HP dropped me an interesting note today about the recently-discussed Windows Home Server problems. Here's what they had to say:
On December 21st, Microsoft announced that in some situations, customers could experience data corruption/loss when using Windows Home Server. While this issue occurs only during specific simultaneous combinations of activities under specific circumstances, HP and Microsoft are taking this issue very seriously. MS is working hard on a fix, and HP will make sure that this fix gets pushed to all MediaSmart Server owners through the automated software update mechanism. We will also communicate additional information updates to our user base through MediaSmart user communities and Home Sever blogs.
MS is now able to reproduce the problem, and we expect that the fix will be tested and delivered in the coming weeks.
Here are a couple key things to be aware of:
- If you are operating the HP MediaSmart Server with a single HDD, then this issue should not impact you.
- This issue does not impact the data on the server from PC backups. You can continue to be confident in your automatic PC backups.
Until the final fix is available, HP is making the following suggestions to current multi-Hard Disk Drive MediaSmart Server owners:
- You should not directly open and/or edit files that are stored on the MediaSmart Server while doing any other activity such as large data transfers or media streaming. If you are doing a large data transfer or streaming and need to edit a file on the server, you should first copy the file over to a PC and then open it for editing.
- There are a few key applications that Microsoft has identified that can cause this issue when files are opened and edited directly from the server. However to be safe, HP recommends that you not open/edit files directly from the server until this fix is delivered.
- A known list of offending applications can be found on the URL below.
- HP recommends that frequently-edited and frequently-opened files be stored on both your PC drives and the server until a fix to this issue has been delivered.
More background information can be found on Microsoft’s support site on the following link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946676/en-us