09 Jan 07 Windows Home Server

This will be one Windows machine that I will be happy to purchase. It’s a new file system, not RAID. Isn’t RAID an insect spray anyway?

It uses a Distributed File System, where the drives are hot swappable. 4 SATA internal drives, and lots of usb ports for additional external drives. This is going to be a great way to have a copy of every piece of important information on your computer.

It backs it up by distributing it across many computers. Here’s the part I am not 100% sure of. Read this from Paul Thurrott’s site:
Mac user? You can access the WHS shared folders as you would any other Windows share, and that means your backup program–like Apple’s Backup–can use a share as a save location as well. “We’re a great back-end store for Time Machine,” Headrick told me, alluding to the new backup feature Apple recently announced for Mac OS X Leopard.

Now that sounds well and good, but I’ve used Time Machine, and the volume HAS to be formatted for OS X with journaling enabled. I’m almost 99% sure that this system won’t allow itself to be formatted for OS X. So, is this really the Time Machine backup system that we are hoping for? I seriously doubt it.

That being said, it will mount as any other windows share, and allow for access to your files whenever you need it. Sounds like a great way to have access to your iTunes & iPhoto library without cramming it into your mac laptop.

They will retail the second part of this year for around $500, and I am sure that I will buy one.