Featured Forum Post: WHS2011 Backup

Recent-joined forum member ITBeast recently posted up two must-read forum posts dealing with backup solutions in WHS2011.  Read on for details!

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Here is the first post that talks about what happens when your backup drive gets full:

http://forums.connecteddigitalworld.com/topic/300-what-happens-when-backup-drive-gets-full/page__pid__1351#entry1351

He also did a really good post on an alternative way to back up your WHS2011 server here:

http://forums.connecteddigitalworld.com/topic/473-alternatives-to-built-in-whs-2011-server-backup/page__pid__1350#entry1350

If you haven’t read these, take a look and comment on them.

ITBeast, welcome to the forums here at UsingWindowsHomeSever.Com and keep on posting!

On a related note, we recently crossed the 1,000 forums members count.  That’s up from about 600 before the forums board was re-launched.  Thanks to all who have joined up, and thanks to all who are posting!

What Happens When Your Backup Drive Gets Full? Alternatives to Server Backup

The Digital Lifestyle Show #312 – My Movies Special

This weeks Digital Lifestyle Show has just been released – its show 312, and it’s a My Movies special.

DLS Show

Here’s what Ian says about this week show:

We have a special show for you this week, Brian Binnerup and Rasmus Johansen from My Movies join Andrew and I to talk about their great My Movies product. My Movies started out as a Windows Media Center addin and has developed into a range of applications for Media Center, Windows Home Server, iPad and Android. We will be talking about the new v4 releases and putting all the question sent in to the guys, we had some great feature suggestions sent in and Brian and Rasmus did there best to answer them all.

As usual you can download and listen to the show here

Lenovo Announce Android 3.1 Based ThinkPad Tablet for the Business

Rounding off the new Lenovo product announcements, Lenovo are also launching an Android 3.1 based ThinkPad tablet aimed at the business.

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This all-business tablet has all the security, access and power you demand. Get more done when you combine those dynamic features with Android and its robust world of apps.

  • Android 3.1 installed, a premiere business-optimized mobile platform
  • Data encryption, corporate email and security features for safe communication inside and outside your network
  • Digitizer pen for comfortable note taking
  • HD display and HDMI output for crisp and defined presentations on large monitors
  • Integrated cloud sharing and storage to easily move large files between team members and offices
  • Preloaded productivity apps, including Documents to Go and PrinterShare
  • Full Flash support for online media

The ThinkPad Tablet combines the superior media and entertainment experience of the IdeaPad Tablet K1 with the security, reliability and manageability features ThinkPad is known for, to create the first true business-class tablet. Designed as a companion computing device for professionals on the go, the ThinkPad Tablet includes an optional digitizer pen, a full-size USB port, full-size SD card slot, and mini-HDMI for connecting to external projectors and displays, as well as an optional ThinkPad quality Keyboard Folio Case with optical TrackPoint*.

Data remains safe on the ThinkPad Tablet with layered data security, and the device is easily supported by IT managers thanks to a suite of business partner solutions that include anti-theft software and the ability to disable the tablet if the device is lost or stolen with Computrace*. Additional security features include virtual desktop support support with Citrix Receiver*, simple zero-touch deployment with LanDesk* and secure email support available from Good Technology*.

Offering a 10.1” WXGA (1280×800) display weighing a mere 1.65 lbs, the ThinkPad Tablet also comes with an IPS display for a 178-degree viewing angle and scratch-resistant Corning* Gorilla* Glass. This business-class device keeps professionals connected, productive and entertained while they’re away from the office and their home.

Get more on the go: When work happens on the go, ThinkPad Tablet allows users to view and edit Microsoft Office documents with the preloaded Documents to Go app by DataViz. Or they can jot down notes that automatically convert to handwritten text with the optional ThinkPad Tablet Pen. When even more versatility is required, users can plug in the Keyboard Folio for fast, comfortable and accurate typing and mouse control.

