So many variety drives..

[bX510]

I have a lot of mixture of drives, but I don't know how to take advantage of all of them. Is it possible to raid? Give me suggestions

I have,
Seagate 200GB Pata
WD 320GB SATA II
Seagate 500GB (i forgot sata or pata)
WD 80GB PATA
Seagate 1TB Sata

Also, I saw HP's Media server, and I LOVED the things it does. It can back up a data automatically on a weekly bases on any computer that's connected to the network. Is there any software for my custom built htpc?

 

[RebateMonger]

Get a large case with good drive cooling, get a low-power motherboard, and build a Windows Home Server. The software is $150 from Newegg.com.

WHS can handle whatever drives you throw at it and automatically combine them into a drive pool. You can enable drive redundancy (similar to RAID 1) if you wish, and only for the folders that you need redundancy for. And it makes automatic daily image backups of all the Windows PCs on your network.

 

[bX510]

YES! So drive redundancy is ...? I am not sure. but it can combine my drives and back up everything . How do I set it up to back up all my computer network stuff?

 

[bX510]

Which windows OS? Windows Server 2003? 2008? or is XP home edition good enough?

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: bX510
YES! So drive redundancy is ...? I am not sure. but it can combine my drives and back up everything . How do I set it up to back up all my computer network stuff?

The WHS redundancy is selectable by folders, and makes sure there are copies of each file on two different hard drives on the server. You obviously need at least two hard drives on the server to do this.

To set up the WHS, you boot to he WHS Install DVD and follow the directions. Then you download the Connector software from the WHS server and run it on each PC. It automatically sets up and runs the backups nightly, although you can change the settings if you wish.

WHS keeps ongoing image backups that let you restore your PCs to many points in time in case of a PC virus, accidental deletion, or hard drive failure. It's automatic after the insertion of a Restore CD into the "broken" PC and selection of the image and date that you want to restore from.

WHS IS the operating system. It's based on Server 2003. It also provides media services, web page services, and remote access service (if you are running XP Professional or Vista Business or Vista Ultimate).

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Thumbs up for the WHS idea -- something I need to do as I finally bury Windows 2000 in its function to that purpose.

I'm not giving a "Thumbs down" to what's been discussed here so far -- but here's some better ideas.

Separate all the PATA drives. Go to Egg, or better -- Provantage -- and look for some good USB boxes for IDE drives. OR -- get a StarTech hot-swap bay and a spare tray for it -- for the PATA drives.

Pick the best of your SATA drives, find a duplicate of the same model and size -- lesser choice would be approx same size, different make.

Then you have two more choices: If the motherboard has onboard RAID features, you can certainly do either RAID0 or RAID1, but possibly -- with another matching drive -- RAID5.

If you have the money to spend and you want to build the server, look for a PCI_E RAID controller -- look at the Highpoint 3510, for instance. You might find cheaper, but that one's supposed to be good -- and only "second best," but gives "first place" a run for the money . . . . for less money.

Alternatively, you could get a PCI (or PCI_E) RAID controller for IDE (PATA) drives, and look for USB or hot-swap hardware for the SATAs. Or just run them as spares on your system.

And if not interested in redundancy, and IF the mobo has RAID features, you might be able to just take all, or at worst either the IDE or SATA drives, and make them "JBOD" configured.

Finally, StarTech and other manufacturers sell an IDE-to-SATA conversion plug . . . .or an SATA-to-IDE conversion plug, but I think here, especially if you're going to RAID anything, going beyond thinking about it may prove to be a headache and a deadend.

 

[bX510]

Thanks for your ideas, but that sounds really expensive. Should I get a SATA controller and get IDE to SATA plugs? or Should I just get a IDE/SATA controller? I have an ANTEC p182 case btw

I was thinking of those hot-swap drives, but that's too expensive.

 

[bX510]

About windows home server.. if I put all my videos on there, and stream it on my laptop... would it need codecs? or can I make it use VLC only?

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: bX510
About windows home server.. if I put all my videos on there, and stream it on my laptop... would it need codecs? or can I make it use VLC only?

They will show up on WHS as it would on a file server. On your laptop, you would either clicko n the icon on the desktop to get the 'shares' section on your WHS box, or you can migrate there in explorer under the 'networking' section. But they just appear as files. Now there are front end programs and WHS add-ons that let you manage your media, but I myself haven't messed with them yet. If the machine you are using can play the video, then it can play the video off of the home server.

I absolutely love WHS thus far. Restoring a machine went perfectly, and once there is a backup for the actual server system disk, I'll be as happy as can be.

 

[bX510]

So I finally set up windows home server. It's 2003, should I be using 2008? Anyways, how can I set up my hard drives and automatic backup?

 

[bX510]

Do I want Hyper V? DO i want Standard, enterprise, or datacenter?