Following a couple of articles posted at WGS (here and here) regarding a nasty issue in Windows Home Server 2011, which allows the system to potentially overwrite you album art and music metadata without authorisation, Microsoft have today posted an advisory note on the TechNet Wiki.

The wiki post acknowledges the issue (as the company did previously on Microsoft Connect) and provides the same workaround steps as previously published to switch off the scheduled task at fault.

Also acknowledged in the wiki post is another two media related issues that have been identified with WHS 2011 -  “Repeat” button does not function for single file streaming from Remote Web Access Page and The media file will still be displayed in the media player, after they have been moved to a new folder. The first issue has been identified as a bug due to the Repeat feature not being activated in the product for single file playback whilst the second issue is the result of Windows Media Player indexes not being updated after media files are moved. Doh.

With regard to the metadata issue, public acknowledgement and a workaround are great, but not a permanent solution. Microsoft needs a fix in place to ensure a Dashboard control is made available to switch metadata synchronisation on or off – and ensure the default is set to off.

In other news, Microsoft abandons correct spelling, English grammar and proof-reading for support documentation.

More: TechNet Wiki

No doubt many of you will have heard the news of Windows Home Server 2011 crazy discounting at online resellers across the globe. With retailers like Newegg pushing out the System Builder software for as little as $49.99 (£30.74) it’s unsurprising that there’s been a huge amount of discussion online about just why Microsoft decided to cut the price so early in the product’s lifecycle. After all, this is Windows Server 2008 R2 (yours for around $800/£500 online) under the hood, and Microsoft are selling the OS cheaper than Windows 7 client? Is this a signal that Microsoft is dropping the product?

I don’t think so. Firstly, if Microsoft had decided to drop Windows Home Server, there’s no real imperative for them to discount and sell through stock of the System Builder SKU. Given the small sales of Windows Home Server v1, and bad press around the Drive Extender removal, I doubt whether Microsoft pressed a huge number of WHS 2011 disks. Those that had been produced could tick over at reseller warehouses for some time to come.

More likely, this is a new product release for Microsoft and like all products in large corporations, it will have sales targets and promotions to help attain those targets. Someone has to pay for the last three years of research, planning and development (yes, three years). No OEM hardware in the market means that no big OEM is buying the software from Microsoft. Except for Acer, but we’re calling their new home server vapourware at this point. So who’s going to buy the software? Possibly people like you, and to stimulate that demand here’s a cracking price, which drives a heap of free word of mouth marketing in the tech community.

None of this means that Microsoft haven’t or won’t drop the product in the future – but perhaps if the product can’t sell in volume even at this knock down price, Microsoft will be persuaded to bring the Windows Home Server era to a close. We’ll see – the product has just been released, and as is customary at Microsoft I assume that means a host of restructuring and personnel changes in Redmond, as the company figures out its future roadmap.

In time, we’ll find out whether that vision still includes a server in the home. What’s your view? Cash in or sell out?

Next week sees North America’s technorati descend on Atlanta for Microsoft’s TechEd developer & IT Pro conference. If you’re a home server enthusiast attending the  event, then be sure to check out DataCore’s booth (1629), as they’ll be talking about their upcoming DataCore DriveHarmony storage management add-in for WHS 2011.

You’ll have a chance to meet some of the team, ask all the questions you wish about features and performance, and be one of the first to sign up for the imminent beta release.

More: TechEd | DataCore

As testers will be aware, one of the new features in Windows Home Server 2011 is the ability to connect both PCs and Macs to the home server. Rather than installing the Connector software from CD, as we did in Windows Home Server v1, in the new version, we simply visit http://[server name]/Connect to download and install the client software.

Living in a mixed Mac/PC home, I’m keen to see the final OSX support in Windows Home Server 2011, as earlier previews proved to be a bit of a mess when it came to all-things-Apple. Let’s take a look at connecting both types of computer to the server.

PC

Bizarrely, it looks like the Release Candidate has taken a step backwards in the PC Connector configuration experience. Back in August, the Connector was looking very much complete and ready to ship. Here’s an example of what we saw last Summer.

