It must be tough for North American home server enthusiasts. Whilst European and Asian system builders continue to trickle out Windows Home Server 2011 boxes, choice in the US and Canadian markets is very limited indeed. So close your eyes, whilst we tell you about another new Japanese Windows Home Server 2011 model that’s on the way in December from IODATA.

The not-so snappily named HDL-Z2WH2T/1D home server is a good looking two bay device, priced at an eye watering ¥ 79,800 (that’s 1,038 of your American dollars or 656 of our British pounds).  It’s powered by an 1.66GHz Intel Atom D510, supported by 2GB RAM. Gigabit LAN, eSATA and five USB 2.0 ports are on offer (one front, four at the rear). The server ships with a single 2TB hard drive, leaving one bay free for future expansion.

Of particular interest is Orega’s VVAULT storage virtualisation software which ships with the IODATA server. This is a storage pooling add-in, which allows the creation of virtual drives from a combination of physical hardware. The add-in is available for both Windows Home Server 2011 and Windows SBS 2011 Essentials.

The pricing may be a bit steep, but kudos to Microsoft Japan for getting local OEMs and software developers fired up to release new home server solutions.

More: IODATA

Now they’re playing with our heads. We told you about a cracking deal from Newegg on Windows Home Server 2011 a couple of weeks ago, which was listed (with instand rebate) at a crazy $49.99. Many of you jumped in, and the retailer quickly pulled the promotion adding $20 on the price.

Now, it looks like the deal has sneaked back into place. Thanks to WGS reader Dan, who tipped us off that Windows Home Server 2011 is discounted again at Newegg, down to $59.99. But wait! Use promo code EMCKCHB47 and a further $10.00 drops off the price, giving you the magic number of $49.99 once more.

How long it lasts, who knows? But I’d get in there quick.

Looks like home server system builders are about to be very happy. News has just reached us that software distributors have just slashed the price of the Windows Home Server 2011 system builder software, in response to a similar price reduction from Microsoft.

CCL in the UK has reduced their price for the OS from £73.22 (inc VAT) to just £42.49 – that’s a 42% reduction. Over in the US, it looks like a similar story in some retailers. Amazon.com has Windows Home Server 2011 listed from $85.95, whilst other online retailers are listing the product for as little as $51 (Update: Now upped to $69.99 in a margin grabbing stylee).

From what our sources say, distributors have been told this is not promotional pricing – this is the new price for the product. If you’ve been thinking about building a new WHS 2011 server, now may be the time to jump in.

Thanks to Leonard for the tip.

I’ve had a lot of email this week from readers asking for an update on Windows Home Server at CES. That’s not surprising, given Microsoft indicated last month that there would be an update on new hardware at the show.

“Let me completely confirm we are 100% committed to Vail, and continue to work on all the core features outside of Drive Extender. We fully expect to be able to show some of our new and partnered OEM solutions at CES.”

Unfortunately, that update failed to materialise, as indeed did any real presence for Windows Home Server at CES. For a consumer-oriented product that is due to be released this year, Vail’s absence on the Microsoft booth was disappointing, but expected. Sure, there’s a Windows Phone 7 add-in that’s being developed for Vail, but there’s no news on new hardware and OEM partnerships.

With regard to Drive Extender, Microsoft remains tight-lipped whilst they prepare the next Vail beta with the feature removed. From informal discussions here at CES (not with Microsoft, I should say) I did learn there may be third-party companies interested in developing some kind of solution to bring storage pooling back to the Vail platform, but there are no confirmed plans that I can share at the moment. But if Microsoft chooses to hide the next version of Windows Home Server away in a closet at major consumer events like CES, then you would have to question the commercial incentive for third-parties to create applications and products for that ecosystem.

