So I’ve had my trusty Fuji F30 for quite a while now but what replacement should I get and more to the point do I really need to  replace it?

The reason that I was so attracted to the F30 when it was launched was its stunning low light ability, at the time people were comparing it to SLR’s. It was never as good as the SLR’s lets be honest but it was way better than just about any compact camera that was on sale.

So this time around I think that a good sensor and thus great low light ability has to be top of the list, I’d like a longer reaching and wider lens greedy I know and potentially some nice HD video.

The contenders

• Panasonic LX3
• Canon S90
• Canon G11
• Sony DSC-HX5V

Well firstly I think I will clarify some of my requirements, I don’t want it to be too big, I’ve got an SLR to take full on shots, if I want to take those that will be with me, so it needs to be able to fit in my jeans pocket.

First to GO

That has to be the G11 then, its a great camera that ticks just about all the boxes but its just to big for what I want. I hear that the G11 is going to be the last in the G series range and it will be re-launched as an all new model with a complete re-design. I personally don’t think it needs to be as big and clunky as it is, many other cameras can do the same for much less size admittedly without so much control but maybe they have something new up their sleeve on that front.

Seconds out

Next to go is the Panasonic LX3, I don’t know why but its never really floated my boat. When I handled it I wasn’t too happy with the bulge on the front to contain the lens or the need to have a lens cap, I mean why surely a little shutter wouldn’t have been that hard would it.

Secondly the camera fixed the lens’s distortion for you which isn’t bad I guess I mean who needs a photo showing lots of barrel distortion, but then you aren’t getting the full shot for it to do this. So if you do shoot really wide and it does go fairly wide but it doesn’t go very long. The lens is nice and quick though at F2 when wide open, but ultimately this isn’t the camera for me, plus it must be due and update soon surely.

So its down to the Sony HX5 or the Canon S90

This is going to be tough, both of these cameras have their pro’s and cons.

Canon                                Sony

Lens         28-105 F2-4.9           ¦       25-250 f3.5-5.9

Sensor    1/1.7″ Type CCD        ¦       1 / 2.4 inch “Exmor R” CMOS sensor
10 Mpix                                10.2 Mpix

Screen    3.0″ 460k                      ¦       3.0″ 230k

Video      640 x 480 @ 30fps  ¦       1920 x 1080 50i AVCHD format

So the specs so far aren’t that much different, the Sony sensor is smaller but it is back lit so the photo sites are a similar size or possibly larger. The Lens is a different matter, do you want the long 250 or the super fast f/2 or the Canon, its a tough choice to say the least.

The Sony also has some pretty funky modes, like an auto panoramic mode, sweep the camera across the horizon and hey presto a panoramic shot. It also has a clever low light function that quickly takes 6 shots, merges them together and creates stunning hand held low light shots, or at least so some of the forums are saying for the existing model.

However when it comes to control the Canon probably has the nod, if you know what you are doing with a camera then you want to be able to control things and this is something the Canon does very well. From the unique wheel on the front of the camera to modes to control aperture and shutter priority it really excels at allowing full control over what you are shooting. But it appears that the old Sony doesn’t seem to have much control at all, fingers crossed they have realised this isn’t what people want form a top of the range camera and adds some more.

The Sony also has a GPS sensor, no I don’t know why more cameras don’t have it either especially SLRs but hey ho it seems camera manufactures can be a bit slow.

So which one would I go for?

Well that is a tough one, compact cameras are a funny thing. The Canon has a good sensor and a good lens, it is f/2 after all but then it is meant to have lots of distortion and it doesn’t really go that long. And what is that video mode about, 640×480 I had on a 3 year old mobile phone let along a top of the range compact camera. The extra potential adjustment and one thing I haven’t mention yet the ability to capture RAW is a big bonus.

The Sony does however have the newest feature set and do I really want to use a compact camera to shoot RAW or just get it out to take quick family shots, Mmmm this is a tough one indeed. The video mode will embarrass some Camcorders so that gets it a big vote and some of the clever features would be useful.

I’ve already seen some comparison high ISO shots of the same test scene and the Sony took the nod surprisingly but it was quite close. I think its a draw at the moment and I will see what the results of some of the reviews are and see a few more shots. I’d be interested to see if the control issues have been resolved and how sharp the lens is.

