We are holding a FREE All Day training event at the Microsoft office in Waltham, Ma in partnership with Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard.

The event is called “The Connected Home Day”. It’s a full day training for novice computer users who want to learn how to build and secure a home network, use Microsoft Media Center to it’s full potential and use Windows Home Server to store and backup their important documents and precious Digital Photos and Videos. We will also be covering the Analog to Digital conversion in Feb 2009 and what it means to the average person.

It sounds like it would be a nice event to go to and learn a thing or 2.  Being that it is sponsored in part by Microsoft, I would not be surprised if they had free copy of something for the attendees.  I wonder if my company needs anyone in that area in mid-September…

• Join Microsoft and HP Online to Hear About the HP MediaSmart Server
• Join Me on June 25th For An Add-Ins Webinar With HP and Microsoft
• Windows Home Server Session at TechEd 2007
• Budding Photographers - Learn How to Integrate Windows Home Server Into Your Workflow
• Add-in: Digital ArchHound for Windows Home Server

Microsoft has posted a press release about this plug-in for Vista Media Center, and all the other Olympic coverage options as noted below: 

For Release 7 a.m. PDT

Aug. 7, 2008

Visit NBCOlympics.com on MSN and Watch the Summer Games You Want, When You Want

Watch more than 3,500 hours of live and on-demand video powered by Microsoft Silverlight technology.

REDMOND, Wash. — Aug. 7, 2008

Who:               NBCOlympics.com on MSN is the exclusive U.S. online destination for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. A number of Microsoft Corp. teams have worked together to create a rich and immersive experience for Olympic fans that enables them to watch the summer games they want, when they want. MSN, Silverlight, Windows Media Center, Zune and Xbox all provide unique options that let viewers experience the Olympics in a way they never have before.

 

What:             Check out NBCOlympics.com on MSN and watch more than 3,500 hours of live and on-demand video that will let you experience the Games like never before. Now, you can conveniently watch the games you want, when you want whether you are at home, at work or on the go.

 

·         MSN. NBCOlympics.com on MSN is the best destination to catch all the action with a 24×7 Olympics module on the MSN home page, complete with the latest news, live medal counts, statistics and videos that will make catching up on your favorite event or athlete quick and easy. Now, sports fans can keep the adrenaline pumping with non-stop action, news and videos on MSN.

 

·         Silverlight. Silverlight 2 enables NBC to provide online viewers with Olympics content in a rich, interactive viewing experience that includes some of the highest-quality video on the Web today. Users can view up to four events at the same time with picture-in-picture controls, and customize the player to capture their favorite events. In addition, dynamic overlays will provide expert commentary, and users also will be able to access statistics, play-by-play captioning, and athlete profiles through Silverlight as they watch their favorite event.

 

·         Windows Media Center. Olympic enthusiasts can take NBC’s coverage of Olympic events wherever they go with “NBC Olympics on the Go,” powered by Wavexpress’ TVTonic Internet video, a free service that allows sports fans to download NBC Olympics video of their favorite sports to their laptops in up-to-high-definition quality. Fans who are looking for the highlights from Beijing will be able to download these videos through “NBC Direct.”

 

·         Xbox. During the Olympics, users will have access to a daily wrap-up of the day’s events from NBC Sports. Wrap-up content will be priced at $1.99 under the NBC Network, with a complete Olympic wrap-up available at the end of the Games.

 

·         Zune. On Aug. 8, Zune Marketplace will kick off a series of daily 2008 Olympic Games videos from NBC Sports, giving viewers special on-the-go access to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. For approximately 99 cents–$1.99 per episode (with post-Games content TBD), footage will include memorable highlights from the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, “best of” compilations, “best match” replays and a post-Games wrap-up feature. Users will be able to download each episode onto their Zune device for viewing whenever and wherever they go.

 

·         Live Search. Live Search will provide an xRank of Olympic athletes showing which athletes are being searched for the most on Live Search, who is on the rise and who is declining in search popularity. It will also provide detailed “instant answers” on Olympics-specific search queries performed at Live.com or via Web search on NBCOlympics.com on MSN. Queries to try include an athlete’s name or:

­        “Olympic medals”

­   Medals for <country> and/or <sport> e.g., “Medals for USA” or “USA medals for swimming”

 

When:             The Olympic Games begin on 08/08/08.

 

Where:           Go to MSN.com to check out the Olympic events you want, when you want.

 

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Getting back to the TVTonic software: to install the software, start Windows Media Center and scroll to the Online Media menu. You’ll see an NBC Olympics graphic.

