Finding a good Home Server

Over the years, since windows 98 time frame, I have been trying to make a usable secure home back up system of some kind.  I started with external hard drives, which I would plug in and back up my documents, pictures, music, and other data.  These were a major inconvenience and there for not a reliable back up. Network Attached Storage drives (NAS) was my next step.  Linksys put out a simple system called the NSLU2. ( NSLU2 wiki ) which I started back in 2005 and still use it today.  This is a little better than external hard drives. In fact it is a front end to an external hard drive. simply plug in a network cable and an external hard drive and you have a NAS. I now had always on (they use very little power) and a password, read better security. I use back up software ( Goodsync free for individual use.)  and back up all my data to the NAS. This was good but I wanted more......

I have tried using a dedicated windows XP box as a home server but wasn't impressed. It was marginally better than a NAS.  I could share files, Music and Video. I could even use iTunes to share and play music on other computers. The main advantage of this over the NSLU2 was much faster connection speed and more hard drive space. The NSLU2 had a 10 mbps net interface. I could install as many and as large a hard drives as the mother board could handle.  While the NSLU2  could only handle 2 USB devices and one of those could not be any larger than 1gig ( thumb drive).  I curently have a single 1 Teri byte HD attached to the NSLU2. I use this as a 2nd data back up.  In the end the XP box was not what I was looking for, I wanted something better.

 I obtained a demo "90 day" copy of Windows Server 2003.  This was a much more robust system, very reliable, but the complexity of setting this up getting the permissions set right was major issue. In any case I did all that and got it running.  The main advantage of this over my XP box was much more reliable connectivity. The rigidity of the Server system while great for the business environment, not so user friendly for the home user.  The other down side is the cost.  Windows Home Server 2003 was not in my budget.  I am glad I did a test drive. There are many things to like about having an industrial strength operating system, but in end complexity was an issue and cost was prohibitive.

I had been hearing buzz about a home server system Microsoft was going to put out so in early 2007 when they released Windows Home Server (WHS) beta I downloaded a copy and took it for a test drive. I am glad I did since it gave me time to see what mother board worked best with this system and how the hard drive set up worked.  On initial install a splash screen for Server 2003 was displayed for a bit, so I had a comfortable feeling about the reliability of this operating system, and a misplaced concern about potential complexity given my Server 2003 experience.
Windows Home Server 2003 has the rock solid reliability of Server 2003 and a front end that made it genius for the home owner. When Microsoft released WHS I ordered an oem copy, and built my own system.  This was around the August 2007,   time frame.  I started with 4,  500 gig Hard drives and have since upgraded to 5, 1 Teri byte HD's.  The feature I like best about this system is it's automatic image copy of each computer on the system.  For example. I had a Dell Laptop that had a small hard drive.  I had it backed up on WHS so I turned it off, removed the hard drive, installed a new blank larger hard drive, put the WHS restore CD in and booted off the CD.  The restore cd found the WHS, after I entered the WHS password the restore cd did the rest. about an hour later the restore was complete. I removed the cd booted from the hard drive and the only difference I could tell was I had a lot more room on the hard drive.  I have never seen any program or operating system work so smooth.  I would recommend this home server to anybody that wants a convient, secure stable complete back up system.
Some of the links I have used for WHS are:
A Wikipedia article about WHS and its features.  Windows_Home_Server wiki
A central non microsoft web site about all things Windows Home Server.  wegotserved.com/
A microsoft tech net blog: blogs.technet.com/homeserver/
Another microsoft Blog: windows team blog
If you are not into building your own system then I recommend the HP Media smart server.
You can find info about this at: hp.com
I hope you enjoy your home server as much as I do.  Enjoy!