Either way both of these cameras are great, if only one could be created that merged best parts of both I’d be very happy indeed.

UPDATE

Well only a day after I’ve posted I might have found the camera and its not one of those already mentioned. Its the all new just announced Samsung TL350 or WB2000 depending on the market. So what makes this the potential choice I hear you asked.

Well its got a nice big 10Mpix 1/1.7″ sensor, a fairly quick f/2.8 Schnider lens at a super wide 24mm and it also goes all the way to 120mm at full zoom, so far so good. As for movie mode, well what can I say its got HD video at 30fps and even a very low resolution 1000fps slow motion function, a bit pointless but the HD video certainly isn’t.

Its also got a nice AMOLED screen with 640,000 pixels, so nice and high res. Its got a few other nice features like a panoramic mode and you can also take 10mpix images in the middle of taking a video, things are looking good.

But I’ve left the best bit till last, it can take photos in RAW and, it has fully manual controls hallelujah, why others don’t on a top end camera is a mystery to me. On and look at the power and memory meters, a nice little analogue dial, nice and retro.

So this could be it, will have to see what the image quality is like first and then make a final decision.

Well its been rumoured for a good while but Canon have eventually updated the long standing 70-200 f/2.8 IS. So what’s change?, well not a lot really. They have added some extra UD glass and updated the optics which is the main thing. They have also added the new 4 stop IS system replacing the old 2 stop that was originally fitted.

In terms of weight and size there is very little difference, the new lens is only 20 grams lighter which is welcome but hardly revolutionary for 9 years worth of lens advancement. Its got updated controls with a wider focusing ring and better weather sealing to bring it up to the latest standards as well.

But the frankly shocking thing is the price, in the UK its MRRP is £2700, compared to the current retail price of about £1400 (way up from last year but that’s currency fluctuations for you)  the new lens is almost double the current lens. Personally I think unless it comes down a lot when it hits the retail stores I think Canon are getting a little greedy on the profits front and they need to wake up and smell the coffee. Canon have lost a 15% advantage in market share over the last 3 years if this carries on updated lenses or not they aren’t going to keep and lead at this rate.

Full Press release and Detailed specification below

5th January 2010 – Canon today adds to its acclaimed L-series with the launch of the new EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM telephoto zoom lens. The lens launches as the successor to the immensely popular EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM, offering improved performance in every area.

True to the L-series’ heritage, the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM delivers optical excellence in the most challenging situations. As well as a revamp of the internal optical system, the lens has also been structurally re-developed as a direct result of user feedback, making it as robust and reliable as it is optically advanced.

“Reuters’ photographers have used the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM for a number of years and it allows photographers a great level of flexibility,” said Reuters Production Editor Kevin Coombs. “The focal length, fast aperture and Image Stabilizer all contribute to it being a workhorse lens and you’ll find it in many professional photographers’ camera bags. I’m very much looking forward to seeing the improvements offered by the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM.”

Premium quality, premium performance

The EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM features a re-designed optical system, consisting of 23 elements in 19 groups to deliver truly impressive results. A high-performance fluorite element is used at the heart of the lens path, coupled with no fewer than five ultra-low dispersion (UD) elements, drastically reducing chromatic aberration throughout the zoom range to produce high contrast images with edge-to-edge definition.

A high-speed Auto Focus (AF) system perfectly matches the abilities of the recently-launched EOS-1D Mark IV and EOS 7D Digital SLR (DSLR) cameras. The new model also features a ring-type USM AF motor, which combines with a new high-speed CPU and an optimised AF algorithm to make auto focusing both faster and quieter.

A reduced minimum focusing distance of 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) and improved 0.21x magnification will allow photographers to get closer to subjects without needing to swap lenses – greatly benefitting time-pressured news and events photographers who require flexibility. An updated Image Stabilizer mechanism also offers a shutter speed advantage equivalent to four-stops, reducing the effect of image blur resulting from camera shake in busy shooting environments.

Enhanced design, exceptional ease of use

As well as an update to the internal construction, the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM features an enhanced external appearance to improve lens operation. The thickness of protruding exterior parts and switches has been significantly reduced, guarding against accidental switching and creating an improved overall look. The rubber focusing grip has also been redesigned and widened; with finely-patterned grooves making it easier to manually focus.

