Once again the most amazing consumer product Microsoft has ever created, Windows Home Server, has saved my family [disclaimer].
Today I was in a meeting and I got a text message from my 15 year old daughter. It read (spelling and txt errors verbatim):
“daddddd o my god. i think i just deleated all my pictures from freshmen year. please call meee!”
I texted her back “Ok, don’t touch anything. I’ll call you when I can.”
When I got out of my meeting I called her and asked what happened. She said she was deleting some bad photos and accidentally selected ALL of her photos and deleted them.
From work I used Windows Home Server remote access to connect to her machine and verified they had been deleted (and weren’t in the recycle bin…did she hold the shift key down? We’ll never know). I fired up the Home Server console, selected the backup from last night and about a minute later I had an Explorer window open with her files. I simply dragged the files from the back up to her My Pictures folder and after about 20 minutes of copying everything was back. The file restore worked perfectly.
This is not the first time Windows Home Server has made me look good to my family. It’s also very good for upgrading PCs.
The people that built Windows Home Server are geniuses. If you haven’t already bought one there are several really great models available from companies like HP and Acer. For example:
HP EX485 MediaSmart Home Server by Hewlett-Packard
Roughly $500
HP LX195 MediaSmart Home Server by Hewlett-Packard
Roughly $380
Acer Aspire AH340-UA230N Home Server by Acer
Roughly $400
For a fun introduction to the concept of home servers check out www.stayathomeserver.com. Make sure you read the highly acclaimed children’s book “Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House?” (you can read it online, or buy a copy at amazon.com).
[disclaimer: I drove the concept and product development of Windows Home Server; so I’m very biased]
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