RAID crashed, WHS? - Overclock.net

Bonz™ · 10-09-09

Hey everyone,

To shorten the load on everyone's ears, my 6x1TB RAID5 is no longer operable. I am working on recovering 4TB of information from it as we speak. I bought 2 more drives, resulting in 8x1TB now.

Due to some of the most important stuff on the RAID, it scared me quite a bit. I realize RAID is not a backup solution. I will need to have a backup solution next time.

The question is. When I finish recovering data, do I rebuild the array? Or do I install WHS and start from scratch with the storage pool idea. I realize I will no longer get 500+MB/s speeds, nor a drive redundancy. I really would rather not lose ANY data, but losing 1/8th of my data is better than losing it all.

I want to know your experiences with WHS, and why I should use it instead. I want to know the pro's and con's in your experience.

And the final question. Say my OS drive takes a dump, or I change hardware. How will I go about keeping all my data? Will the new installation on new hardware wipe my TB's of data?

Thanks!

DuckieHo · 10-09-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bonz™

I want to know your experiences with WHS, and why I should use it instead. I want to know the pro's and con's in your experience.

And the final question. Say my OS drive takes a dump, or I change hardware. How will I go about keeping all my data? Will the new installation on new hardware wipe my TB's of data?

Thanks!

WHS is easy. That's the main advantage of it. After installing it, you can have everything set up within 15mins.

If you OS drive fails or you upgrade.... just insert the install disk and boot up. The disk will recognize that there was previous WHS install and take over all the other drives.

e_dogg · 10-09-09

For the record, I've lost data on WHS. Because Folder Duplication is basically a mirror, if a file gets corrupted, the mirrored version also gets corrupted. WHS Folder Duplication basically protects against hardware failures. But the nice thing is that WHS tells you when files get corrupted so that you can nip it in the bud. Other operating systems will just let files get corrupted without any warnings.

So, with that said, there's no substitute for a good backup-plan. And, to answer your question, I'm extremely happy with WHS. It's super simple and very reliable without the complexities of a regular server OS.

Manyak · 10-10-09

From every point of view I can think of RAID6 is the best choice unless you absolutely can't afford buying a capable card, like the Perc 6/i, RocketRaid 4320, or Adaptec 5805 (to name a few). The RocketRaid is the only one out of those that doesn't support RAID60, just FYI.

WHS oversimplifies things IMO. I mean, you've got to remember, WHS was designed for the average user, so there are plenty of features they could have implemented but didn't just to keep it simple. For example the storage pool, in the best case scenario, is kind of like RAID1 (files are duplicated over two drives). But this comes at the cost of making it a waste of space if you care for redundancy, and at speeds that (so far) won't even saturate a gigabit connection (at least not with 1TB drives).

e_dogg · 10-10-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Manyak

WHS oversimplifies things IMO. I mean, you've got to remember, WHS was designed for the average user, so there are plenty of features they could have implemented but didn't just to keep it simple. For example the storage pool, in the best case scenario, is kind of like RAID1 (files are duplicated over two drives). But this comes at the cost of making it a waste of space if you care for redundancy, and at speeds that (so far) won't even saturate a gigabit connection (at least not with 1TB drives).

Yes, WHS Folder Duplication pretty much like RAID1. Only it's not a complete drive mirror like RAID1 is. You can do it on a per-folder basis so you don't need equal drives and don't waste space mirroring things that you don't really care about. Also, it can be turned on and off at will and you can add additional drives without having to rebuild the RAID array. All you do is put the disk in and tell Windows that you want it to be part of the storage pool. It's literally a couple of mouse clicks after installing the drive, and it's ready to be used.

Personally, I like the over simplification. I can't say that I'm unhappy with the speeds when moving data around...granted I only have a 10/100 network so I'm not expecting gigabit throughput.

DuckieHo · 10-11-09

As e_dogg stated... the WHS storage pool is superior to RAID1 for home use. It allows uneven disks to be used, folder by folder duplication, and is more flexible. The only real disadvantages are the duplication is not done in real time and it takes more CPU resources.

Bonz™ · 10-12-09

Well, since the PERC 5/i can't do passthrough, and I didn't wanna wait and pay more money for SATA II expansion, I just rebuilt the array.

I don't need the capability of uneven disks, I have 8x1TB WD Blacks. I guess I'll have to have a viable backup solution for the important stuff though. I think I'll build a WHS anyway just to check it out.

e_dogg · 10-13-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bonz™

I think I'll build a WHS anyway just to check it out.

WHS is pretty cool. It's super simple and easy to use. Try not to think of it like the other Windows Server products and you'll be ok.

DuckieHo · 10-14-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bonz™

Well, since the PERC 5/i can't do passthrough, and I didn't wanna wait and pay more money for SATA II expansion, I just rebuilt the array.

I don't need the capability of uneven disks, I have 8x1TB WD Blacks. I guess I'll have to have a viable backup solution for the important stuff though. I think I'll build a WHS anyway just to check it out.

You can download a trial here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...rver/eval.mspx

MS is currently developing a newer version WHS based on Server 2008. They probably will also be renaming the OS as well. It turns out that small business have a use for Windows Home Server as well.

My hope is that they will include Windows Media Center in the new version so that people can combined their HTPC with a backup server.

DuckieHo · 10-14-09

Oh, once you've installed WHS... time yourself how long it takes to set everything up. 15-20mins?

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RAID crashed, WHS?

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