One continuing trend that I did see at CES this year is the increasing focus of the consumer electronics vendors on DLNA media sharing solutions, which work as well with Windows 7 PCs and Macs as they do Linux NAS boxes and other home server platforms. Samsung’s AllShare looks fantastic, if you’re happy to buy a Galaxy handset or Galaxy Tab tablet as a controller. Sony certainly look to be taking on Sonos and Logitech with their new HomeShare product range, and perhaps at the top of the heap for media enthusiasts, LG’s Plex-based platform delivers a very rich experience for streaming movies, TV programmes, music and photos. With regard to the storage vendors, Iomega TV with Boxee looks like a fantastic prospect and the work the company have done on their console design has made their user experience much warmer and friendlier. I was also impressed by LG’s new S1T1 home server, with on the fly transcoding of content to PC/Mac, DLNA TV, tablet and mobile handset. Media streaming solutions demonstrated this week from Logitech, Netgear, Western Digital and Buffalo too look like excellent prospects for enjoying big-screen entertainment.

The need for consumer-friendly, centralised storage for media is more relevant than ever, and the products that are being built to take advantage of new media sharing and streaming experiences are increasing dramatically in quality. Windows Home Server can still have a role to play in that category, but certainly here at the show, Microsoft showed little desire to participate.

I’ve been surprised to see how well you guys took up the challenge to Create a New Name for Windows Home Server (let’s hope Microsoft are reading!) and I thought it was about time to set a new challenge.

It’s a peach of a topic for those of us who have been around the home server world, and was raised again in the comments to the branding post, but one thing we do know about Windows Home Server is that Microsoft and it’s various partners haven’t done a great job bringing the product to life to mainstream users (i.e. those guys who would rather eat their own socks than hang out on sites like this one!)

Here’s the thing – we’ve seen patchy coverage of home servers in big box retailers, and where there have been displays, they’ve not really educated browsers on what a home server is and why you need one. The big features and benefits of WHS haven’t been brought to life in any kind of compelling, impactful, I-gotta-get-myself-one-of-those kind of way.

So, if the corporates have tried their best, it’s time for the enthusiasts to take over. I reckon more than anyone, you guys know how to talk about Windows Home Server, how to show it off to friends, family and colleagues, how to help people understand what it’s all about.

So, WGS readers, it’s time for you to take the floor – let’s pretend there’s a potential slot going in Microsoft’s new retail stores and you’re in the hot seat to bring the features and benefits of Windows Home Server to life to the average guys and girl out there. What are you going to do?

(FWIW, I’ll be very surprised if we see WHS in Microsoft’s new store, but hey, it’s a fun exercise anyway, and who knows, maybe there’ll be a spark of inspiration here for them!)

(Image source  http://www.istartedsomething.com/)

My Movies for Windows Home Server, which today was awarded runner-up in the WGS Reader Awards 2008 for Best Windows Home Server Software, has been updated to version 1,04.

The new update brings the following:

• Added: Option to cache DVD library files locally via. a My Movies Client 2.51 or later
• Added: Advanced configuration dialog, with process priority and notification timeout settings. Hidden behind key combination.
• Added: Improved AnyDVD handling
• Added: Option for music disc copier to copy the additional mobile format in the background after disc have been ejected. Hidden behind key combination.
• Change: Allows 5 simultaneous copies for users with 2500 points or more
• Fix: Issue could cause a database to be set to single-user mode during backup, now a reboot resets to multi-user.
• Fix: Improved audio quality.
• Fix: Performance improvements in CD ripper
• Fix: Re-create FileStorage after WHS OEM prepare script.
• Fix: Issue with WMA default bitrate on mobile
• Fix: Movie disc copier done notification was removed after 60 minutes, and not 10 as expected

More Info: Download | Discuss

Whilst Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 was released a good few months back, it’s taken a little while for us to see it integrated into the System Builder software, which is available for self-builders to purchase.

The good news is that it is now available, and is 30% cheaper than it was before, thanks to a price reduction from Microsoft. The WHS team sent me through a copy of the software last week – this is a Not For Resale edition (most likely from the Microsoft Store) so the system builder edition will look very slightly different.

