WHS 2011 Hard drive configuration

[thestrangebrew1]

I currently have a server running whs 2011 at home with 1 2tb hd and 2 1tb hard drives. Currently they're not pooled or in any type of RAID configuration and I'm wondering if this is efficient. Each drive is it's own letter, and I've got files on each drive totaling about 600GB of data all in all. Here's how my files are stored:

d: 2TB - I have a back up of photos, files and home movies
e: 1TB used to store movies, photos, pics
f: 1TB " " + music

The 2 1TB drives are Samsung spinpoints and the 2TB drive is a seagate barricuda. All are 7200rpm if that matters.

I also have a 2TB ext hard drive that I use to back up drive d:
Additionally, I have a 128gb Samsung 830 where the OS is installed on. Im considering picking up a few 3tb drives and consolidating, but for a server, is this current setup appropriate? My server is on 24/7, but it's usually accessed 2-3x/wk for watching movies. Aside from me tinkering with things, it doesn't get used much.

 

[ericloewe]

If you do go for RAID, it'll only help with data duplication. Why?

WHS 2011 is severely limited, in many areas, to 2TB partitions. It can't back up any partition that goes over that limit (I think it was a limitation in the Volume Shadow Copy Service). Server backups are also limited to 2TB (adding more drives doesn't help).

Bottom line, if it works, let it work for now. I've been looking for a mostly direct substitute for WHS 2011, without success, so I'm "stuck" with 4 2TB drives in RAID 5 that I can't even back up without hacking some solution together. You won't gain much from moving to RAID if your current solution works.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

If you do go for RAID, it'll only help with data duplication. Why?

WHS 2011 is severely limited, in many areas, to 2TB partitions. It can't back up any partition that goes over that limit (I think it was a limitation in the Volume Shadow Copy Service). Server backups are also limited to 2TB (adding more drives doesn't help).

Bottom line, if it works, let it work for now. I've been looking for a mostly direct substitute for WHS 2011, without success, so I'm "stuck" with 4 2TB drives in RAID 5 that I can't even back up without hacking some solution together. You won't gain much from moving to RAID if your current solution works.

Thanks. It's definitely working for me, I was just curious if the setup was appropriate. So for now, I'll just leave it be and then add bigger drives as my storage requires.

 

[Binky]

I just use drivepool with folder data duplication for the easy/inefficient short-term backup, and an external drive for longer-term backup. The external backup uses a simple robocopy script. This is not an efficient use of space, since the files are duplicated up to three times (four including the cloud copy for pics!), but space is dirt cheap.

If a single drive fails, the drivepool software will take care of it with minimal downtime and minimal hassle. If more than one fails, the important stuff is all on the external. and I can rebuild the WHS box in a few hours with almost all of the data. The OS is on a separate 250gb drive and it uses the built-in backup system.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I just use drivepool with folder data duplication for the easy/inefficient short-term backup, and an external drive for longer-term backup. The external backup uses a simple robocopy script. This is not an efficient use of space, since the files are duplicated up to three times (four including the cloud copy for pics!), but space is dirt cheap.

If a single drive fails, the drivepool software will take care of it with minimal downtime and minimal hassle. If more than one fails, the important stuff is all on the external. and I can rebuild the WHS box in a few hours with almost all of the data. The OS is on a separate 250gb drive and it uses the built-in backup system.

Thanks, I did the trial with drivepool and found it pretty easy to configure. I may just pony up for the software.