in .ZIP and .EXE formats.  Try using multiple browser sessions to upload and download simultaneously, and try out the different methods of uploading files.

And do all of this on multiple different browsers, like IE6, IE7 and Firefox.

Home Computer Backup

The big obviously is test out backups with Vista x64.  Not just backing up, but opening up the backups, restoring a Vista x64 computer, and manually initialating a backup.  Also try out backing up over a weak wireless network or a network with intermitten connection issues, and running the backup repair wizard.  Try using the RTM version of the restore disk and using the PP1 Dual-Boot restore disk. The RTM restore wizard should fail, but try out both versions, and on the dual boot, try out both versions of that.  Also try turning on and off the “Wake computer from sleep or hibernation for backup”.

Media Sharing

Pretty simple, but I’m going to copy from the document, because it easier than rephrasing it:

Create a Windows Media Music Playlist that will work on the home server

1. Place music files on the home server in the Music shared folder.
2. On a home computer, add the Music shared folder to the Windows Media Player’s ‘Monitor Folders’ List (e.g. \\server\music)
3. Search for music files using Windows Media Player so that music files stored on the home server’s Music folder are discovered and listed in the media library.
4. Create a playlist in Windows Media Player with the music files stored on the home server. For example, the media file’s location should be \\server\music\foo.wma if you view that media file’s file property in the media library.
5. Save the created playlist to the Music shared folder on the home server.

Test Streaming using the created playlist

1. Enable media sharing in Windows Home Server Console if it is not done already.
2. Using a Windows Media Connect device (e.g. Xbox 360, Roku Soundbridge, etc.), connect to the home server and view available playlists.
3. The created playlist should be available there and the content in the playlist should play from the Windows Media Connect device.

What to do if your Server crashes

If you server becomes unresponsive for a reseanable amount of time, or the tray icon is, then your server may have crashed.  Don’t worry too much.  If you have a monitor attached, try checking that.  If it has blue screened, try giving your server about 2-5 minutes to sit and run through the memory dump. Else it may be just rebooting or off.  If it doesn’t restart or finish with the memory dump in a timely matter, reset the computer.  When it does boot back up, log onto the server with remote desktop and send the error information to microsoft. This will allow detailed diagnostics of what caused the crash.

That’s all folks

Any time you run into a bug, or your computer crashs, immediately head over to Connect and search or report it.  The more often you do this, the faster the Team will be able to fix or verify problems and mean quicker til public release of PP1.  Not to mention, bragging rights to your friends and family that you helped make PP1 stable!

Now get testing, because PP1 has been out for a few days already!! Happy hunting.

• Windows Home Server Public Beta - Home Computer Restore CD (Dual Boot)
• Use Windows Home Server to Back Up NTFS Compressed Files?
• WHS Data Corruption Issue: KB 946676 Updated
• Microsoft KB 955690: Outlook Personal Folder Files & Database Files Unsupported via Network on Windows Home Server
• A Guide to Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 Beta - Part 1

So, we are going to go over some of the options of how to test PP1 and how to backup your data.  Remember, you are supposed to break it, so bad things don’t happen when it is released!

Prepare for the Installation

Here are the options you really have for testing Power Pack 1 Beta:

• Take the plunge.  Install PP1 beta without backup up anything, and test it on your production box.  I recommend against this unless all your data is easily replaceable, and you don’t depend on your Home Server to work properly. I understand that this will be done by a lot of people, myself included but I would recommend another solution to test Power Pack 1.
• Building a second box. If you have the money, or the spare parts and are willing to pay for the extra power it will use.  This is probably your best bet.  You don’t have to worry about your Home Server, and you don’t have to worry too much if you break the second “testing” box.  It however, does cost more money, and I know some of us don’t have the money to spare, or want to have another box sitting there.
• Backing up your important data and installing Power Pack 1 Beta on your Home Server.  This is one of the best ideas because you don’t risk losing anything important, and it won’t cost you anything extra!  I’m going to go over some of the ways you can back up your data in a bit, but this is probably the best way.
• Virtualization!  There are two ways to run this option.  Both are available to download from Microsoft.  Virtual PC and Virtual Server.  If you want to run a virtual machine on your desktop computer, run Virtual PC.  But if you are going to install a virtual machine on your server, install Virtual Server.  I’m going to go over the differences between the two and give you a general install configuration to test it out on.  If you are a computer enthusiast and want a fun project or you already have the programs installed, this is a great way to go and very fun.

