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Basically, Windows Home Server does six things . . .
Backing up and restoring
Windows Home Server backs up all the data on all your computers. Automatically.
Here's what you can expect if you use WHS as your backup central:
- If you need to retrieve an old copy of a file, WHS makes it easy.
 | - WHS Backup lets you restore an entire hard drive. If one of the PCs on your network suddenly loses its C: drive — or you get clobbered by a virus, or a rogue Windows automatic update freezes your machine — WHS's computer restore feature lets you bring back an earlier version of the entire hard drive with very little fuss.
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- If you shell out the shekels and put two or more hard drives in your WHS computer, Windows Home Server mirrors backup data: Separate, individually recoverable copies of the backup reside on more than one hard drive. That way, if one of the WHS computer's hard drives fails, you can resurrect everything.
Sharing folders
Windows Home Server creates a small set of pre-defined folders for you, and you can readily add more. People using your network can easily find the folders — and (if you give them permission) stick stuff in the folders and take stuff out. The great saving grace about WHS shared folders: they sport simple names like, oh, Photos or Music. None of this \\computername\drive\folder\subfolder garbage.
As you get more adept at using WHS, you'll discover that you can create new shared folders, grant access permissions, and the like. But straight out of the box, the folders suddenly appear out of thin air — and they make sense.
Managing disks
Windows Home Server takes care of disk management behind the scenes so you don't have to.
You'll never know, or care, which drive on the WHS computer holds what folders, or which files. And what's more:
- Disk drive volumes and folders get extended as needed and you don't have to fuss with the details.
- Individual folders reside on two or more disks. You needn't deal with any of it.
- When the WHS machine starts running out of disk space, it tells you. Install another drive and the drive is absorbed into the collective, Borg-style: more space becomes available.tabmarktabmark
Accessing your network from far afield
If you so desire, Windows Home server can open up your entire home or small office network so you can log on to any computer on your network from any browser, anywhere in the world. So instead of posting pics of your new toddler on sites like Flickr, you stick the pics in a shared folder on your Windows Home Server and give all your family and friends the Web address and password that'll let 'em in.
Keeping the home fires burning
Windows Home Server constantly monitors all the computers on your network and gives you a concise, centralized "health report."
Streaming media
Windows Home Server doesn't provide the media streaming capabilities that you find in Windows Media Center Edition or Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate. However, if you treat your server nicely, it will hold your media collection and feed the collection to a Media Center or Home Premium PC. If you have an Xbox 360, you can connect it to your Media Center or Vista Home Premium (or Ultimate) PC, and that PC, in turn, can pull the media off the server.
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