# Windows Home Server - worth it?



## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

Simple question - is Windows Home Server a good product worth my investment?

I have 2 PCs, one just for web browsing. My main PC has about 400Gb of (legal!) music and other media as well as my home financial info and other stuff you'd have on a home PC.

I've been using Acronis backup, but it's kludgy (doesn't always back up my second hard drive with the media). 

I'm also interested in the media streaming capabilities of Home Server, esp with the XBOX 360.

Thanks!


----------



## sean10780 (Oct 16, 2007)

I've been running WHS since the beginning of 2009, and I think it's worth every penny. From regular automatic backups, to streaming, movies, audio and such. It's definitely worth it in my opinion. There are tons of add ins to add to it to pretty much do whatever you want, that makes it more functional.


----------



## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

Definately worth it. WHS is a great product that allows you to do so much more than just back up client PCs on your network. I have all DVD movies, photographs, documents, music, etc. on my WHS and stream the movies, music and photos over the network to the different TVs and PCs in the house. Once you dive in, you'll find out there are quite a lot of uses for it. There are some real good ready made WHS hardware products and easy DIY servers. You might check out www.mediasmartserver.net Great blogs, reviews and forums on there with lots of helpful information on there geared at WHS.


----------



## ben4408 (Sep 14, 2008)

It does two things that make it worth while for me. 1. I get remote access to files. I have three different offices and if a file I need is missing just download it from the server. 2. More importantly it automatically creates backups of the volumes on the computers hooked up to the server. Just last week my wife's laptop crashed (I couldn't figure out what the cause was) so i just plugged the laptop into my router inserted the disk and had the laptop set up exactly like it was the day before the crash, in about 45 minutes.


----------



## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

While there are a few more things I'd like it to do, I still thing WHS is the best Microsoft product in the last decade, even if it only handled backups.

In the real world, people HATE to make backups. It's always been a pain, so it almost never got done. But WHS makes it automastic and seemless. And, let's say your boot hard drive dies: simply drop in a new drive and the WHS recovery boot CD and restore to your new drive from last night's backup, and you're up and running in an hour like nothing ever happened.

And as many have done, WHS can be used as a media server and many other things, and makes a great "gateway" into your network to allow you to access your home network when you're away, something I do on a regular basis.

If you have 3 or more PCs at home, a WHS is invaluable.


----------



## Chop69 (Aug 11, 2007)

Another vote for WHS. Been using is since it was first in beta and it's great. Mine is self built out of older hardware. 

Usually I always recommend building yourself if you have the knowledge, but some of the value added stuff on the OEM WHS is great. A buddy of mine has an HP WHS and the stuff they've added almost makes me want to buy one.


----------



## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

here's a question:
Can WHS run programs? I have a security camera setup on my current "server" (vista32)..


----------



## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

Good info - thanks!


----------



## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

houskamp said:


> here's a question:
> Can WHS run programs? I have a security camera setup on my current "server" (vista32)..


Yes, it can; it's basically a stripped down version of Server 2003. But the OEM machines have no video on board and IIRC no keyboard or mouse support, as they are intended to be administered remotely. My WHS was built by me on an older PC, so I can actually log in from the console and administer it. I'm not sure how easy certain things would be to do remotely.


----------



## Michael D'Angelo (Oct 21, 2006)

I say yes to WHS. I have had the HP MediaSmart version for about a year now and love it. 

It backs up two desktops and three laptops every night without a problem. 

I have done two PC restores and it is very easy. If you are using a 64bit system you will need to have the 32bit network driver saved on a USB drive to do the PC restore. All it takes is a few clicks and you select what back up you want and done. If I remember correctly (it has been a little while) it took 20-30 minutes to complete a PC restore. 

It works great with DIRECTV Media Share.

Transferring files between PC's is very easy.

The best thing I like about it is I never have to carry a USB drive anymore. If I need something from a PC or the server I can log into the server from anywhere and I can also upload to it from anywhere. 