You have my recommendations, but I’m not going to tell you which one to use.  I’ll leave that up to you.  Remember, because this is a beta, things could very well go disastrously wrong.  It is always a possibility.

Data Backup

There are a number of ways to protect your data from accidents before installing Power Pack 1 Beta.  If you have a single drive system, then I would recommend that you use a Disk Imaging or Disk Copy utility to create an exact duplicate of your hard drive so you can restore from it later as there shouldn’t be any complications from cloning the disk.  Another option is to manually copy the files either across the network or to an unpooled drive. You can just use Windows do to this, or use programs like RoboCopy, or TeraCopy.  This may take hours or days depending on how much data you have and how you are copying it.  If you have more than your system drive in the storage pool, do not clone/image/disk copy your system.  You will most certainly run into problems down the line.  This is from numerous peoples experience and unsupported by Microsoft.

Power Pack 1 Beta in a Virtual Machine

For those without the loads of money or time to throw at another computer, virtual machines are a great idea. Microsoft has two free versions to use: Virtual PC and Virtual Server.  Let me go over the differences and why you should install them on which machine.  Remember, both are completely free downloads from Microsoft.

Virtual PC

Virtual PC is a normal program that requires direct interaction with, like any other.  It is a decent list of features, is very easy to use and still powerful enough to satisfy the Enthusiast.  If you are going to be testing on a desktop PC, this is the best option as there is some hassle in using Virtual Server if you are going to be using it on a desktop PC.  The Interface for Virtual PC is very clean, but very basic.  But then again, you don’t need hundreds of options.  There are only a few important ones.  Like being able to load ISOs instead of having to burn disks.  Or the biggest thing I’ve found very useful and very big time saver is the undo disks.  You can revert back to the last committed hard drive change if something goes wrong.   The only possible problems you might have is that it can quickly take up lots of space (clean install of WHS is about 5-6GB), and the max drive size is about 127GB, and you can only have 3 hard drives.

If you are testing it on a PC, this is the one you want to get.

Virtual Server

Virtual Server is great.  I just can’t get enough it it.  Not only does it have some more features that Virtual PC, it also expands a few of them too.  Like SCSI disks that are sizable up to 2TB.  Or running scripts on startup and shut down.  Though honestly some of the best things about Virtual server is that it runs as a service exclusively.  It comes with a Client application so you can connect to it, or you can use the web interface it installs.  And it supports SSL for the web interface.  I almost swear it was designed to run on Windows Home Server.  Infact, it is designed to run on any headless server, and Home Server absolutely fits the bill.  However, I would recommend a decently beefy CPU (dual core prefered), and a lot more than the recommended memory for Home Server (2GB should be good).  However, if you are going to use this solution, I would recommend a dedicated hard drive from the virtual hard drives and it will likely get very full very fast.  Not to mention the load Virtual Server will put on it.

Not to mention, because Virtual Server runs as a service, you will never need to actually log into your server. Unlike Virtual PC.

Summary

Well, I would have more information right now, but I’ll save that for the next part.  For now, Power Pack 1 Beta is already available for download on Microsoft Connect!  In the next part, we will go over ways to test out Power Pack 1 Beta and to report bugs.  See you next time!

