SuperSite Blog

The whole product is a beta.

@Lindy,

Do you use this product?  I’ve been using it since the RC. I’m not going to try to minimize the impact of the data corruption problem. It’s a huge black eye for the WHS team. But, to be cliché, don’t throw out the baby with the bath water.

WHS is a great product. Where else can you get a NAS with Data Redundancy\Network Image Backup\Cold Iron Restore\Home PC Health Monitor\Remote File Access\Remote Desktop Director in one, easy to use, extendable package?  This is the most innovative piece of consumer software to come out of Redmond in a long time.

The BETA will start June16?! UGH! It'll be August or later before we see the final release.

Oh well. My Vista x64 PC will just have to back up to USB Disk a little longer.

Yes I used it.  I signed up for the beta test to the production version.  At the same time I started moving my all Windows household to OS X, which kind of kills a lot of its ability.

Prior to this I had a SBS2003 server running from my Action Pack.  The biggest problem I had with it was backup.  With SBS2003 or Windows 2003 I would backup my server (basically a file server for home) to an external HD and then put that HD in a fireproof safe.  I have two external drives so I swap them out, one in the safe, one plugged in.

Anyhow WHS cant backup to an eternal drive, it treats it as more storage, and there is NO backup program.  You can of course do its version of a mirror but if you try to unplug the drive via the GUI it will freak out and try to move stuff off of it.  If you just unplug it it will flip out as well.

I am sure they will eventually fix it.  That said going to OS X, and I am using other stuff like www.logmein.com free version for remote control on my PC's and Mac's from afar.  FreeNas for cheap super simple SAMBA files server for both Windows and OS X.

The WHS market is so very slim (Joe User with a server) and they had a small windows to get out there, and bam, major problem that has taken forever to fix.  Also you got to be all MS to really use it to its full ability.

@Lindy

Now that’s better. Good Job. Valid points and criticisms.  

I too was disappointed by the lack of backup to disk.  Backup to the cloud is available via 3rd party and is a "safer" solution than local disk, but may not be viable depending on how much data you need send up stream.  

I concur with the lack of non MS support being a problem. But if MS can write Mesh client for OSX..... Who knows?

Regarding the market, I honestly don't know. I know a lot of families are adding second and third computers to the home, as well as Xboxes and other "Media Extenders."  I’ve heard WHS called a solution looking for a problem. But I think it's more of a solution for a problem that people don't know they have. Once they see it work, they understand how it helps.  

Hey it’s a MS v1.0 product, but it has a lot of potential.

Doesn't PP1 allow backup to an external disk?