![replacing drive windows 2011 home server replacing drive windows 2011 home server](https://i0.wp.com/moviesgamesandtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/other20090531112802.png)
I was still backing up the computers nightly using the Windows Home Server Connector software however, with the introduction of the ability to easily reset/refresh Windows 8/8.1, I found I rarely needed to perform bare metal restores of the client systems. With these great options for keeping files/email in sync and effectively backed up at all times my WHS was used primarily as a place to store backed up software, archived images and serve up my music archive. No more moving around local Outlook PST files to keep mail up to date thankfully. We have also been using hosted exchange email accounts for that same period of time which means our email is also synched to whatever device we are using. Not only is that a mirror of what we have locally but it also allows easy access to those files on all of our devices (Windows 8.1 Desktops, Surfaces and Windows Phones). It has now been a couple of years that we have been synching our personal documents directories on each computer with OneDrive. When WHS hit the market having this type of backup capability and a place to store and share files on your local network made a lot of sense because we did not have the cloud synching capabilities like we do with OneDrive. Unfortunately, WHS 2011 is the end of the road for this consumer focused server setup that allows you to store and serve up files on your local network plus backup all your computers automatically. I have been running a Windows Home Server 2011 machine in my home office since it came out and prior to that I had Windows Home Server V1. This weekend I finally got around to a task I was avoiding for quite some time.