The fix for Windows Home Server's broken file system finally is released to market
Microsoft's Windows Home Server (WHS) is almost fully back in operation after about nine months of difficulty. The operating system marked the most troubled release of the last couple generations of Windows-branded systems. Now at last it can move over and perhaps fulfill the bright potential that seemed to await it when it was released
Marketed as a home storage solution, and backed with hardware partners, Windows Home Server looked to be a very promising product, putting server style data backup in simplified form in the hands of the consumer. However, soon after its release it was found that it corrupted files stored on it. For a server, which is utilized primarily to safeguard data, data corruption is considered a "cardinal sin".
As the months dragged on the list of file types corrupted grew. The situations in which corruption could occur grew as well (initially the WHS believed that files could only be corrupted when edited on the server). In the end, the WHS team discovered that the underlying file system to the OS was seriously broken. In response to the problems, they issued a dire warning that files should not be stored on WHS boxes without having a separate backup.
However, they also got hard to work at making a fix. Initially, they thought they might be able to pull one off by the end of the Christmas season, as they worked over the holidays. Alas, the new year came with no fix. Finally in May, the team released a beta build of the fix, followed by a release candidate in June.
On Monday the WHS team released the final fix, Windows Home Server Power Pack 1, in RTM form. The English version is available through the Downloads Center, and Microsoft promises that German, Spanish, and French versions will soon be available.
The update will be pushed into Windows Update in August. Also in August, Japanese and Chinese versions will be rolled out.
Microsoft briefly describes the pack, stating, "As many know, Power Pack 1 provides a range of new enhancements, including support for home computers running Windows Vista x64 editions, backup of home server Shared Folders, improvements to remote access, more efficient power consumption and better performance. And, of course, it delivers a fix for the data corruption bug."
HP, one of the hardware partners will be releasing updates of its own via its HP MediaSmart Server. These will provide better security and streaming content.