Being an L-series lens, the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM is fully weatherproof, making it ideal for use in all weather conditions. The mount, focus mode switch and focusing ring all feature a completely dust and drip-proof structure, preventing dust or water from getting inside the camera and lens when used with accompanying weatherproof EOS bodies. The lens has been designed to stand up to the daily wear and tear of professional usage, making it a highly durable, reliable lens for use day-to-day by professional photographers.

High quality L-series accessories

The EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM is supplied with several accessories, including the new ET-87 Lens Hood and the Ring-Type Tripod Collar B (W). A brand new Lens Case LZ1326 is also included as standard, offering quick and easy access when users need to switch lenses in time-pressured situations.

Compatibility with a range of optional Canon accessories also allows users to pair the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM with the Lens Extender EF 1.4x II, Lens Extender EF 2x II, Extension Tube EF 12 II, Extension Tube EF 25 II, and 77mm filters.

The SLR market never stands still with Nikon and Canon looking to get as much market share as possible. Canon recently surprised many with the launch of the 7D, a Crop sensor SLR but with many of the features and nearly the same level of Auto Focus as many of the pro models.

So this leaves the 5D Mark II in a tricky spot, yes it has a stunning Full Frame sensor and excellent dynamic range but many complain about its outer focusing points not being up to the job. Now this isn’t a view I hold having used one it seems to do a great job. However I can understand the frustration of those that want a FF sensor and more of the pro level features without needing to get a huge 1D body.

So what are Canon going to do? Well if rumours are to be believed they are going to launch a 3D specifically at the Wedding / semi-pro market in early 2010. Canon  Rumors have recently reported the following specs,

3D Specs:
16.7mp FF
7.2 µm pixel pitch
DIGIC V
Small magnesium alloy body similar to the 5D2

However there is still no news on the AF or any more of the features.  Fingers crossed they add all the features from the 7D onto a FF sensor, the reported 16mp is just about perfect as well. The only worrying thing is the price, it seems that they might pitch it way higher than the 5DII but this would be a mistake. Nikon is close on Canons heals and are about to release a D800 with an updated sensor to challenge the 5DII and it has the full Pro level focusing and remote flash triggers built in.

So come on Canon get it launch oh and with eye focusing please and for not too much money and I might be about to upgrade my 40D to something new.

Firstly I hope they do because its good to have camera shops dotted around the country, but will they survive?

Lets face it most of the stores are very tired and poor by modern retail standards, compare it to the look of the updated Currys Digital stores and you can see a vast difference. Step into the store in the Trafford centre for instance and its dark and poorly lit like they don’t want to replace broken light bulbs.

The lack of strength in the pound is also hurting the premium SLR sales and especially lenses. A canon 70-200f4 IS last year was £700, now its barely below £1000. Thats a big difference thats delaying many potential purchases, certainly from me anyway.

They still insist on charging a small fortune for memory cards but even then they are often very poorly stocked, so when you are in a hurray you are stuck, not great. The ordering system isn’t that slick either, the person in the shop said call us if you want to check stock as he has lost count of the number of times a customer has reserved an item for it not to be in when they arrive.

Fingers crossed the economy starts to free up and Jessops have a good summer and Christmas period, if they don’t sort out their funding problems then we might lose another store from out high street. But if they do survive, put some money into a refresh program hey.

When you had a little compact camera you might have had a little tiny tripod that you used on occasions but have never found anything strong enough when you got an SLR except for a full tripod. Well you can now as Joby has created a couple new Gorillapod models for your SLR.

Gorillapod SLR

The Gorillapd SLR is for use with a consumer SLR such as a Canon 350D to 500D (Rebel) or Nikon D60. Its capable of holding up a camera and lens combination of up to 800g. It has the ability to rotate the camera back to level if its attached to a lap post that you can’t do with the Gorillapod SLR. Its only 165g (5.8oz) itself, so not to heavy and should be able to find a home in a corner of your camera bag. But some have complained that it wilts for some SLRs and this is where the SLR Zoom comes in.

Gorillapod SLR Zoom

The Gorillapod SLR Zoom is a whole different kettle of fish for the SLR user compared to its younger smaller brother. The first thing to note is that its rated to a much higher weight 3000g (6.5lb) which should be enough for most SLR’s including professional models. Its main users are most likely to be Pro-sumer users like myself with a Canon 40D or 50D or a Nikon D90 or similar, essentially the magnesium bodied cameras. With that 3Kg weight limit it can also hold a pretty big lens such as a 70-200 F2.8 but probably not that much more.