• Time to Get Ready for Windows Home Server Power Pack 1
• Add-in: WHS Disk Management PP1 RC4 Open Beta
• Windows Home Server Team Announce Power Pack 1 Public Beta With Data Corruption Bug Fix
• Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 RC Publically Available
• Add-In: WHS Outlook Beta

Head over to the Microsoft Connect website to download and read the Beta release documentation for yourself. All of the following information is in that document, plus a bit more.

Server Storage and Shared Folder Enhancements

• The data corruption bug has been “addressed.”  At this point we aren’t going to say fixed.  That is one of the main focuses of this beta, as the only way to really verify this is to test it on a wide variation of systems.
• Long file paths are now supported on the Windows Home Server shared folders
• The Drive Extender functionality has been tweaked.  It will no longer constantly report that the system is balancing, and has been optimized for performance and runs when the following conditions occur:
  1. Every hour.
  2. When the Drive Extender Migrator service starts up - namely when you computer is first turned on.
  3. When a shared folder is added or removed using the Windows Home Server Console’s Shared Folders tab.
  4. When duplication on a shared folder is turned on or off.
  5. When a hard drive is added to Server Storage using the Windows Home Server Console.

  Furthermore, the console will only report the last time the serer was balanced, rather than when it is balancing.

• Overall performance improvements:
  1. The Drive Extender Migrator will use non-cached memory when moving files across secondary drives. This should improve the performance of migration passes, and speed up hard drive removal.
  2. File copy performance to and from the Windows Home Server shared folders has been improved.
• Home Server proactively checks the health of all files stored in the shared folders during a migration pass.  If any issues are discovered, a yellow health notification will be sent containing a detailed conflict reason for each file. Files that remain open for more than 24 hours are reported with a conflict of “File is open” as the Migrator needs the files to be closed to allow duplication to occur.  Any other file conflicts other than “File is open” should be reported as a bug on Connect.
• Hard drive removal has been enhanced to list the files which Home Server was not able to move off the hard drive being removed.  The reason for the failure is also noted in a details page which appears ath the end of the hard drive removal wizard.
• With Power Pack 1, Windows Home Server proactively searches for orphan shadows on the Home Server hard drive and places them in “D:\folders\{1618D36B-F4E7-4360-B070-A32070519DC9}\”
• A new and improved storage size algorithm has been implemented for listing Server Storage.

There is a known issue of Home Server blue screening with a specific “THIRD_PARTY_FILE_SYSTEM_FAILURE (108)” error code.  This is a known issue and is encouraged to be reported.  Check out the documentation for more details about this, and what to do if it does crash.

Windows Home Server Connector Enhancements

• The Windows Home Server Connector can now e installed on home computers using Windows Vista x64 operating systems.
• Better guidance is provided when the home computer clock and the Home Server clock differ significantly during Connector installation.
• Functionality is added to detect that the version of the Windows Home Server software.  If there is a mismatch, users will be prompted to manually update the Windows Home Server Connector software on their home computers.  This release enables automatic updating of the Windows Home Server Connector software in the future.
• The Windows Home Server Connector tray icon should no longer cause a flickering issue when auto-hide task bar is enabled.
• If the Windows Home Server Connector software is installed using the new Power Pack 1 Connector CD, then the home computer will automatically have the latest version of the Windows Home Server Connector software.

Home Server Data Backup (New Feature)

• While adding a hard drive to the Windows Home Server, the user is now presented with an option to use the hard drive for backing up the server.  Once this option is selected, the Home Server will appear in the Computers & Backup - where a user can decide what information they want to store on this external hard drive.
• Functionality is provided to allow restoring shared folders from an external hard drive that was used for Windows Home Server Data Backup

