Windows Home Server Vail Takes A Step Backwards
Written by Alan Wednesday, 24 November 2010 03:00
Microsoft announced on Tuesday that they are removing support for the Drive Extender technology from the next version of Windows Homer Server, code named “Vail”, as well as from Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2.
Their reasoning, while technically sound, is probably somewhat premature. They site easy availability and low price of large hard drive – 1TB and above. Yes, it’s true that large external drives have become common and cheap, but it doesn’t mean everyone, especially given today’s economic situation, is rushing out to buy them. I for one am still sporting a 320GB external drive plugged into my home server because I had it around and it works fine and I shouldn’t be forced spend money to replace a working drive.
“While this removes the integrated ability for storage pooling of multiple hard drives and automated data duplication, we are continuing to work closely with our OEM partners to implement storage management and protection solutions, as well as other software solutions. This will provide customers greater choice as well as a seamless experience that will meet their storage needs.”
They offer a vague statement of possible compatibility. I guess we will have to see what their hardware partners, such as HP who offers the great Media Smart Servers, do.
I personally think this is something that is one version ahead of it’s time. Am I just behind the times? Incidentally, they also claim, in this same post, that they are on schedule for the RTM version of “Vail”.
Target product availability is still H1 2011, and we expect to deliver a new beta without drive extender for Windows Home Server Code Name “Vail” early in the New Year.
Related posts:
- Windows Home Server Vail Beta Released
- What’s New In Windows Home Server Vail
- Windows Home Server Announcement
- How To Set Up Remote Access To A Home Server
- Backing Up A FreeNAS Server For Windows Users
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