- Jun 30, 2004
- 15,730
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I'm rather pleased with the WHS-2011 server I re-built last year using a low-mileage ASUS 680i motherboard, Q6600, DDR2 RAM (8GB -- excessive) and two SATA-3 PCI-E controller cards (for 8 ports plus port-multiplier capability).
I've taken too long to ponder and sort out a preference among server-backup options. All along, the server boot/system disk is backed up with the OS backup feature nightly -- to a 320GB SATA disk in a hot-swap bay.
The nature of scheduled backups means that I'd need to leave the hot-swap disk running all the time. At least I can swap out the disk whenever I want -- between backups.
For data backups from my Stable-bit Drive Pool, the problem was more complex. I could use either the Windows backup (imaging feature), or Acronis True Image. But it will not work with the Drive Pool: I would have to image every disk in the pool. This would mean that every duplicated folder would also be duplicated in the backups. For instance, my Client Computer Backups folder has grown to approximately 400GB.
Of course, I can pick and choose which folders to backup on each drive to be imaged, but it is not an efficient solution.
So I finally settled on the latest "RichCopy 4.0" GUI version of the RoboCopy command. Instead of scheduling, I can make the backups anytime I want, and create different profiles to backup different folders. Thus I can backup "volatile" or frequently changing folders weekly, and backup some other folders once or twice monthly. The program will then only copy new files or files that have changed. Once I open RichCopy, choose the profile and click the "start" button, I can let it run without further attention. And -- I can swap out the hot-swap backup disk for the particular set of folders addressed by the profile after the backup is finished.
Here's the problem.
I had a very well-built IDE hot-swap bay with three caddies from StarTech (I think it was the DRW115ATABK model). I harvested the bay and drives from another LGA-775 machine that I've decommissioned and replaced with socket-1155 (no . . . freakin' . . . IDE . . . controller -- obviously). The caddies are all fitted with Hitachi 500 GB IDE disks -- some with less than 10 hours on their "odometer." Using these is a great way to get more use out of old-tech surplus.
All of the controllers and ports on the server system are set to AHCI-mode, which also allows me to hot-swap the other SATA (boot/system) backup. All the drives in the system which are SATA appear in the "Safely Remove . . " pop-up menu from the well-known system tray icon.
But the "Safely Remove . . " menu does not include or allow hot-swapping the IDE hot-swap caddies. Let me say at this point that everyone will argue that IDE can't be "hot-swapped," but the Startech bay and caddies came with a utility called "Swap Manager" which made it possible to the contrary. Unfortunately, the software doesn't work with a 64-bit OS like WHS-2011. There is also another shareware utility known as Hot-Swap! which replaces the "safely remove" icon with its own, and works with IDE drives as well as the SATA's.
But that introduces more complexity with additional software. I had also discovered that Hot-Swap! offers no uninstallation feature.
This has caused me to revisit another hardware option:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-787-_-Product
Here, I'd be adding more "hardware complexity." I have tried and experimented with these devices before. Those of the cheap $2 variety -- usually uni-directional -- often have ring-cracks in the solder-joints and either don't last or are simply DOA. But StarTech has a much better track-record in the history of my purchases.
I've put in a customer-support query with StarTech, but they've yet to answer my question:
Will I be able to hot-swap the IDE caddy if the hot-swap bay is connected to the SATA controller with this device, and using the "Safely Remove" icon and pop-up? Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?
Otherwise, whenever I want to swap backup disks, I must shut down the server, swap caddies, and reboot.
PS I KNOW it's only a $20 item, and I could simply buy it and try it. I'd just rather spend 20 minutes typing this thread post than fiddle with the hardware with potentially frustrating results!
I've taken too long to ponder and sort out a preference among server-backup options. All along, the server boot/system disk is backed up with the OS backup feature nightly -- to a 320GB SATA disk in a hot-swap bay.
The nature of scheduled backups means that I'd need to leave the hot-swap disk running all the time. At least I can swap out the disk whenever I want -- between backups.
For data backups from my Stable-bit Drive Pool, the problem was more complex. I could use either the Windows backup (imaging feature), or Acronis True Image. But it will not work with the Drive Pool: I would have to image every disk in the pool. This would mean that every duplicated folder would also be duplicated in the backups. For instance, my Client Computer Backups folder has grown to approximately 400GB.
Of course, I can pick and choose which folders to backup on each drive to be imaged, but it is not an efficient solution.
So I finally settled on the latest "RichCopy 4.0" GUI version of the RoboCopy command. Instead of scheduling, I can make the backups anytime I want, and create different profiles to backup different folders. Thus I can backup "volatile" or frequently changing folders weekly, and backup some other folders once or twice monthly. The program will then only copy new files or files that have changed. Once I open RichCopy, choose the profile and click the "start" button, I can let it run without further attention. And -- I can swap out the hot-swap backup disk for the particular set of folders addressed by the profile after the backup is finished.
Here's the problem.
I had a very well-built IDE hot-swap bay with three caddies from StarTech (I think it was the DRW115ATABK model). I harvested the bay and drives from another LGA-775 machine that I've decommissioned and replaced with socket-1155 (no . . . freakin' . . . IDE . . . controller -- obviously). The caddies are all fitted with Hitachi 500 GB IDE disks -- some with less than 10 hours on their "odometer." Using these is a great way to get more use out of old-tech surplus.
All of the controllers and ports on the server system are set to AHCI-mode, which also allows me to hot-swap the other SATA (boot/system) backup. All the drives in the system which are SATA appear in the "Safely Remove . . " pop-up menu from the well-known system tray icon.
But the "Safely Remove . . " menu does not include or allow hot-swapping the IDE hot-swap caddies. Let me say at this point that everyone will argue that IDE can't be "hot-swapped," but the Startech bay and caddies came with a utility called "Swap Manager" which made it possible to the contrary. Unfortunately, the software doesn't work with a 64-bit OS like WHS-2011. There is also another shareware utility known as Hot-Swap! which replaces the "safely remove" icon with its own, and works with IDE drives as well as the SATA's.
But that introduces more complexity with additional software. I had also discovered that Hot-Swap! offers no uninstallation feature.
This has caused me to revisit another hardware option:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-787-_-Product
Here, I'd be adding more "hardware complexity." I have tried and experimented with these devices before. Those of the cheap $2 variety -- usually uni-directional -- often have ring-cracks in the solder-joints and either don't last or are simply DOA. But StarTech has a much better track-record in the history of my purchases.
I've put in a customer-support query with StarTech, but they've yet to answer my question:
Will I be able to hot-swap the IDE caddy if the hot-swap bay is connected to the SATA controller with this device, and using the "Safely Remove" icon and pop-up? Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?
Otherwise, whenever I want to swap backup disks, I must shut down the server, swap caddies, and reboot.
PS I KNOW it's only a $20 item, and I could simply buy it and try it. I'd just rather spend 20 minutes typing this thread post than fiddle with the hardware with potentially frustrating results!
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