I reported on Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 yesterday in WinInfo, but you can find even more info on the Windows Home Server blog:
Power Pack 1, formerly code named "UR1", will ship in the first half of 2008 and be made available to existing customers of Windows Home Server via Windows Update.
Power Pack 1 has some great new functionality. A high level overview is included below and we will share additional details in more blog posts throughout the week.
Windows Home Server Connector Software
When Power Pack 1 ships, the Windows Home Server Connector will be able to be installed on home computers running Windows Vista x64 editions.
Windows Home Server Data Backup
While adding a hard drive to Windows Home Server, a user is now presented with an option to use the hard drive for backing up the home server. Once this option is selected, the home server will appear in the Computers & Backup tab - where a user can decide what information they want to store on this hard drive.
Remote Access
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 you to specify whether the user will have access to the computers tab, the shared folders tab, or both tabs when logged in with Windows Home Server Remote Access.
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 either as a list of files (‘Details’ view) or as thumbnails (‘Icons’ view).
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.
Home Computer Backups
If the backup database on the home server has a consistency error, you can now use the backup database repair wizard to attempt to correct this error.
Also, 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.
That last bit is interesting. I do have at least one computer that I'd prefer not be woken up each night.