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HP's Opinion on the WHS Issue

HP emailed me yesterday with details about the Windows Home Server data corruption issue. Here’s what they had to say:

On December  21st, Microsoft announced that in some situations, customers could experience data corruption/loss when using Windows Home Server. While this issue occurs only during specific simultaneous combinations of activities under specific circumstances, HP and Microsoft are taking this issue very seriously. MS is working hard on a fix, and HP will make sure that this fix gets pushed to all MediaSmart Server owners through the automated software update mechanism.  We will also communicate additional information updates to our user base through MediaSmart user communities and Home Sever blogs.

MS is now able to reproduce the problem, and we expect that the fix will be tested and delivered in the coming weeks.

Here are a couple key things to be aware off:

  • If you are operating the HP MediaSmart Server with a single HDD, then this issue should not impact you.
  • This issue does not impact the data on the server from PC backups. You can continue to be confident in your automatic PC backups.

Until the final fix is available, HP is making the following suggestions to current multi-Hard Disk Drive MediaSmart Server owners:

  • You should not directly open and/or edit files that are stored on the MediaSmart Server while doing any other activity such as large data transfers or media streaming. If you are doing a large data transfer or streaming and need to edit a file on the server, you should first copy the file over to a PC and then open it for editing.
  •    There are a few key applications that Microsoft has identified that can cause this issue when files are opened and edited directly from   the server. However to be safe, HP recommends that you not open/edit files directly from the server until this fix is delivered.
  •    A known list of offending applications can be found on the URL below.
  • HP recommends that frequently-edited and frequently-opened files be stored on both your PC drives and the server until a fix to this issue has been delivered.

More background information can be found on Microsoft’s support site on the following link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946676/en-us

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  1. Amy says:

    In the coming weeks? Hang tight folks, Microsoft is reassuring us than within weeks now, instead of the many months ago this issue will come to rest.

    So why does it take so long to issue a fix for WHS data corruption issue when Microsoft knew about this way back on April 3, 2007?

    What seems to be the trouble?

  2. John Miller says:

    Nothing new about the data corruption issue here. Same old same Microsoft KB article, which doesn’t list the other applications that are effected by the WHS data corruption issue.

    I’m sure everyone is wondering what is causing the issue, as it’s been reported (bloggers) that the WHS Drive Extender technology is to blame for the cause.

    On the other hand, we all waiting for a resolution, if and when it ever materializes…

    By the way, what is the “recently discovered problem” claimed by KB article posted by Microsoft? It doesn’t seem recent to me, and there is no explanation given as to what the “cause” of the problem is about, other than the general vague language provided.

    One thing is sure, WHS is broken, flawed and not ready for consumers to use, that is unless you don’t want to use multiple hard drives, and to get everything else working, you got to disable functions and features, and use add-ins to get it to do what you need and want, when available.

    Why should anyone want to pay to become a WHS beta tester? Seems like Linux is the better way to go, it’s FREE and doesn’t even have these issues and actually offers more for the home consumers to take advantage.

    Why buy and pay for Microsoft proprietary, when open source code is available for FREE? I don’t feel $M proprietary is providing a better solution here, or the support.

  3. Bob Crook says:

    @John

    Kindly let us know if you are an actual user/owner of WHS and your experience.

  4. Ryan says:

    John’s has some good points, for raising the a few good questions as to how is Microsoft’s propriety providing a better product? When in fact, as it was reported by Microsoft’s own KB 946676 article how WHS is experiencing a serious application failure, unless you think data corruption is acceptable, on your actual WHS system?

    In addition, Crook’s argument above offers no resolution, but just his lame excuse about why nobody else should have even a right to bring up if even a voice to the issues being discussed…

    What is causing the actual problem with WHS? Is it an underlining fault of the WHS Drive Extender technology?

    When will Microsoft get around to actually fixing the issue?

    And how is Microsoft’s propriety better than say the FREE open source solutions, especially when WHS is clearly an unfinished product, requiring many adjustments, powerpack 1, updates, hot patches and for that we should admire Microsoft?

    We see the same pattern repeating over, just like Vista requiring some 300 patches to be applied in Vista SP1. And the worse thing about WHS is despite how much more the PowerPack 1 provides over a service pack, the data corruption issue remains without any actual resolution. Just live with WHS data corruption?

    Hopefully, nobody will purchase WHS until Microsoft actually does provide a resolution here, since the KB article does state Microsoft’s original publication date on this issue was way back in April 3, 2007. Yes, Microsoft was made aware of this serious problem back then during the Beta testing, but has not provided a resolution even after nine months later!

    And for the record, I was a beta testers of WHS, actually using the product until I discovered so many issues, limitations and above all, dissatisfaction overall with the product that I can see how all this happen.

    First, WHS wasn’t built from the ground up, it’s just a reworking of the Windows Small Business Server 2003 mostly with a limiting management console that’s dumb down for consumers. Which requires additional, later to be developed, third party add-in solutions, which happen to be mostly beta released.

    There is nobody how can claim WHS is a polished finished product ready for the consumer market. It’s only a work in progress, needing constant patches and support which no paying home user customers wants to invest their time testing and effort working to resolve for Microsoft buggy home server.

    A server in the home shouldn’t be like this, it’s suppose to be about sharing files and data without being the cause of data corruption, or the many hassles of using the server just to operate it.

  5. Melinda says:

    @Bob Crook

    It’s a beautiful world that we live on the same earth yet have different dreams. However, there are people who insist that we should all share the same dream, and try to manipulate our dreams into one.

  6. Bob Crook says:

    @all

    All I can say is wonderful product and have had no issues with my two WHS and currently building a third. Looking forward to Vista Plus product if in fact the contents so far listed are in fact included.

  7. Thanks for your comments guys and girls.

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