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Microsoft Windows Home Server
Backup
The backup service is a great feature to have at your disposal, and both major PC platforms (Windows and Mac) now have a full-scale backup solution available from the vendor (WHS from Microsoft, Time Machine from Apple). The biggest flaw I found in Windows Home Server was the backup system. When backup begins, the software will slow down the computer tremendously due to the intensive disk I/O. Performance has improved somewhat since Beta 2 and CTP, but a backup still has a sizable negative impact on my Windows XP PC. The backup utility also lacks the ability to turn the PC off after completion. While it can wake the computer from hibernation, complete the backup, and then go back into hibernation, that's the extent of the client functionality to help consumers save electricity (and money). Viewing backups and restoring individual files from those backups is possible, but the process is not the most user-friendly. When you want to revert a file to a previous version, you're left to guess when the file actually changed. Unlike Apple's Time Machine, which is a file-centric view of backups that gives you the ability to move between changes, WHS requires you to guess at dates, open the backup (which is a time-consuming process itself; opening one backup took me 5 minutes and prompted me to restart my computer because it had mounted the backup image as my Z drive), find the file you want, view it, and then restore it.     Finally, one last item I felt that Microsoft should address is an optional off-site backup service for a monthly fee. I think about the recent wildfires in Southern California and usually the one thing people are always running back to get are picture albums. Well, if you were to have all those pictures stored not only digitally, but backed up on an off-site server, if the worst were to happen, be it flood, fire, earthquake, or alien invasion, your data and all those wedding photos are still safe on a server somewhere in Oregon or Tennessee.
Page 1: Introduction & Hardware Configuration
Page 2: Installation of Windows Home Server & Client Software Page 3: Client Console and Restore CD Page 4: File Serving Page 5: Backup Page 6: Windows Media Connect Page 7: Remote Access Page 8: Plug-ins Page 9: Conclusion 
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