However, it looks like between releases, Microsoft have changed the PC Connector installation somewhat, as it now requires a reboot half way through. Unfortunately, it looks like someone forgot to drop in the dialog headers in the first part of the revised Connector wizard dialogs.

Microsoft today announced the immediate availability of the Windows Home Server 2011 “Vail” Release Candidate to the general public – the first build of the platform released following Microsoft’s controversial decision to strip the product’s core storage technology, Drive Extender.

The removal of the technology reduces the suitability of the platform for Windows Home Server’s target consumers. Key features including the ability to create storage pools from a variety of hard drives, as well as redundant data protection, both present in the currently shipping version of the product, have now been removed. Users will subsequently have to rely on more complex technologies such as RAID, external backup or other third-party solutions to offer the data protection required for the digital media stored on Windows Home Server 2011. Check out our look at life without Drive Extender in A Fresh Look at Storage in Windows Home Server 2011 “Vail”.

Following Microsoft’s announcement in December regarding the removal of Drive Extender, thousands of existing Windows Home Server owners have threatened to abandon the platform, or refrain from upgrading. OEM support for Windows Home Server 2011 also appears to be minimal, with only Acer and system builder Tranquil PC pledging support late last year. Microsoft’s announcement did not mention any new hardware manufacturers seeking to offer Windows Home Server 2011-based solutions, and there’s silence as regards existing partners LaCie, ASUS and Lenovo. The industry at large may well be watching carefully to gauge user reaction to the Release Candidate.

Storage aside, Windows Home Server 2011 offers a number of improvements over its predecessor. The product sits atop Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, the very latest edition of Microsoft’s server platform, which offers greatly improved driver support, as well as the ability to backup the server itself – both key missings from the Windows Server 2003-era first edition of WHS. Elsewhere, remote web access has been greatly improved with a new widget-based user interface plus support for mobile devices, whilst a Silverlight-based media streaming application also ships with the platform. Support for Apple Mac OSX computers is available for the first time (although Time Machine support remains broken from our initial testing) and a new Launchpad client application will offer fast access to Windows Home Server 2011′s key features.

However, the removal of Drive Extender has left a rather nasty taste in many prospective user’s mouths and with an ever improving range of competitive offers in prosumer storage from the likes of Drobo, Netgear, Synology, LaCie, QNAP and others the question remains whether Microsoft have made a grave error in killing Windows Home Server’s core differentiator. Whilst Redmond will be glad to close the door on Vail development, the community will now look to OEMs and third-parties to see whether integrated or after-market solutions will be made available to restore the storage magic of Windows Home Server.

The new build is available to download now from Microsoft Connect.

Western Digital seems to have a winner on their hands with the WD TV Live HD Media Player.

In addition to being a great little media player, it now has the blessing of Microsoft as the first network media player compatible with Windows 7 and the Play To feature.

Current owners of the WD TV Live will need to update their firmware, which can be found here to make use of this enhanced functionality.

Some may ask, what is Play To?  A quick blurb on Play To:

Play To, new in Windows 7, makes it easy to play music and video on other networked PCs, TVs, or stereos around the house. Just right-click the tracks you want to enjoy, or add them to your Windows Media Player 12 playlist, and select Play To—now you’re a DJ.

Play To works with other PCs running Windows 7 and devices that carry the “Compatible with Windows 7″ logo. To find one, visit the Windows 7 Compatibility Center.

Basically, if you have a playlist in Windows Media Player on Windows 7, the WD Live can access the media.

The official announcement.

WD TV™ LIVE HD MEDIA PLAYER IS THE FIRST NETWORK MEDIA PLAYER COMPATIBLE WITH WINDOWS 7

---

Consumers Can Use “Play To” Feature to Stream Music, Videos and Picture Files Stored on Their PCs and Home Network to Their Big Screen TVsLAKE FOREST, Calif. – May 6, 2010 – WD® (NYSE: WDC), the world’s leader in external storage solutions, today announced that the WD TV Live HD media player, featuring network capability and Full-HD 1080p resolution, is the first network media player compatible with Windows 7. The WD TV Live HD media player makes it easy for anyone to play media stored on USB and network drives, any PC on the home network, as well as content from popular websites, on the biggest screen in their home — their big screen television.Using the Windows 7 Play To feature, users can initiate and control the streaming of video, music or photos to the WD TV Live HD media player and home entertainment systems from any Windows 7-based PC on their network. Any compatible media file accessible from the PC – located either on the PC or the network – can be played to the WD TV Live by right clicking on the file name in the folder or directly from within Windows Media Player 12 and choosing the WD TV Live HD media player as the playback device.Current users of the WD TV Live will need to update their WD TV Live HD media player to the latest firmware in order to use the Windows 7 Play To feature. Instructions for updating the WD TV Live HD media player can be found here: http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdfwdtv_live“Microsoft is pleased that Western Digital has earned the Compatible with Windows 7 logo and is supporting the Play To feature with WD TV Live HD media player,” said Mark Relph, senior director, Windows Ecosystem Product Management at Microsoft Corp. “Now more than 100 million Windows 7 customers will have an affordable and easy way to play files to their HD TVs and other devices from their PC.”"We regularly engage with WD TV Live enthusiasts in our online community. Many have been asking for a way to “push” media from their PCs to their TV or home theater system, especially from laptops. With the new Windows 7 Play To feature, users can select music or movies from their laptop and play it on an HD TV connected to a WD TV Live HD media player, whether the HD TV is across the living room or in a different room altogether,” said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD’s branded products group. “WD worked closely with Microsoft on this exciting new feature to ensure the seamless compatibility of the WD TV Live HD media player with Windows 7 PC’s and deliver WD TV Live users what they want.”WD TV Live HD Media Player
Features of the Windows 7-compatible WD TV Live HD media player include:

• Full-HD 1080p video playback and navigation with the included remote control and crisp, animated navigation menus;
• Play a wide variety of file formats including support for the most popular file formats with no need to spend time transcoding;
• Play videos, music and photos from the Internet on your big screen TV and discover new music with Pandora® Internet radio or listen to thousands of radio stations via Live365 Internet radio;
• Ethernet port for wired or WiFi® connection¹ to access files anywhere on the network to play movies, music, and photos from any PC or drive on a home network;
• Turns a USB drive² into an HD media player and plays content from most popular USB drives, and digital cameras, camcorders, and portable media players that can be recognized as mass storage devices;
• Unlimited media collection, just add more USB drives for more space;
• Two USB ports for seamless media playback from multiple USB drives and ability to access them simultaneously while a media library feature collects the content on all the drives into one list sorted by media type;
• Transfer files by copying, moving or deleting files stored on a USB drive, a network drive, a camcorder, or a camera to the attached USB drive using the on-screen menus;
• Picture Transfer Protocol support to show photos and movies directly from digital camera or video camera and/or any digital imaging device that supports Picture Transfer Protocol;
• Advanced navigation options including thumbnail and list views, media library and search;
• Photo viewing to create custom slide shows, zoom and pan and search;
• Movie viewing with fast-forward, rewind, pause, zoom and pan, view subtitles, and search;
• Music playback with fast-forward, rewind, pause, shuffle, repeat and search;
• File copying between USB devices;
• HDMI® 1.3 port, composite video and component video output for the highest quality HDTV or home theater;
• SPDIF digital output that sends digital signals to your AV receiver for the best surround sound experience; and,
• Ultra-compact design to fit easily into a home entertainment center.

Pricing and Availability
The WD TV Live HD media player is available now at select retailers and online at shopwd.com. Covered by a 1-year limited warranty, the MSRP for WD TV Live HD media player is $149.99 USD.

About WD
WD, one of the storage industry’s pioneers and long-time leaders, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital information. The company produces reliable, high-performance hard drives that keep users’ data accessible and secure from loss. WD applies its storage expertise to consumer products for external, portable and shared storage applications.
WD was founded in 1970. The company’s storage products are marketed to leading systems manufacturers, selected resellers and retailers under the Western Digital® and WD brand names. Visit the Investor section of the company’s Web site (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information.

¹ WiFi adapter sold separately.
² WD TV media players are optimized for use with My Passport™ portable hard drives.

Looks like HP are feeling the Xmas spirit in the UK, offering £90 plus an extra 10% off the HP MediaSmart Server EX490 and giving away an M&S hamper with every purchase.

We’ve had reports from readers that the product is coming in and out of stock at HP’s own online store and at other online retailers. We caught up with HP who tell us that they are bringing stock in to the country, but each delivery is selling out rapidly (probably not surprising if they’re knocking £100 off the price). The deal looks to be valid until Dec 24th, so fingers crossed there’s stock available until then.

To check out these tasty savings (ho ho) head over to hp.com. Thanks to Gary for the tip!

Update: A reader has left a comment stating the deal may only be for HP employees. Bah Humbug.

Update #2: Apparently it’s not just for HP employees, but is also available to those with an employee scheme.

More Info: HP

Today sees another new chapter in the development of We Got Served, with the opening of a new website that will be solely dedicated to Windows Home Server add-ins.

Home Server Plus (http://www.whsplus.com) is a new resource for the Windows Home Server community that builds on the collection of add-ins we’ve hosted here at We Got Served with a whole host of new features to make finding, installing and using Windows Home Server add-ins easier and more enjoyable.

Home Server Plus Home Page

All 73 of today’s free, community developed add-ins are listed on the site with the following features:

• Easier Navigation
  Add-ins are easy to navigate and find thanks to their categorisation in to Backup, Communications, Home Server Management, Internet, Media, Miscellaneous, Power, Remote Access and Security.
• Add-ins Assessed By Ease of Use
  Each Windows Home Server add-in assessed and categorised by level of user experience required – from Standard, through Advanced to Expert. So if you’re new and just learning the ropes of your new home server you can ensure you build your experience with add-ins step by step.
• Screenshots and Videos to Check-out Before You Try
  Screenshots and embedded 4-5 minute YouTube video of each add-in running on Windows Home Server, to allow you to view features and functionality before deciding to download.
• Links to Your Favourite Support Resources
  Links to add-in developer’s website for download and documentation, as well as links to a dedicated We Got Served Community Support Forum for each add-in and WGS Review.
• Every Add-in Rated and Ranked By the Community
  Rate each add-in you download, and see an up to the minute view of what the community has rated the Top 10 Highest Rated and Most Rated add-ins.
• Hate It? State It!
  Share your opinions on each add-in with the community, and tell your friends about the coolest apps, courtesy of links to the leading social networks (Digg, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and over 100 others) or via email.
• Full Release Histories
  Release history listed for each add-in, so you can be sure you’re running the latest version.
• Easy Keyword Search
  Full search capability to locate add-ins by name, part of the name or keyword.
• Keep Up to Date Via RSS
  RSS feeds available for new add-in posts and community comments, so you can be sure you’re always up to date with add-in news.

Here’s a few screenshots of the new site:

Home Server Plus Category Menu

Highest Rated Add-ins in Sidebar

Social Networking Links

Why the new site?

We Got Served has been the home of Windows Home Server add-ins ever since we collated and launched our first add-in list back in 2007. Since then, the list of add-ins has grown tremendously to the point where there are now 73 free community add-ins available for download. To be honest, whilst we’ve got a reasonable resource available for add-ins via WGS Forums, I think we can do a lot better and the existing database and download facilities we have are quite restrictive, and not the friendliest to use. They’re also quite hidden, tucked away in the forums and given the prominence of community add-ins, they need to be set free!

With the new site we can say goodbye to user registration requirements and poor auto-screenshot re-sizing and hello to cool features like video previews, community ratings, improved commenting, social networking links and more!

What will stay here at We Got Served is our community support forums, which are linked from each and every add-in on the new site. As many of you know, we provide a forum for every add-in that is released to provide a community support resource, which developers are free to use to connect to the community, but is mainly a place for WGS readers to chat and help each other out with the add-ins they use. Some forums are tumbleweed zones, others are vibrant with readers and developers swapping ideas for new features or reporting and supporting other users with problems. We’ll continue to build that support resource here at WGS, whilst Home Server Plus will be dedicated to showcasing what’s available.

What’s happening now?

I hate the phrase, but let’s say we’re in “beta” right now. I’m putting the finishing touches to the new site, which mainly includes creating, uploading and linking the video clips for each add-in (which, as you can imagine, is a pretty laborious job!) Whilst that continues over the next couple of weeks, I’d love you to go and check out the site and do the following to help test the site:

• Find and rate all of the add-ins you currently use.
• Download a few new add-ins that you don’t currently use, check them out, share your opinion on them via the comments area, and rate those too. Let’s get some discussion going!
• Click on links and let me know if any are broken.
• Feedback anything you like, hate or can’t get your head around in the comments for this post, plus any ideas you’ve got on how we can make the site even better.
• If you’re a website owner who currently links to the (pretty horrible) existing URL for add-ins at WGS (http://forum.wegotserved.com/index.php?autocom=downloads) then feel free to swap the link out for a nice, short and and shiny new one (http://www.whsplus.com)
• If you know your way around Camtasia Studio and would be up for helping out with creation of add-in preview videos, then drop me a note – I’ll dig into the WGS Competition Swag Bag and I’m sure I can send out some home server goodies for contributors.

Going Forward

At some point in the next few months, I’ll close down the add-ins section here at WGS and point all existing links to the new site. It won’t be for a while as relinking is going to take ages, but if you’re a current WGS add-ins section junkie, start getting acquainted with the new place!

I’m really excited about the new site, and hope you guys find it a much more useful resource to discover, download and discuss the add-ins which make the Windows Home Server community such a fun and vibrant place. But, it’s a resource for everyone, so let me know what you think – good and bad!

Check it out: Home Server Plus

I haven’t been able to tell you this to date, due to my MVP non-disclosure agreement, but Todd Headrick, Product Planner for Windows Home Server mentioned on the team blog that the code name for Windows Home Server Power Pack 2 is “Snoqualmie” (or SnoQ to its friends).

So, that’s:

WHS Power Pack 2: Snoqualmie
WHS v2: Vail

Who can guess the codename connection?

More Info: WHS Team Blog

This is the final part of our review of the HP MediaSmart Server EX487. Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4 should be read before this one.

Rounding off the MediaSmart Server’s impressive software offer are three add-ins which will be familiar to existing MediaSmart Server owners:

TwonkyMedia Server

TwonkyMedia Server is a DLNA compliant media server which improves the media-serving compatibility of WHS with a wide range of media playback devices. It also ensures the HP MediaSmart Server is able to playback a far greater variety of file formats.

The following tables (courtesy of HP) show the major differences between a home server running without a DLNA-compliant media server (using the in-built Windows Media Connect 2.0 server) and TwonkyMedia Server.

The EX487 comes with a newer version of TwonkyMedia Server than it’s predecessor, running version 5.0. (The previous model runs 4.4.4)

McAfee Total Protection Service

As with the previous version of the MediaSmart Server, HP have bundled an anti-virus product from McAfee with the EX487 – anti-virus updates are free for seven months, after which a subscription charge applies (currently £29/$35 a year).

iTunes Server

Finally, HP’s iTunes Server makes a return to the new model, which allows you to play back music and video stored on your home server from within iTunes.

Verdict

So, ever since we heard of plans for the next generation HP MediaSmart Server back in the summer, we’ve been eagerly waiting to get our hands on it. Now that we have, what do we think of it?

In short, it’s stunning.

Stunning not because of the hardware, which, given we’re reviewing a piece of hardware here, is pretty surprising. The chassis is pretty much unchanged from the previous model, and HP have done the right thing increasing the storage available in-box and, in upgrading the processor and memory in the new version, have patched the MediaSmart Server’s most obvious weaknesses. For those aesthetically minded, the MediaSmart Server remains the best looking home server chassis on the market, so it was probably the right decision to leave well alone here.

No, the real surprise is how well HP have extended the software capabilities of the MediaSmart Server on top of the base Windows Home Server platform. Mac backup, the Media Collector, Web Streamer and new Photo Publisher features are worth the admission price alone. At this point, HP have not announced whether they will be making these features available to existing MediaSmart Server owners as a software upgrade, but if they don’t, and these media features are important to you, it’s seriously worth thinking about picking up the EX485 or 487 as a replacement.

For those looking for a new home server, or perhaps thinking about purchasing their first, HP have built a suite of smart media-centric applications on top of a best-in-class hardware platform which transform Windows Home Server from a worthy backup and remote access utility into a media-serving powerhouse.

Read the rest of our review:

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Hardware
Part 3: Software 
Part 4: Software cont.
Part 5: Verdict

This is Part 4 of our 5 part review of the HP MediaSmart Server EX487. Parts 1, 2, 3  4 & 5 are also available.

Web Media Streamer

So, that’s one way of sharing media online with the HP MediaSmart Server – but we’re not done yet. Also included is a new Web Streaming application which allows you to stream your Music and Photos directly from your home server over the Internet to a PC or a Windows Mobile Device – so if you’re away on holiday or on a business trip, you’re just a couple of clicks from your entire music and photo library. You access the Web Streamer from the MediaSmart Server’s new remote access page.

When it comes to Music, you can browse your collection by folder, artist, playlist or just shuffle the tracks if you wish and in Photos, you can browse by date or by folder, playback photos in full screen and shuffle photos into a random slideshow too.

Supported file formats are as follows:

Music

wma, mp3, m4a, mp4, aac, wav

Photos

jpg, tif, tiff, png, gif, bmp

Bear in mind that Music, Video and Photos can be streamed around the home using the HP MediaSmart Server. Outside the home, Music and Photos can be streamed remotely to a device across the internet using HP’s in built web streamer. If you want to stream video outside the home, free add-ins such as Orb or WebGuide may do the trick for you.

If you’ve been using a media streaming application such as Orb or Webguide you’ll know how great it is to be able to stream your media wherever you are – however, those two applications can sometimes be a little tricky to configure. HP’s Web Streaming application works pretty much out of the box once you have Windows Home Server’s remote access capabilities set up – allowing you to play your media on any compatible device with an Internet connection and a browser. Truly fantastic.

HP Media Collector

Those of you who have already set up a home server will know that it can be a pain moving your Music, Photos and Videos from each of your home computers over to the home server. Of course, you’ve also got to remember to keep moving any subsequent files you create on those PCs to your home server’s shared folders – I know I spend hours each Sunday morning checking my PCs and moving files over. Well, HP’s new Media Collector has changed all that – it sweeps all of your home computers regularly, searching for music, photo and video files which it then automatically copies over to the relevant shared folder on the home server.

You can change how regularly your PCs are scanned, from every hour through to once a week, add or remove specific PCs from the list of computers scanned as well as configure the home server to only search for Music, or Photos or Videos should you wish.

You’re also presented with a range of controls which allow you to configure which folders are searched (for example, just the Pictures folder on each PC rather than the entire computer) as well as manage the folder structure within which the files are copied to on your home server. For example, if you have photos scattered in various folders on your PC, you can configure the Media Collector to create dated folders and organise the photos by date. In Music, you can organise your music files by Artist and Album (based on your file tags) or simply have them copied across in the same folder structure that exists on your home computers.

The application will also attempt to reduce duplication of your media – if it finds two files which are the same, (on one or multiple PCs) only one is copied across to the home server. Supported file formats are as follows:

Music

mp3, wma, m4a, aac, wav, playlists (m3u, wpl) and album art

Video

avi, mov, m4v, mpeg, mp2, wmv, flv, divx, dvr-ms, m2ts

Photo

jpg, gif, tif, pct, mov

To show you how this works, I scattered a variety of MP3s across various folders on home computers in my network. Here’s how the Music and Photos folders looked on one PC:

and here’s how the HP MediaSmart Server organised them – bear in mind here that it found the files, copied them over to the home server (leaving the existing files intact) and then organised them based on included metadata.

(You’ll see that some tracks here have not been organised into folders – that’s because these MP3s are not currently tagged. However, it’s now easy to see which files have not been tagged so I can go back and sort them out, using a utility like Tag and Rename)

Sounds wonderful? It is, but it’s not without its faults – there are no progress bars or log files to tell you what files have been copied across to the home server, so you have to put your trust in the server to do its job, and, if you’ve configured Media Collector to change folder structures it can be a little tricky to go in to the shares and find a particular file. I’d also love to see meta-tagging facilities built into the application so files could be automatically tagged as they’re copied across to the home server – let’s hope HP continue to invest and build additional functionality into the application.

