When Microsoft released Windows Home Server, it immediately became a part of my home network. I am sure most people used it for the automated backups, but for me that was the minor feature. I always liked the ability to store all my media in one location and serve that throughout the house. I have built an extensive DVD library and Home server was the catalyst to convert those DVD’s. I used DVDfab to convert my movies and store them on the Home Server. The decision was made easier because the drive extender technology that Windows Home Server had. I say had because as most already know, Microsoft is removing this feature out of the next version. I don’t want to go down the path of how disappointing this is. The real issue is finding how to replace the Home Server as my media. After a few days of brainstorming I decided to go back to using Windows Media Center.
Why Mediacenter
The reason I chose Windows Media Center was actually quite simple. Even though it is a desktop platform, there is enough power to function as a server. The next thing that came to mind was the advantages of a desktop. There is a lot more software, that works on the desktop, as opposed to a server. One of the most frustrating things about Microsoft is a lot of half done products. The features in the products work great but, they are not everything you need it to be. For example, Windows Home Server was meant to run in your home. The problem is they did not allow home solutions like Windows Security Essentials to run on the Home Server. So now home users would be expected to buy Business Class virus software to work on a computer meant for their home. This is just silly. Also you could share Media such as music, movies, and photos. However the integration to Windows Media Center was very weak. Home Server should have been a Media Center Pc too. A lot of people spent their time trying to have Home Server function as a media server. I decided to let Media Center be my media server.
What about storage
No doubt the last straw for Home Server was the removal of drive extender. Drive Extender essentially removed the need for drive letters on your pc. Normally when you open up “My Computer” you see a C drive. If you added another hard drive, it became the next letter available usually D. With Windows Home Server, you could keep adding disks to the machine and it just lumped them all together as one hard drive. That was dirt simple for any users. There were some initial problems with drive extender but after Microsoft Worked those out, I hadn’t had any issues with it. When I realized there has been a similar feature in Windows for years, I just had to chuckle. In Windows, there is a feature called “Dynamic Disks”.
Without trying to get too technical there are two types of disks in Windows. Basic Disks and Dynamic disks. Most computers use Basic Disks. The difference is, Dynamic disks add a host of features over basic disks. One of these features is making multiple hard drives look like one single hard drive. there are a few different ways to do this with Dynamic Disks.
I am using the Spanned Volume feature. With this feature, I have two 1 terabyte disks that show up as one. The down side to this is if one of the disks goes bad, all of the data is gone. There are other methods of using dynamic disks that are a bit safer but because of my backup strategy, it is not needed. Because Dynamic Disks give a much larger scalable storage option I am free to put all my Movies, Pictures and Music on it without hesitation. When you launch Media Center, it does not care what type of disks I am using it simple shares the media throughout my house.
Backup Plan
Now, with my Media Center PC storing and sharing all of my media, the only thing I have to worry about is safeguarding my data. Everyone should be backing up their data. if you are not, stop reading this and go backup your data. Since Media Center is now sharing all my media, there isn’t much else for Home Server to do. Well, except backup my Media Center. Therefore my Home Server strictly backs up all my machines in the house. I then backup my Home Server to CrashPlan. CrashPlan is a service that is 50 dollars a year but gives you unlimited storage for backups. Essentially, I use both because Home Server is my local backup of my data, CrashPlan is my off site backups. This way I am completely covered for any data disaster.
A bonus
The bonus I got out of this setup was being able to install the Zune Software on the same machine as all my other media is stored on. You can not install the Zune Software on Home Server. Now when I launch Media Center on My Xbox, I can watch videos that I have purchased from Zune. You are probably wondering why there is not a Zune option in Media Center. So is everyone else. All I can say is remember I told you Microsoft does things halfway. At least this setup allows you to get around this.
When I think about it, I should have been doing this setup all along. But I really liked the drive extender feature on Windows Home Server. Even though I am using Dynamic Disks, I see absolutely no performance hit to the machine.