From there, it is simply a matter of clicking through the install process.

I have Vista x64, so I had to browse to the 64-bit version.

I chose the Run option and in a matter of a few minutes, I came to the actual software install.

I accepted the default options and let it do its thing.

Once installed, TVTonic places an icon in the tray.  Clicking on it brings up the Control Panel where you can change various options.

I will let you peruse the options and set them as desired.  One item of note that you will definitely want to change is to go to the Download Options tab and limit the bandwidth TVTonic uses.  I did not notice this at first, and it took me awhile to figure out why my Internet connection had become abysmal.

From there, just go back to Media Center, locate, and click on the NBC Olympics logo.  You must “activate” the software as seen below.

The opening screens displays several opening scenes of the Olympics.  It is in this screen that you can choose which content to download so that you can view at any time (notice the icons in the top right corner).  Be forewarned that it does take a bit of time to download content, especially if you decide to download all of the available content.

Once downloaded, sit back, relax, and enjoy at your leisure!  As can be seen below, the graphics are phenomenal!

• NBC Olympics Coverage on Windows Media Center
• Microsoft Announce New Features for Xbox 360 at the E3 Media and Business Summit
• Add-In: Xbox Community Feeds for Windows Home Server
• Online Media…. Or Lack Thereof (In Europe)
• Online Video or Vodcasts in Windows Media Center

Development resources for Windows Home Server are relatively scarce and spread all over the web - however, Sam Wood, the developer of WHS Disk Management has started a Developer Resources thread over at WGS Forums, outlining all support available.

We’ll hopefully develop this further into a dedicated section over on the WGS Wiki, so let us know what you want to see, and any questions you have and we’ll do our best to get them resolved.

More Info: WHS Development Resources

• Windows Home Server Development Tips
• Help! I Have a Problem With My New Home Server…
• Community Ratings at We Got Served - It’s Time to Hear Your Views!
• Announcing the We Got Served Community Forums for Windows Home Server!
• Another Server Upgrade for We Got Served

Don’t forget to check the WGS Wiki for updated versions of this tutorial, and for other great tutorials!

What you will need

• Remote Desktop Connection or Advanced Admin Console
• Bonjour - Yes, this is in fact required.
• Firefly Media Server - The most current version is build 1696, and does work on Windows Home Server
• Firefly WHS Add-In - Download this to your “Add-Ins” directory on the server.

What to Do

First things first, download the installer files to your Windows Home Server, either directly to the desktop, or copying them to a network share. After you have done that, install Bonjour. Bonjour is a required component, as it is needed to properly talk to iTunes. Don’t blame me, it is how apple wrote iTunes.

After Bonjour is installed, run the setup for Firefly Media Server. First it will give a splash screen with general info. Click “Next”. Then it asks you to Agree to license agreement. Read through it, and click “I Agree” if you do agree to it. Installing to the default location is fine, so click “Next”. The next path is the default location for music. Set this to “D:\shares\Music”, because the installer will not let you choose a network location. This is fine. Click “Next” and it will install the files, configure the program and start the service. Click “Next” and then “Finish”. If you have used remote desktop, you will notice a new system tray icon.

Now load up the console if you aren’t running everything from the console already, and install the Firefly WHS Add-In. Once the console has restarted, you can access the settings for Firefly in the settings page for WHS.

Done

Now you are done. There aren’t a whole lot of options for FireFly, but there is a number of plugins for it. I may cover those later, but for now, you have Firefly!

Additional Info

FireFly Media Server will index all of your files in the folder you specified. This may take a while, and it will not be available properly until it is done.

Also, when FireFly Media Server tries indexing corrupt files, it crashes. I’ve personally ran into this problem, and many others may also. So I’m going to post the method to fix it that I found on the MS WHS Forums:

1. Once you are at the console, use notepad to edit “c:\program files\firefly media server\mt-daapd.conf”
2. Change (or add, if it isn’t there) an option called “debuglevel” with a value of 5 in the “[general]“ section.
3. Then, delete the “songs3.db” file (in “c:\program files\firefly media server”) and start the firefly server.
4. It will crank around, indexing the music for a while. At some point it will crash. When it does, look at the log file in “c:\program files\firefly media server\firefly.log”.

   Find the last song it tried to index and move it out of the way. Then start it again and repeat as necessary.

Credits

Thanks to ssart over at MS WHS forum for posting the solution, and to Ron from Firefly forums for writing the solution.