Get better connected: With WiFi connectivity, 2GB of free cloud storage, a standard size USB port and SD Card Reader, and Lenovo’s unique file copy utility, sharing media files and documents with other people and electronic devices is easy. Presentations may look even better when connecting to an external monitor via the built-in mini-HDMI port. Users can conveniently sync key files and folders with their tablet every time they plug into their Windows 7 PC. With apps like ooVoo*, dual cameras allow users to show either themselves or what they are looking at in a video conference. Users can keep in touch with friends and business contacts using Lenovo’s exclusive SocialTouch* app, which puts social networks, email, and calendar notices all in one easy-to-use interface.

Get down to business: ThinkPad Tablet can connect to a range of devices and networks without hands-on help from IT administrators. Users can utilize corporate network passwords to access their device and connect to corporate email with the specially certified app, Good for Enterprise*. IT managers can easily create access unique corporate preloads from the Lenovo Image Technology Center as well as share and distribute company purchased or developed apps to numerous devices through a custom, corporate-controlled app store. Most importantly, users will have the ability to protect confidential data with robust security features including SD card encryption, lost device disablement and anti-theft software.

Get solid protection: ThinkPad Tablet customers will have access to Lenovo’s full portfolio of enterprise-level services, such as ThinkPlus* Support, which provides business customers direct access to advanced technicians with tablet specific experience, and Tablet Protection, which gives business customers coverage for non-warranted damage from operational and structural damage due to drops, minor spills, electrical surges and other accidental damage incurred under normal operating conditions. In addition, Lenovo’s Imaging Services help save IT departments from having to do custom images for each machine, and ensures that even with flash images, the warranty is protected and the tablet is ready-to-go right out-of-the-box.

The 16GB ThinkPad Tablet is priced at $479 without the digitizer pen, and at $509 including the digitizer pen, for Wi-Fi models. The 32GB ThinkPad Tablet (Wi-Fi model) with digitizer pen is $589. There is also an optional keyboard portfolio carrying case available for $99. At a later date, shortly after launch, ThinkPad Tablets with 3G will become available. ThinkPad Tablet can be ordered in the U.S. starting August 2, 2011, online at www.lenovo.com/tablets, or through business partners nationwide. The product will be generally available in the U.S. in August 2011 and generally available worldwide during the third quarter 2011.

Learn more from the Lenovo website

Fractal Design Cases Now Available in the UK

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Fractal Design makes some very cool PC case, and now they are finally available to buy in the UK.

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We met with Fractal Design back at CES this year, and we also recently reviewed the Design Array R2 Mini-ITX case.

So this is great news!

Here is what Fractal Design have said:

Fractal Design Inc., a leading manufacturer of cases, power supplies, and cooling products for desktop computers, announces the highly anticipated availability of its products in the UK. EntaTech will be the UK distributor to offer Fractal Design’s award winning products.

The Define Series family of cases delivers unparalleled value to the UK market in the premium, Silent Case Category.  Designed in Sweden, these cases offer a striking minimalistic, yet elegant style, while providing premium features and build quality rarely seen at these price points.

The minimalist styling, innovative design, and the patent pending ModuVent TM System, make these cases extremely versatile, while the unique design and noise dampening materials dramatically reduce noise to levels not typically seen in this price category.

Because of this rich and unique combination of features, Define Series cases can be used in applications ranging from gaming and enthusiast systems, to silent home theater and corporate applications.

Fractal Designs Graham Dark commented “Our products have been well accepted in the market both by the media and more important by the end user. This has been achieved with what has been a limited but successful product portfolio. We are pleased to announce that we will expand this portfolio over the coming months and very much look forward to working with the team at EntaTech”.

EntaTechs Jon Atherton commented “We are extremely pleased to announce Fractal Design as the latest addition to our portfolio. They supply high quality products at a great price point which enables us to offer some fantastic margin opportunities to our resellers”More information about Fractal Design products is available at Fractal Design.

