HP MediaSmart Server

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Deployed: Windows Vista SP1 RC on ALL of my PC’s

Today Nick announced the availability of the release candidate for Windows Vista SP1. I had a chance to get the RC build of Windows Vista SP1 installed a few days ago. I decided to roll the RC out on all of my PCs which showcase a variety of device types Read More......(read more)

Written by Windows Vista Team Blog on December 5th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Featured News and HP MediaSmart Server and Networking and Windows Home Server and Windows Update and Windows Vista and Windows Vista SP1 and release candidate.

Deployed: Windows Vista SP1 RC on ALL of my PC’s

Today Nick announced the availability of the release candidate for Windows Vista SP1. I had a chance to get the RC build of Windows Vista SP1 installed a few days ago. I decided to roll the RC out on all of my PCs which showcase a variety of device types and scenarios:

In installing the RC on my PCs, I did a combination of using the standalone installer and Windows Update. Before proceeding to install the SP1 RC bits, I first needed to uninstall the SP1 beta bits first. Users looking to install the Windows Vista SP1 RC will need to uninstall any previous version of SP1 prior to the installation of the RC from either Windows Update or the standalone installer. With Windows Update, once SP1 was downloaded, a new series of screens telling me about SP1 appeared. The same series of dialog screens seen in the standalone installer is now launched when installing Windows Vista SP1 via Windows Update. This will be really helpful to the user in installing Windows Vista SP1. Previously with the beta, there was no guidance from Windows Update in installing Windows Vista SP1 like there was with the standalone installer. The ability to catch issues like insufficient disk space or PC not on battery power has been implemented earlier in the installation process - with a simple more useful error message to the user. In installing Windows Vista SP1 over Windows Update, a series of pre-requisites must first be installed before SP1. For the RC, these pre-requisites presented themselves to me in proceeding to install SP1 from Windows Update. However, before the final version of Windows Vista SP1 is released, it is likely these pre-requisites will be installed prior to SP1's release. If you have Windows Update configured for Automatic Update - it is likely these pre-requisites will be installed automatically at night.

When logging in to my PCs for the first time after installing the Windows Vista SP1 RC, the first thing I took notice of was that none of my PCs displayed a "find device driver" pop-up like I had experienced with the beta. Previously, I had a "find display driver" pop-up for my graphics driver for the PCs I had installed the SP1 beta on. In the RC - this seems to have been fixed. Many of the improvements I took note of back in September still held up, if not better, with the RC. All of my applications continue to work including:

These are just a few of the applications I use and have tested with the Windows Vista SP1 RC. I'd also like to note that Games for Windows - LIVE games such as Shadowrun and Halo 2 for Windows Vista also continue to work as expected.

A few days ago I had blogged about my new HP MediaSmart Server and deploying Windows Home Server in my home. Those unfamiliar with Windows Home Server can learn about it here. Windows Home Server is essentially the server for the home based off Windows Server 2003 SP2 code. With my PCs running the Windows Vista SP1 RC, I've seen some noticeable changes in how fast it takes for PC backups to complete. Windows Home Server uses a connector to configure backups to the server which take place over the network. With the networking fixes in Windows Vista SP1, transferring files over my network has improved tremendously. Accessing file shares on my Windows Home Server is also much more responsive.  

Because of these experiences with improved network performance, I decided it was time to migrate my network to a gigabit LAN.  To do so, I picked up a D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit Router as well as D-Link DGS-2205 gigabit switch.

Transferring recorded TV shows to my Windows Home Server is a breeze! I continue to be impressed with my network speed and responsiveness running Windows Vista SP1.

I'd also like to call out experiences on my laptop and UMPC with some SP1 improvements. Most notably is the improvement seen with my laptop and UMPC in resuming from sleep mode. Resuming from sleep is much faster. In coming out of sleep, I can now immediately use my mobile PCs rather than having to wait through a lag until the system is usable.

I've spent a total of 3 days now running a complete Windows Vista SP1 environment and am very impressed with the improvements and fixes that the RC provides over the last beta.