Plus I can use remote desktop right through the server.


----------



## davemayo (Nov 17, 2005)

I use it to backup up a desktop and a laptop every night and it works like a champ.


----------



## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

Hmmm.
Get a One Touch type device for backups and a WDTV-Live, Boxee Box, or Popcorn Hour for the media.


----------



## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

houskamp said:


> here's a question:
> Can WHS run programs? I have a security camera setup on my current "server" (vista32)..


Here's a great thread with a link to another on setting up video survellience using a WHS server. http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6899


----------



## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

Hansen said:


> Here's a great thread with a link to another on setting up video survellience using a WHS server. http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6899


 mine are all hardwired to a card in pc.. program runs to give dvr and web access..


----------



## CJTE (Sep 18, 2007)

WHS looks like awesome software. Ive got a couple beta product keys for it, I just haven't gotten around to installing it on anything (lots of other stuff going on in life).

From everything I hear (and look at the reviews on this board!), it's a great product. Exactly what it says, home server. It's missing a few features I'm used to in the corporate world (I don't believe it does DNS/DHCP, nor A.D.), but if it had those it would be server 03 and there'd be less of a price difference.


----------



## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

Interestingly, WHS is actually Server 2003 but with the WHS overlay. If you use remote desktop to access the server, you'll find Server 2003.


----------



## CJTE (Sep 18, 2007)

Hansen said:


> Interestingly, WHS is actually Server 2003 but with the WHS overlay. If you use remote desktop to access the server, you'll find Server 2003.


It's a limited version of Server 03.
You'll find a ton of references but you'll also find a few limitations (like I mentioned earlier, Active Directory).

Compare it to Windows XP Home vs. Pro.


----------



## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

WHS is excellent. But IMO consider if you have a machine that you could setup as the server as well to use your current resources.

Personally I have found that to work best for me lately. My main desktop is my network server that contains all my media and can share it out to everything else on the network. It is on 24/7/365 and has plenty of power to take care of the tasks as well as being my main machine.

I use external hard drives and other things for backups.


----------



## chevyguy559 (Sep 19, 2008)

I love mine....just bumped up the storage to over 2TB's


----------



## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

Is it true that Home Server only comes in 32 Bit? Someone told me that the other day, I didn't believe them but from what I am seeing it is true?

What's up with that?


----------



## CJTE (Sep 18, 2007)

funhouse69 said:


> Is it true that Home Server only comes in 32 Bit? Someone told me that the other day, I didn't believe them but from what I am seeing it is true?
> 
> What's up with that?


I believe you are correct. WHS currently is 32-bit and based on Server 03.
If that is the case, then I also believe there is a WHS 64-bit in the works that is based off Server 08.


----------



## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

Maybe they haven't released it as of yet but a buddy of mine has an MSDN Subscription and from what I understand that gives you access to everything that Microsoft has / offers and there is only a single 32 version of Home Server. 

I just find that so hard to believe since we've had 64 bit versions of even their client operating systems since XP that they don't have a 64 bit version of it yet. Well that and pretty much every system out there these days is 64 bit capable. I can't really comment about Vista but Windows 7 64 Bit Rocks and seems a whole lot peppier then even its 32 bit counterpart. 

Hopefully MS will do it, maybe I will consider looking it to it. Right now I have Domain in my house with over 10TB of storage. I don't know how Home Server deals with users, I will have to take a look at that.


----------



## CJTE (Sep 18, 2007)

funhouse69 said:


> Maybe they haven't released it as of yet but a buddy of mine has an MSDN Subscription and from what I understand that gives you access to everything that Microsoft has / offers and there is only a single 32 version of Home Server.


The developer network, and technet, give you different access to different software provided by Microsoft as part of your subscription level to either service.
Microsoft does care much with what you do with it (so long as you keep it in house, don't pass out your subscription to everyone you know), however technically, they give you access to that software for testing and evaluation purposes.
For example, a developer might want a copy of Office 2010 to verify that a certain program cooperates with Outlook 2010 the same way it does with Outlook 2003.