In use its very easy to manipulate and does exactly what you would hope for, it provides a stable platform for your SLR camera to sit. In the picture below its fixed onto a garden heater, a task that took about 15 seconds and it didn’t slip a inch whilst it was attached. Here in the shot below its holding a Canon 40d and 17-85lens which is about 50% of the weight the Gorillapod SLR Zoom should be able to cope with.

Gorillapod SLR Zoom

The rubber around each articulating joint and the feet help secure it to any object and I’ve not had any issues with play causing it to sag. Of course you don’t have to use it with your Camera it can be used with a Camcorder or with a compact if thats what you want the screw head can also be used with Pro level kit as well.

It is very useful when doing some work with a Macro lens and you don’t have the space to setup a full tripod, it really does have a lot of uses and is very quick to set up.

Its not perfect though

For starters unlike the other models in the Gorillapod range it doesn’t have a ball joint a the end; so as you can see in the shot above it can’t rotate to be level, for this you are going to need a small head to allow it to rotate. I’ve used it with my Manfrotto 488 RC2 without problem although this does add to the weight that it has to cope with, but it does manage with the head taking the rotational strain.

Also when you use it you need to ensure that you tighten it up to the base well as if you don’t it will sag downwards if you haven’t meaning you have undo it from what ever it was attached, before retrying, not the end of the world but its best avoided.

Gorillapod Focus – New model

So not even the Gorillapod SLR Zoom is enough for you then, you need more? Well how about the Gorillapod Focus. Its rated to an even higher load of 5Kg and its not made out of plastic its constructed with Anodized gunmetal finished aluminium, I have a feeling this one isn’t going to sag much at all if ever. But its not exactly light either as its almost twice the weight of the SLR Zoom at 500g, thats as much as some of the entry level SLR’s. But its meant for the Pro that needs or wants a Gorillipod and is prepared to carry the extra weight and has that 300mm f2.8 we all want. But its more than three times the price than the SLR Zoom, I think the focus name points more to its Movie requirements than people with an SLR, thoughts anyone?

Gorillapod Focus

Conclusion  – 8/10 Gorillapod SLR Zoom

Overall these are a great little device and well worth adding into your kit back, its uses are endless and who wants to carry a big tripod around if they can avoid it hey. But as mentioned its not perfect either which is why I’ve not given it full marks. But it is strong enough and up to the job even after repeated use which is the main thing. I just need a lighter head to go with it and I’m away. The shot below was taken by attaching the camera to some railings whilst being moored off Kowloon looking onto Kong Kong island, see it works.

Now there is normally a divide between Canon and Nikon photographers I mean we all know Canon is best or is it Nikon, well at the moment that’s just not important. So what is ? the massive price increases on lenses. Now 5% isn’t nice, 10% uncomfortable but a 52% increase on a nice upgrade just plain hurts.

So last year I had my sights set on a nice new 70-200 F4 IS L Professional Canon lens, it could be had for about £650 in June 08 or there a bouts. Fast forwards to April 2009 and what do I find?, you guessed it a hefty price increase to a hardly believable £929 and that’s a  43% price increase on the price of the same lens last year.

Tips to get things cheaper

Needless to say I’m not going to buy at the moment and I’d say unless you really need some new glass I’d wait until things come back down if you can. This isn’t going to be a good time for retailers but maybe the margin’s are pushing the prices so high, maybe but I don’t think its that much of a factor. The biggest issue is the decisions UK plc or should I say Mr Brown is making that is killing the value of the pound and sending the prices of goods through the roof.

If you do need to get a lens then check out the link on the right to Camera price buster or use the links below to pick up some bargains from Amazon, I’ve put some great buys below. They sometimes have some great deals that the other camera shops struggle to match so check it regularly to get the best prices. Fingers crossed things improve.

Also have a look at e-bay as a few people are selling their existing kit whilst the prices are high but do check what you are getting. Also buying from Hong Kong can have its issues and you might still get stung on the high import duty and VAT killing any savings you think you might be getting.

If anyone see’s any recovery then post where it is to help us all.

