[bjmarchini]

I have a small server that I am using. It is currently on a low end system (1.8 Celeron / 758MB / 1X80gb boot drive / 1x750GB WD GD / 1X1TB WD GD)


For a long time, I held off of unRaid and WHS 2003 because I often used my server as a game server as well. Nowadays, I just use it as a file server and it is making more sense to me turn this into a dedicated WHS server.


Key features that interest me:


Selective reduncancy of files (I don't need my movies and such backed up)

back up/ restoration of home computers (up to 8)

File sharing of media (movies, music pictures, game ISO and software)


I have a technet subscription so it doesn't cost me anything more for WHS 2003.


The one problem that I have with WHS is the lack of a backup for the boot drive if it fails. The 80GB is getting a little old. I will probably replaced it eventually, but it isn't something that I would rely on with WHS 2003 because it could fail and I would apparrently lose the file structure on the data drives. Sure it would be there, but it would be a nightmare getting all the files back where they belong.


My understanding is that WHS 2010 will be coming out by the end of the year. This further complicates things because one has to wonder how upgradeable 2003 is to 2010. WHS is designed to be an OEM software and no so much for consumer purchase. I would think the approved upgrade method would be to buy a new WHS server and migrate your stuff over. An in place upgrade may not be easy as it is W7 based. So getting WHS 2003 may even be counterproductive if I plan to upgrade later this year.


I am using XP SP3 now with a program called autonack that does a straight folder/file copy on the larger drive of important files such as music, pictures, personal files, and such. I have XP set to autobackup important files. If you were me, would you just hold off on upgrading until later this year? I will probably upgrade the specs to a low watt CPU and 2Gb by then anyway... should me WHS 2010 specs.


Other question is has anyway tried a migration from WHS2003 to the "beta" floating around of 2010? How was the upgrade.


I read online how to backup 2003, but it really seemed complicated and not worth the hassle of using what I have now... unless there is a 3rd party app that I am missing?

 

[gcoupe]

There's an add-in for WHS that will backup and/or duplicate your WHS database: WHS BDBB .


The next version of WHS will be a 64-bit OS only.

 

[salacious]

WHS 2010 or whatever they call it will be based on Server 2008 probably R2 which means it will be 64bit only. My experience of MS upgrades from 32 to 64 has been they don't do them, it is just a clean install and you migrate the data yourself

 

[dbone1026]

My big question is how will the migration from WHS (x32) to Vail (x64) go. I would hope that you could do some sort of Server Recovery which would allow you to install a clean version of Vail (x64) yet have the pool data preserved. I haven't gotten a good sense though of this, and as of now don't have a good feeling about it. To me having to do a clean install and then copy back over all pooled data is unacceptable.

 

[rtyped]

I am in a similar boat, I have whs installed with a small old system drive and am a little worried about what happens if it fails.


I had a look into it a while back and from what I could gather, you can do a recovery install onto a new system disk and it will automatically recover all the files on the data partitions.


Is this incorrect? (and am I living in false sense of security land)

 

[dbone1026]



Quote:
Originally Posted by rtyped /forum/post/18182341


I am in a similar boat, I have whs installed with a small old system drive and am a little worried about what happens if it fails.


I had a look into it a while back and from what I could gather, you can do a recovery install onto a new system disk and it will automatically recover all the files on the data partitions.


Is this incorrect? (and am I living in false sense of security land)

You are correct. I did a server recovery when I moved from my ex470 to a DIY WHS and was able to maintain my 8TB+ worth of data, you can see my writeup here:

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2009...s-home-server/

 

[rtyped]



Quote:
Originally Posted by dbone1026 /forum/post/18182379


You are correct. I did a server recovery when I moved from my ex470 to a DIY WHS and was able to maintain my 8TB+ worth of data, you can see my writeup here:

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2009...s-home-server/

Great writeup that is good to know. Thanks

 

[mslide]

Is it really that big of a problem that one cannot backup the OS drive? Are there lots of reports of the WHS 'Server Reinstallation' mechanism not working properly? If it is worrying you that much then perhaps you should setup raid 1 for the OS drive.

 

[dbone1026]



Quote:
Originally Posted by mslide /forum/post/18182830


Is it really that big of a problem that one cannot backup the OS drive? Are there lots of reports of the WHS 'Server Reinstallation' mechanism not working properly? If it is worrying you that much then perhaps you should setup raid 1 for the OS drive.

For many people the concern is not the O/S drive but instead all the pooled drives and that the data is added back to the pool correctly

 

[mslide]



Quote:
Originally Posted by dbone1026 /forum/post/18183136


For many people the concern is not the O/S drive but instead all the pooled drives and that the data is added back to the pool correctly

That's what I meant. Are there lots of reports of that not happening correctly when doing a Server Reinstallation?

