Windows Home Server

[olds]

With the exception of HDDs, I have enough parts to build a home server. Mainly for serving music and backing up my wife's laptop and my desktop.
I'd like to back the machines up to two HDDs. That way if one goes bad, I have a back up of the back up.
Will WHS do this for me if I normally install HDDs or do I have to run RAID?
TIA

 

[nerp]

WHS is perfect for someone like you because you can mix and match any type of drive (even external) and WHS will keep redundant copies of your data on one large volume that can shrink and expand as you add and remove drives. RAID is completley NOT in the picture and it's recommended to let WHS's Drive Extender manage drives on their own and to not use RAID.

Drive Extender is pretty awesome. All you need is more than one drive and WHS will let you determine which files/folders you want to have redundantly saved. It literally will make sure there is a copy on each drive.

You can add larger drives down the road and the volume size expands. If a drive begins to fail, WHS will help you ensure the data on the drive you're removing is OK, add the new drive, remove the old one and repopulate the new drive(s) with your data.

Check out the "we got served" WHS site. It has a lot of detailed stuff and some links to all the available plugins.

 

[olds]

Thanks, I appreciate it, great info.
Another question.
Does it keep a back up detailed enough to ghost and re-image a machine with?

 

[nerp]

Well, I'm not sure about the best way to do that. WHS copies files to the drives formatted as normal NTFS so in theory you could pop them into any machine and pull data off them. The data is databased within 'tombstones' -- i'm fudging the explanation.

You can reinstall WHS on a new drive and it will 'rebuild' your store based on the tombstone information on each drive. There are better technical explanations out there and I think you might some some solid and detailed info on the WHS forums on MS's webpile or the We Got Served site. 🙂

 

[nerp]

I should note.... In terms of backing up client machines, it will make full backups of any client on your network every night or so. You can select some folders to not back up, such as a game installation directory or something.

Along with the WHS package comes a "Client restore" disc which allows you to boot any machine and reimage it using the snapshot stored on the WHS box.

The nice thing about WHS's backup method is that if you have 4 XP boxes on your network, the core XP files will only be backed up in one spot, saving you a lot of space on the server. I forget the exact term but the point is that duplicate data on client machines is only stored once on the server.

 

[olds]

Thanks, got it
http://wegotserved.co.uk

 

[RebateMonger]

Yeah, it's an "imaging-type" backup, that will restore your client PCs from bare metal. The restore process is fast and easy.

Be aware that there's a current issue with possible file corruption when using WHS as a file server. It only happens with specific types of files under specific conditions, and, hopefully MS will have a fix soon. I'm not trying to discourage you. I think that WHS is the best product that MS has made in years. Just read up on the file corruption issue so you can avoid being hit. It doesn't affect the backup services at all.

 

[nerp]

The file corruption issue seems to be concentrated on files that have been opened and edited on client machines from the server. I suspect that the issue will be completley resolved in a little bit.

 

[Homerboy]

backup already saved my ass twice.
WHS is flawless (minus the corruption thing which I have never personally experienced nor can MS duplicate 🙂) for what its intended purpose is.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Homerboy
backup already saved my ass twice.
WHS is flawless (minus the corruption thing which I have never personally experienced nor can MS duplicate 🙂) for what its intended purpose is.

From MS's support article on the issue:

Microsoft has successfully reproduced corruptions for the following nine programs:
? Windows Vista Photo Gallery
? Windows Live Photo Gallery
? Microsoft Office OneNote 2007
? Microsoft Office OneNote 2003
? Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
? Microsoft Money 2007
? SyncToy 2.0 Beta
? Intuit QuickBooks
? uTorrent
The following programs have been reported by customers as having caused corruptions. However, we have not yet been able to reproduce corruptions. ? Photoshop Elements
? Zune Software
? Apple iTunes
? TagScanner
? Mozilla Thunderbird
? Adobe Lightroom
? Intuit Quicken
? MS Digital Image Library
? MP3BookHelper
? ACDSee
? WinAmp
? Windows Media Player 11
? Microsoft Office Excel
? Visual DataFlex

Bill

 

[jalaram]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: Homerboy
backup already saved my ass twice.
WHS is flawless (minus the corruption thing which I have never personally experienced nor can MS duplicate 🙂) for what its intended purpose is.

From MS's support article on the issue:

Microsoft has successfully reproduced corruptions for the following nine programs:
? Microsoft Money 2007
? Mozilla Thunderbird
? WinAmp
? Windows Media Player 11

Bill

Uh oh. I use those programs. It still sounds like a great OS, but the $160 seems steep. Is that the best price available for it? Is it like Vista OEM and can only be activated on one system?

 

[bsobel]

Uh oh. I use those programs. It still sounds like a great OS, but the $160 seems steep. Is that the best price available for it? Is it like Vista OEM and can only be activated on one system?

You wouldnt want it on multiple machines its supposed to sit in the closet somewhere and be your, you know, server....

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: bsobel

You wouldnt want it on multiple machines its supposed to sit in the closet somewhere and be your, you know, server....

LoL :^D I don't think the price is so bad for what it does. I'm thinking about getting it myself. I was considering trying a Linux server, but I think WHS is the way to go with a house full of Windows boxes.

 

[nerp]

I actually have a question for bill or stash....

I got a 120-day eval kit for WHS in the mail but the DVD is defective and won't boot in any machine I try and these machines can boot other DVDs.

Who do I email?

Thanks guys! 😀

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: lxskllr
LoL :^D I don't think the price is so bad for what it does. I'm thinking about getting it myself. I was considering trying a Linux server, but I think WHS is the way to go with a house full of Windows boxes.

If you consider that Acronis backup for each client PC is around $80, you wouldn't have to own very many PCs to save money on backup software compared to the (approximate) $170 WHS pricetag.

 

[jalaram]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Uh oh. I use those programs. It still sounds like a great OS, but the $160 seems steep. Is that the best price available for it? Is it like Vista OEM and can only be activated on one system?

You wouldnt want it on multiple machines its supposed to sit in the closet somewhere and be your, you know, server....

🙂 I only would put it on one computer, but I meant that I have a tendency to move parts around and replace MBs/CPUs/etc.

I think the simplest thing to do is just get the 120 day eval and try it out.

Another stupid question: Could I run programs like WiRNS or DVArchive (ReplayTV tools) on it?

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: nerp
The file corruption issue seems to be concentrated on files that have been opened and edited on client machines from the server. I suspect that the issue will be completley resolved in a little bit.

Yeah, it's a big deal but at the same time it's not. The only thing Microsoft has been able to reproduce are problems with applications that use a flat-file DB or similar techniques that basically only rewrite part of a file. It's a big deal if you have applications like that (although I'd note that for most of the MS apps listed, the application specifically says not to store the DB file on a file server) but most people don't have that need. I've been running a WHS box since RC1 without an issue since I have no need to edit files on said server.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: jalaram
Another stupid question: Could I run programs like WiRNS or DVArchive (ReplayTV tools) on it?

If they'll run on Windows Server 2003, then they should run on WHS. I don't know enough about those tools to get more in depth than that.