Remote Access Enhancements

• When adding/editing a user in the Home Server Console, in addition to enabling remote access for that user, there is now a drop down list box that allows the Home Server administrator to specify whether the user will have ascces to the computers tab, the shared folders tab, or both in remote access.
• The Routers and Domain name configuration details dialogs in the Remote Access Settings Page have been reworked to include more descriptive status, and contextual help links for failed tests.
• A new “Views” drop-down list is added for the Shared Folders tab in remote access which allows the files in a shared folder to be displayed as either a list of files (”Details” view) or as thumbnails (”Icons” view). In “Icons” view, the majority of the picture files will be presented as thumbnails, and the rest of the non-picture files and folders will be displayed as large icons.
• File upload functionality has been improved for users of Internet Explorer 6 and 7:
  • Users can drag and drop multiple files directly into an upload area or select multiple files in the open file dialog for upload.
  • Upload progress reporting has been improved, with the addition of a progress bar and individual file upload status.
  • Ability to cancel the multiple upload has been added as well.
• Ability for large file uploads to complete before the remote session times out has been implemented.
• When you download multiple files, the users are now give the option to package the files in a self extracting executable (.exe) file in addition to being able to store them in a ZIP file.  Self extracting executable files should be used for downloading files with filenames that use non-ASCII characters (e.g. Japanese, Chinese, Korean, et cetera).

Home Computer Backup Enhancements

• If the backup database on the home server has an inconsistency error, the user can now use the backup database repair wizard to correct this error.  The repair wizard can be launched either through the Backup page in Settings, or by clicking on the backup database inconsistency error notification.
• A new option has been added to the Windows Home Server Connector tray icon that allows the user to enable or disable the home computer from waking up for backup if it is in sleep or hibernation mode.
• Users can now run Backup Cleanup while the single file restore dialog is open.
• Changed the name of the excluded folder from “Media Center temporary files” to “Recorded TV”.
• Windows Vista SP1 was incorrectly reported as “Windows Server Longhorn” in the Computers & Backup tab.
• Home computers running any versions of Windows XP Media Center Edition (2004, 2005), will be displayed as “Windows XP Media Center Edition” in the Computer & Backup tab.
• The Home Computer Restore CD automatically downloads and runs the latest version of the computer restore software from the Home Server when a user chooses to restore a home computer.
• The previous two versions of the Home Computer Restore CD have been replaced by a new version (Dual Boot) to support a wider range of home computers.  The Power Pack 1 Home Computer Restore CD (what a mouthful) gives the user two options - one is recommended for use on home computers with less than 512MB of memory and the other option is recommended for use on home computers with 512MB or more of memory.

Media Sharing Enhancements

• Windows Media Player Playlists pointing to media files stored on a home server should now play correctly via Windows Media Connect when these playlists are copied over to a home server and shared out via media sharing.

Miscellaneous Enhancements

• Processor power management is enabled by default in Windows Home Server using the “Server Balanced Process Power and Performance” power scheme as the default setting.
• The Windows Home Server setup process will no longer report an issue with Windows Desktop Search service during the initial installation of a Home Server from the Windows Home Server Installation DVD.
• The Windows Home Server logo should now be correctly displayed during the initial setup of a new home server.

Installation and Updates

Just as a warning, make sure you completely update everything before installing Power Pack 1.  Also, if you have a pre-release of PP1, you will need to uninstall that manually before installing the public beta.  You will likely have to uninstall this beta before upgrading to the official release when the beta is over.

Summary

Well, that was a lot of info.  Now to boil this down to the important parts.  The corruption bug is nearing a complete fix and due to some of the work, many aspects of the Drive Extender have been optimized.  Not to mention, all that complaining about certain features have been address.  Microsoft has been listening to us.  They have tweaked pretty much every part of Windows Home Server to work better, run faster and do more of what we want in a Home Server.  They haven’t been twiddling their thumbs.  If anything, I’m sure their hands are raw, bloody messes because of all the hours they’ve logged working on Power Pack 1, the corruption bug and making it more user friendly, and easier for average people to figure out.

Also, I have intentionally skipped over and didn’t included any of the testing scenarios or how to back up your system.  I’m not going to cover that at this time, due to the complexity and the length of information. Stay tuned for a number of ways to prepare for testing PP1 Beta and what you should do to test it out!

• Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 In Depth: External Backup
• A Guide to Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 Beta - Part 3
• Windows Home Server September Update - Yours Today
• Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 In Depth: WHS Connector Installation Walkthrough
• Windows Home Server Video Training from Scott Lowe and Train Signal

There’s a really interesting question here - with local storage (i.e. hard disks) becoming cheaper and cheaper by the day, and the expected explosion shortly in server farms which will be able to save all of our data in the cloud, in the next couple of years, we’re likely to be overwhelmed with choice when it comes to where and with who we want to protect our data.

But who would you trust to protect your data?

So I guess, right now, we’re all trusting Microsoft to ensure our data is protected safely on our home servers - we know that with a  bugs and hiccups in their v1 product, they’re not infallible, and they’re one of the world’s largest corporations. Do you think Google would do a better job? Or Yahoo?

How about your PC/Server manufacturer? HP have recently launched HP Upline, which too is having a few snags post-launch - would they do a better job of protecting your data? Could you see Dell, Acer, Levono doing the same?

At the other end of the spectrum, you have small players such as JungleDisk (who utilise Amazon’s server farms and S3 framework) and KeepVault, both of who have online backup add-ins which work straight from within the Windows Home Server Console - really neat functionality, but do their brands give you sufficient security?

Who knows, in the future, a whole heap of brands may jump in and either offer standalone, or repackaged backup services - how would a Walmart Cloud Storage product suit you? Would you trust a bank, say Citibank to look after your data? They look after you’re money, so why not your memories? How about Virgin - would you hand over all the photos of your kids growing up to Richard B?

Or actually, are you just happy enough having a backup at home via your home server?

From a personal point of view, I think you can never have too many backups. Home Server does a cracking job, but I’ll be definitely taking advantage of someone’s online backup when it becomes fast, cheap and trustworthy enough to use. One thing’s for sure, though, my ISP (British Telecom in this case) is absolutely the last organisation I’d trust with my data. Swamped by bureaucracy, charging high costs for variable service, “fair usage” policies that hobble my use of their so called “unlimited” internet package and they can’t even get me a decent uPnP router that can be auto-configured correctly. Nope, I’ll be spending my money elsewhere, thanks very much.

What about you?

• Ed Bott Has More on the Data Corruption Bug
• CES 2008: Windows Home Server vs Network Attached Storage - A New Battleground
• KeepVault Announces Pricing for Unlimited Yearly Online Backup
• Software: KeepVault for Windows Home Server
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Britain’s Tranquil PC had the distinction of releasing the world’s first Windows Home Server, the T7-HSA, back in September 2007. We received one of the first units off the production line and gave it a glowing review- we loved its small size, silent running and fanless, passive cooling system. Tranquil created a system that may have been small, but packed a mighty punch.

There was a compromise to be made however - such a small chassis meant that it was impossible to install additional internal storage to the system, which was a big weakness in comparison to multi-drive systems from HP and others. Without it, the T7-HSA was unable to take advantage of Windows Home Server’s Folder Duplication technology, which provides a “software RAID” style backup for your shared folders, without utilising additional external storage. To compete, Tranquil PC have now released a partner storage device for the T7-HSA - known as the T7-HDx.

The T7-HDx is basically a storage enclosure, which can be connected to the T7-HSA (or indeed any Home Server for that matter) by USB or eSATA. Two specifications have been released, each utlilising Western Digital’s excellent GreenPower Drives in a 1Tb (2 x 500Gb) or 2Tb (2 x 1Tb) configuration.

What’s in the Box?

Tranquil PC sent us through a 1Tb T7-HDx with our old friend, the T7-HSA. Let’s take a look at a few unboxing shots.

Here’s what you get with the T7-HDx:

• T7-HDx Storage Device
• Bridging Connectors (to attach the unit to the T7-HSA)
• USB Cable
• Instruction Leaflet

First Looks

The T7-HDx utilises exactly the same chassis as the T7-HSA, which gives great aesthetic consistency when you utilise the HDx alongside the HSA.

