This would be a nice feature to have but it’s hardly critical. Backups are backups, you lose the server and you still have the cients. Very unlikely to lose them both simultaneously. My guess is you’re just a microsoft hater looking for excuses to bash. If you’d have used WHS like many of us I’m sure you wouldnt be saying this crap.

With all do respect, but Vlad already explained and admitted his error. The title is only partially incorrect, because, they PROMISSED from the beginning (i.e. first MS announcement) to provide a CLIENT Database backup to external storage. Actually, lack of this feature from the beginning tells volumes, about how very little thought was given in packaging of WHS features. Any backup strategy that cannot backup the server itself is …. no backup strategy at all. Telling people that the strategy to recover from a backup server failure is … to give up on the historical client backups is …. laughable. I would expect more from MS.
If you read the text of the entire blog entry, it is evident that Vlad actually was venting about the correct issue, and he DID do his homework before writing the post (unlike yourself).
It is very arrogant on MS part to hype the product as they’ve been doing all over the net, and now, very quietly withdraw one of its mostly demanded feature, unless you want to call Power Pack’s fixing a data corruption fix a major technical break through for them.

“Windows Home Server Loses Client Backup”

That is the title of this blog entry, and it also exposes the fact that you’re 100% utterly misinformed and confused about this.

What WHS is losing is the *SERVER DATABASE* backup function, which was never there to begin with. It was an upcoming feature, and by no one’s definition would it even come close to the “primary feature set”, as you’ve labeled it above.

Do a little homework next time.

A huge feature of WHS is the ability to automate the process of creating “Day Zero” backups of each client PC, along with automated daily incremental backups. And this feature is bascially “free”, versus buying and managing copies of Acronis for every single desktop PC.

The concern now is the lack of an easy way to keep those “Day Zero” backups. One little glitch to your WHS Backup Database, and you are stuck having to erase the database and start over, losing those original backups, as well as all your other historical file version information.

I’m sorry, but you’re going to take your WHS-hugging ass to a reality check clinic:

- Product corrupts files for more than 6 months without an update/fix.
- Product features being removed.

Do you really want to argue the semantics of the specific feature being removed while its undergoing lobotomy?

Nice solution, buy more third party software. If I have Acronis, WTF would I want WHS for?

I don’t know about you, but my WHS is becoming a Linux box this weekend. The WHS product was scapegoated as a bloated consumer NAS, and just about a year later it’s nothing more. Unless you count file corruption as a feature.

-Vlad

Btw, any idea how large a Client backup database can grow?
Keep that size in your mind, add the size of the other data that need external back and check the size of external harddrive. Guess what, the targetted WHS owner will run into storage shortage soon

And if you are a smart user with above average needs, you can always create images (using eg Acronis True Image Home 11) on a regular base, put the image in WHS folder and there you are

But I guess using bad language and writing half true and incorrect information gives more traffic to the BLog.

So be it
Have a nice day!

I fail to understand how such a miraculous product can end up with such giant holes. A server that corrupts data files? A server that you can’t back up? Backups that can’t be taken offsite?

I love my own WHS. It’s great knowing (thinking?) that I can uninstall something from my desktop and know that I have last night’s backup if the uninstall routine trashes my system. It’s so disappointing that Microsoft can’t follow up with the finishing touches.