ive got an Acer Aspire Easystore WHS and i'm loving it. it came with a 1tb hdd and i have recently added an additional 1tb hdd. when it asks you what you want to do with the extra drive...either use as a complete mirror of the first drive, or just add to the total storage....i chose to add to the total storage. i figured "well i can just enable duplication and be redundant there, so why would i dedicate an entire drive to just backup?".

so lately ive been ripping my entire dvd collection over to my whs for My Movies use. ive ripped quite a few but that got me to thinking about a backup. if i go out and buy another 1tb or 1.5tb hdd and add it to my storage....what option should i choose? if i choose to mirror the drive i have most of the movies on, does that mean i cant use the storage on the new hdd for anything else? or should i just add it to the storage pool and enable duplication on my movies folder?

help!!

ive got an Acer Aspire Easystore WHS and i'm loving it. it came with a 1tb hdd and i have recently added an additional 1tb hdd. when it asks you what you want to do with the extra drive...either use as a complete mirror of the first drive, or just add to the total storage....i chose to add to the total storage. i figured "well i can just enable duplication and be redundant there, so why would i dedicate an entire drive to just backup?".

so lately ive been ripping my entire dvd collection over to my whs for My Movies use. ive ripped quite a few but that got me to thinking about a backup. if i go out and buy another 1tb or 1.5tb hdd and add it to my storage....what option should i choose? if i choose to mirror the drive i have most of the movies on, does that mean i cant use the storage on the new hdd for anything else? or should i just add it to the storage pool and enable duplication on my movies folder?

help!!

If you add it to total storage and enable duplication, i wouldnt see a need for a full mirror.

ive got an Acer Aspire Easystore WHS and i'm loving it. it came with a 1tb hdd and i have recently added an additional 1tb hdd. when it asks you what you want to do with the extra drive...either use as a complete mirror of the first drive, or just add to the total storage....i chose to add to the total storage. i figured "well i can just enable duplication and be redundant there, so why would i dedicate an entire drive to just backup?".

so lately ive been ripping my entire dvd collection over to my whs for My Movies use. ive ripped quite a few but that got me to thinking about a backup. if i go out and buy another 1tb or 1.5tb hdd and add it to my storage....what option should i choose? if i choose to mirror the drive i have most of the movies on, does that mean i cant use the storage on the new hdd for anything else? or should i just add it to the storage pool and enable duplication on my movies folder?

help!!

Just add to the storage pool and enable duplication. I have 8 HDDs in my WHS (4 in my HP MediaSmart Server and 4 in a esata enclosure) with duplication set.

thanks guys...will do.

dbone - you have 4 in an esata enclosure? does that work out okay? i mean, i have 2 more drive bays that i could put hdd's in on my acer easystore, but after that i was wondering what i would do next.

thanks guys...will do.

dbone - you have 4 in an esata enclosure? does that work out okay? i mean, i have 2 more drive bays that i could put hdd's in on my acer easystore, but after that i was wondering what i would do next.

Yeah, I have the HP MEdiaSmart EX470 (the first gen). It comes with a USB port and an ESata port. The ESata port allows for port multiplication, so if you hook up an external 4 bay esata enclosure you now have an additional 4 bays to work with. The newer EX48x gen has a Esata port but it does not allow for port multiplication, so if you hook up an ESata 4 bay enclosure it will only see one drive. The Acer is the same way. You can either just use the USB port with an enclosure like this 8 Bay model (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111050) or 4 bay model (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111047). I know many people who successfully use these enclosures via USB.

The other option would be to buy an esata card and get an esata enclosure. Here is actually an article discussing this (http://kamlau.com/software/sans-digital-towerraid-tr4m-b-and-acer-easystore-home-server/).

I would recommend you just go for the USB enclosure.

Yeah, I have the HP MEdiaSmart EX470 (the first gen). It comes with a USB port and an ESata port. The ESata port allows for port multiplication, so if you hook up an external 4 bay esata enclosure you now have an additional 4 bays to work with. The newer EX48x gen has a Esata port but it does not allow for port multiplication, so if you hook up an ESata 4 bay enclosure it will only see one drive. The Acer is the same way. You can either just use the USB port with an enclosure like this 8 Bay model (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111050) or 4 bay model (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111047). I know many people who successfully use these enclosures via USB.