The new English edition number is CCQ-00061 and you can check it out at the link below:

CCQ-00061 Microsoft Windows Home Server 32 Bit 1 Pack (Power Pack 1) – OEM

Australian magazine APC recently interviewed Stephen Leonard, Senior Product Manager for Windows Home Server regarding plans to release “basic” and “advanced” versions of the product in the future. Whilst splitting the platform into two SKUs is still under consideration (potentially with more entertainment focused features in the advanced version), Leonard confirmed that the V2 release will be preceded by a second Power Pack update in the middle of next year.

“Ideally we want to be able to release a product every year, around the same time” Leonard told APC. “We’d love to have an update for customers and OEMs, we released Power Pack 1 in our summer and certainly within the same year timeframe you’ll see another (update).”

“The Power Pack 1 name was a slight departure from the Microsoft terminology, where a lot of the time you hear things like Service Pack 1” Leonard explains. “We chose Power Pack 1 for a couple of reasons. One is that it wasn’t just a service pack. It had enhancements, but we also added new features and functionality. And with consumers being our primary customers for Windows Home Server, we wanted the name to be friendly. The next update will likely be something similar. We’re going to be fixing some things, and adding some features and functionality. It’ll be something similar to what you’ve seen so far (with Power Pack 1).”

So, if you’ve been betting the house on Windows Home Server v2 being released next year, you’ll be disappointed – looks like it’ll be 2010 at the earliest (shipping after the release of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2). In the meantime, though, you’ll have Power Pack 2 to look forward to.

Source: APC

Britain’s Tranquil PC were the first manufacturer to release a home server to the general public in September 2007. Since then, the company have continued to release a range of home servers in  a variety of single and multi-drive configurations. Their latest model, the SQA-5H, is their first home server with hot swappable drive bays and a few new additional hardware innovations which make using Windows Home Server even easier. Our review hardware arrived late last week and we spent the weekend taking a good look at what the Squash had to offer.

What’s Available?

Tranquil PC offer two base configurations, both of which can be upgraded with additional options. Models and specifications are as follows:

The key differences between the units are the available memory and size of hard drives supplied. 1Gb is certainly sufficient for a basic home server, but if you want to take advantage of the wide range of add-ins now available for Windows Home Server, we’d recommend going for the 2Gb option.

Rarely for a home server, two colour options are also available – a piano black or high gloss white finish. I’ll leave you to decide which looks better according to your individual tastes.

What’s in the Box?

The SQA-5H arrives well protected in a branded carton – unless UPS decide to have an impromptu game of football with your home server, there should be very little risk of the unit being damaged in transit. In the box you’ll find:

• The SQA-5H Home Server
• Power Cables for your country
• Ethernet Cable
• Software CDs (Home Server Connector, Home Computer Recovery and Home Server Recovery)
• USB Boot Key
• Quick Start Installation Guide

It’s good to see Tranquil PC now bundling their home servers with ethernet cables – it’s a small addition but one that makes a big difference to a new home server owner that may not have spare cables knocking around. The USB Boot Key is also a new addition (in it’s credit-card sized format) to Tranquil PC’s offering. More about that a little later.

As we’re seeing increasingly nowadays, Tranquil PC do not offer a printed manual in the box (they quote waste reduction reasons, although I’m sure the print cost saving is also compelling) and instead offer a short printed quick start guide and an electronic manual on the Home Server Connector CD. The quick start guide does a very brief job of explaining how to set up your home server, which is fine for the geeks amongst us, but may leave a new home server user feeling a little unsupported. As Windows Home Server sits at the heart of your home network, new users may be a little nervous setting up and connecting the home server to their network – the installation of Windows Home Server is different to installing other devices in the home – as a result, I’m not a big fan of leaving the user to print off their own manual. Full installation and usage guidelines should be included in all new home servers – if Tranquil want to reduce waste, then at the very least, manual inclusion should be an option when placing the order.