We all like to keep up with current trends and as an amateur photographer I wanted to update my now ageing Fuji F30. Now when it was launched it had more plaudits that any other Compact Camera before or since really. It had a 6Mpix sensor and a fairly average lens at 36mm to 108mm (35mm equivalent) but that wasn’t the clever bit, it was its low light performance, that everyone was staggered at.

At the time in some forums people were talking it up to almost SLR levels of noise reduction. Now I’ve got a Canon 40D and it can’t come close , but as a second camera it does an incredible job when you consider the size and weight difference. But having joined Alamy up scaling 6meg images from a compact that takes pictures straight to JPEG is tough to say the least, even the very best 100iso images have small artefacts especially when they are scaled up to the resolution Alamy wants.

But Which New Camera To Get?

I had a quick look around and the list below got short-listed. Some are Enthusiast models that can even capture RAW others Premium more lifestyle models. What was I looking for? Minimum 10Mpix, Wide angle Lens 28/24mm, good screen, not too big (I’ve got an SLR for that) and last but maybe most important, excellent high ISO performance.

So to the list and a few reasons why the initial ones didn’t make it.

Canon G9/G10 – G9 didn’t go wide enough really but it is quite cheap at the moment, G10 went to 24mm but they are both too big and heavy and fairly expensive for the little extra benefit overall when you pixel peep. Have a look over to Ken Rockwell to see his comparison with the IXUS 870 / SD880.

Panasonic LX3 – A great little camera, zoom lens sticks out though so not as small as it seem and the lens cover could be a fair hassle for a quick P&S. But the lens is good (Big barrel distortion issues get fixed in software LR or Silkpix) 24mm is F2 and 60mm is F2.8 so a fast lens but not long at 60mm. But they are had to come buy and I wasn’t sold with the sticky out lens to go in a jeans pocket and its quite pricey but then it will also capture RAW. This is the current hit camera for 2008 and I can see why. But its a no from me.

Fuji F100fd – The spiritual successor to the F30d or at least in the same bloodline. Its not the best looking camera to say the least but it just about every other way it ticks all the boxes. High ISO performance is good but not great though. Plus at only £165 from Amazon a bargain really and a recent winner of dpreview.com Premium Cameras in the run up to Christmas. This is a Maybe

Canon IXUS 870 IS / SD880 – Now this could be the one. Its small, has a 28mm lens and its not too expensive (I’m married so budget is important ) Its got a good zoom lens an 10mpix sensor and good ISO performance. At approx £200 its not too expensive either and it looks great. It will also get the CHDK ad on at some point, this will enable extra features and even the ability to capture RAW files.

And the winner is…?

If I am going to get a camera at the moment it will be the Canon IXUS 870 IS, reviewing goodness knows how many reviews its the winner. Some even say why get a G10 when this does the same or better in many situations and with CHDK will be able to capture RAW.

BUT……… what about the F30?

Well I went back and look at some F30 reviews and got a shock. The noise on high ISO images for ALL of the cameras above is worse the higher they go. Sample them at 400iso and you can already see the difference. Have a look at the two images in the links below and see what you think. Yes one is 10mpix the Canon IXUS 870 the other 6m on the Fuji F30 but surely in the last 2 and a bit years it could be beaten even with a higher ISO. But it appears not, even shrinking the picture on some models and running it through Noise Ninja won’t get it as good as the Fuji original.

It begs the question if it wasn’t for the Mpix needed to get into Alamy is it actually better to stay with the F30, I’m still undecided.

Canon IXUS 870 IS IS400

Fuji F30 ISO400

So you need to carry your camera somewhere and your laptop so you need two bags right?, wrong. You need a Lowerpro fastpack 250 than can do both with ease. I wanted something that would allow me to carry my laptop and my camera gear in one bag and luckily for me Lowerpro had just launched the fastpack series. I went for the fastpack 250 as this is big enough for a laptop of up to 15″ screen size and I use a smaller more portable Dell XPS 1330 which has a 13″ screen, after a fair bit of research I found it cheapest at Amazon and ordered it straight away. As you can see from the pictures below the laptop fits in with ease and with plenty of room to spare. The back of the bag is also well padded to protect me and the equipment in the bag and it works well on both counts.

Lowepro Fastpack 250 Laptop opening and rear padding.