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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
• MyMovies Media Center Plug-in
• Under the Hood: Windows Home Server Backup
• How To… Add A USB Hard Drive to Windows Home Server

So how do you get your movies into MC? Well there are two ways, and I have to start off by saying that ripping a commercial DVD is illegal, so only do this for non commercial DVDs… First of all you can install AnyDVD and this will let you rip and entire DVD folder structure to the hard drive from within MyMovies. This works well, but the resulting ripped DVD will not play on MC extenders as they do not understand a DVD folder. The second method which I use is to rip the actual Movie from the disc using a programme called Smart Ripper. This creates a VOB file which is identical to that on the original disc. I then use VideoRedo to convert the VOB into an MPEG file. As there is no video processing going on the whole process takes about 20 min per disc. You are dealing with several Gbs with DVD’s so it’s never going to be as quick as ripping a CD! As the second method is just creating an Mpeg of the film you don’t get any of the extra features, chapters or indeed any of the menus, but they do work perfectly on the extenders, which is why I do it that way.

There are other ways of displaying a DVD library and Media Centers Built in DVD library is a great way of viewing your collection. I have tried this but it’s a bit of a hack to get going and unless you live in the US you don’t get any of the cover art or access to the extra features like the cast & crew list.

Overall MyMovies is an excellent plug-in and one you should add to your collection. It’s perfect for anyone who has a collection of DVD’s they want quick access to (I myself will use it to store my daughters children’s DVD collection, no more missing or scratched discs!) and having a simple way to view movies trailers is an added bonus. It even got my WAF last night, so everyone is happy!

• How To: Play DVD’s in Windows Media Center Stored On Your Windows Home Server
• Open Media Library Goes Open Beta
• How to: Convert VHS Tapes to a Digital Format
• How To: Play Blu-ray and HD DVD Movies from Vista Media Center
• WMC Plugin: MediaControl 5.3

For those of you out there who have a VMC HTPC and a Blu-ray or HD DVD player, here is the way to do it.  Mike over at Attack Computer Wiz puts together the components to do just that.

From his Blog post:

I pulled my hair out for hours trying to find the best way to get my Windows Vista Ultimate HTPC to support Blu-ray. Here are my requirements.

1. Play Blu-ray and HD DVD’s directly from Media Center.
2. Native Media Center remote support.
3. Backup my Blu-ray and HD DVD’s to hard disk.
4. Play the backup from the folder on the hard disk.
5. Not take extra steps in the backup process (i.e. creating iso files)
6. Do this with as few programs as possible.

There are guides out there to help with this, like Revision3’s System. But their recommendations fell short of my needs because they suggested CyberLink PowerDVD 8. While this program is very nice, it does not support HD DVD, does not integrate with Media Center, does not integrate the Media Center remote (without the need for additional software, and would not play the backups directly from the folder.
So, leaving the nuts and bolts out of it, and assuming you already have all the hardware you need installed and configured correctly, below are my steps and recommendations. I make no guarantees, but the below steps worked perfect for me and met all of my requirements listed above.

1. Install SlySoft’s AnyDVD HD
2. Install ArcSoft’s TotalMedia Theatre

Two applications are all you need to get this job done. AnyDVD HD allow for the backup your DVD’s to your hard disk drive. TotalMedia Theatre provides full Blu-ray and HD DVD playback and fully integrates with Media Center out of the box. Because of this integration the remote works flawlessly. TotalMedia also has the ability to play the backup videos from thier folders.

Enjoy!

• Media Center Integration With Windows Home Server - Your Ideas?
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• How To: Play DVD’s in Windows Media Center Stored On Your 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
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Last winter, one of our daughters was over at our home, and she and the wife “discovered” these tapes in a corner.  So off they went down nostalgia lane and watched those tapes.  Seizing the opportunity, I mentioned that I could copy them over to my computer, so that they would not be lost forever.  Hello TV tuner!

Enough about my home movies.

This is about your VHS home movies.  Do you want to preserve those special memories in a digital format on your home server?  Yes?  Great!  Once converted, you can then view them in your favorite movie player.  And/or, you can burn them to DVD, if you so desire.  And just to digress slightly, I wouldn’t recommend trying to convert any of your commercial VHS movies.  I did one just to see what it would look like, and it was bad.  VHS tapes are what I would term lo-fi.  Converting home movies to a digital format will not improve the quality, but it won’t make it any worse, either.  This is simply not true with commercial VHS movies.  If you really want that movie in digital format, buy the DVD.  A movie old enough to be released in a VHS format is probably pretty cheap these days.