First Looks

Tranquil PC sent us the white version of the SQA-5H. It’s a very compact, cube-shaped home server with five individual, hot swappable drive bays. The white chassis we received certainly creates a big statement, and if you’re home server is going to be on show (perhaps surrounded by a lot of Apple gear) it looks the business.

Underneath the home server, you’ll discover the Windows Home Server license key, plus a label explaining what the front LED combinations mean. This seems a slightly odd place to locate such a label (the rear panel would provide easier reference) but it does a good job explaining what’s happening out front.

Around the Front

The front of the unit is a colourful affair, with multi-coloured drive bay latches attracting the eye, and a series of LEDs positioned at the bottom of the front plate. A power, manual backup and Mode button are also located at the bottom of the panel. Completing the front panel are 2 USB 2.0 ports which provide easy access for external hard drives used for additional storage or as home sever backup devices.

The drive trays themselves are of a decent quality with the coloured latch releasing an aluminium lever which is used to release the drive tray. All drive trays are screwless – to expand storage, you simply slot the hard drive into the tray, and the tray into the home server. Nice and easy.

Around the Back

The rear of the unit is dominated by a large fan which extracts heat from the unit, predominately cooling the hard drives (the processor itself is passively cooled with a heat sink). On the right hand side you’ll find a eSATA port (with built in port multiplier), 4 USB 2.0 sockets for adding external storage, gigabit ethernet socket, a desk lock and a power cable input. A blanking plate covers mouse, keyboard and monitor ports, so if you wanted to attach these peripherals to the home server, you could.

Under the Hood

The SQA-5H is powered by a new dual core version of Intel’s Atom processor, which is 64 bit ready and therefore ready to take on any future 64-bit version of Windows Home Server. The Atom replaces Tranquil’s previous inclusion of VIA C7 processors, and offers strong performance at a low cost and with low power consumption. Tranquil PC quote a consumption of just 29W when running with a single hard drive. Adding additional drives will, of course, increase power consumption, which the company attempt to mitigate by the provision of Western Digital’s Green Power drives. As stated above, we’d be tempted to spend the extra money on the 2Gb version of the Squash server – it may be overkill for today, but will provide plenty of grunt when running Windows Home Server with multiple add-ins, and, more to the point, upgrading the memory on this home server is no trivial matter.

Access to the SQA-5H’s internals is relatively easy by removing a series of screws on the back plate and unscrewing the server’s feet. However, from there, things get a little more complicated. Much like the HP Mediasmart Server, the compactness of the Squash’s internal design means that accessing the motherboard is a matter of major surgery. If you’re looking for opportunities to upgrade the server’s memory and processor, then they won’t come easily. Here’s a few shots of the Squash’s internals.

The Front Panel Explained

The SQA-5H’s front panel looks a little complex at first, but is in fact pretty straightforward, providing a range of useful operating information about your home server at a glance.

The multi-coloured latches on each drive bay actually have a purpose beyond aesthetic appeal. Red tabs denote drive bays which are not hot swappable. Blue and green tabs are hot swappable drive trays.

Above each drive bay, a small green LED lights up when it contains a hard drive – so it’s easy to see which bays you can use to extend your storage.

At the bottom of the front panel, the power light is self explanatory, whilst the Health light indicates the current health state of your home server. This light will switch to amber and red depending on your home server’s status. The Boot light will flash red when the system is booting and then should remain green during operation. LEDs at the bottom of each bay replicate the LEDs above each bay denoting that a hard drive is installed in that bay. Should a drive fail, the corresponding LED will turn red.

To trigger a server backup, you can simply press the backup button on the front of the unit, and the server will be backed up either to an external drive, or to a dedicated backup drive inserted into the fifth drive bay. The Backup LED will flash yellow when a backup is in progress, turn green when the backup is completed and red should a backup fail.

