Microsoft announces HP MediaSmart Server powered by Windows Home Server

One of the batch of devices unveiled at the Microsoft keynote is the HP MediaSmart Server, which is going to run the rumoured and now officially announced Windows Home Server. The new OS version was developed to help consumers deal with managing media across multiple PCs and devices in the home, and will provide automagic backup functionality and remote access as well as central file storage and management. The HP MediaSmart Server itself is going to roll out later this year running the new OS (beyond that Microsoft was slim on other specs), and we hope it's a positive step towards untangling the distributed media madness that describes the current state of many multiple-machine households.

[xxdesmus @ Jan 7th 2007 10:18PM]

oh snap! I want one now! (well, maybe not an HP one, maybe a Dell one, or ideally a custom built one)

[Chris Merchant @ Jan 7th 2007 10:43PM]

So they're finally adjusting to what everyone else with the slightest bit of tech knowledge, and more than 2 computers, have been doing for ages?

Great.

Chris

[Buy a Mac]

[xxdesmus @ Jan 7th 2007 11:32PM]

I am sure your mother has a "bit of tech knowledge" ...so, when is she going to setup her own home server. oh right.

Stop being negative for the sake of being negative. The details on this are still not all that fleshed out.

Microsoft isn't claiming to have come up with an novel idea here (only Apple likes to claim they created things that have existed for years), Microsoft is only trying to take an existing idea and make it easier to setup and use.

[Andrew Fong @ Jan 8th 2007 3:24AM]

How does a Mac make managing files across multiple computers easier?

[Dave @ Jan 7th 2007 11:05PM]

Ya, now instead of pirating the server versions, there might be a valid alternative.

Sounds like from what he described the HP product will have hot swap drives and RAID as well..

[John Doe @ Jan 8th 2007 2:37AM]

Doubt it since from what I've read you can only get a license bundled with the server. Read: No custom jobs. Say hello to the next version of Windows to be pirated.

[riggs @ Jan 8th 2007 10:30AM]

nice retort *claps*

[Karl Viklund @ Jan 7th 2007 11:55PM]

Very interesting. We will see what comes of it. Will enjoy further Engadget reports :)

[rob.kenedi @ Jan 7th 2007 11:58PM]

Keep up the great work @ CES Engadget... Found this:

http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press_kits/2007/ces/ds_de_mediasmartserver.pdf

which lists some of the specs of the box!

[xxdesmus @ Jan 8th 2007 12:05AM]

good find!

[Geoffrey Sperl @ Jan 8th 2007 12:04AM]

I have to admit, I like the idea.

Now I want to see MS play nicely with folks: release a free SDK that allows anyone to create a WHS plugin. I would be willing to have this run in the background, but my wife and I are TiVo and Mac users - we're not going to move over to a Windows environment in the house just because I like the basic idea of this thing and it places my (currently multiple) components in a single box.

Oh, and xxdesmus: I don't think Apple has ever laid claim to creating anything, be it the personal computer or the GUI or the MP3 player. Now, popularizing things... that is something they have done going back to the Apple II. If you actually watch Jobs's keynotes he loves to talk about how X, Y, or Z has existed for years, but it's always been missing something... until now (and then he unveils something new from Apple). There ain't nothing wrong with that.

What I would like to see is Apple pull something like this out. I suspect that's partially where iTV is supposed to head, with the iTV as the client and something (but not the desktop Mac) serving in the background... but only time will tell.

[dave penny @ Apr 8th 2007 6:12AM]

jut so you know, the free SDK has been released! I'm currently testing windows home server, and I have to say it is pretty awesome right out of the box, can't say much more than that, binded by an NDA

[Michael @ Jan 8th 2007 12:24AM]

Wonder how much this going to cost

[macbeach @ Jan 8th 2007 12:45AM]

Great idea, even if it's not really new. Will MS make a departure from the past and not require that every connecting device have the MS logo on it though? Will it do something more "open", more secure, more stable than the SMB shares we've all come to know and hate?

Need to know a lot more about this before some of us replace our $89 Linksys file server.