As with the T7-HSA, the HDx is passively cooled with a copper heat pipe transferring any heat generated by the hard drives directly to the metal chassis.

Around the Back

The rear of the unit is a pretty spartan affair, with a desk lock, eSATA and USB connectors plus a 12v power connector. It’s worth mentioning at this point that the HDx is powered directly from the T7-HSA, so there’s no need for extra power cables and of course, you have the benefit of the HDx not taking up an extra power socket.

Under the Hood

Cracking open the HDx (achievable by removing three screws on the back plate) reveals the inner workings of the HDx, including your two Western Digital GreenPower Drives. The GreenPower drives require much less power than other drives in their class, and run almost silently which means they’re ideahe World’s first l for those who are unable to tuck their home server away in a cupboard.

One point to bear in mind with the T7-HDx is that all of its connectors are glued (see SATA connection at top of picture below) - so whilst this means you’ll rarely have any cables come loose, the implication is that it will be a tricky job if you wanted to upgrade the hard drives in the future. It’s a shame, (and the same is trues of the T7-HSA) but you need to consider the T7-HDx as a “sealed” appliance when it comes to upgrading.

So, same chassis, different guts - I thought it would be interesting to crack open the T7-HSA Home Server too, so you can see the differences inside:

Connecting the T7-HDx to the T7-HSA

Enclosed with the T7-HDx are a series of “bridge” connectors (two types of metal rod) which enable you to very neatly attach the HDx to the HSA to create an integral unit. Doing this simply involves removing the back plates of both units and sliding the rods in to connect them together. The result looks great!

Once you’ve attached the units together, simply connect up the power and data cables and you’re good to go.

Using the T7-HDx

Installing the T7-HSA with the T7-HDx on board means that Windows Home Server will immediately treat the drives in the HDx as part of your existing drive pool - no other configuration is required. If you already have the T7-HSA installed, and add the HDx, you’ll need to configure Windows Home Server to add the drives to your drive pool - this is very easy to do.

As with all of Tranquil PC’s systems, power consumption and noise output is incredibly low. In terms of power, when the unit is ideal, power consumptions is around the 11 watts mark, rising to 18 watts at maximum power. Noise output is a hushed 21db.

The T7-HDx can be run in a variety of modes, including RAID configurations using a switch on the rear of the unit. Tranquil PC advise that the unit is run in a non-RAID configuration to maximise available space. Uup to four T7-HDx devices can be attached to the T7-HSA  Home Server, providing up to 9TB of storage. A high speed port multiplier in the T7-HDx unit manages data access.

The Verdict

If you’re a T7-HSA owner looking to extend your storage, the T7-HDx is a must-have accessory, ensuring you retain the fantastic aesthetic value and low power consumption of the home server. If you’re thinking of purchasing a new home server, the combination of the T7-HSA with the T7-HDx now positions the Tranquil unit as a viable (if expensive) multi-drive home server with great looks, low power consumption an unobtrusive, silent position in your home.

More Info: Tranquil PC | Tranquil PC Forums (WGS)

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Then, one night, there’s a big storm and your house gets hit by a big power surge. What happens? Well, if you’re lucky, your fuses trip, the power cuts and when you wake up in the morning, all of your home computers are switched off, as well as your Windows Home Server. You switch them back on, to find that everything’s fine.

This is known as getting away with it.

What often happens is that you press the switch on your computer and get no response - the power surge has taken out your PCs, and with them, go your digital memories.

So, it’s a very very wise move to invest in some protection - a battery back up power supply is a little like a bigger, more intelligent power strip than the one you currently use. It can detect and protect you from power surges, but best of all, has a battery back up that keeps your PCs powered for up to an hour, and if the power hasn’t been restored by then, very gracefully shuts down your computer in the way it’s supposed to. Net result? No damage to your computers and your files are safe.

