Why I’m going back to Windows Home Server

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I’ve had an on-again/off-again relationship with Windows Home Server.

I started out with the public beta, went running right out and plunked down some hard earned credit to get the pieces of a decent enough rig to run the beta.  As with all beta software it had some rough spots, but I never did run into the dreaded data corruption bug.

After the beta I went out and spent my own money on the OEM software and did a fresh install on the machine.  As prices dropped I added more and more storage to the system.  The WHS machine saved my bacon a couple times by having a full system backup of a couple different hobby systems I have.  On those I like to change and rearrange things often, installing different OS’s and such.  At the end of it all, I like to go back to a clean and stable OS and software set, and the restore feature of WHS is perfect for that.

However I went on vacation this summer, and when I returned, of all the drives on the WHS to die, it was the system drive.  I went to power up and just got “clunk, clunk, clunk” from the system drive.

Except for my system images, I didn’t have anything that I couldn’t afford to lose on the system, and I thought I wanted a dedicated Vista Media Center system more than I wanted the WHS system.  So I popped in a new system drive, and just reformatted the whole thing over to Vista and convinced myself that I was OK to lose my system images.

I’ve been using it as my main Media Center machine/server since the summer, and it works OK when you get Vista to share things with the other systems.

But the main reason I’m going back?  For the backup of my other systems.  I just want that feature.  Also with the public beta of Windows 7 due soon through my Technet subscription, I want to be able to keep an image of the system I choose to move over to 7 so I can go back when and if I need to go back.

For all the other features of WHS, the one I miss the most is the backup feature.  I know you can get other products to do similar things, but since I already have the WHS software, I’m going to go back.

For my Vista Media Center system?  I’ve got a laptop that my sister dropped and broke the screen on, so it will be perfect to just sit and record TV and move it over to the WHS system.