About Fractal Design
Fractal Design, based in Gothenburg, Sweden is one of the leading manufacturers of PC cases, power supplies and cooling products in Europe. The company was founded in 2007 by a team of Swedish engineers who have carefully listened to the needs of customers. The company’s PC cases have won multiple awards and are renowned for combining high quality workmanship with striking design features, superior performance and excellent value.

About EntaTech

Enta Technologies Ltd is a leading UK IT Distributor of components, networking, peripherals, retail, security, software and systems who provide a wide range of choice, quality and service to its customers.  With over 20 years experience within the IT industry and an award winning sales team you can be sure EntaTech have a detailed understanding of your requirements

Lenovo Announce IdeaPad Tablet K1 Running Android 3.1

Lenovo have just announced a new Android 3.1 based tablet called the IdeaPad Tablet K1.

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The ultimate entertainment tablet—loaded with great apps and optimized for enjoying movies, music, social networking and the Web.

  • Android 3.1 installed, a rich interactive platform optimized specifically for tablet devices
  • Full Flash® support so you can fully enjoy your favourite online sites
  • HD display and HDMI output for vibrant resolution on your tablet or on a monitor
  • More than 30 apps preloaded, plus access to Lenovo’s App Shop
  • Front and rear cameras for better two-way video chats
  • Integrated cloud storage to save and share your files across multiple devices

IdeaPad Tablet K1: Open the Box and Play

Weighing just 1.63 lbs, the highly mobile IdeaPad Tablet K1 offers integrated Bluetooth* and 802.11 Wi-Fi connectivity. The IdeaPad Tablet K1 offers several key features and tools as standard, for flexibility, power and security to enjoy digital content anywhere. Simply put, the Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1 helps users who want:

More out of the box: The Android-powered Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1 is preloaded with more than 40 apps from partners like Netflix, Amazon, Adobe, Electronic Arts, Rovio, Zinio, Dataviz, and others (over $50 in value), including favourites like Need for Speed Shift, Angry Birds, Kindle reading app and Documents to Go.

More entertainment: Users can browse all websites and watch online videos with ease thanks to Adobe Flash Player 10.3. Plus, with DRM, they can rent movies in every available format. At a later date shortly after launch, users will also be able to both rent or buy movies to play off-line with a new application Lenovo will pre-load.

More social networking: Users can access an entire network of friends and social sites all in one place, with Lenovo’s exclusive SocialTouch app, which effectively creates a one-stop social connection. And since one picture is still worth a thousand words, the Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1 comes with a two-megapixel front-facing and a five-megapixel rear-facing webcam.

More true HD: Users can watch movies and videos in breathtaking HD on a 1280 X 800 resolution screen. The mini HDMI connection allows up to 1080p HD viewing when connected to an HDTV or monitor, resulting in a powerful visual experience.

More cloud sharing: Users can sync, store and share files, music and photos with more integrated cloud storage, and less reliance on their local storage.

More Apps: Users can access hundreds of thousands of apps in Android Market and apps tested exclusively for premium function on the IdeaPad Tablet K1 in the Lenovo App Shop.

The 32GB model IdeaPad Tablet K1 is priced at $499, and can be ordered in the U.S. starting July 20, 2011, through select business partners and retail stores nationwide, or online at www.lenovo.com/tablets.

The product will be generally available in the U.S. in August 2011 and generally available worldwide during the third quarter 2011.

Learn more from the Lenovo website

Lenovo Announce IdeaPad Tablet P1 Running Windows 7

Lenovo have announced a new Windows 7 tablet called the IdeaPad Tablet P1.

Lenovo’s 10.1” IdeaPad Tablet P1 with Microsoft Windows 7 features a 1.5GHz Intel processor so users can be more productive with Office* documents, or get creative with photos while on the move.

