Windows Home Server Data Corruption Bug

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/2008/0...affected-grows/

"Microsoft today updated KB 946676 which is the Knowledge Base article covering the Windows Home Server data corruption bug. This bug causes data to be corrupted when you try to edit or save certain files directly on the home server within certain applications. As well as fixing the original publication date of the article, worrying, Microsoft states that customers have reported data corruption occurring with a growing list of applications. I guess they have a responsibility to report the full list of issues reported - however, according to the article Microsoft has only reproduced the bug on certain applications within that list."



This post over at We Got Served is bit over a week old, but I thought it was worth sharing for any of you who are running Windows Home Server. In a nutshell, the core technology that makes Windows Home Server so cool (the automatic data mirroring) is also what makes it dangerous in this instance. I was a huge fan of WHS when I was beta-testing it, but after getting the final version and using it full-time for a few months, my enthusiasm for the product has greatly waned.

Why? Well, to start with the stability and robustness of the product is lacking. Twice now I've had corruption problems with my backups, forcing me to Remote Desktop into the WHS and hack around to get it fixed (which involves nuking all past backups). I see regular error messages about something going wrong with the server, and usually a simple reboot fixes the problem - just this week I wasn't able to log into the server with the WHS Connector clients. Whenever I tried, from any computer, I was told that the password I was using wasn't correct. Rebooting the WHS machine fixed this problem. Bizarre! I also no longer play music off the server because the audio stream would sputter and stutter every few minutes. The worst problem was my inability to get the Connector software installed on all my computers, which meant that several of them weren't being backed up. I found a solution just yesterday, which I'll be posting about separately (because it's just too important not to).

Here's hoping that the forthcoming Power Pack 1 will make some serious improvements to the product...

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/2008/0...affected-grows/

"Microsoft today updated KB 946676 which is the Knowledge Base article covering the Windows Home Server data corruption bug. This bug causes data to be corrupted when you try to edit or save certain files directly on the home server within certain applications. As well as fixing the original publication date of the article, worrying, Microsoft states that customers have reported data corruption occurring with a growing list of applications. I guess they have a responsibility to report the full list of issues reported - however, according to the article Microsoft has only reproduced the bug on certain applications within that list."



This post over at We Got Served is bit over a week old, but I thought it was worth sharing for any of you who are running Windows Home Server. In a nutshell, the core technology that makes Windows Home Server so cool (the automatic data mirroring) is also what makes it dangerous in this instance. I was a huge fan of WHS when I was beta-testing it, but after getting the final version and using it full-time for a few months, my enthusiasm for the product has greatly waned.

Why? Well, to start with the stability and robustness of the product is lacking. Twice now I've had corruption problems with my backups, forcing me to Remote Desktop into the WHS and hack around to get it fixed (which involves nuking all past backups). I see regular error messages about something going wrong with the server, and usually a simple reboot fixes the problem - just this week I wasn't able to log into the server with the WHS Connector clients. Whenever I tried, from any computer, I was told that the password I was using wasn't correct. Rebooting the WHS machine fixed this problem. Bizarre! I also no longer play music off the server because the audio stream would sputter and stutter every few minutes. The worst problem was my inability to get the Connector software installed on all my computers, which meant that several of them weren't being backed up. I found a solution just yesterday, which I'll be posting about separately (because it's just too important not to).

Here's hoping that the forthcoming Power Pack 1 will make some serious improvements to the product...

[Tim Williamson]

I wonder if others are dealing with the same issues as you are. If it seems isolated to you, I wonder if it could be some network connectivity issues (bad NIC, router port, etc.) although, I'm not sure of the best method to test that out.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by T-Will

I wonder if others are dealing with the same issues as you are.

Unfortunately for the WHS team, the problems I'm reporting are not unusual - the WHS forums are full of people complaining about the same problems as me...

[Phillip Dyson]

I've been considering a WHS box for my hope. Especially since one of my hard drives failed on my SageTV HTPC this weekend. I lost 300GB of recordings. I admit that I knew about the exposure (as we all do, until its too late). So know I'm exploring in earnest (more earnester).

I found this article about the data corruption bug. It seems like the issue was identified and solved by the WHS team. Is that your understanding?

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Phillip Dyson

I've been considering a WHS box for my hope. Especially since one of my hard drives failed on my SageTV HTPC this weekend. I lost 300GB of recordings.

Oh no! That sucks - I'm sorry to hear that Philip.

Originally Posted by Phillip Dyson

I found this article about the data corruption bug. It seems like the issue was identified and solved by the WHS team. Is that your understanding?

The data corruption issue really only effects a specific type of user scenario: someone who is doing live editing of a file off the server and while the file is open the balancer kicks in and tries to make a duplicate copy of that file across the array. There are no bugs with data loss when you're simply storing files and reading files off the server.

[Phillip Dyson]

Thanks for the simpathy Jason, although I've known that I was in the wrong for a long time. As I'm sure most of us can confess to. Its not until we're bit that we really move to have sufficient backup.

It sounds like I may be okay to move forward with WHS. I have seen a few boxes that are reasonably priced. Of course I may be in a vulnerable mind state right now.