The other option would be to buy an esata card and get an esata enclosure. Here is actually an article discussing this (http://kamlau.com/software/sans-digital-towerraid-tr4m-b-and-acer-easystore-home-server/).

I would recommend you just go for the USB enclosure.

thanks for the links and tips! just wondering though....will i notice a big cut in speed with the usb 2.0 versus the internal SATA drives i already have?

thanks for the links and tips! just wondering though....will i notice a big cut in speed with the usb 2.0 versus the internal SATA drives i already have?

In theory there should be some difference. but from people who actually used the USB enclosure they experienced zero issues (including streaming Blu Ray movies).

okay...now that brings me to my next question...

i have two 1tb drives in my whs right now. i have 2 open bays for additional drives. i have enabled duplication on some of my shares and it's working fine. if i were to buy say, two 2tb drives and enable duplication....what happens if one of those 2tb drives fail? i mean, i know its duplicated and stuff, but if the amount of data on the 2tb drive is more than the other drives....well i know this is not making sense right now, but do you see what im getting at? no? me either :confused:

i guess what im just wanting to know is if i get larger capacity drives on my other 2 bays and one of them fails, or both of them fail....will i still be okay? as in, data still intact?

okay...now that brings me to my next question...

i have two 1tb drives in my whs right now. i have 2 open bays for additional drives. i have enabled duplication on some of my shares and it's working fine. if i were to buy say, two 2tb drives and enable duplication....what happens if one of those 2tb drives fail? i mean, i know its duplicated and stuff, but if the amount of data on the 2tb drive is more than the other drives....well i know this is not making sense right now, but do you see what im getting at? no? me either :confused:

i guess what im just wanting to know is if i get larger capacity drives on my other 2 bays and one of them fails, or both of them fail....will i still be okay? as in, data still intact?

Don't worry, I completely understand what you are saying and am not 100% sure of the correct answer. I actually posted this question over on mediasmartserver.net as well since there is a large community of WHS users, so hopefully between AVSForum and there we should get some good feedback:

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5257&start=0

Don't worry, I completely understand what you are saying and am not 100% sure of the correct answer. I actually posted this question over on mediasmartserver.net as well since there is a large community of WHS users, so hopefully between AVSForum and there we should get some good feedback:

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5257&start=0

cool thanks man.

also i checked out your blog....good stuff :cool:

i just read the reply on the mediasmartserver.net post. makes sense. thanks for your help. :)

i just read the reply on the mediasmartserver.net post. makes sense. thanks for your help. :)

Glad I could help. That is what I thought the answer was but like I said I wasn't 100% sure so wanted confirmation. Good luck getting everything set up.

Glad I could help. That is what I thought the answer was but like I said I wasn't 100% sure so wanted confirmation. Good luck getting everything set up.

and since we're talking about hard drives....circuitcity.com is offering the following:

1. $20 cashback if you purchase over $200 with paypal
2. 15% cashback using Bing.com for circuitcity.com online purchases
3. free shipping
4. no tax unless you live in IL or OH (i think it was OH...dunno, but IL was one of them)

so, I got two 1.5tb seagate 7200 rpm drives for $200 after all said and done. pretty good deal. and that price is without having to do any rebate crap.

but if you are in the market for anything tech related, now would be a good time to get it through CC.

and since we're talking about hard drives....circuitcity.com is offering the following:

1. $20 cashback if you purchase over $200 with paypal
2. 15% cashback using Bing.com for circuitcity.com online purchases
3. free shipping
4. no tax unless you live in IL or OH (i think it was OH...dunno, but IL was one of them)

so, I got two 1.5tb seagate 7200 rpm drives for $200 after all said and done. pretty good deal. and that price is without having to do any rebate crap.

but if you are in the market for anything tech related, now would be a good time to get it through CC.

Nice catch. About 3 weeks ago I bought the Seagate 1.5GB 5900 rpm LP drive for $104 from newegg with no shipping or tax. HDD prices are definitely dropping quick, we just need the 2TB drives to catch up

Nice catch. About 3 weeks ago I bought the Seagate 1.5GB 5900 rpm LP drive for $104 from newegg with no shipping or tax. HDD prices are definitely dropping quick, we just need the 2TB drives to catch up

yeah but i figured i should be able to hold the rest of my dvd collection over 1.5tb of storage. at least i hope so.....and then maybe ask for a usb storage array thingy (technical term) for Christmas since my wife would have a heart attack if i bought more now. :rolleyes: