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Microsoft struggles to fix data corruption bug in Windows Home Server

By Michael Hatamoto, BetaNews

February 27, 2008, 3:55 PM

Microsoft still has not issued a fix for a problem within Windows Home Server that will leave some files corrupted if edited on a networked PC and saved to the home server.

The problem was initially discovered on December 21, and can occur when users edit a file, document or image already stored on Windows Home Server. The company updated its list of affected applications last week.

"Microsoft is working diligently to address the data corruption issue with Windows Home Server," a spokesperson told BetaNews today. "Under specific circumstance, when customers use programs to directly edit files stored in Shared Folders on Windows Home Server, the files may become corrupted. Windows Home Server's Home Computer Backup capabilities, PC Health Monitoring, and Remote Access functionality are not impacted."

If a user has a Windows Home Server system with a single drive, there is no chance of corruption, as the problem occurs only when a server has more than one drive, according to Microsoft.

The original list of programs that put saved information at risk was based on seven Microsoft products, but has ballooned to more than 20 applications, as Microsoft tries to reproduce the errors.

Furthermore, it's possible even more programs could cause corruption, Microsoft acknowledged. Apple iTunes, Winamp, Windows Media Player 11, Mozilla Thunderbird, Zune Software, Office Excel and several other programs have been added to the list of programs that customers have reported also are problematic.

While Microsoft works on a fix for the problem, which "is of the highest priority for the team," the delay has been caused due to the high level of difficulty for the company in replicating all the bugs.

Microsoft urges all Windows Home Server users to back up important data before attempting to store files on the system, which is surely not what potential buyers want to hear.

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By guppywon

edited Mar 8, 2008 - 10:36 AM

My home fileserver died (XP-based) which worked great, had a great backup strategy, etc. I thought, hey... why spend the money rebuilding the thing, when I could just get a 1TB HP WHS.

Fast forward 24 hours. I've loaded all my files onto the WHS and start using quicken. About an hour into it, Quicken starts giving me corruption errors.... crap. 8 years of financials in danger.

First search on Google pulls up the corruption issue. Fast forward 24 hours, I have rebuilt my file server and am debating whether or not to wait for a patch or just return the thing and try again in a year.

Overall happy with the device... except for the fact you can't use it as a fileserver... doh!

Score: 0

By ConceptJunkie

edited Feb 29, 2008 - 7:51 AM

No wonder Vista is so bad, they still haven't gotten basic file sharing functionality down yet.

I predicted it prematurely in 1999 but Windows 2000 turned out quite good. However Microsoft has hit quality free-fall. While I use XP and generally like it, I would under no circumstances rely on Microsoft these days if I had a business to run. My home file servers run Linux, and I know I can depend on them.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 29, 2008 - 11:09 AM

No wonder Vista is so bad, they still haven't gotten basic file sharing functionality down yet

Nice. You have *no idea* what you are talking about. WHS and Vista are not even close to being related. The storage methods used in WHS are completely different than anything MSFT has done before.

Score: 0

By Fidelio

posted Feb 29, 2008 - 10:26 AM

Maybe you should document yourself about how this works before expressing an opinion.

Do you know how exactly Windows Home Server works at the storage level? Based in your statement, it doesn't seem so.

Score: 0

By yourcat

posted Feb 28, 2008 - 10:48 PM

This is why I don't use M$.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 29, 2008 - 9:36 AM

Do you have any idea how naive that sounds?

Do you honestly think Linux or Apple never has issues with data corruption?

Score: 0

By Fidelio

posted Feb 29, 2008 - 10:27 AM

Mac OS X Leopard? that comes to my mind when talking about data corruption.

Score: 0

By Tenoq

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 6:00 PM

I haven't seen the bug yet, but I do use Winamp to access my WHS shares. I haven't edited a lot of data, but I've changed a few MP3 tags. No issues as yet, and I have (from memory) 7 drives in the box.

Actually I've been thoroughly impressed with WHS. It's probably one of the only MS products that has really met or exceeded my expectations. My only real gripe with it is the 'Balancing Storage' issue that kills file-copy speed sometimes.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 28, 2008 - 9:57 AM

My only real gripe with it is the 'Balancing Storage' issue that kills file-copy speed sometimes.

I despise that.

My WHS only has 3 drives in it ATM, but it still kills the speeds when it's balancing.

...almost to the point I want another system to back it up so I can turn off duplication.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 4:49 PM

Apple iTunes, Winamp, Windows Media Player 11, Mozilla Thunderbird, Zune Software, Office Excel

....Why would anyone install these apps on a server???

*shakes head*

Score: 0

By Tenoq

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 5:55 PM

They didn't... they were using them on client machines to edit files on the server.

*facepalm*

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 28, 2008 - 9:56 AM

Yeah.

Got that.

Thanks.

*eats cookie*

Score: 0

By preinterpost

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 5:17 PM

Alright dude, you bore me. How about reading the KB? "When you use certain programs to edit files on a home computer that uses Windows Home Server, the files may become corrupted when you save them to the home server."

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 5:37 PM

Heh...

So...

Okay.

Skimming the article because you've seen reference to a very similar issue without verifying it's actually the same issue FTW!

