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Windows Home Server In The News

This month, I scoured the Internet for some interesting news on our favorite Windows Server.

Windows Home Server In The News

Nov 7, 2011 10:01 AM,
by Eric B. Rux

This month, I scoured the Internet for some interesting news on our favorite Windows Server.

Drive Bender

Remember the big bru-ha-ha surrounding Microsoft’s decision to remove Drive Extender (DE) from WHS 2011? Drive Extender allowed WHS v1 users to easily add hard drives to a pool of drives. This sleight-of-hand allowed you to easily increase the capacity of your Home Server. For reasons I won’t revisit here, Microsoft decided to remove this functionality from the 2011 version of Home Server.

Fortunately, a company called Division-M developed a similar product called Drive Bender. Not only does Drive Bender add Drive Extender functionality to WHS 2011, it works on Windows XP and higher! It’s priced right, too: The Home Edition is only $40 USD, while the Business Edition is prices at $89. Both products are functionally identical, and can be used on one home or business computer, respectively. There’s also an “unlimited” license – but you’ll have to contact Division-M for pricing.

Newegg.com Deal

Here’s a steal of a deal: $299 for an HP Home Server! Sure, it’s a version 1 (built on top of Windows Server 2003), but it’s a workhorse.

  • HP StorageWorks X310
  • Intel Atom Dual Core (1.6GHz)
  • 2GB Memory
  • 1TB hard drive
  • 3 open bays

If you’ve been holding out on getting a Windows Home Server, wait no more. Snatch this up before they’re gone.

Will my router work with WHS?

I get this question a lot. The answer is “most likely”. The reason is that even if Windows Home Server cannot automatically configure your home router, you can easily manually configure it. If you’re having trouble, Microsoft has an article to help walk you through troubleshooting (pls link troubleshooting to: http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/windowshomeserver2011/remote-conne…). The best list of WHS compatible routers that I’ve found was created by Terry Walsh. The list needs to be updated to include the newest routers, but it’s a good list, nonetheless.

Windows Home Server 2011 on HP WHS v1 hardware

Alex Kuretz wrote a great step-by-step article on how to install Home Server 2011 on the HP MediaSmart series of Home Servers. Big deal, you say; just pop in the DVD and go. Well, not so fast. First, there’s no DVD drive, so you’ll need to install from a USB drive. Once you figure that out, then you come to realize that there are no keyboard, monitor, or mouse connections on the HP servers. Hmmmmm… Yup, you’ll want to read Alex’s article. Alex used to work at HP and was a Lead Test and Integration Engineer for the Media Smart, so he knows what he’s talking about.

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