Like I said, it looks like you're right in that Microsoft hasn't released a 64-bit version of WHS. I too am rather curious as there is a 64-bit version of Server 03.


----------



## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

The current version of WHS is a 32 bit platform as noted above. There is currently no 64 bit version. However, it is rumored that MS has the gen version in development, which is code named Vail and 64 bit. Some have suggested a 2010 release.


----------



## bidger (Nov 19, 2005)

Exactly why would anyone need a 64 bit version of WHS?


----------



## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

Because all of the hardware sold today for the most part is 64 bit... Why wouldn't you want to take advantage of that performance? 

The whole industry is heading in that direction, any laptop or PC you buy now comes with 64 Bit Windows 7 Installed no matter what flavor (Home, Pro or Ultimate). 

Why would home server be any different?


----------



## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

Hansen said:


> The current version of WHS is a 32 bit platform as noted above. There is currently no 64 bit version. However, it is rumored that MS has the gen version in development, which is code named Vail and 64 bit. Some have suggested a 2010 release.


I've been doing a lot of research, and you're right on the money.

Based on this, I'm going to wait for "Vail", which is Windows Server 2008 with WHS.


----------



## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

funhouse69 said:


> Because all of the hardware sold today for the most part is 64 bit... Why wouldn't you want to take advantage of that performance?
> 
> The whole industry is heading in that direction, any laptop or PC you buy now comes with 64 Bit Windows 7 Installed no matter what flavor (Home, Pro or Ultimate).
> 
> Why would home server be any different?


There really is no direct performance gain from 64bit like that for the tasks home server is doing right now. The main advantages is using more memory, but even for that 3-4gb is plenty (most likely overkill) for a home server.

Home Server is meant to be just that, a Home Server. It really does not need to be 64bit though a 64bit version would be nice for some of us.


----------



## CJTE (Sep 18, 2007)

wilbur_the_goose said:


> I've been doing a lot of research, and you're right on the money.
> 
> Based on this, I'm going to wait for "Vail", which is Windows Server 2008 with WHS.


I haven't used it, but I'm pretty sure that WHS isn't an application that sits on top of server software.
As far as I can tell, Windows Home Server is a limited version of the server OS it's built from. Which is why I gave the XP home/pro example earlier.
XP home edition is not a layer that sits on top of XP pro. XP Home is its own operating system with certain functions removed, suchas Remote Desktop, User management in the Computer Management console, and 'Simple File Sharing'.
WHS is it's own operating system with functions like Active Directory, DHCP, DNS, etc removed.

Unless someone who is using it can tell me that they've got access to Active Directory, I'm going to stick to my guns on this one.


----------



## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

Here's an article and info about Vail being leaked in the last couple weeks. http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=5063&tag=wrapper;col1


----------



## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

I've had a homebuilt WHS machine for quite a while - as soon as I could buy an OEM copy of the software. For reference, I have a little over 4TB in disk space. On my LAN, I have 1 laptop (usually in a docking station), 1 desktop PC (used to be 2 but sold one), 1 Home Theater PC, one color laser printer, 2 XBox 360s, one old network hard drive, an additional WAP (as in, in addition to the wireless that comes with my router), a Homeplug A/V adapter with a 4-port Homeplug switch and 2 other switches (one 5-port, one 8-port).

My take on some of the points raised.

- WHS is not an application that sits on top of Server 2003. There IS a console application that is like that - and the conenctor software that runs on your PC is an application, but WHS is a *slightly* watered down S2K3 with some additional features in it (I wouldn't call it 'stripped down').

- It doesn't really need to be 64-bit because it has such a SMALL required footprint. I mean, there are ATOM-based servers out there. Old single-core Celerons can handle the job. I'm running a dual-core AMD.

- WHS *does* support 64-bit connector software (though that support was a little late, it's here now). What this means is that, for example, a Win7 64-bit PC will get backed up just fine and you can do the restores with no trouble.

