The Windows Home Server team is excited to see the progress and excitement around the public beta release of Windows 7. 

From the Windows 7 Beta Download "How to Backup a PC" page, you will see this important note near the bottom of the page.

Note: The backup methods described here do not preserve installed programs—only data. When the Windows 7 Beta expires on August 1, 2009, you'll need to reinstall a prior version of Windows or a subsequent release of Windows 7 before the expiration date, as well as any previously-installed programs.

You can read about installing the Windows Home Server Connector software on a PC running Windows 7 over at HomeServerHacks.   But before you update a PC to Windows 7, you should install the Connector software and backup your machine to your home server, so you have an image-based backup that you can return to for testing the upgrade scenario with future builds of Windows 7.

If you run into a bug with using the Windows Home Server Connector on the beta release of Windows 7, please let the home server team know through our Connect site.  A few people have notified us that we incorrectly display "Windows Vista ..." for the operating system name in the Windows Home Server Console and the Windows Home Server Remote Access page - we already have a fix in the works for those bugs. 

The Windows Home Server automated image-based backup and restore solution works with PCs running Windows XP and Windows Vista today, and should also work with Windows 7.  Please download the Windows 7 beta and try it out ... let us know if you have any issues.

t.

p.s. If you don't have a home server yet, now might be a good time to get going ....

Now that Windows Home Server has been available for almost a year and half, I am amazed at how many people do not protect themselves with a Windows Home Server from a Dead Hard Drive or Disk Crash and from these four terrible words strung together in white text on a black screen, "hard drive not found"  . As Joel Evans,  DriveSavers breathes life into a dead drive eloquently put it," In computer circles a well known statement when it comes to hard drives is that it’s not a matter of “if” a hard drive dies but “when”". What he also pointed out is the simple fact that if you send your drive to an expert company to recover the data from the drive it will probably run you about $1500 US. Did you see that? $1500!!!!!!!!

How much is a Windows Home Server again? oh yeah, about a third of that.

There are plenty of Data Recovery companies out there, but why would you want to wait for a failure just to put yourself through that financial strain? Besides, there are no guarantees that one of these Data Recovery companies will be able to recover all of your information from your drive. And if you are reading this post and you are now having to go down this painful and expensive path of getting your data recovered, why don't you take out an insurance policy and buy a Windows Home Server?

In the event that you encounter the horrible "hard drive not found" message and you now realize you have a "dead hard drive", and you have a Windows Home Server, Data Recovery via the Restore Computer Wizard will take you about 1 hour, minus the time it takes you to run out to your local computer hardware store to get a new hard drive. The new hard drive that you purchase just has to be at least the same size as the previous drive. Little known fact, if you want to upgrade your current hard drive with a faster larger drive, you can perform the same steps with the Restore Computer Wizard to put your new hard drive in place. Simply run one final backup of your pc, shut down, pull your old drive, install your new hard drive, boot your pc with the Home Computer Restore CD and follow those 6 simple steps to you newer, faster, expanded capacity pc.

Thanks for letting me vent a little on this. I guess working for a tech company blinds to the reality that not everyone is aware of the solutions we are working on. I would much rather prefer that our customers were aware now of Windows Home Server than after the fact, So, that they do not have to endure the pain of a hard drive failure, but alas, this is the reality. Heck, I still know many fellow employees who are initimately aware of the full capabilities of a Windows Home Server, yet they have chosen to go it alone and take the risk of a failure. I will just have to bite my lip when my neighbor comes over one day and tells me that his hard drive failed.

Thanks again,

Kevin Beares
Community Lead (Windows Server Solutions Group)

We are super excited by the overall reception of Windows Home Server in the market. Lots of progress has been made in this new product category that Microsoft established less than 2 years ago with the initial unveiling of the Windows Home Server software at CES 2007.

There has been strong adoption around the world with Windows Home Server having been sold in over 50 countries in a little over a year. And there is an incredibly passionate community of Windows Home Server enthusiasts, dedicated blogs and podcasts and 18 Microsoft MVPs.

At CES 2009, we have announcements and new hardware from a variety of companies that are creating home server products powered by Windows Home Server.

Hewlett Packard

HP announced their 2^nd generation home servers, the HP MediaSmart EX485 and EX487, last week and they have been busy demonstrating them at MacWorld earlier this week, and starting tomorrow at CES. Their new home server offerings have more memory to support additional Add-Ins and new Software features such as enhanced compatibility for Apple Macs, HP Media Collector, HP Photo Publisher, Web Media Streamer, Server Online Backup and Smart Power Management.

Acer

Acer will be entering the market with the Aspire Easy Store Home Server, powered by Windows Home Server. They plan on providing Add-ins to enable easily copying data from external USB hard drives, a Power Saver Scheduler and a DLNA complaint media streaming server. “… we are excited to team up with Microsoft and Intel to share the same concept by delivering this fun and easy to use product out for consumers,” expressed Allen Jong, Director, Acer Inc.

Shuttle

Shuttle is the pioneer manufacturer of small form factor PCs – and now Home Servers. They will bring two home server solutions to the USA market in 1st Quarter of 2009 – a model that has 2 hard drive bays (SH-K4500) and a 3 hard drive bay model (SH-K4800).

VIA Technologies

VIA is a pioneer in low power, high performance chipsets – and now Home Servers. They will also be releasing 2 home server products - a model with 2 drive bays (based on the Artigo A2000), and a model that can hold up to 8 hard drives (NSD-8000).

Tranquil PC

In the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe, Tranquil PC has already released a new product called the “Squash” SQA-5H. Designed from the ground up SQA-5H is a multi-drive home server (5 bays), with ultra low power consumption, near silent operation, classic looks, and simple to use features, like the ‘back up now’ button and 'disk usage remaining' button. There is also a 5 drive expansion chassis, so you can have up to 10 hard drives in your home server.

Windows Home Server delivers real value for households and home-based businesses with more than 1 personal computer. The home server category continues to grow and expand with more hardware partners and a greater number of software add-ins every month. The number of software add-ins expanding Home Server’s capabilities for consumers in the digital home has grown from less than 30 this time last year, to over 70 with some software partners already releasing second-generation Windows Home Server applications.

Tomorrow morning , check out the Windows Home Server Press Pass site for additional photos and more information.

We will have more news to share in the coming days ….

t.