The Mode button has two usages – pressing it once will toggle the brightness of the front panel LEDs, whereas if you hold it down, you will see a visual guide as to your current storage capacity. A solid red LED denotes 10% of your storage has been used, whereas a flashing red LED denotes 5% usage. So if you hold down the button and see two sold red LEDs and one flashing LED, that means 25% of your storage has been utilised. This is somewhat tricky to get your head around, but if you need to see your storage capacity displayed on the server itself, it can be done. I guess a VFD display would be an easier option in the future.

USB Boot Key

The credit card sized USB key enclosed with the SQA-5H is actually a Boot key, to be used in the event that the home server itself needs to be reinstalled. This places the Squash into a recovery mode, with reinstallation being completed over the network by placing the Home Server Recovery CD into one of your home computers and following the on screen wizard.

Easy Home Server Backup

Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 delivered a number of improvements to the platform, including the ability to create a manual backup of the home server itself – a useful function for those looking for true peace of mind. Usually, the home server is backed up to an External USB Hard Drive, offering the ability to take the backup off-site (in case of fire, flood or theft).  Tranquil PC have built on this functionality by allowing the user to dedicate one of the five drive bays specifically for home server backups. This drive does become part of the overall storage pool, but is used purely for backups. The drive dedicated for backups is denoted on the Squash’s front panel by an alternating green and yellow LED, so you can ensure you don’t remove the wrong drive for safe keeping!

Home Server backups can be performed on an ad-hoc basis, simply by pressing the Backup button on the front panel – you then have the option to leave the drive in situ, if you just wish to protect against drive failure, or remove the drive for safe-keeping elsewhere. It’s a great piece of hardware innovation that makes protecting your data simpler and, as internal hard drives are cheaper than their external cousins, more cost effective.

Using the SQA-5H

Tranquil make a point of not shipping systems with any bundled software, so you’re provided with a sparkingly clean, vanilla Windows Home Server installation – as if you installed the software yourself on a home-built PC. So managing the home server and installing the Connector software on you home computers is as you’d expect – boot the home server, wait a few minutes for it to become ready (first boot is always a little longer as the home server needs to be prepared for use), then slip the home server connector CDs in each of your home computers and follow the on screen wizards. Nice and easy.

Configuring the backup drive (if you choose to use one) is simple – insert the drive into a free bay, and run Windows Home Server’s “Add a Hard Drive” wizard. Let the system know you wish to use that drive as a backup drive, give it a name and then select which of your shared folders you wish to have backed up. Windows Home Server will recognise the drive each time it’s inserted, and therefore future backups are very easy to perform, simply by pressing the backup button on the Squash’s front panel. You’ll see the drive LED flash yellow as the backup is performed, then green once it’s completed, before switching off.

Swapping drives around is relatively straightforward, although there are a few guidelines to follow – Bays 1 & 2 are not configured as hot swappable bays, so your primary hard drive and any drive in Bay 2 are there for the duration. However, bays 3, 4 and 5 are fully hot swappable, so you can move drives around as you wish (remembering, of course, to let WHS know you’re removing them through the server storage tab).

The combination of 2Gb of RAM and the Atom 330 processor ensured that the system is responsive out of the box, and thanks to the Western Digital GP drives, you’ll find the system runs very quiet indeed.

If you’re looking for additional storage (that is, if 7.5 Tb maximum storage isn’t enough for you!) for your Squash server, Tranquil PC are also now selling the SQA-EX, a storage enclosure which uses the exact same chassis design as the SQA-5H. The EX connects to the the Squash via its eSATA port, and offers another five bays of storage goodness.

The Verdict

So, what’s the verdict on the Tranquil PC SQA-5H? Well, as with most of Tranquil PC’s servers, you won’t find the SQA-5H in the bargain basement, and if you’re looking for the best deal on a home server, there’s cheaper options about. That said, the Squash’s hardware specification is pretty strong – the 64-bit ready Atom 330 processor is quick enough for a home server and if you go for the 2Gb of RAM there will be very little need to upgrade the hardware for some time yet, so it’s a decent investment.