The IdeaPad Tablet P1 boasts a multitouch touchscreen display and optional stylus pen for added flexibility, easy access to Web content thanks to full Adobe Flash Player support and HD playback, and Microsoft Security Essentials for an extra layer of security. At just 14.5mm thin and weighing less than 2lbs, the IdeaPad Tablet P1 with Windows 7 offers portability, power and versatility for the office, in the home and on-the-go.

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The flexible tablet features the power of Windows 7 with the performance of Intel Inside.

  • Digitizer pen input for increased productivity
  • Full Flash support so you can fully enjoy the internet
  • USB and microSD card reader for file syncing and external device integration
  • Integrated front-mounted webcam for Web chats
  • Instantly switch from business to entertainment applications with Lenovo App Manager

The IdeaPad Tablet P1 will be available in the fourth quarter 2011 – no pricing has been announced as yet.

Apple to Release OS X Lion on USB in August

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Lion was released yesterday and lots of people started the process of downloading the software from the App Store. But what if you don’t want to download it or you cant?

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Apple have previously said that Lion will only be available as a download, but it is a big download, and for some people downloading nearly 4GB of software just isn’t possible.

So Apple have said in August they will release Lion on a USB drive so that you don’t have to download it.

However, they are planning on charging $69 for the USB drive, compared to the $29 for the download – personally I see this as a major rip off – how can they justify $40 for a 4GB USB drive?

Have you upgraded to Lion yet? What do you think?

Sonos Warning for Mac Lion Users

If you have a Sonos system and your music library is stored on your Mac, don’t upgrade to Lion at this time.

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This is what Sonos are saying:

Dear Valued Sonos Customer,

The new Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) release is not compatible with your current Sonos system if your Music Library is stored on your Mac. This includes the recently released v3.5 for Sonos.
We will have a software update to your Sonos Controller for Mac very soon that will be compatible with OS X 10.7 (Lion). We recommend that you do not upgrade to OS X 10.7 (Lion) and remain with your current release of OS X if at all possible in order to maintain compatibility with your Sonos.

If you have any questions please contact our Technical Support team at:
www.sonos.com/support/contact

We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause.

Sincerely,
The Sonos Customer Service Team

Battery Life and Fan Noise After Lion Update – Don’t Panic

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As soon as the Lion update was available this afternoon I downloaded and installed it. But then I noticed that the fan was constantly on and the battery life dropped considerably!

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After doing some digging, I found out that this is because Spotlight re-indexes everything and then rebuilds it’s system caches once the upgrade has completed, and this can take a little while to happen.

A few hours in and the fan has stopped spinning and my battery life is back to normal.

I thought it was worth sharing this so that other people didn’t start thinking something was wrong!

Have you installed Lion yet? What do you think?

iTunes 10.4 Updated for Lion

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If you have just downloaded Lion, then you will notice there is already an update available in the guide of iTunes 10.4.

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What’s new in iTunes 10.4

iTunes 10.4 is now designed for OS X Lion.

You can now use iTunes with OS X Lion’s new Full-Screen App capability, which allows you to use iTunes and other apps without distractions. Navigate between your full-screen apps with a simple gesture.

Note: iTunes is now a 64-bit Cocoa application on OS X Lion and includes a number of important stability and performance improvements. Some iTunes plug-ins may no longer be compatible with this version of iTunes. Please contact the plug-in developer for an updated plug-in compatible with iTunes 10.4.

WD Launch 1TB Scorpio Blue Hard Drive for Laptops

Today Western Digital launched a 1TB Scorpio Blue hard drive aimed at laptop users.

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WD Scorpio Blue Features:

Low power consumption – Advanced power management features and algorithms optimise the way the drive seeks for data, which significantly improves power consumption.

Cool and quiet – In a notebook drive, silence is golden. WD’s exclusive WhisperDrive™ technology yields one of the quietest 2.5-inch hard drives on the market.

Reliable – WD’s SecurePark™ parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down, and when the drive is off. This ensures the recording head never touches the disk surface resulting in improved long term reliability due to less head wear, and improved non-operational shock tolerance.