 

[dbone1026]



Quote:
Originally Posted by mslide /forum/post/18183288


That's what I meant. Are there lots of reports of that not happening correctly when doing a Server Reinstallation?

It could. For instance, when I moved from my EX470 to my DIY WHS Build I had a lot of problems initially. I could get WHS successfully loaded onto the new build but the storage pools were not added. When WHS booted up I could see the drives but since they were not added I would have to add them back into the pool which would be pointless as it would delete all data currently on the pools. The issues I had (which I documented) were due to a variety of things such as the controller card drivers, BIOS settings, etc... that I eventually resolved. So really depending on your setup Server Recovery could be a lot more involved then it should be. This was only going from x32 to x32, so moving from x32 to x64 when Vail comes out should be interesting....

 

[bjmarchini]

I have always been a little confused how that works then.


Correct if I am wrong, but when you create a share, it is not the same as a folder on Windows XP as it spreads the data across multiple drives. So if the boot drive fails and you stick the drive in a Windows XP system, for instance, the drives will have all the files on them and they are readable, but they are all in random order spread across different drives. So, if you have a Movie Share, your indivdual movie ISOs may be spread across multiple drives, and only the WHS boot disk knows the order. Is this correct?


If the boot drive crashes and you have to do a fresh reinstall of a new boot drive, is it able to recover your data links and put them back in the correct shares, or are you SOL? I am not talking about lost data per say, but am talking about the organizational structure that was within the original WHS data map.


I don't think I would have a problem manually migrating over personally to 2010. I would have 1.75 TB of capacity on my current system which is not compliant with '10. I have 600gb currently used though I do plan to quickly fill that up. Given that about 250-400gb is set for redudancy of important files as well as a few system backups, this leaves less than 1.5 that I would need to migrate. So I set up the '10 version on the new system with a 1.5TB drive and it is just a matter of transferring via the network. Then redoing the backups on the computers in the house and finally setting up the file reduncy. And in the end, I would have doubled my storage capacity.


Of course, the only problem is that my local computers would be at risk during the transition which wouldn't be a problem anyway.


On a side, upgrading through all these versions of Windows 7 has taught me to keep data on a seperate partition from the boot drive locally. It is so much easier when you do this. It also means you don't have to overwrite the data if you have a boot sector error. You can just restore it and you are good to go.. and the data is never touched as it is in a seperate parition.

 

[dbone1026]



Quote:
Originally Posted by bjmarchini /forum/post/18185414


I have always been a little confused how that works then.


Correct if I am wrong, but when you create a share, it is not the same as a folder on Windows XP as it spreads the data across multiple drives. So if the boot drive fails and you stick the drive in a Windows XP system, for instance, the drives will have all the files on them and they are readable, but they are all in random order spread across different drives. So, if you have a Movie Share, your indivdual movie ISOs may be spread across multiple drives, and only the WHS boot disk knows the order. Is this correct?


If the boot drive crashes and you have to do a fresh reinstall of a new boot drive, is it able to recover your data links and put them back in the correct shares, or are you SOL? I am not talking about lost data per say, but am talking about the organizational structure that was within the original WHS data map.


I don't think I would have a problem manually migrating over personally to 2010. I would have 1.75 TB of capacity on my current system which is not compliant with '10. I have 600gb currently used though I do plan to quickly fill that up. Given that about 250-400gb is set for redudancy of important files as well as a few system backups, this leaves less than 1.5 that I would need to migrate. So I set up the '10 version on the new system with a 1.5TB drive and it is just a matter of transferring via the network. Then redoing the backups on the computers in the house and finally setting up the file reduncy. And in the end, I would have doubled my storage capacity.


Of course, the only problem is that my local computers would be at risk during the transition which wouldn't be a problem anyway.


On a side, upgrading through all these versions of Windows 7 has taught me to keep data on a seperate partition from the boot drive locally. It is so much easier when you do this. It also means you don't have to overwrite the data if you have a boot sector error. You can just restore it and you are good to go.. and the data is never touched as it is in a seperate parition.

Yes, if your O/S drive crashes and you need to replace, the WHS recovery will put the structure back in place. Once the server recovery is done there is zero that needs to be done by the user with regards to your data. The only thing the user will need to do in this case is set back up user settings,

 

[bjmarchini]

According to a thread I read, I should not be using the 80gb boot drive as my primary drive in WHS nor the 750, but instead the 1TB drive. Is this correct? The 1TB is a WD GD if that matters at all.

 

[HTPC4Ever]



Quote:
Originally Posted by bjmarchini /forum/post/18186148


According to a thread I read, I should not be using the 80gb boot drive as my primary drive in WHS nor the 750, but instead the 1TB drive. Is this correct? The 1TB is a WD GD if that matters at all.

Yes... can't remember exactly why though... has something to do with it filling up the small drive if it is first... whs forums are a good resource.


