Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 rolling out November 24th
By Donald Melanson 
posted November 19th 2009 2:27PM
posted November 19th 2009 2:27PM
The name may not exactly suggest any groundbreaking changes, but we're guessing that most Windows Home Server users with Windows 7 computers will want to upgrade to Power Pack 3 as soon as they can, which we now finally know will be on November 24th. As we'd heard previously, the big news with this update is that it brings Windows Home Server up to speed with its desktop OS counterpart, including support for full backup and restore of Windows 7 computers, Windows 7 Libraries integration, "better support" for netbooks and, of course, a slew of enhancements for Windows Media Center. Best of all, the update is completely free, and should show up via Windows Update as soon as it's available.
thank god!!!!!!about time
I cannot wait! I thought WHS was going to be a joke, but i tested it on a spare machine, then built a machine for it. If you use WMC home server is great. Cant wait for the windows 7 enhancements
i wonder what changes if any ill see for my HP mediasmart.
@Neeko I've been running the beta of this powerpack on my MSS for a few months now. You won't "see" much difference unless one or more of your PC's are running Windows 7. If that's the case, then it is the difference between supporting them and not.
@Paul
thanks, the only WIN7 install in my house is a vmware on my MBP so i wont see a change. but i looove my HP..
i'm just on the move to make my home win7 based, so it's perfect timing for me :)
I've been on the beta for PP3 for a while. The beta works dreams with Windows 7. Also, the Libraries integration is a godsend. I mean, it was only a minute or two of adding the shared folders to the library on a machine but it saves me the hassle.
Just in time. Just upgraded my family's computers to Windows 7 and was wondering when this update was coming out.
the new engadget stinks......
Somebody please explain to me what Windows Home Server is exactly? How is it better than just a default Windows 7 PC?
@Omen
It's mostly useful for people / family with multiple computers spread through out the house. The server can actively back up all of said computers. Or you can just use it as a central file storage machine to spare your desktop from getting bogged down every time someone calls it up to get access to a media file.
@W.Wolf
what about a cheaper computer with full featured OS and backup software to do the same thing? the price on those WHS is just ridiculous when so many nettops are way cheaper.
To clarify what WWolf said, this is NOT something you would run on a regular desktop machine. This is an OS for a dedicated server - either an older, repurposed machine or a specialized device like the HP Mediasmart.
The main features are smart drive pooling (you can add drives of any size, unlike RAID which requires matched drives), really good automated backup software, and media center extender serving.
@htd
A "full featured" OS isn't as good at file serving as WHS. WHS does smart drive pooling, which allows you to combine multiple drives of any size into one large storage space Drives can be added and removed at will. The backup features are also arguably better than any of the other options out there. WHS also acts as a WMC extender server, which means it will transcode your videos to an Xbox 360 or any other extender.
And as for nettops being cheaper, that's just silly. WHS servers start under $400 with 1TB of storage. You're not going to find many nettops with large hard drives cheaper than that. You're not going to find ANY with the capacity for 4+ internal hard drives.
@htd
I use a Dell 530s with a celeron processor, the new 537s costs $249. WHS from NewEgg is $99. So for $350 you have a computer for backup, storage, web server, etc. which is about the same price as a NetTop computer.
And when will we see a "What would you change with the new Engadget" post? Many changes and fixes are needed.
@htd well, just get some hdds and the os licence, and some nettop, then.. similar to how i did for my parents. a minibox (http://www.mini-box.com/Mini-Box-M300) + some hdds + the licence is very cheap and works very well.
the ready-to-buy systems are much sweeter in terms of finished-working-solution, though..
but home server itself isn't expensive at all. you can get the demo for free from microsoft, to test on some hw you want.
@Omen
It's based off windows server 2003, so I'm not sure how much more "full featured" you'd need. It also allows web page hosting, remote login to any pc allowed on the network from anywhere you have internet access, plus automagic backup of all the computers on your network. It can also do bare metal restores of said backed up computers.
@Chip
True I should have made that more clear. I should also mention that I don't have a WHS system so I can't vouch for how well it works but from what I've heard it is very user friendly in comparison to similar products.
Let's see if they've finally added headless installs so we can load this onto the intel ss-4200 without buying extra hardware or taking a dremel to an old pci-e card.
@JSM Nope. This updates an existing install. It won't change the installation method. At least with the ss-4200 you CAN add a pci-e card...
@JSM you could do a headless install right from the beginning. put the setup disk into some pc, start it there, and it creates a config file you have to put onto a usb stick. then put the setup disk (or a usb stick version of it) into the home server, including that setup config file, and let it run for a while. it should pop online in your network after going trough the setup.
@Paul
Well I know it's an update, but I assume they are including it in the iso for new installs as well. Yes, you can add a pci-e card, but you have to buy a 1x card, or dremel off an old pci-e 16x card so it will fit - not exactly an ideal - headless or remote install should have been there from the start and would be a far more elegant (dremel != elegant) solution.
@davepermen
have not heard of this method - anywhere where they have complete instructions? the intel site has the 1x card hack and the home server site has the dremel hack. Thanks.
Home built WHS works like a dream. 7 integrates beautifully, 32 and 64 bit Ultimate auto backing up nightly to the server. I'm looking forward to the upgrade, although I don't see downsides for my purposes right now. My desktop 7 ultimate 32 bit crapped out just yesterday - first time since beta 7100, blue screen of death- repeatedly. So I took the plunge and did the restore from WHS - Flawless. It took over 2 hrs - "C" had over 350GB of programs on it. I use it for movie storage - just throw in another HD when things get full - 3.7TB and growing.
I assume this will require uninstalling the beta Powerpack.
Also, I wonder if this will fix TV archiving. By that I mean that there's a bunch of shows that I like, but don't need to see every episode of (like the Daily Show, for example). I set Media Center to keep only the newest recording, which works fine when it's only saved locally. However, when it gets moved to Windows Home Server, it stops listening to that setting. Not a huge deal, but it's a slight pain.
also just in time for Thanksgiving, nothing like tinkering with the new stuff on a day off (or two).
@orbital
That would be after you wake up from your nap from having Turkey or watching a boring blowout football game. :)
@barb
or ToFurkey as the case may be...
WOO HOO!!!!! PARTAY!!!!
I love Windows Homer Server. I wish it had drobo-like-auto-healing though (where you can just unplug a hard-drive an plug a new one in without telling the OS first). Upgrading a hard-drive on WHS can take forever if the hard-drive is full (as the OS has to copy all the data to whatever space available on the other drives first before you can remove the old drive).
Windows Home Server is a great way to protect your data. However you are still vulnerable to physical disk failures and inadvertent deletions. CloudBerry Backup for Windows Home Server provides you with another level of protection by copying your data to secure online storage powered by Amazon S3. You can download your copy at http://www.cloudberrylab.com/default.aspx?page=backup-whs
Nadya,
CloudBerry Lab team