Windows Home Server vs Windows 8.1 for home microserver whats the difference

2013

2013

2013

Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2012
Posts
4,345
Hi all, I know nothing about home servers So i thought i should ask

I need a bit of advice, I want to run windows on my microsserver but I'm not sure if I should use windows 8.1 or WHS

What a the major differences, is there something useful one can do the other can't

also I was a bit worried about using WHS because its not had any updated version.
 
I would stick with 8.1... I actually run 7 on mine.

WHS isn't that much different... only it allows for some extra hybrid disk arrays. I've had problems with those arrays thought when I tried to use WHS... ended up losing some data in the process.
 
Another thread? What was wrong with your other one?

WHS is a dead product and so is probably best avoided. It is a shame because I think it would have helped you out. It comes with a lot of things you are looking for ready to go and easily setup with wizards. It makes it easy to setup backups, remote console and file access, dynamic DNS, etc.

Microsoft now point people towards Windows Server Essentials instead, but this is aimed more at the business market.

You can still do all of the above with regular Windows Desktop but it isn't so neatly bundled. You will have to install/configure a few extras to achieve the same.

I'll pre-empt your next question/thread:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2026643/set-up-windows-8-as-a-home-server.html
 
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WHS v1 or v2?

V1 is Server 2003 based so very much dead tech, but does have the fantastic Drive Extender and backup function.
V2 is 2008 based so is old but not dead tech, but lost the killer DE feature.
Both are part of a discontinued product line.

Personally I have v1 and love it but its simply too old now. When W10 comes out I'm moving to that and using Drive Bender or similar to get storage pools.
 
crinkleshoes said:
They dropped drive extended due to a very high failure rate... it was not good tech... lots of people lost data to it.
Click to expand...

The DE that was dropped in WHSv2 was very different to the DE tech in WHSv1.

The v1 one is very safe and the drives remained readable in other machines by simply plugging them in. It was based on Shares. The v2 tech was to go down below the OS level to provide pooled drives presented as actual disks within Windows. They had serious issues with the pre-release versions of v2 and data corruption, so pulled it from release when v2 came out. They should have just stuck the original Shares based DE from v1 in instead :(. I think the bad press from this is what killed the WHS product line.
 
My whs 2003 v1 is also going strong, considering upgrading to 2007 as I want to run 64bit applications so i can set up a dedicated killing floor 2 server, its a shame v1 doesn't
 
WHS 2011 gets you built in, automated, client PC backups.

That alone is worth it over Windows 7/8 for me.

Plus, when I purchased WHS 2011, it was £40, compared to £80-100 for Windows 7 or 8. (I wasn't sensible enough to purchase more £25 W8 licences upon release)
 
WHS 2011 is a good product but it only has one more year before it is end of life with no support. Obviously this doesn't mean that it will suddenly stop working, but I wouldn't recommend it to a newcomer installing for the first time now.
 
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