HP Media Collector is one of the first media management applications we’ve seen for Windows Home Server and shows how the home server platform can be utilised not just to protect and share your files, but to help you manage and organise the thousands of media files you have strewn across multiple PCs in the home. In my home, with one big music fan (me) and one photo junkie (my wife) in residence, it’s made life a whole lot easier.

Mac Backup

The big news for Mac owners is that for the first time, the HP MediaSmart Server can back up data on their Macs running OSX 10.5 or greater. Note that the MediaSmart Server at this point cannot back up and restore the entire OS, just the data stored on that Mac.

The HP MediaSmart Server works with Macs in two ways;

• Working with Time Machine to back-up your Mac to Windows Home Server
• Allowing easy access from a Mac to the home server’s Shared Folders using the HP MediaSmart Control Center

As with using Windows Home Server on any PC, you have to install software on to the Mac to connect the machine to the home server.

Once installed, a new Control Center is available on the Mac which allows you to access various features of the home server, including browsing your shared folders, a tools section to upload photos on your Mac to your favourite sites using HP Photo Publisher as well as the ability to wake the server if it’s asleep. Full help and support for the MediaSmart Server is also available on the Mac should it be needed.

Before backing up data on your Mac, Time Machine needs to be configured to back up the machine to the MediaSmart Server. To do this you simply open your Time Machine preferences, click Choose Backup Disk and select Backup to to HP MediaSmart Server.

Data is backed up to a new Shared Folder on the home server, cunningly named “Mac”.

I don’t use Mac OS myself, but I know there are a lot of households out there that combine PCs and Macs, so this new feature will go down a storm for those who want one complete solution to manage backups on every computer in the house, whether they’re Macs or PCs.

Online Backup

In the past 18 months we’ve seen an explosion in the choice and variety of online backup services, with providers such as JungleDisk and KeepVault providing bespoke services for Windows Home Server. HP are now getting in on the act, although strangely not through their own HP Upline backup service. Instead, they’ve teamed up with Amazon to provide an Amazon S3 managed online backup service, which allows you to select folders on your home server to be automatically backed up to the cloud each evening.

To utilise the service, you’ll need to set up an account with Amazon – links are provided to enable this, but the sign up experience is poorly integrated into the Windows Home Server Console.

Backups can be scheduled as required, and you can select which folders you wish to be backed up – with a pricing model based on how much data is transferred and stored on Amazon’s servers, you’ll want to ensure you limit backup to your most vital folders only.

If you do have an issue, files can be accessed and restored very easily through the Windows Home Server Console.

Whilst the inclusion of the MediaSmart Server’s Online Backup does ensure HP can provide a more complete home server solution, the execution  is not as slick as other applications on the MediaSmart Server – especially the media sharing applications. If you’re already using Jungle Disk, there’s little to differentiate HP’s offering here, but the application may be convenient to those who have not considered online backup previously and are happy to accept Amazon’s slightly cloudy (ha ha) pricing model. Personally, I’ll wait to see what happens in the next 12 months with Live Mesh support for Windows Home Server.

Power Management

A big area of concern for many home server owners is power management – with home servers being always on/always available systems, power consumption can be an additional expense (and we all know that times are tough right now).

HP have responded with a Power Management application which allows you to schedule times for your home server to sleep and wake up – you are also able to place the home server in sleep mode manually.

The home server can be woken up from the HP Control Center and will wake automatically to perform backups, so if power consumption is a concern, this setting will help you minimise the cost of running the HP MediaSmart Server. It doesn’t have the flexibility of the Fujitsu-Siemens Scaleo’s power management add-in or other community developed add-ins, but it does the job and is a welcome addition.

In Part 5 of our review, we complete our look at the features included in the HP MediaSmart Server EX487, and summarise our thoughts on what it brings to the Windows Home Server ecosystem.

Part 5: Final Thoughts >>

Read the rest of our review:

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Hardware
Part 3: Software 
Part 4: Software cont.
Part 5: Verdict