Okay, maybe not FTW...but I'm going to go have a cookie anyway.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 4:38 PM

Heh... There was actually an addendum or warning that came with WHS that alluded to this if I recall correctly.

Basically, you were warned to use the Shared Folders for all file editing, copying, moving, etc...and not to do any of that by manually accessing the server drives or folders, as it bypassed the duplication routines or some such, causing a great deal of problems.

Most folks will probably never encounter this error, but MSFT should definitely have disabled any other means of accessing the shared folders when doing so could cause such problems.

Crossing your fingers and hoping they don't do it just doesn't cut it.

Score: 0

By Tenoq

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 5:57 PM

You're thinking of logging into the WHS and editing the files in the standard file system. That is a different issue, and always will be an issue with WHS - it's by design. It's like pulling one drive out of a RAID array, editing files on it and then expecting it to go back into the array without breaking anything. :p

Score: 0

By preinterpost

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 5:17 PM

Maybe I am not reading this right but it seems they are saying it happens when you edit IN the shared folders: "This issue occurs if the following conditions are true:• You edit files that are located in a shared folder on the home server."

Score: 0

By pnicholls

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 6:03 PM

I can tell you from experience that I have hundreds of mp3's corrupted as a result of synchronizing the WHS with my desktop and/or laptop (using SyncToy) as a result of updating the meta data or even adding new files to the WHS share. I'm not a happy camper as I have had to stop the synnchronizing until they come up with a fix, or remove one of the two drives, which defeats the whole purpose of having WHS in the first place.

Score: 0

By dizzy_davidh

posted Feb 29, 2008 - 9:22 AM

Don't you mean 'I had hundreds of mp3s...'

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

edited Feb 27, 2008 - 5:35 PM

Under specific circumstance, when customers use programs to directly edit files stored in Shared Folders

I was confusing one issue with another, this line is why. :)

Score: 0

By preinterpost

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 4:12 PM

"Microsoft urges all Windows Home Server users to back up important data before attempting to store files on the system, which is surely not what potential buyers want to hear."

Yes, this is a complete joke. The point of WHS IS backup.

Score: 0

By lvthunder

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 4:27 PM

That's part of WHS, but not the whole point. Just because you store your music there doesn't mean you have a backup of it. Now backups of your PC are stored on the server, but files on the server aren't backed up by anything by default.

Score: 0

By preinterpost

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 5:14 PM

Alright Mr tedious - you switch on replication and it's soft mirrored, which is the whole point. All the other features it offers so far you have included in other windows versions already.

Score: 0

By lvthunder

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 8:02 PM

Ok so it's soft mirrored. All that means is if one drive on the server goes down it has another copy. That in no means is a good enough backup.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 5:32 PM

Someone's never used it...

Central backup for all PCs on the network, ability to access the shared files from a specific, free, memorable internet accessible domain name, extensible functionality via plugins for a multitude of additional features....

Already included in other versions?

What brand of crack are you smoking?

Score: 0

By preinterpost

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 9:42 PM

You can put any Win with Terminal Services onto the net, dyndns it, switch the web server on and there you go. In any case - right now the central backup (including PCs and files) seems to be the most worthwhile service. I wished it was based on Server 2008, run a proper hypervisor and offer Terminal Services over HTTPS.

Well, whatever - give me some of those cookies.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 28, 2008 - 9:55 AM

You can put any Win with Terminal Services onto the net, dyndns it, switch the web server on and there you go

Hardly that "easy".

Especially for the non-technical.

Sorry. Doesn't cut it. WHS combines ease with home server functionality (Now with Data Corruption!).

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 27, 2008 - 4:35 PM

That's the purpose of the duplication. :)

...of course, now it's just duplicating corrupted data.

Score: 0

By Scooter

edited Mar 3, 2008 - 8:29 AM

If you turn off mirroring (I know that was one of the purposes for buying), will this eliminate the potential problem until a fix is pushed out. You could then turn mirroring back on.

Score: 0

By kinnear

edited Mar 4, 2008 - 6:40 PM

Scooter - all,

I have been thinking about getting WHS and my main concern is this corruption. Am I to believe that if you turn of mirroring (duplication) then this problem goes away completely between multiple harddrives. As am considering trying to use it mainly as a central server for editing and transfering data between two or more machines. I know there are other soltions out there but for an idiot proof - fully featured small but large storage solution for the price it is very tempting option.

in conclusion can this be achieved and bypass the data corruption until a fix is provided as editing is a necessity for me and backup can take a back seat for now.

Score: 0

By Thumper

edited Mar 4, 2008 - 9:24 PM

I believe the answer is no.

You have to have only one drive in the box while editing on the WHS to forgo corruption.

I have been considering the Drobo with the NAS option because I need more temporary space than 1 terabyte (the temporary limit to WHS b4 the fix if you need to edit)

If you prove me wrong, please post. I would love you hear if someone has tried that.

Score: 0

By Thumper

posted Mar 4, 2008 - 9:27 PM

the other option is to get the WHS and leave the files on the PC's and let WHS do backups (which are not effected by the corruption). When the fix comes out by MS, you can move your files to the WHS.

Score: 0

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