Written by Brandon LeBlanc on December 5th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Featured News and HP MediaSmart Server and Networking and Windows Home Server and Windows Update and Windows Vista and Windows Vista SP1 and release candidate.

Rolling out Windows Home Server with a HP MediaSmart Server

HP MediaSmart Server

This weekend I completed the roll-out of my new HP MediaSmart Server running Windows Home Server.  I ordered the HP MediaSmart Server EX470. I originally had Windows Home Server running on my Dell Dimension E520 but decommissioned it when I created my "Ultimate" PC. I really wanted to try out the experience the average consumer will have in purchasing a Windows Home Server and setting it up in their home. The HP MediaSmart Server seemed like the perfect choice in checking out the Windows Home Server experience.

HP MediaSmart Server - Frontside  HP MediaSmart Server - Backside HP MediaSmart Server - Expansion Bays

The HP MediaSmart Server EX470 has the following specs:

HP MediaSmart Server - Expansion Bay Close-up HP MediaSmart Server - Back Close-up HP MediaSmart Server - Front Close-up

The EX470 model of the HP MediaSmart Server comes with a single 500GB harddrive, however the EX475 model comes with 1TB (two 500GB SATA harddrives). I don't need 1TB just yet so decided to go with the EX470. The EX470 comes with 3 expansion slots to add my own harddrives at a later date which is really nice.

Windows Home Server gives a great deal of added benefit to Windows Vista users. First and foremost, it allows you to make sure your PC is completely backed up and that all your PCs on your home network are backed up. With a Windows Home Server restore disc, you can easily restore a complete PC backup from your Windows Home Server via your home network. Windows Home Server also makes sure all your PCs are protected by as well - alerting you if a PC becomes unprotected our has out-of-date antivirus/spyware definitions. And Windows Home Server takes advantage of Media Sharing abilities built in to Windows Vista for photos, music and videos. I can move recorded TV shows onto my Windows Home Server where I can access them on any PC on my home network. Same goes for my photos.

There are 3 reasons why Windows Home Server is essential for my home network:

  1. A centralized place for data storage with quick access from any PC on my.
  2. Quick and easy remote access to PCs and data.
  3. Complete PC backups with full and quick restore capability.

I do a lot of traveling and when I'm away from my home office, I cannot begin to explain how amazing it is to be able to login to my Windows Home Server to access important data - or files I accidentally left behind. I can even use Remote Desktop to login to my PCs at home remotely.

In setting up the HP MediaSmart Server, I was curious how the experience would be in setting up a "headless" server from a consumer standpoint. There's no monitor connection on the HP MediaSmart Server - only way to access it is remotely. I was incredibly impressed on how easy it was.

Essentially, the HP MediaSmart Server comes with an install disc you use on any of your client PCs on your home network. The install disc will install some HP software for the server as well as launch a wizard that takes the user through a step-by-step process in setting up Windows Home Server. The wizard lets you setup a Windows Home Server Password, check for updates, name your Windows Home Server, and install the Windows Home Server Connector.

    

After the wizard completed, I had a fully functional and accessible Windows Home Server. Took me only a matter of a few minutes to set up. Very nice.

Coming up, I've got some more experiences to share with Windows Home Server and Windows Vista.

Written by Brandon LeBlanc on December 3rd, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Backup and Featured News and HP and HP MediaSmart Server and Media Sharing and Networking and Windows Home Server and Windows Vista.

Rolling out Windows Home Server with a HP MediaSmart Server

This weekend I completed the roll-out of my new HP MediaSmart Server running Windows Home Server. I ordered the HP MediaSmart Server EX470 . I originally had Windows Home Server running on my Dell Dimension E520 but decommissioned it when I created my Read More......(read more)

Written by Windows Vista Team Blog on December 3rd, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Backup and Featured News and HP and HP MediaSmart Server and Media Sharing and Networking and Windows Home Server and Windows Vista.