Tag: Windows Home Server

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Recovering from Windows Home Server failure.

I spent good portion of Friday and Saturday recovering data from a failed Windows Home Server. I get better understanding on what really happened. Apparently One of the hard drive was having trouble and in turn brought the whole storage pool down. Insufficient RAM on HP MediaSmart also a contributing factor to the failure. Having the system paging the hard-drive constantly might cause the drop in performance.

Anyway, I managed to recover the data by mounting the hard drive on another computer. There’s a hidden “DE” folder where all the files are stored.

I have recovered 90% of the data and that’s enough to calm everyone at the office down. Having a dual T1 line doesn’t really help downloading 300GB back from off-site backup in time. As a matter of fact I’ll be ordering a new and much faster connection on Monday.

In addition to that I have ordered a Synology DS712+ so I can have backup of the backup for this particular office.

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HP MediaSmart: System Temperature and Warranty Policy

According to HP, a small percentage of HP MediaSmart EX470/EX475 comes with redundant sensors that is showing false temperature readings. HP is providing a software hot-fix for the unit equipped with the faulty sensors. HP will not make any hardware repair on the affected units.

Based HP Technical Support:

The attached software patch disables the notification of the redundant sensor and ensures that you will not receive false hardware alerts in the future. The key temperature reading for your Mediasmart Server is the CPU reading. This sensor is the focus of the temperature control design and is functioning properly, so you can be assured that your HP MediaSmart Server is operating as designed.

The software patch is available only through HP Technical Support, and is not available through HP Web-Site.

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According to HP Technical Support, RAM upgrade will void MediaSmart warranty. To be honest, this is not a good move by HP. The system comes with a mere 512MB RAM, which is not enough for any real server task. Try installing McAfee Total Protection Service add-in, and the Windows Home Server’s performance will turn into a crawl.

Crucial is selling compatible RAM upgrade for HP MediaSmart EX470/EX475, unfortunately HP Warranty Policy does not support such upgrade.

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HP MediaSmart EX470/EX475 Hardware Upgrade

Well, I should have looked for some informations before I started opening up the MediaSmart server. Apparently someone already went through with it, and put up a really nice instructions on how to do it.

It took me quite a chunk of my time figuring out the way to disassemble the unit. After the RAM upgrade is done, I found the instructions on the internet. I could’ve saved a lot of time opening the unit.

Anyway, what’s done is done. The next thing I want to do is upgrading the processor.

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Windows Home Server: McAfee Total Protection Service

I updated the Windows Home Server today found out the notice for McAfee Total Protection Service Add-ins was ready for install. I decided to test the add-ins and installed it. After the install, I found out that Windows Home Server Console performs a lot slower. No doubt that somehow this add-ins effect the performance of Windows Home Server.

I uninstalled the add-ins and Windows Home Server Console performs normally. I assume that it is the add-ins that causes the slowdown.

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Rants:

What in the ASDF is Microsoft thinking? It’s always saying that the Network is “at risk” regardless of whatever the situation is.

“The Network is at risk because there are some add-ins available.”

What is wrong with you, Microsoft?

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Rants: Windows Home Server

A few weeks ago, I received the Windows Home Server HP MediaSmart Server EX475 and had the time to use it. It is now actually running in an office as a backup server.

My first impression of Windows Home Server was positive, until I actually get into the system a little bit more. Three things immediately came to mind:

  • How in the world can I rename the Windows Home Server? I can’t find it anywhere.
  • How in the asdf can I assign the workgroup for the home server? There’s no option for this either.
  • Most importantly, there’s no way to configure the RAID. This worries me because it seems to be set at RAID 0. YIKES! Then comes the article from AnandTech about possible data corruptions (http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=413).

Of course, there has been some murmur in Microsoft camp. According to Knowledge Base #946676, data corruption may occur, and Microsoft is taking their sweet time. They expect to release the bug-fix sometimes in June 2008.

I am now backing up the content of the Windows Home Server to another “server” in that office.

Windows Home Server still needs a lot of work.