[RC @ Jan 8th 2007 12:52AM]

Actually, this will work with the Mac:

"You can access the WHS shared folders as you would any other Windows share, and that means your backup program--like Apple's Backup--can use a share as a save location as well. 'We're a great back-end store for Time Machine,' Headrick told me, alluding to the new backup feature Apple recently announced for Mac OS X Leopard."

- Paul Thurrott's overview
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/whs_preview.asp

[George @ Jan 8th 2007 1:12AM]

more info on the OS: http://on10.net/blogs/jesse/windows-home-server-will-live-in-your-closet-simplify-your-life/

[e_rocm @ Jan 8th 2007 1:32AM]

This looks pretty hot. If it supports media center extenders (so my 3 xbox 360's will work with it), is cable card ready, and doesn't cost a fortune (which I have a feeling it will) then I'm sold.

[Richard C. @ Jan 8th 2007 1:37AM]

Your 360 can access the data through the network router. CableCard will probably need to be hooked up to a Vista machine and your 360 can use Media Center from that machine which is taking data from the WHS as well. At least I think that's how it works. This isn't meant to be a regular PC. It's just a box that you will interface with through other devices.

[xxdesmus @ Jan 8th 2007 11:01AM]

Paul specifically said it will be offered both as a bundle with the hardware and separately for those who want to create their own system ...AKA, custom builds. RTFA and get your information straight before you whine.

"Microsoft is announcing Windows Home Server at CES 2007 on January 7, 2007. The product will enter a private beta in late February or early March 2007 and will be released publicly in the second half of 2007. Microsoft will make WHS available in two ways: Bundled with new WHS hardware and software-only, the latter so that enthusiasts can install the system on the hardware of their choice."

and

"If you're building your own home server, Microsoft requires a 1 GHz processor or better, 512 MB of RAM or more, and as many disks as you think you need. The company will support multiple home servers on the same network, but it's still murky how that will work."

(Off Topic, this comment system is absolutely god-awful. At least give us a chance to change your password to something we might actually remember on different computers)

[lotech @ Jan 8th 2007 4:55AM]

So will it be embedded Windows or just a flashy case with a normal PC inside? Will it deliver UPNP or add yet another crappy M$ only service.... Will it just suck? Probably.
Media Connect server certainly sucks so far.

[_man1c_ @ Jan 8th 2007 11:09AM]

thats a pretty slick looking box.

[Grant @ Jan 8th 2007 5:08PM]

Is anyone else concerned by comments that WHS will use something 'RAID-like' for data reliability? Seems like crypto and disk redundancy are the sorts of things it's best not to re-invent if you don't have to...

[xxdesmus @ Jan 9th 2007 9:46AM]

No, I am not concerned. Did you watch the video? The reasoning for not using a RAID array makes perfect sense. The implementation they are using sounds quite safe. Every file will have 2 copies of itself stored on 2 different physical drives within this "storage pool."

[xxdesmus @ Jan 9th 2007 9:53AM]

Oops, I forgot to include the part about why they chose not to go with a standard RAID.

Disclaimer: I am not a RAID expert so correct me if I am wrong

With a RAID you cannot simply install a new drive you cannot simply add it to the existing RAID array. (like I said, correct me if I am wrong).

With the RAID-like "storage pool" they are using here, you just install a new drive and it will dynamically get added into the available amount of storage without any fuss.

[petert @ Jun 15th 2007 6:07PM]

Well, I'm nor RAID mathamagition either, but there are products like X-RAID from Infrant that let you dynamically expand the array on the fly. There are certain limits, but it can be done. There are also other redundant system too, like the Drobo, which is a "Virtual storage device", but not RAID per say. RAID is a bit old fashioned these days too. There are better ways of storing redundant data that are lower level mirrors.

My question is; Will this device be price competetive with somethnig like a READYNAS or a THECIS? Those have lower power (and therefore horsepower) footprints, but they are fairly reasonably proced.

[Charles Wilkes @ Aug 31st 2007 7:03PM]

I was signed up and approved as a MSHS beta testor, but didn't install it as it was said to be incompatible file-wise with what the final product would support, and I didn't want to go to the hassle of building it twice. How the final product will be released soon -- "This Fall" but I don't know when (before the holidays it said) or at what price.

Does anyone have any better info that that? I really need this product.

I have a spare PC I want to use as the server, so don't want to buy the HP media smart server.