The idea behind Windows Home Server products is that, unlike normal computers, they sit on a home network and allow people to make backups more easily and to share digital photos and music.

The main problem is that network hard disks, which can do much the same thing, are a lot cheaper and consume half the power of most home servers. It's true that Windows Home Server makes the whole thing much easier – the controls are easier to use, for a start – but is that worth the extra cost?

Although the Scaleo 1900 is bulky and quite ugly, two feet allow it to stand vertically as well as horizontally, and it can accommodate four hard disks (two 500GB ones are supplied). It's quite loud when it starts but whisper quiet when in use.

There's a monitoring program supplied, showing how hot it's getting, as well as a media streamer that allows you to easily pick up internet radio on other computers in the house. Finally, a power-management program allows the Scaleo 1900 to hibernate on a schedule – useful for when you'll be out of the house. That reduces power usage to only five watts and cuts the fans, but it's not very easy to use, and ignored all times that weren't in even five-minute intervals (it ignored our alert set for 14:59, for instance).

It has plenty of sockets and ports for adding devices, and it's very fast – one of the fastest home servers we've seen – with excellent performance across the network. This is certainly one of the best home servers. If your home network is growing and you need to keep regular backups as well as sharing files across the house, the Scaleo 1900 is an excellent choice. For those who are comfortable with setting up their own systems, though, a network hard disk might be better.

Vista compatibility: Yes