[singlepic id=16 w=240 h=180 float=] [singlepic id=18 w=240 h=180 float=]

But how much camera gear can it carry, well quite a bit I think considering its size. The images below show that there is plenty of space for several lenses, some filters and space for other bits and bobs. Its wide enough to carry a 40D with a 70-200 f4 or f2.8 L anything bigger and you will struggle to get it in. In the picture below there is a 40D with a 17-85 fitted, a Sigma 30mm f4, Canon 60mm Macro and a little Canon 50mm plastic fantastic, a few filters and space to spare. For me this is more than enough space to take some kit on holiday to take a few shots. Whilst on holiday I transfer some of my kit to one of my other bags such as the Crumpler Muffin Top 5500 that has enough space to carry some of the lenses and a few essentials.

Fastpack 250 Camera compartment

[singlepic id=12 w=240 h=180 float=]

In the top compartment you can store batteries, battery charger and more besides. I normally put a Nintendo DS in there and the power supply for the Laptop along with other bits and there is still room to add more see the image below to how big this areas is.

All in all I’m very impressed with this bag it more than meets my requirements to carry may laptop and a few lenses on holiday which is exactly what I wanted it for. It’s not a full on dedicated camera bag so if you have 5 or 6 smaller lenses and a 300mm f4 then this isn’t for you have a look at a Lowerpro Trekker AW. It would also be nice to have the ability to lock some of the zips up as you might be carrying some pretty expensive gear that you don’t want to go walkies but with all the flaps at the back you would have to be very good to get in undetected if you were wearing it on your back.

So I’m going to award it 9/10 losing a point on the slight security issue, but otherwise its highly recommended.

So a bag is a bag is it, erm no, especially when they have names like Muffin Top and Pretty Boy they aren’t. We all have our own preferences on what makes a good camera bag and lets face it if you are into photography you will have almost as many as your other half, come on you know its true.

So this is the latest addition to my collection, the Muffin Top 5500. Its larger than my first Crumpler bag by quite a margin but some how it doesn’t look or feel to big which is great. My first Crumpler was a Pretty Boy Large (3000) which was good to carry around just my SLR (40D) but not much more really.

Crumpler Muffin top 5500 and Pretty boy (L) side by side

This is a whole different story, I can now carry the Canon 40D (Which is a fair bit bigger than a 350/450D or Rebel) with the 17-85kit lens attached, a 30mm f1.4 Sigma and maybe 1 or 2 other lenses as you can see from the picture below. It looks like the tardis in comparison to the Pretty boy (L) that struggle to carry anything other than the body and the kit lens.

Its very well made with the same fabric as before and the expandable compartment at the front that you can fit a few memory cards in and other bits and bobs like some filters. I think you could even put something like a Canon 70-200 f/4 L standing vertically in the bag without too much trouble and still have room for another lens on top of the kit lens.

Crumpler Muffin top 5500 with 40D+2 Lenses inside

All in all if you want a bag to carry around a larger SLR like the 40D and a few lenses then this is all you will ever need. It doesn’t feel heavy with the padded shoulder strap and has plenty of room in it without it feeling big, it doesn’t feel much bigger than the Pretty Boy to be honest and an important point for me it doesn’t ‘look’ like a camera bag. This last bit alone made it a top choice for me, I don’t really want to look like a target walking around the streets of foreign countries if I don’t have to and with this bag you don’t.

So for me I’d give it 10/10, a great bag at a very reasonable price.

So you have loads of photos and data on your PC that you can’t afford to lose and need a method to ensure that both your PC and your images are backup up correctly. But you also need to know that you have a copy of the data off-site.

Well here is a simple guide on how I do it and what you need

Firstly this guide is only useful for Windows PC’s on the whole sorry, I know plenty of people use mac’s but currently I don’t but I’m sure you might be able to use elements of this guide.

Windows Homeserver

What is it and why do you need it? Windows Home Server is a piece of software that Microsoft have created specifically for the home. It’s based on Windows 2003 Server edition but with many of the features simplified for the home.  It can be installed on most older PC’s, I’m running it on an old Dell P4 desktop with 1Gb of memory and that’s more than enough.

However if I was buying something dedicated to Home Server (WHS) I’d have a look at one of these Tranquil Homeserver . It costs about £430 and consumes less than 40w of energy ideal for something you are going to want have switched on all the time.

