Tech Savvy: Are you being served?

Windows Home Server(WHS) is aimed at those households that have more than 1 computer. It does many useful things but one of the most important features is the fact that it will automatically back up ALL of your Windows computers every night. It can even wake them up if they are sleeping, back up their files and then put them back to sleep when it’s done. Pretty cool, huh?

You can also use the WHS as a central place to store all of your documents, pictures, music and videos. If you have more than one computer in your house, or maybe you have a laptop and a desktop, then you have probably had to deal with the fact that sometimes the files you want are on the “other” computer. Pretty soon things can get un-organized and difficult to find. “Did I put the digital pictures from Grandma’s birthday on the laptop or the desktop?” Sound familiar? With WHS you would store all of these files on the server itself, then any computer on the home network can have access to them. Plus they can be safely backed up on redundant disks in the server. ALL computer drives fail at some point, if you use WHS to store these files then when your laptop or PC drive fails you won’t lose those precious files because they were backed up on your server.

WHS is also designed to let you easily add disk storage capacity when you need it. The WHS model that I have personally tested is made by Acer. It has slots for 4 disk drives. Initially only 1 disk is required. As that disk fills up, you can purchase another one and add it to the server. The process for adding a disk is VERY simple and could be done by an average (non-geeky) home computer user (I swear!).

Another nice feature of WHS include its ability to “stream” media to computers on the home network. Let me explain what streaming is and why you might care. Lets assume you have 2 or more computers in your house and maybe a few iPods or MP3 players. That means you probably have several iTunes music libraries (1 on each computer). So when you want to listen to a song you have to remember which computer the song is on, or maybe you buy the song twice and have 1 copy on each computer. With WHS, you can have 1 centralized iTunes music library that all the computers can connect to and play music from.

One last feature I will mention is the ability to connect to your WHS server when you are not on your home network. That’s right, you can configure WHS to allow you to connect to it from the internet and you will have access to all of your files, music, pictures etc from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection.

I will be the first to admit that Microsoft gets a lot of things wrong, but their Windows Home Server is not one of those mistakes. In fact, I wish they would market the product better so that more people would realize how useful it really is. In case you are interested, you can purchase Windows Home Server machines from several manufacturers. HP and Acer both sell them. I have tested (and really like) the Acer WHS model H340. It can be purchased online for about $400 and that includes a 1 Terabyte hard drive. I would suggest getting 2 hard drives for your WHS so that you will not lose any data if 1 drive fails. Go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/ To learn more about this great product from Microsoft.

Email me your technology questions at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . I will select the best question or comment and award a prize to the sender. So keep them coming!