Add Folders to Windows Home Server

[monkey333]

So WHS sets up default folders for pics and music, etc. Well how to I add existing folders like my MP3 Folder to the console to access it remotely? I know you can create folders, but it creates it in the "data" partition. I want to connect it to my other drives on my pc.

I'd prefer not adding them via the drive manager, WHS wants to re-format the drives and I'm not sure if it would screw up my raid 1 I have with them and the software used to manage the raids.

Make sense?

thx.

 

[TheKub]

So you have a Raid 1 set installed in your WHS? I'm assuming that you do not have this as part of the pooled storage (if you even can). I would imagine you would slimply share the folder out like you would on any other windows system by RDPing the server or via KB\M on the box itself. Though I'm not sure if this shared folder would be accessable via the internet but should be available to PCs on the LAN.

That out of the way why the heck do you have Raid 1 in your WHS box? Just break the mirror, add one of the drives to the pool, create your share copy your data from the other drive to the new share, turn on duplication, then add the other drive to the pool. All of your data is redundant and your drive managment just got 1000x simpler.

 

[monkey333]

That out of the way why the heck do you have Raid 1 in your WHS box? Just break the mirror, add one of the drives to the pool, create your share copy your data from the other drive to the new share, turn on duplication, then add the other drive to the pool. All of your data is redundant and your drive managment just got 1000x simpler.[/QUOTE]

It was a box i had running server 03 on and I never bothered changing the way I do business...

So I need to backup all my data and bring them into the pool? Can I specify how the data is duplicated? I have to raid 1 sets, one is 1 tb and the other is 500gb. Can I replicate the raid 1 set up with file duplication, eg 2 seperate drives?

 

[TheKub]

You create the shared folders in the server console and there is an option to enable duplication, thats all there is to it. As long as you have more than 1 drive it the pool WHS will take care of making sure every file in that share is on 2 drives.

Its not identical to Raid as you really dont know where your data is on the server, which in most cases doesnt matter. You can access it via \\homeserver\whatever and you know its on 2 drives so you are covered in the event of a drive failure. It may be hard to give up that control, I was uneasy about it to start, but then I saw the benefits. No more worrying about having to replace an entire set to increase space or waste space because I bought a bigger drive than my existing array, etc. If I need more space I buy whatever hard drive I like (or is on sale) slap it into the server and add it to the pool. WHS will use it and shuffle around items as needed.

All that said, yes you need to backup your data if its important to you RAID = redundancy. Redundancy != backup. If your WHS already has 2 or more drives in the pool you can copy right from your raid array and it will be duplicated on the server as you move them over. If you only have the OS drive and the 2 raid arrays you either need to make a 3rd copy and add the drives to your server then copy from it or break both Raid sets use one drive from each array to make a pool on the WHS, then copy the data from the other 2 drives and add them when the data is on the pooled drives (this scenario also assumes that both of your Raid sets are not full).

My WHS is 2x2TB, 3x1TB, 2x640GB, 1x200GB. Pretty much all mixed brands, spindle speeds, models, and interfaces but they all play together in the pooled storage.

 

[monkey333]

well i took the plunge and I seemingly have more space than a raid, because WHS allows the user to define which folder replicates. 4 and a half terr total and 3.6 free ATM.

thanks!

 

[TheKub]

well i took the plunge and I seemingly have more space than a raid, because WHS allows the user to define which folder replicates. 4 and a half terr total and 3.6 free ATM.

thanks!

Great to hear, now that your drive managment is simplified you can start messing around with all the other features of WHS like remote access and the various plugins.

I will make a recommendation for a plugin, there is one called Disk Management IIRC. It gives you a bit more information about your storage than the Server Storage option. If you have similar HDDs or just alot of them it lets your draw a wireframe of your server and map your drives to their location in the case. It can be helpful to know that when\if a drive dies you dont have to pull each one out looking for that SN.

 

[Homerboy]

Great to hear, now that your drive managment is simplified you can start messing around with all the other features of WHS like remote access and the various plugins.

I will make a recommendation for a plugin, there is one called Disk Management IIRC. It gives you a bit more information about your storage than the Server Storage option. If you have similar HDDs or just alot of them it lets your draw a wireframe of your server and map your drives to their location in the case. It can be helpful to know that when\if a drive dies you dont have to pull each one out looking for that SN.

I 2nd this plugin. Actually its the only plugin that I have found to be actually useful and beneficial. Turn on SMART and you get decent feedback on temps and access rates etc.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

How do you have the RAID 1 configured? If it is done by a controller (either real or off the mobo), then you just add that to the WHS pool. It adds just fine. My primary disk for the WHS box is a RAID 5 array of 3 750gb hard drives.

WHS runs RAID disks just fine -- you just can't later the array like you normally can. If for some reason I wanted to add a disk to the RAID array that was setup in the pool (and not the primary disk), then I would have to remove the disk from the storage pool, make changes to the RAID array, then re-add it to the storage pool.