The 750 or 1 tb would be around the same, unless you are almost full. I'd pull that 80 and trash it. lol

 

[HTPC4Ever]



Quote:
Originally Posted by bjmarchini /forum/post/18181389


I have a small server that I am using. It is currently on a low end system (1.8 Celeron / 758MB / 1X80gb boot drive / 1x750GB WD GD / 1X1TB WD GD)


For a long time, I held off of unRaid and WHS 2003 because I often used my server as a game server as well. Nowadays, I just use it as a file server and it is making more sense to me turn this into a dedicated WHS server.


Key features that interest me:


Selective reduncancy of files (I don't need my movies and such backed up)

back up/ restoration of home computers (up to 8)

File sharing of media (movies, music pictures, game ISO and software)


I have a technet subscription so it doesn't cost me anything more for WHS 2003.


The one problem that I have with WHS is the lack of a backup for the boot drive if it fails. The 80GB is getting a little old. I will probably replaced it eventually, but it isn't something that I would rely on with WHS 2003 because it could fail and I would apparrently lose the file structure on the data drives. Sure it would be there, but it would be a nightmare getting all the files back where they belong.


My understanding is that WHS 2010 will be coming out by the end of the year. This further complicates things because one has to wonder how upgradeable 2003 is to 2010. WHS is designed to be an OEM software and no so much for consumer purchase. I would think the approved upgrade method would be to buy a new WHS server and migrate your stuff over. An in place upgrade may not be easy as it is W7 based. So getting WHS 2003 may even be counterproductive if I plan to upgrade later this year.


I am using XP SP3 now with a program called autonack that does a straight folder/file copy on the larger drive of important files such as music, pictures, personal files, and such. I have XP set to autobackup important files. If you were me, would you just hold off on upgrading until later this year? I will probably upgrade the specs to a low watt CPU and 2Gb by then anyway... should me WHS 2010 specs.


Other question is has anyway tried a migration from WHS2003 to the "beta" floating around of 2010? How was the upgrade.


I read online how to backup 2003, but it really seemed complicated and not worth the hassle of using what I have now... unless there is a 3rd party app that I am missing?

I would be VERY careful on the restore feature of whs. When it first came out, I had a computer crash and could not restore it. I recently came back to whs and attempted to restore a computer and it did not work. Go on the forums, you will see much of the same stories... No big deal since you can still GET to your data, once you rebuild your machine.


Why do I still use whs?


Best solution in my current situation.


I use acronis to backup my data to whs. I use a usb to backup my data on whs (don't use duplication / can take with me).


Remote access for other users is the best. I can create an account and send it out... people can download and be done. Wonderful


Place to put all movies... sharing is easy.


Easy to keep track of "issues" with other computers on your network.


Easy to access your "server".


I was one of the first people to have a whs... left after the backup issue... but always missed the simple features of whs that I mentioned above.


I recommend it...

 

[rclifton]



Quote:
Originally Posted by bjmarchini /forum/post/18186148


According to a thread I read, I should not be using the 80gb boot drive as my primary drive in WHS nor the 750, but instead the 1TB drive. Is this correct? The 1TB is a WD GD if that matters at all.

Yes and no... The answer used to be definetly yes, as WHS would initially copy all data to the system drive first and then migrate it over to other drives when idle. So if you were using that 80GB drive as the system disk and tried to transfer a large amount of data you could run into some problems. However since power pack 1 I believe it was that is no longer the case. WHS will now place data on whatever drive it wants as you copy it over.


The real reason now that you would want to use the largest drive available to you as the system disk is because in general, as people upgrade their server they will want to replace the smallest drive in their setup. It's a lot more of a hassle to replace the system disk once it's setup then a data disk.

 

[mslide]



Quote:
Originally Posted by bjmarchini /forum/post/18186148


According to a thread I read, I should not be using the 80gb boot drive as my primary drive in WHS nor the 750, but instead the 1TB drive. Is this correct? The 1TB is a WD GD if that matters at all.

I'd ditch the 80GB drive and use a large drive. When you install WHS, it will create a 20GB OS partition on one of your drives for you automatically (I think it picks the first drive) and the rest of that drive goes towards your storage pool. I wouldn't waste a hard drive slot/sata port just to use that small drive. Start out with a large OS drive and you don't have to worry about replacing it, with a large one, for a long time.


WHS is a nice OS. I've been using it for a couple of months now. Try it out.

 

[sxr71]



Quote:
Originally Posted by dbone1026 /forum/post/18182379


You are correct. I did a server recovery when I moved from my ex470 to a DIY WHS and was able to maintain my 8TB+ worth of data, you can see my writeup here:

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2009...s-home-server/

Your write up was great. I used it successfully along with BDBB.

 

[stevetoney]

Another migration concern of 2010 WHS would be your add-ins..... this may also be interesting in th 32 to 64 bit update


In WHS recovery you have to reinstall your addins and reconfigure them