Shock Tolerant – WD’s ShockGuard™ technology, now increased to a best-in-market 400Gs shock specification, protects the drive mechanics and platter surfaces from shocks.

Advanced Format (AF) – Technology being adopted by WD and other drive manufacturers to continue growing hard drive capacities. New drives featuring AF are optimised for operation with the following operating system software: Windows® 7, Windows Vista™ and Mac OS X Tiger®, Leopard®, Snow Leopard® (PVT models only).

Tested for compatibility – WD performs tests on hundreds of systems and a multitude of platforms in its FIT Lab™ and Mobile Compatibility Lab to give customers confidence that drives will work in specific systems.

Price and Availability

Shipping now through select distributors and resellers, the WD Scorpio Blue 1 TB (model WD10JPVT) hard drives are covered by a three-year limited warranty and have a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of £99.00. More information about the WD Scorpio Blue 1 TB 9.5 mm mobile hard drives may be found on the company’s website at: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=140.

Expect our hands-on review shortly.

Synology Release DiskStation Manager 3.2 Beta

Today Synology have released the beta for their latest DiskStation Manager software.

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The new NAS server OS has taken exciting steps in elevating:

Management efficiency with centralized directory service, system-logs, CIFS share folders, and ISO images to mount as virtual drive

Business’ mobility with web-based DSM mobile and Google Cloud Print™ support

Digital entertainment with new Photo Station 5 and enhanced Download Station

Mac compatibility by supporting the latest Mac® OS X Lion and running Surveillance Station with Safari® Browser

User experience with revamped Package Center, added HTML5 features, refreshed CSS3 style, and quick volume creation in Synology Hybrid RAID

Availability:
The Synology DSM 3.2 beta is free to download for users who own a DiskStation x08 series and onward.

Supported models are:
DS3611xs, RS3411xs, RS3411RPxs, DS2411+, RS2211+, RS2211RP+, DS1511+, RS411, DS411+II, DS411+, DS411j, DS411slim, DS211+, DS211, DS211j, DS111, DS1010+, RS810+, RS810RP+, DS410, DS410j, DS710+, DS210+, DS210j, DS110+, DS110j, DS509+, RS409+, RS409RP+, RS409, DS409+, DS409, DS209+II, DS209+, DS209, DS209j, DS109+, DS109, DS109j, DS409slim, RS408, RS408-RP, DS508, DS408, DS108j

Learn more and join the beta here

Apple Release Worlds First Thunderbolt Display

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As if they didn’t have enough to announce today, Apple have got the Worlds first Thunderbolt Display, and at 27” it is a thing of beauty.

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With built-in Thunderbolt technology — the fastest, most flexible I/O ever — the new Apple Thunderbolt Display can do things other displays simply can’t. Of course, it delivers a brilliant viewing experience. But connect it to any Thunderbolt-enabled Mac and it becomes a plug-and-play hub for everything you do. Features include a high-resolution, 2560×1440 LED-backlit display, a FaceTime HD camera, high-quality audio, three USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 800 port, a Gigabit Ethernet port and a Thunderbolt port for daisy-chaining additional high-performance devices.

The cost of this beauty is £899.99, and the Apple website is showing the delivery in 6-8 weeks time.

Learn more from the Apple website

Apple Also Launch New MacBook Airs

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It’s a big day for Apple – Lion is out, there is a new Mini and also they have released updated MacBook Airs.

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The biggest changes from the last MacBook model are the inclusion of a Thunderbolt port, and the use of the Intel Core i5 processors.

Are you going to buy one? I already have the previous model MacBook Air and I went for the upgraded processor, ram and SSD, so the only real advantage for me would be the new processors, but to be honest I don’t really do anything that processor intensive so for now I will probably stick with what I have. Probably……

Learn more from the Apple website

The specs for the two models are below:

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