I ran Home Server for ~ 2 years on an HP Media Center PC. I understand it's based on Server 2003, dumbed down a bit. It mostly worked OK, but had some strange quirks - for instance, it would complain if the password on a PC was not the same as the user account on the server. It would still work, it just seemed to want to complain from time to time. It seemed to do a decent job of balancing its load over the various discs and was generally unobtrusive. There's a free utility available - Google for it - that would let you launch other programs from within the Server UI, so you could use the box for other things if you wished. The connector software between the individual PCs and the server was a bit flaky and I finally got tired of the nuisance.
If all you want is backup, there are lots of free programs that will do that for you. Set up the server to share it's big drives and let each PC backup to it on a set schedule. YMMV On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 4:10 PM, James Rankin <[email protected]> wrote: > My direct needs are for storage only, but I was wondering whether it would > be a good idea to try and get some of the extra bells and whistles that Home > Server or the like provides. As my kids get a bit older, obviously some of > the backup and multimedia functionality that users can utilize would be > nice...although there are always ways I could configure things like that > myself, should I want to. > > I'm a bit undecided, but I've got plenty food for thought here....cheers... > > On 12 October 2010 15:50, Andrew S. Baker <[email protected]> wrote: > >> What do you intend to do with this server besides provide storage? Your >> topic says server, but your comments imply NAS. >> >> Home Server seems okay, but I would think you could do just as well with a >> more direct configuration. >> >> I built a nice virtual host server for my home network for under $1500, >> and that was in 2008. Would be even less expensive to do today. >> >> >> *-ASB* >> On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 8:57 AM, James Rankin <[email protected]>wrote: >> >>> Any recommendations for a reliable and hopefully fairly cheap server >>> system for the home? One of my colleagues recommended the HP MediaSmart >>> ex475 coupled with Windows Home Server, are there anything else people can >>> recommend? Also, does Windows Home Server offer any particular software or >>> benefits or is it just aimed at being simple for the non-technical user? I >>> can see it has backup and remote access capabilities - I'm not really that >>> bothered about the remote access features for sharing across the internet, >>> but anything else is probably a plus. How much extra does the Home Server >>> stuff give you when compared to some sort of baby NAS device like a >>> TeraStation? >>> >>> I was hoping to be able to get something decent for under £1000, at the >>> least. Storage, availability and backup are probably the primary concerns >>> I'm addressing, but I'm open to all sorts of other features as well. I don't >>> have masses of data at the moment, but I might start storing VM files on >>> there for some testing purposes, so I'll probably need a wedge of capacity. >>> >>> -- >>> "On two occasions...I have been asked, 'Pray, Mr Babbage, if you put into >>> the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able >>> rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such >>> a question." >>> >>> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ >> ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ >> >> --- >> To manage subscriptions click here: >> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ >> or send an email to [email protected] >> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin >> > > > > -- > "On two occasions...I have been asked, 'Pray, Mr Babbage, if you put into > the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able > rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such > a question." > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ > ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > --- > To manage subscriptions click here: > http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ > or send an email to [email protected] > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