Having invested in Windows Home Server, it’s well worth protecting the hardware that’s protecting your files, so in this “How To”, we’re going to install and configure  a battery back up power supply to our Windows Home Server machine.

The power supply in question is an APC Back-UPS BE-700 (UK). I already have one of these protecting my office desktop, and it’s already been put into use a couple of times in the past few weeks. There’s lots of power supplies to choose from, but this is the one I recommend.  It cost around £ 70 brand new.

So, away we go with another How To…

Step 1: Unpack the Power Supply

Here’s the contents.

1 (Very Heavy) Power Supply
1 USB Cable
1 Telephone/Modem Cable
1 Instruction Manual
1 CD-ROM

Step 2: Connect the Power Supply Battery

See that big yellow sticker? Yep, that one - that’s telling you to stop what you’re doing, and connect the battery up to the power supply.

So, flip the power supply over to locate the battery back - it’s behind this flap.

 Step 3: Remove the Battery and Attach the Black Connector to the Battery

There’s a black and a red wire. The red wire is attached to the battery. The black wire isn’t. This is a bit like 24. Ok, grab the black wire and attach the connector to the battery. 

That’s the connector on the top - you can see the red wire is already connected.

All connected nicely. Now place the battery back into the power supply and close the flap.

Well done, you’ve connected the battery!

Step 4: Power Down Your Windows Home Server

The Power Supply is ready to be plugged in. So, log into the Windows Home Server Console on any home computer and select Settings > Shut Down to power down the server.

Step 5: Plug the Power Supply Into a Wall Socket

You should always plug battery back up power supplies directly into the wall, rather than into another power strip.

In the photo here, you can see the old power strip to the right, which will be replaced by the battery back up power supply to the left.

Step 6: Plug the Home Server into the Battery Back Up Section of the Power Supply

The APC comes with 8 sockets - all 8 are surge protected, but only 4 get battery back-up. So, it’s a basic request, but make sure you plug the server into one of the battery backed-up sockets. Like this….

Step 7: Attach the USB Cable from the Data Port Socket of the Power Supply to Your Home Server

Now you’re glad you went with the one with those extra USB ports, aren’t you? Okay, here’s where it starts to get interesting. Yep, you actually have a data connection between the power supply and your home server. That’s so they can talk to each other if there’s any power problems, and, most importantly, so the power supply can tell your server to power down if there’s a power cut and the supply is running out of battery life.

Step 7: Press the Power button on the Power Supply, Then Power Up Your Home Server

You should get a green power light firing up on your power supply, and hear a short beep to tell you everything’s cool. So go ahead and power up your home server.

Step 8: Create a Remote Desktop Connection From a Home Computer to Your Home Server

I love doing this. A Remote Desktop Connection enables you to use the Home Server on another computer just as if you had a monitor, keyboard and mouse plugged into it. Not just the Windows Home Server Console, but the whole machine! Whoa!

I’m sure you’ve done this yourself before, but just in case, here’s the steps (for Windows Vista - you have upgraded, right? :-))

Start > All Programs > Accessories > Remote Desktop Connection

Unless you’ve freestyled a little when you set-up your home server, it’ll probably be called “server” - type it in and press “Connect”

Welcome to Windows Home Server on your Home Computer!

Step 9: Insert the Powerchute Personal Edition CD Into Your Home Server

The APC Power Supply has Powerchute Personal Edition bundled with it. Powerchute monitors and controls the shutdown of your server if it’s required.

The CD may not autorun, so click Start> My Computer and then double click on your CD drive to run Powerchute setup. 

Click through the license agreement, and the software will install without any trouble, and then ask you to register, Go ahead and complete registration.

Step 10: Configure Powerchute Personal Edition

Start> All Programs > APC > APC Powerchute Personal Edition

Hurrah! It’s a set of very easy to use wizards! Simply run through each of the options to configure how long you would like to leave the server running on battery power before shutting down, along with Notification Options (and some more technical stuff about Voltage sensitivity that I leave well alone). It’s very straightforward.

