Windows Home Server and RAID

[Dari]

OK. I have Windows 4 750GB HDDs, Home Server and an ASUS M3A-H motherboard found here:http://www.newegg.com/Product/...+AMD-_-ASUS-_-13131289

I want to set it up a raid so that WHS sees one and duplicates to another. I'm not sure which raid this would be. Can this be done in WHS without using the Drive Extender? Does the motherboard have softraid?

 

[ViRGE]

What exactly are you hoping to accomplish? Your details are a bit thin, I'm not sure what you want so I can't really answer it. Are you using RAID for redundancy, or are you just using it for a performance boost?

As for softRAID, yes, that mobo's RAID implementation would be softRAID. If it's not a big expensive card with its own memory, it's not hardware RAID.

 

[Dari]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
What exactly are you hoping to accomplish? Your details are a bit thin, I'm not sure what you want so I can't really answer it. Are you using RAID for redundancy, or are you just using it for a performance boost?

As for softRAID, yes, that mobo's RAID implementation would be softRAID. If it's not a big expensive card with its own memory, it's not hardware RAID.

It's four hard drives. I just want redundency. Do I let WHS take care of everything or is there something I can do to make it simpler on WHS? I don't plan on hot-swapping anything. If I ever add more storage it'll be a major overhaul. What's your opinion?

 

[ViRGE]

Well if you want redundancy on everything and will overhaul if you ever add more storage, you have twp options:

1) Run the drives in RAID 10 (aka 0+1) mode; this stripes a pair of disks, then mirrors that stripe. Striping is usually for performance reasons, but in this case this is just something that's easy to set up with 4 drives. The redundancy is such that you can lose any 1 drive and still survive (although you will want to replace it quickly). Total capacity is the sum of 2 drives.

2) Run the 4 drives normally, and have WHS use folder duplication via Drive Extender to keep copies of the data on other drives. the redunancy is such that you can lose any 1 data drive and still survive; you'd have to reinstall WHS if you lost the drive with the OS however. Total capacity is the sum of 2 drives.

Unfortunately your mobo doesn't support RAID 5, which is what I'd really recommend. That would have allowed you achieve a capacity of 3 drives and still have a 1 drive redundancy. Ultimately either solution is just as good from a redundancy standpoint. Option 1 means you're effectively tied to the mobo, option 2 is a bit messier since it means you'll have DE working in the background copying things around instead of things being replicated as bits are written. Only option 2 is officially supported, option 1 is not.

 

[Dari]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
Well if you want redundancy on everything and will overhaul if you ever add more storage, you have twp options:

1) Run the drives in RAID 10 (aka 0+1) mode; this stripes a pair of disks, then mirrors that stripe. Striping is usually for performance reasons, but in this case this is just something that's easy to set up with 4 drives. The redundancy is such that you can lose any 1 drive and still survive (although you will want to replace it quickly). Total capacity is the sum of 2 drives.

2) Run the 4 drives normally, and have WHS use folder duplication via Drive Extender to keep copies of the data on other drives. the redunancy is such that you can lose any 1 data drive and still survive; you'd have to reinstall WHS if you lost the drive with the OS however. Total capacity is the sum of 2 drives.

Unfortunately your mobo doesn't support RAID 5, which is what I'd really recommend. That would have allowed you achieve a capacity of 3 drives and still have a 1 drive redundancy. Ultimately either solution is just as good from a redundancy standpoint. Option 1 means you're effectively tied to the mobo, option 2 is a bit messier since it means you'll have DE working in the background copying things around instead of things being replicated as bits are written. Only option 2 is officially supported, option 1 is not.

Thank you for that input. The primary reason for going this route is the problem I'm hearing about DE. Otherwise, Option 2 would be my default choice. BTW, I would setup option 1 in the BIOS?

 

[ViRGE]

The only outstanding problem with DE is the corruption bug, which will be getting patched out this month. It can be a bit of a nuisance otherwise when it wants to balance things when at the same time you want maximum file server performance, but that's really only an initial problem when everything is getting balanced out.

As for option 1, that's what I'd assume. Your motherboard manual isn't very clear on the matter.

 

[nerp]

I'd just stick with DE and let it handle everything. Introducing RAID into a WHS setup isn't recommended for a number of reasons. The main one I can think of is what happens when a drive fails. With DE, you should get advance warning and be able to swap the drive out and replace it without losing any data. Although this is possible with a software RAID setup, I certinaly wouldn't want to watch WHS and the RAID play together if something goes wrong. I feel that it adds a certian level of complexitiy that just doesn't make sense for WHS.

As far as the corruption bug, it's pretty much a non-issue unless you're working with files directly from the WHS share, like editing video stored on the server on a client machine and keeping files open, etc. Most people don't really do this and the bug is on the verge of beign fixed with the upcoming release of Power Pack 1.

 

[Dari]

You guys make some valid points regarding DE. I guess I'll stick with that. Besides, as nerp says, I don't want to have to deal with two headaches should an HDD fail.