What follows is what I did to copy my VHS tapes to my computer.  Please take note that I was not out to start a video conversion business.  I simply wanted to take the easiest (read: cheapest) route to my goal, which was to preserve those memories.

You will need some hardware before you do anything:

• A Computer.  I do have to mention the obvious!
• A video capture device, such as a Personal Video Recorder or a TV tuner.  If you do need to buy something, this is a good time get a TV tuner.  One that will handle both analog and digital signals would be preferable for future use.  In the U.S., I do not believe that you can even buy an analog-only tuner any more.
• A VCR or VHS player.  If yours is gone, you could always go down to your local Wal-Mart (U.S.), or equivalent budget store, and buy one.  For some reason, they are real cheap these days…
• RCA cables and adapters to complete the bridge between your VCR and your capture device.  The adapters are usually included with the device.
• A DVD burner.  This is optional.

You will also need some software:

• Video capture software.  This is usually included with your capture device.  I wasn’t impressed with the software that came with my tuner, so I used the Media Import component of Roxio Easy Media Creator.
• Video editing software.  Again, there will usually be something included with the capture device.  In my case, I found Windows Movie Maker to work quite well for my needs.  It is also free, as it is included as part of the Windows installation.
• Viewing software.  Windows Movie Maker, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center (MCE 2005, Vista Home Premium or Ultimate) are programs that are included with Windows.

And finally, you will need to locate those tapes you want to convert.  You are now ready (almost) to begin the conversion process.  You will need to take that hardware and hook it all together.  I assume that you have already installed the video capture device, so let’s hook up that VCR.

The TV tuner card in my computer is an AVerMedia AVerTV Combo PCIe MCE card.  It is a PCI-Express x1 card, which to me was a plus, and it was certified for use with Vista, which was a huge plus. When I was researching TV tuner cards, there were not many out there at the time with Vista certs.  I read several posts about the problems associated with older tuner devices and Vista.  So this was an important feature to me.  If you use Windows XP, you have a multitude of choices.  Of course, you will need to locate a tuner that supports the transmission standards in your country, if you go the tuner route.

This card includes adapters for the video and audio signals.  If you are using a single-purpose Personal Video Recorder, these devices quite often terminate in RCA jacks, thus allowing a direct RCA cable connection between your VCR and the recorder.

On the other end, you will need a VCR, along with the RCA cables.

Simply plug the adapters in end of the RCA cable and…

The other end of those cable into the VCR.  I know, pretty basic stuff here.

Plug the end with the adapters into your capture device.

Turn on the VCR, pop in your VHS tape, and fire up your video capture software.  As I mentioned earlier, I am using Roxio Creator 9 Home.  Under the Video menu, start the Capture Video program.

BTW, there really is a tape being recorded here.  The Print Screen simply does not capture it.

Once you are in the Video Capture program, click on the Video Tab.  Select your capture device and set your capture settings.  I used the DVD HQ setting, as it provides the best quality capture.  After that, things get quite simple.  Hit the VCR play button, click on the Capture Now button, and sit back and relax.  It really is that simple.  Except for one little detail.  This is a real-time conversion.  If your tape is 2 hours long, your capture time will be 2 hours.  After all, this is not a professional video conversion service.  Remember, I did say sit back and relax.

Once the tape has been captured, click on the same button that now says “Stop Capture”.  The capture is saved and ready to be edited.  Roxio saves the captured video in mpg format.  These files can get quite large and are difficult to work with.  Windows Media Player did a horrible job of playing these videos.  Opening these files in Windows Movie Maker was not a problem, however.  I am not big into video editing, but I found Windows Movie Maker quite easy to edit my videos.

Locate the Windows Movie Maker program in the Start Menu, start it, click on the Import Media icon, and import your captured VHS video.  An icon of the video appears in the upper left of the middle window.  Using the left mouse button, drag this icon down to the video strip.

We are now at a point where I will have to let you explore the various features of Windows Movie Maker.  You can cut the video into several segments, add subtitles, sound, and any other cool effects you desire.  This is exploration time for you to discover what WMM can do to preserve that memory for you.  Once you are done editing a segment, click on the Publish Movie option under the File menu item.

You’re done!  Unless you want to create a DVD.  I did make a DVD of one just to see if it worked.  In my case, I wanted them on my computer, so that was just a trial to make sure I could.

I used the MYDVD Express component of Roxio to add the clips I wanted and then burned them to DVD.