Should you have a power failure, the battery backup will kick in, and Powerchute will leave a little note for you in the System Tray telling you that there was a power failure, and how long it lasted. Your server won’t have been fried though at this point

And that’s how to install a battery back up power supply on your home server!

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That’s the point - it just works - WHS sucessfully hides a lot of pretty amazing technology from the user, to make using the home server as simple as possible. So, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of that technology and see if I can do any kind of decent job of explaining it to the everyday user. I’m calling these posts “Under the Hood“, and this may be the first and last if I can’t figure out the technology myself.

First up is Windows Home Server backup, or rather, one particular element of backup which provides a great benefit to the user.

Let’s say you have a two desktops and a laptop on your home network - the desktops each have a 250Gb drive, and the laptop and 80Gb drive. And let’s say they’re all half full. That’s 290Gb of storage to back up every night and hang on, I only have 750Gb of storage in my home server - it’s going to fill up in like three days!

How does WHS fit in so many daily backups of all my computers in a limited amount of space?

The answer’s actually pretty simple, thanks to a piece of smart thinking.

Each night, Windows Home Server checks the data on each of your machines and only backs up data that it hasn’t backed up before - i.e. if a file on your desktop hasn’t been changed since it was originally backed up, it doesn’t need to be backed up again, so that’s one way of saving space.

Better still, if you have the same data on multiple machines, WHS only stores one copy of that data, but registers that it belongs on each machine. So when it comes to restoring the files, WHS knows which machines to restore that data to.

Let me give you an example - Windows system files. The laptop I’m writing this post on is a Windows XP Pro machine. The Windows System folder (holding all of the operating system files) is 2.05 Gb. I definitely want this folder backed up in case something goes wrong with my laptop. But those same system files also exist on the XP Media Center machine I use upstairs in the den - they’re exactly the same operating system files. (XP Media Center is very much based on XP Pro. It just has a prettier dress and a few new dance moves). So WHS backs up the files once, but knows that they’re needed on both machines if I choose to restore either of them. Pretty smart, and saves storage space and backup time.

That’s why your first WHS backup often takes a while - the first backup of your first machine post-installation is literally backing up everything. Subsequently, data on your other machines is compared to the data backed up from the first machine, and if it’s the same, there’s no need to back it up - it’s already safely stored.

Hope you’re still with me - it’s time to get under the hood.

So, how does this all work? Windows Home Server uses a version of a technology known as Single Instance Storage. The general idea behind Single Instance Storage (or SIS as it’s known) is that which I’ve tried to bring to life above - keeping one copy of data that multiple computers share. SIS is used quite commonly in lots of backup solutions and other server products - email systems, file servers that sort of thing.

In the example above, I mentioned that WHS each night compares data it has already backed up (the Windows System files on my laptop) with data on other machines (the same files on my Media Center machine) and then takes a call on whether to back those files up too or not.

Windows Home Server doesn’t actually compare or even store the whole files themselves. It works with fragments of those files - called clusters. Your Windows Home Server comes with a built-in, custom-designed database which has two jobs:

1. Store fragments of your data (clusters)
2. Store metadata (data about data) that describes how to reassemble those fragments of data into an entire file system if required.

So for the first backup of the first machine, WHS examines every cluster on that machine, and generates a hash (a checksum generated from performing a calculation on the data itself) which is stored in the database. If another cluster is examined and is found to be the same (by comparing the hash values), then this is noted in the database, but the cluster is not stored again.

The following day, the same process occurs, but only new or changed clusters are copied to the database.

Working at this deeply granular level, using single instance storage means that Windows Home Server is massively efficient at only storing the data it really needs, whilst still guaranteeing that you can backup individual files, folders or indeed your entire computer should you wish.

Head hurting? Yep, mine too. Thanks to MVP Doug Knox and Charlie Kindel for providing a lot of the insight above. Their heads aren’t hurting as much as mine

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