How to avoid WHS corruption issues

Here how to avoid....dont use it. Who would use this POS? Here is a MUCH better option. http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=509

My wife and I have been using WHS since December 2007. We have a very simple WHS system with two 500 Gig drives. We purchased it for what some of Microsoft’s PR calls “Piece Of Mind”. We have six computers on our home network. 2 XP, 2 Vista and 2 Macs. My wife and I use them in our business. Here’s why it looked like WHS would be a good choice for us. 1. It would provide machine level backup for the XP and Vista machines. We just don’t have the time to reinstall when a drive fails or a system otherwise becomes disabled. The WHS restore process seemed like a good thing. The Macs system backups are so straightforward that this is not an issue. Even with a total drive crash my external USB drive for the Macs can restore the entire system without any registry like issues or re-installs. 2. We need to share data across the various computers. WHS shares looked like a great way to do that. We could designate folders to be replicated on the WHS for safety's sake and have access to our documents on the PCs and the Mac s seamlessly. 3. We needed a machine that was always on so we could use some common services like Music Libraries accessible from non-computer devices like our network attached Audiotron MP3 player attached to our stereo. In addition, we needed a system to host our MagicJack internet phone service and that too needs to be available all of the time. Our WHS is on a shelf in the garage. 4. The ability to restore previous versions of files was also a good feature that was like icing on the cake. Although the Mac “Time Machine” product could do this, it could not provide the XP/Vista system restores we required. Why are we so disappointed? Since our original install, I have had to re-install once because of some issues that arose in January. I originally installed the Server2003 on a separate 250 gig drive and later read about how the system handled available storgae and had to limit the system to the two 500 gig drives. All was well until a recent update and re-boot. Now several WHS services will not run and the WHS console will not operate at all. It looks like I will have to re-install yet again. I am not a server engineer but a reasonably competent technician, here’s what I have learned since purchasing the product and why we are so disappointed: 1. Putting aside the whole corruption issue for a second, the realization that there seems to be no accommodation for protecting the Server 2003 installation itself is a major issue that I have not read much about. This is made worse by the complexities of the Drive Extender portion of WHS. If the system drive fails, it seems like it’s all over. Not only do you have to restore (re-install) the Server 2003 but I do not believe there is anyway to recover your data. So much for Piece Of Mind. 2. The recent issues of Data Corruption centers around editing files on the server. Sharing files on the server is EXACTLY why we purchased the product. We require the ability to share files and insure we have one common set of data that is in one place. 3. Again, it’s not just the Data Corruption that’s the issue. Our recent meltdown of the WHS looks like it can only be resolved by yet another re-install. Again, Server 2003 seems to be running fine, the basic WHS layer is somehow corrupted and will not allow the basic WHS functionality to be available. It’s not what they are calling data corruption but it looks like it’s another complication of the Drive Extender. I have been a big supporter of Microsoft in the past and have worked closely with them at a previous position where our company was the first to install Windows NT 4 in a Trading Floor environment. That turned out to be a big success. I am afraid WHS may not turn out so well. WHS is a major disappointment.