So now you have your Home Server, you have bought it off the shelf or installed it on something you have already got and you are ready to go.

Install WHS connector software on your PC – PC Backup

To get the next feature that you will need you have to install the WHS connector software, this can be found on an additional CD that you should have got or connect to your WHS and go to the Software share and you will find the Homeserver connect Software there. Install this on each PC in your house.

The WHS Connect software will do several things but the purpose of this guide the main thing is that its the conduate to backup each PC to your home server. Its extremely efficient at storing this data, if it backs up three Vista 32bit machines all with the same patch levels it will only hold one copy of the OS data and just reference it for each machine.

You can log onto the WHS via the connector and configure the backup’s to be done each day, week, month etc. and it will nag you if you miss the backup window by showing the server as ‘Critical’ its not but hey you got to love Microsoft sometimes.

Important – Don’t use WHS to Backup Photos / music

One point to note, I don’t use the WHS software to backup my images in fact I specifically exclude them from the process. Why? Well speed of the backup for one and control being the other. I use a syncing tool to backup all my images, music and data directly to the home server so it can be viewed by other clients. If you only let the WHS do the backup itself it sits in a special file on the WHS that none of the clients can get access to other than via WHS. Don’t forget using WHS Media Connect software which is DLNA compliant you will be able to view the photos or listen to music via a compatible media player if you sync to the WHS not use the WHS Connector to do the backup.

Syncing Photos, Music to your WHS

To transfer your images and music to the WHS I suggest using something like MS SyncToy V2 you can configure this to your hearts content. Get to sync from the PC to the WHS only or both directions or just detect changes on one end. You can also set up multiple transfers.

I configure my Photos on one sync and Music on another to the corresponding directory on the WHS, I set it off once a week or so when I have carried out any major changes. Then after the sync is complete all the other clients and see the new files and can use them if they need to, he presto you have a media server.

Off-Site backup of your data via Carbonite

So you have constructed and configured your Windows Home Server, added files to it by syncing them from a PC and now you need to take another copy just in case the worst happened, Hard disk failure, fire, theft you name it, do you really want to take lots of lovely photos or rip all your CD’s to lose the lot…… no I thought not.

So you need Carbonite or a similar service. I use carbonite for several reasons, it works on WHS, it allows for unlimited (within reason) backup space and its not expensive. At $49 a year or $89 for 2 and now $135 for 3 years its extremely competitive especially when you consider the storage you can use. Currently I have a none to small 140Gb of space used up and its still growing fast. The data transfer is quick and the restore’s I’ve tried also seem to be ok.

Carbonite WHS Issues

Its not perfect, with WHS there seems to be a small bug when you allow WHS to span data across multiple disks itself, for some reason WHS won’t back them up. Carbonite sees them as if they are on other drives and they stay in a wait state, its a shame but it can be solved. If you store the data on one disk or use RAID so the OS doesn’t know where it is all is fine, so its not a big thing but worth mentioning. You can also start and stop the backup if you need to and even tell it to work on a lower priority so it doesn’t swamp your connection.

If you want to backup video files you will also need to select them individually, a hassle but at least you can do it. I think they are trying to limit the space people will use but if you have a compact camera that makes videos you are going to have to make sure you go through each directory to ensure they are all being backed up.

Backup times for me have been fine but remember that a typical UK broadband upload limit is only 256k not the 6-8Mb (6-8000k) download you enjoy when surfing the net and downloading things. If you can go to one of the newer services from someone like Be Unlimited they offer a service that gives up to 1.5Mb upload speeds very useful when you are using an off-site backup service such as this.

Conclusion

So there you go, you have a triple resilient solution that will have your data living in three places. Your PC, the Home Server and off site. This should be more than good enough for just about anyone. The only other thing that I’d advise to make things very secure is take a backup yourself to another hard drive and take it off site yourself, give it to another family member. This would only be needed if there was an issue with Carbonite of some sort and as anything is possible I might as well mention it.

So you need a Windows Home server, a couple of PC clients, a media player, an internet connection, router, and last but by no means least some great photos or music or other data to take advantage of this easy peasy full backup solution.

Useful Links

We Got Served
Windows Home Server – We Got Served – Widgets

If anyone has any questions I’d be happy to answer them post away in the comments section.