Microsoft removing Drive Extender from next version of Windows Home Server

by Pete Mason on 24 November 2010, 16:38

Tags: Windows Home Server, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

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One of the key selling points of the original version of Windows Home Server was the ability to add physical storage and have the OS take care of seamlessly integrating it with existing drives. It could even duplicate data automatically to protect against a drive failing further down the line.

However, the development team working on the next version of the OS - codenamed Vail - has announced that the feature will be dropped from the OS when it's released next year. The reasoning was that large drives are much more affordable now than they were when Home Server was originally released three years ago. This means that OEMs will be able to configure high capacity servers and use on-board RAID functionality to provide data security that won't be unreasonably expensive.

The announcement also explained that feedback from the small and medium business markets - which will use Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials, both of which are built on the same code-base - suggested that Drive Extender technology wasn't meeting the customer's needs.

Accordingly, the feature will be removed from the final version of Vail, as well the next beta release, which is due early next year.

Unfortunately for the team, this hasn't gone over well with the WHS community. Since the announcement yesterday afternoon, almost 150 comments have been made on the official blog with the vast majority deriding the decision to remove Drive Extender. The majority seem to see the feature as a fundamental part of the OS and a major reason for choosing it over competing solutions. There was also frustration over the emphasis on the opinions of business users when Home Server is primarily a consumer-oriented product.

So far, no-one from Microsoft has responded to the criticism.



HEXUS Forums :: 52 Comments

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This is completely crazy. I was really looking forward to a having a Vail server and DE was the main reason. Had some bad experience with raids. Going to try out amahi now!
What he ^^ said.

DE is a major factor for WHS appealing, and without it, I lose any interest at all.

What intrigues me is the quote …
The announcement also explained that feedback from the small and medium business markets ….

Excuse me, but what what part of Windows Home Server are those morons at MS not understanding? This was supposed to be positioned as a home product, not a small or medium business one.
Microsoft been Microsoft, waring factions inside the firm. Looks like the WHS team wants to make their system higher performing… Yey!

By all means promote hardware RAID, encorage the OEMs to offer it, demonstrate its performance advantages but seriously? I hope for a U turn.
It seems Microsoft has been massaging the news somewhat. Paul Thurrott's posted comments regarding a discussion he had with Microsoft's Kevin Kean:

“Drive Extender was a neat feature, but the implementation was off, and we discovered some application compatibility and disk tool problems related to its ability to correct data errors on the fly,” Microsoft general manager Kevin Kean told me. “We don't want to give customers problems; we want to give them solutions. So ultimately, we decided that we needed to cut out Drive Extender. Removing Drive Extender will make file shares easy, and it's possible to accomplish most of its features otherwise. For example, you use the server's centralized backup or even RAID as an alternative to data duplication.”

I was gutted when the news broke yesterday. I'd already begun planning a custom built replacement for my trusty HP box as WHS v1 has served me well, I'd anticipated v2 would do the same. DE v1 does have its problems, streaming large media files can get a little choppy, and with it being 32bit, it has compatibility issues with large hard drives (2TB and greater). I'd hoped DE v2 would have rectified that but alas it looks like it won't be happening any time soon, if at all.

To me, and many others (plenty of comments on both WeGotServed and MediaSmartServer.net), the future of WHS sans DE is now questionable. I don't want to be reliant on 3rd party solutions for data duplication, and despite having the technical know-how, I would have preferred not to have to manage a less flexible RAID setup.
Saracen
What he ^^ said.

DE is a major factor for WHS appealing, and without it, I lose any interest at all.

What intrigues me is the quote …

Excuse me, but what what part of Windows Home Server are those morons at MS not understanding? This was supposed to be positioned as a home product, not a small or medium business one.

WHS has always been a home and small business technology, despite the name. With the introduction of Vail, they're introducing a 25-license Active Directory capable version specifically for slightly larger businesses (as far as I know, may not be 100% accurate).

Nonetheless, this is ridiculous. Drive extender is the sole reason I like WHS. If it's removed from Vail, I'll probably install Server 2008 on my WHS box instead… no point whatsoever.