• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

server for windows and mac with hot-swap drives?

A

arossphoto

Junior Member
I would like to build a server for my home office that will work for file and printer sharing with both Windows and Mac client computers. I have fairly high storage demands and would also like to have hot-swap drive trays in the server case so I can easily swap out back-up drives that will be stored off-site, retrieve files from archive disks that I don't need regular access to, etc, etc. I'm not too interested in RAID and would be happy with a JBOD setup.

I'm not an expert at this stuff by any means, and what I've read about Linux makes me think it's beyond my abilities to setup and manage. I have been a Windows user for years, and have an older Windows XP machine that I could retire for this purpose. I could also buy a new system if necessary, but I'm having a hard time determining whether WinXP will meet my needs. I've heard that it might not support hot-swap drives, and even if it does, I can only set it up to share folders on the network, not entire drives. So I don't know if I could swap drives in and out and have them accessible to the network computers.

Any advice on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks very much,

Andrew
 
Well since Macs can use SMB shares just like Windows you shouldn't have any problems with any server you buy. Technically the same goes the other way too, if you bought an Apple Server it should be fine since it'll come with Samba so Windows should be able to mount shares from it just fine.

You should be able to share the root of a volume just like any other directory in XP and even if not, what's the problem with creating one directory on the volume and sharing that?
 
Originally posted by: Nothinman
You should be able to share the root of a volume just like any other directory in XP and even if not, what's the problem with creating one directory on the volume and sharing that?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your response. Creating one directory would be fine, and I guess I was more concerned about hot-swapping and whether the drives would appear on the network as they are swapped in and out. I'm still not sure if hot-swapping would even be possible, or if the server would have to be shut down to change drives.

Andrew
 
Thanks for your response. Creating one directory would be fine, and I guess I was more concerned about hot-swapping and whether the drives would appear on the network as they are swapped in and out. I'm still not sure if hot-swapping would even be possible, or if the server would have to be shut down to change drives.
Click to expand...

Well you'll still likely have to mess with the shares if you swap a drive that's not part of a RAID set because the volume will disappear and reappear when the new drive is inserted. If you're using RAID1 or RAID5 the volume will never change and the shares won't be affected.
 
Your best bet is to buy a USB 2.0 card (if your computer doesn't have them) and get a bunch of external USB drives.
 
Your best bet is to buy a USB 2.0 card (if your computer doesn't have them) and get a bunch of external USB drives.
Click to expand...

Depends on your definition of best, I personally wouldn't consider USB drives for anything more than backups on a server.
 
Yeah, on a Windows 2000/XP/2003 PC you can share hot-swap drives (USB, Firewire, SATA) with other PCs on the network. I back up my desktop PC to a removable 500GB SATA drive on my SBS 2003 Server.

You can share whatever you want. Normally, you don't share entire drives, but if your OS and other system files aren't on it, you can do whatever you want. Or you can always create ONE folder just beneath the Root folder and share and sub-divide that.

On my SBS Servers with Mac clients, I share folders both as PC shares and as Mac shares. If you do Mac shares, be aware that they default to "Read Only", so you have to uncheck the "Read Only" box on the Mac Share properties.
 
Originally posted by: Nothinman

Depends on your definition of best, I personally wouldn't consider USB drives for anything more than backups on a server.
Click to expand...

I have to agree and that's why I'm looking at servers now. I already have 5 external drives, each with it's own AC adpt, cables, power switch, etc, and it's getting to be a real mess. I will need to add at least two new drives very soon, and would also like to replace my off-site DVD archives, with off-site hard drives. So that would mean several more disks that would get backed up and move off-site once a week.

I really need a more self-contained system that can accommodate several disks with mobile racks, and no rat's nest of cables. I also don't want any NAS, RAID, proprietary drive trays, etc. It has to be expandable with easy to find, reasonably priced parts from my local computer stores.

Cheers,

Andrew
 
Originally posted by: arossphoto
I really need a more self-contained system that can accommodate several disks with mobile racks, and no rat's nest of cables. I also don't want any NAS, RAID, proprietary drive trays, etc. It has to be expandable with easy to find, reasonably priced parts from my local computer stores.
Click to expand...
Until you got to the "proprietary drive trays", I was going to recommend removable SATA drive trays. That's what I use at most of my new clients for backups.

I've been using these hotswap trays with large SATA drives and PCI or PCI-E SATA Hot-Swap drive controller.

As far as power supplies for USB drives, I've always preferred using the external housings that use standard 110V power cables, rather than those that use proprietary power supplies and cables.
 
Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Until you got to the "proprietary drive trays", I was going to recommend removable SATA drive trays. That's what I use at most of my new clients for backups.
Click to expand...

Something like that might actually work fine. When I said proprietary I was thinking more about some of the products I've seen from Lacie, Icy Dock, Wiebetech, Buffalo, etc. Many of those items have removable trays, but they are only compatible with specific products from specific manufacturers. And who knows how long they will continue to make and support those products. For a truly future-proof, expandable, system I think the racks have to be readily available from local suppliers and be easily exchanged from one standard case to another. If I decide to use a different rack next year I should have that option as well.

Thanks,

Andrew

 
I just came across this Storage Tower on addonics.com that is available with a JBOD USB 2.0 adapter so you can connect up to four drives with a single USB cable. It also accepts standard 5.25 mobile racks.

It occurred to me that this just might work with the new Apple Airport Extreme's drive sharing feature called AirPort Disk. This feature "turns any external USB hard drive into a shared drive. Simply connect the drive to the USB port on the back of your AirPort Extreme and ? voila ? all the documents, videos, photos, and other files on the drive instantly become available to anyone on the secure network, Mac and PC alike."

http://www.apple.com/ca/airportextreme/sharing.html

If this would work it would be a very easy way to set up a file sharing network, without the expense or hassle of setting up a dedicated server. I know it would be slow, but for back-ups and archives it might not be too bad. It probably wouldn't be hot-swap either, but it would be easy enough to shut down the box to swap drives. I have emailed Addonics support, but they can't say for sure if they two items would work together.

Does anybody here have any opinions about a set-up like this?

Thanks,

Andrew
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top