This conversion process sounds rather simple.  It was, once I figured out what worked with the tools I had available to me.  When I first started this conversion process, I was looking for the ONE program that did it all for me.  I quickly found out that this program did not exist, at least with the programs I had access to.  From there, it took a lot of trial and error to figure out what programs I had that might work.  I then had to figure out what programs actually did work.  In the end, was it worth it?  Well, let me put this way.  I’m sure I will have a tear or two in my eyes when I watch them again in another 10 years.  Home movies may seem corny, but they really are a Blast From the Past when the moment strikes and you rediscover those old movies of your kids.  When they really were kids.

If you have old home movies you want to preserve, what has been presented above is my journey of “how to” do this.  I’m sure there are other methods, some better, some perhaps not.  In the end, I hope I have lessened the learning curve needed to accomplish this.

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A number of websites have run articles featuring ways to build the cheapest, and greenest home servers – we thought it would be fun to pull together a guide on building a hardcore, maxed out home server, that would blow everything else away in terms of power.

We invited Intel’s Stephen Murtha to pull together a maxed-out home server spec for us. Stephen works in Intel’s Storage Platform team, focusing on consumer platforms such as Windows Home Server as well as participating actively in the DLNA – so high performance is close to his heart.

Not only has Stephen pulled together the spec, he went out, got the components and built the home server too, so without further ado, over to Stephen who’ll walk us through building a killer Windows home server system.

–

Home Servers are an interesting product category; ask 10 people “What’s a Home Server” and you’ll probably get 10 different answers. Many will respond positively to an OEM product like the HP MediaSmart Home Server. Others will be happy installing the software on an older system which isn’t being used for anything else (although many quickly discover how much disk size, performance, and interconnect technology has changed in just the last couple of years). Still others will want to make their own. Several articles have been published (here, here, here, and here) describing how to put together your own Home Server creating a product comparable to the OEM products.

I’m going to take a different approach and show you how to put together a top-of-the-line WHS system; Core 2 Quad Intel CPU, iStarUSA mid-tower case with 4 SATA hot-swap drives, etc. In the end I have a system that will do file I/O, backups, media streaming, BitTorrent, all while running WHS Disk Extender and other services.

Step 1: Choosing the Parts

If you’ve thought about building a Home Server the first thing you find is that there are precious few Home Server computer cases out there, at least not something like the HP MediaSmart Home Server. Chenbro has their Chenbro ES34069 product, but it is designed for a mini-ITX motherboard which would rule out my Core 2 Quad. Fortunately I found the iStarUSA S-Storm series which includes the S-9-H34 model. It is a Mid-Tower design with a 4 drive SATA cage inserted into 3 of the 5.25” external drive bays. It has room for an appropriately selected power supply, DVD burner, etc. and looked like just the thing. If you really want to scale up, or potentially use this to back up data in a small business, the S-Storm case supports iStarUSA’s dual redundant power supply in a PS/2 size. One of the disappointments of the iStarUSA case was that it didn’t come with the 80 mm rear exhaust fan, which I ended up having to get separately once the parts came and I discovered the lack of a fan.

Next I looked for an Intel motherboard to go with the Core 2 Quad processor. I selected the DQ35JO motherboard. Among the reasons for my selection is the support for 6 SATA ports (including one eSATA), a DVI (so I can connect it to my DVI KVM switch), and Gigabit LAN. I selected the Q6600 a 2.4 GHz CPU with 8MB of L2 Cache and 1066 MHz FSB speed. Finally, I selected 2 GB of DDR PC2 5300 memory.

I wanted my case to neat and orderly, so I’m partial to modular power supplies, although they tend to be a little pricier than non-modular designs. The SATA cage has two 4-pin Molex power connectors and 2 SATA power connectors. Populating either set provides sufficient power for all 4 drives which further reduces clutter.

After selecting the chassis, CPU, motherboard, and Power Supply, what was left was to select the DVD drive and hard disks. I wasn’t terribly interested in a DVD writer, but ended up selecting a DVD burner based on price and availability. I selected a PATA (IDE) DVD burner, but after going through the installation, wished I has gotten a SATA DVD (see more detailed comments below). I finished off by selecting 2 500 GB WD5000AAKS SATA hard drives. These are SATAII (3 Gb/s) 7200 RPM drives with 16 MB of local cache memory.

Step 2: Purchasing the Parts

I got my components from New Egg based on their wide product selection and the fact they were one of the first to provide the Reseller version of Windows Home Server. Below is my shopping list with the New Egg part number for reference.

Once the parts arrived, it was time to put the system together.

Step 3: Assembling the Home Server

Assembling the system was fairly straightforward. I first assembled the motherboard. The Core 2 Quad processor was inserted into the Socket 775 and the heatsink installed as shown below.

Next the DDR2 memory DIMM modules were installed into their sockets. Many Intel motherboards support Active Management Technology or AMT which assists in the management of the system over the network. Windows Home Server does not support this, but I figured I should configure my system so that it was available if supported in the future. One of the requirements is that memory Channel 0 Socket 0 be populated, so I made sure the 2 DDR2 modules were installed in the correct sockets as shown below.

Once the CPU and memory was installed on the motherboard, I screwed it onto the standoffs and installed the EMI panel on the rear of the case. Next I connected the chassis cables for USB connectors, audio, reset, power on, etc. With the motherboard installation completed, I turned my attention to the DVD drive and power supply.

The iStarUSA case utilizes a “compression slider” to lock in the 5.25” and 3.5” externally accessible drives. I simply slid the DVD drive into the 5.25” bay, positioned the face of the drive flush with the front of the case, and slide the slider forward as shown below, and the drive was locked tightly in place.

Next it was time to hook up the power supply. Once the power supply case was secured in the chassis I was able to connect the motherboard power connectors and the ground wire. Next I utilized one of the modular SATA power cables to power the SATA hot swap cage. Finally I used a modular 4 pin Molex connector to hook up power to the DVD drive.

The final assembly step was to hook up the data cables for the SATA and DVD drives. As I mentioned previously I ordered a PATA DVD drive, and the 40 connector ribbon cable was a little difficult to route easily. In 20/20 hindsight I wished I’d gone with a SATA DVD drive (such as this one); it would have made the cabling easier.

Hooking up the SATA cables from the motherboard to the SATA cage was the last step. The 4 SATA connections are aligned along the outer edge of the cage and made routing the data cables fairly easy. I found that using 12” SATA cables eliminated the need to route any excess cable length and made tying them into a bundle fairly easy.

Step 4: Installing Windows Home Server

Once the hardware was all in place, the next step was to install the Windows Home Server OS. There have been several tutorials that run through the detailed steps of installing the Reseller Version of Windows Home Server, so I won’t repeat these steps here. However, the motherboard will require a set of drivers to be installed, so we’ll focus on these steps as you go through the installation process.

I put the installation disk into the DVD drive and rebooted the server. The WHS installation does some “pre-installation” work, then transitions into a more standard “Windows Server” installation. One of the initial steps is to create the System and Data volumes on the first HDD in your system. After the initial load of the installation files you’ll see the following screen showing the available drives, and you’ll notice the button to load additional storage drivers. You’ll need to load the storage drivers (IASTOR.SYS and IAAHCI.SYS) which come on the floppy disc in the box with the motherboard. You can insert the floppy into a floppy drive installed in the system, or use an external USB floppy drive connected to a USB port.

Click on the “Load drivers….” button and select the location of the drivers. Once you’ve located them load them one at a time (for some reason WHS doesn’t allow multi-select for the driver loading…) as shown below.

That’s all that is out of the ordinary until you finish installing WHS. When you are done with the installation you will find that WHS couldn’t find drivers for several hardware components, including the network driver so you won’t be connected to the Internet and won’t be able to download updates or activate your software.

Right-click on My Computer and open the Device Manager to update the drivers. You’ll see the screen below listing the devices which need updated drivers. Insert the Driver CD which came with the motherboard and update each driver by selecting the appropriate driver from the Drivers\Software\Drivers folders on the CD. Start with the “Chipset_INF” folder which will get the core motherboard drivers loaded, and then work on the LAN and Video driver. There are 64-bit and 32-bit video drivers included on the CD so make sure you install the 32-bit XP video driver (Version 14.29.2.4837).

When you’ve completed updating the drivers you’ll be looking at a Device Manager screen with no question marks. You’re now ready to download any updates from the Microsoft Update Service and activate your copy of Windows Home Server.

Well, that’s about it. I’ve got a powerful WHS installation with a SATA cage that will easily let me expand as I need more storage. My quad-core CPU and motherboard will ensure I’ve got all the horsepower I need to run any interesting add-in I find as well as handle any updates to Windows Home Server which come along from Microsoft.

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A big thanks from us at WGS to Stephen for pulling together the specification and walkthrough guide – let us know how this compares to your self-build, and if yours is pimped out even more than Stephen’s, then tell us how (and indeed, why?”)

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