- WHS serves up media files just fine. I have a considerable collection and drive pooling means I don't have to remember what drive I put a file on. For example, I have mapped all my PCs at home so that the B:\ drive is "//Server/Shares/". You plug a new drive into the server, the server sees it and asks you if you want to add it to the pool. If you say "yes", then the "B:\" drive on all the PCs (using my example) just got bigger.

- You CAN run programs on it. I collect media files from Usenet. I run Agent (newsreader), WinRAR (for decoding) and Weapons of Mass Downloading (for fixing damaged archives) on my server.

- DivX players see my shared directories just fine. My Xbox360s play them perfectly.

- I can play HD files (MKV format) on my Xbox360s by using my Home Theater's Media Center software. Installing Divx7 on the HTPC added support for MKV. It uses more LAN bandwidth than I like, but the Xbox uses the Media center interface to see what's on the HTPC, the HTPC is getting the files from the WHS box, transcoding them on the fly and streaming THAT back to the XBox. It sounds more complicated than it actually is.

- I've done a bare-metal restore of a laptop. Put in recovery disk. It looks for the WHS box. When it finds it, it lets you pick a backup (like the one from a week ago before that installation yesterday ruined your machine) and that's it. An hour or two later, your machine is restored.

- You get a webserver and web address (of yourservername.homeserver.com). I'm working on a website to put up as a sort of 'portfolio' to show the next time I have to interview for a job. (I'm a developer)

- There are lots of add-ons, many freebies too. WeGotServed.com is a good place to look and see what people have done with WHS.

This is one GREAT product.


----------



## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

What type of drives have you added to your WHS server?


----------



## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

I'll have to look them up but I think they're WD "Green" drives, 1TB each. I don't think any of my old Seagates are in the server. The way I saw it, it was ok to buy the cheaper frives since I wasn't interested in the absolute fastest access times because I would use it mostly as a media server.

Not a big resource hog when you're just streaming one file at a time


----------



## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

djlong,
I'm not seeing anything that yours is doing that my XP box, WD-TV Live, and PlayOn aren't doing. I suspect I'm a few hundred dollars light of what you have in your system.

I haven't heard of Weapons of Mass Download.
Going to check it out now.


/edit
Never mind. I've got it covered with newer software and searches.


----------



## Michael D'Angelo (Oct 21, 2006)

I too am using two 1TB WD "Green" Drives along with the factory Seagate drive that came with my HP Media Smart WHS.


----------



## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

The HP takes SATA drives, right?


----------



## kfcrosby (Dec 17, 2006)

wilbur_the_goose said:


> The HP takes SATA drives, right?


yep


----------



## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

Marlin Guy: Do your boxes do MKV files? I'm not being sarcastic, I'm serious. Every time I look at an extender like that it's either lacking Ethernet connectivity (but will do MKV files) or won't do MKV but DOES hook up to the LAN. Heck to get my Xbox to do MKV it has to talk to the HTPC via Media Center.

To me, the two biggest advantages of WHS, out of all the ones I listed above, are:

- Drive pooling (my server shares look like one humongous drive)
- Bare metal restore. The nightly backups go without a hitch and when Outlook got corrupted on my laptop, all I did was pop the restore CD into the laptop's drive and boot it. It automatically found my server, then asked me which backup I wanted, and something over an unattended hour later, it was done. (and it optimizes storing the backups - if the same file is on 4 machines, there's only one copy on the server, but four pointers to it - great for storing those gigabytes of Windows system files)


----------



## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

I just use a simple torrent/WMC setup, and I remux the mkv's to m2ts's and store them on my share folder. My PS3 and my XBOX360 running MC extender playback the files flawlessly, no transcoding so the torrent/WMC box doesnt even need to be very beefy at all.


----------



## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

Thanks - I've decided to go with a single 1.5Tb USB drive for backup for now... It was only $129 versus > $600 for the EX495 (including tax).


----------

