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View Poll Results: Will you use WHS ??
Yes. Waiting for RTM eagerly !!
17
51.52%
No. Tried it... Nothing special/Not for me/I can do that with XP/Vista !!
Ok. I gave WHS a good go, and was quite excited about it for a few weeks. But Ive since discovered that I can pretty much do everything with a rig running Vista. Though backups arent a huge issue for me, even that can still be achieved with the likes of Acronis...
Add to this, you can use your Vista(or XP) based server to record without reg hacking an ''unsupported feature''. And yes, you can use it for games and remote desktop too, if that's your thing....
I'd like to know... has anyone else gone off WHS ??
astro
I thought that it didn't offer anything compelling over other options & was actually very laggy when accessing the shares from other networked PCs. The lack of "native" WSUS (& centralised antivirus maybe) in the beta I tried is a big oversight - with the number of updates all of your machines are downloading, it makes sense to download them once centrally.
I think what's needed (especially around here) is more of a media server that offers a pool of tuners & a centralised guide that both MCE & MCX clients could connect to. That would be a Home Server in my book.
Justin
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VMC32: Asus M3N78-EMH HDMI, 4850e, TMG A2 CPU Cooler, 2x1GB Kingston HyperX 800, 2 x HVR-2200 (4 tuners), 500GB Samsung, NSK2480B. Connected to a Metz 32 inch LCD.
Office/Server: Abit A-N78HD, BE-2350, 2x1GB Kingston HyperX 800, 2 x AverTV Duo (4 tuners), CoolerMaster Centurion 5 Tower.
I'm in the same boat as you. I'm currently building a linux machine probably based on Ubuntu or Suse. I bought 2 x 500gb Samsungs on the weekend to make a RAID 5 with the one I rip out of WHS. I will then install Mythtv and have the TV & guide part sorted.
Backing up the server OS will probably be the hardest part for me, as I haven't played with it before.
Anyway, as you would've seen in another post of mine, I was already sick of the constant "balancing" operation that was going on, which they say backs off and doesn't affect anything else. From what I've noticed, it does slow things down. I was still having troubles with machines not fully backing up, or being complete but hanging at 100% and not being let sleep again.
I used the windows version to back up WHS with no dramas... Luckily I didnt pay for the license -a network admin friend let me ''borrow'' one because he owed me for doing his gaming and MCE rigs
Yeah, I had read that you need the server version of Acronis to do linux, but I was reluctant at parting with more money and I'm pretty sure it can be done using a tar archive. As far as I understand, just copying the directory structure, bar a few things and being able to just extract it over the top of an existing install.
I might check Acronis out again, as it might be an all in one solution. Might also handle backups of the Windows machines too, otherwise I'll just do them locally from each machine as a scheduled task to the server,
I too have spent the last few days playing with Linux - Ubuntu, OpenSuse, Dreamlinux, Linspire etc. - and I have to say that I'm very impressed with them all - especially the eye candy out of the box with Dreamlinux. - If you ever wanted OS-X Leopard without the Mac . . .
But as good as they all are - and stable etc., and accepting that a central tuner pool with EPG would make it the beez-neez - I still really like the simplicity of WHS.
I like being able to drop in another HDD of any type or size and the storage pool just balances it out - or take a HDD out if needed.
Most of all I love the backups, before WHS despite my best efforts, I never really did them properly! But now I have regular backups of 8 PCs on mine - 3 Vista, 4 XP (and a tar gz of my favourite Ubuntu install from my test machine - manually added). And with all these backups, the space taken is so small - 382GB. and yet my main workstation alone is holding 230GB - so that means the other 7 backups only occupy 152GB between them. I can't tell you the actual size on disk of 3 of the machines 'cos they're laptops and are off with my kids as I type this - but there's little doubt that "single instance storage" is kicking in big time in my situation.
So whilst I agree that it could be improved, for now, it's definitely easier and more efficient than the other options for me.
Mike
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The statement below is true.
The statement above is false.
WHS is a nice idea... While we are argue about its lack of functionality, it will improve over time and make it a possible worthwhile investment.
However the current RC1 incarnation of the product is ummm..... crap. One of the major issues which I have seen, and reported by others is it corrupts your files over time.
I built a 5 TB WHS test machine - when using the duplicate option to ensure some redundancy of the files... I watched it... Constantly tried load balancing, running the hdd's almost consistantly instead of sitting idol... and worst of all each day more and more files would slowly get corrupted.
AVI's would loose their metadata, thus making them unplayable, bits and pieces of files would disapear - causing playback glitches and the like.
Yep sure, you dont get these problems by turning the duplicate options off, but you want something to help in disasters....
- And they are marketing this thing as a solution for the home... stop digital amnesia - well it creates digital amnesia !!!!
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Impact: Not only by name, but the force I want to use with my Media Center
....
However the current RC1 incarnation of the product is ummm..... crap.
oh no, the 'C' word
I think if some clever critter comes up with an addin that facilitates tuner/recording pooling and EPG centralisation, then there'd be a WHS frenzy like banana day at the monkey enclosure.
I am a total newbie compared to you guys - so i guess more the target market for WHS. I actually am pretty impressed with it at this stage. I agree that it would be great if multiple tuners could be supported in it (more than 2) along with an epg, but until they come up with that feature, I am happy that I can easily record to and watch from a central location (thanks to the workaround). As I said, I don't have the networking experience of you guys.
Touch wood, I haven't needed to do a full recovery at this stage and hope that it will work as described when needed. Having said that, I have recovered a specific file from a previous backup (was syncing files across machines and deleted the wrong one), and the process worked fine.
One thing I would like to see would be the ability to backup the backup. This could be done with a portable drive?? I hate the thought that I am backing up my important data, but don't have a way to store it off-site. All well and good if your drive crashes, but if it is stolen or you have a fire - you are stuffed.
That is just the ravings of a newbie with too much time on his hands.
especially the eye candy out of the box with Dreamlinux. - If you ever wanted OS-X Leopard without the Mac . . .
Mike...I hadn't heard of this version before. Cheers...I'll DL that tonight and give it a whirl. I'm a sucker for making my Linux installs look like a MAC OS.
Re: Vote: What's the Consensus re WHS ??