The chassis is certainly Tranquil’s best to date, and Tranquil PC do very good chassis design, so don’t take this lightly – the Squash is well designed and finished, feeling like a high quality piece of kit. Five drive bays should keep all but the most heavy of users happy for quite some time, and the storage expansion options available via External USB hard drives and the optional SQA-EX will ensure you’ve always got plenty of storage available for your growing digital life.

It’s great to see Tranquil PC continuing to innovate in their hardware design – the one-button manual backup feature builds nicely on new functionality provided in Windows Home Server Power Pack 1, and provides simple, convenient protection for your shared folders.

The SQA-5H is easily Tranquil PC’s best home server to date – in fact, if you’re looking for a compact, quiet, multi-drive home server with good looks, great performance and a myriad of expansion options, the Squash is just about perfect.

You can purchase the SQA-5H from Tranquil PC direct or a variety of online retailers including www.ripcaster.co.uk in the UK, www.domoq.it in Italy, and www.digitalsources.de in Germany. If you’re in the Netherlands, visit www.degrund.nl

German OEM Fujitsu-Siemens today announced a minor revision to the Scaleo Home Server.

The two new models come equipped with larger hard drives than their predecessors, and lower power consumption thanks to the inclusion of Western Digital Green Power drives.

The Scaleo Home Server 2105 is fitted with 1Tb (2 x 500Gb) of storage whilst you’ll benefit from 2Tb (2 x 1Tb) with the 2205. Other than that, everything else appears to be pretty similar to the previous release of the Scaleo.

More Info: Fujitsu-Siemens | Data Sheet

Over in the USA, HABEY (which is part of Norco, manufacturers of the DS-520 Windows Home Server system we reviewed a while back) have announced a new Mini-ITX board which is suitable for self-build home servers.

Here’s the release:

HABEY USA, leading manufacturer of embedded and server storage products, today announces MITX-6852, a special designed mini-ITX form factor board includes six SATA II ports, PCI-Express, built-in Intel® Matrix Storage Technology and Intel® Core™2 Duo processor support. It brings unprecedented storage and network versatility plus performance for Home Server, Network Video Recorder (NVR), Network Attached Storage (NAS), thin server, digital signage and POS embedded applications. MITX-6852 has a number of unique storage and network features to suit developers, OEMs and system integrators: compact mini-ITX form factor, six onboard SATA II ports, two with eSATA support, dual PCIe Gigabit Ethernet, wireless support, 16x PCIe expansion and a Compact Flash connector.

Features:

■ Mini-ITX form factor

■ Support Intel® Core™2 Duo, Core™ Duo and Celeron® M processors

■ Built-in 6 individual SATA II channels, support 2 eSATA ports

■ Intel® Matrix Storage Technology with ICH7R

■ On-board mini-PCIe for wireless application

■ Built-in two PCIe Gigabit Ethernet ports for high network speed

■ 16x PCIe slot for add-on controller expansion

■ ATX or 12V DC dual power mode option

■ Compatible with Windows Home Server, Windows XP, Linux,

OpenFiler, FreeNAS, Samba, OpenBSD or any other x86 based NAS OS

Applications:

■ Network Attached Storage (NAS)

■ Network Video Recorder (NVR)

■ Home Server appliances

■ POS applications

■ Digital signage applications

Based on request for projects, OEM options are available with storage enclosure, fanless enclosure, 12V DC single power input.

Pictures, links and datasheet at:

http://www.habeyusa.com/new/20081017.html

Seiko Epson Group Inc today announced the Japanese availability of the Endeavour SV110h, a small footprint Windows Home Server-based system with low power consumption.

Two model configurations are available:

Looks liek the storage available on the unit isn’t the most generous, but upgrades are available to 1 or 2Tb and  you do get a small, compact footprint (75mm x 195mm x 185mm), low power consumption at just 26.8W and low noise output at 22dB. There are plans to sell an optional external hard drive too for additional storage/backup.

More Info: Epson.co.jp | Buy