Home Network Server

[Tom]

I am ready to put in a box to use as a home network.

Right now, I am leaning towards this, but I am clearly past my field of expertise.
Newegg.com - acer Aspire Easystore Intel Atom 1.6Ghz 2GB DDR2 2TB GBLAN 4 Bay Hotswap Windows Home Server

So I need something that can run on my gigabit home ethernet network and write/access the files from my two Apple computers. This has the 4 hot-swappable HDs, and I would have 4x 2TB in them immediately.

Being able to access it remotely would be a huge bonus as well.

I think the 8TB of memory would last me through 2011, maybe halfway through 2012, then I would probably add another one to the network.

Is this my best solution at the best price for this, or is there something better?

Thanks!

[shootme]

That is a really good price. It's hard to even build a PC today cheaper than some of the great deals you can find. I've never been a big Acer fan, but you can't beat the price. I re-purposed my old workstation as my Windows Home Server and it only cost me a subscription to Tech-Net to get WHS, but unless you have suitable hardware just lying around and the ability to do it yourself, that seems like the most cost efficient way to go.

I come from a Linux background, but I am extremely happy with my WHS. If you've never used it before, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. It's not too difficult to setup for remote access, provided that you know how to forward the correct ports on your router.

[Charles Putnam]

That's one option. Since you're running Mac, you could use something like either an Airport Extreme with a HD attached (which is what I have), or Time Capsule with an additional HD attached. I believe either will also allow remote access.

[shootme]

No dis-respect, but that is not going to scale to the 8TB of hard disk storage he is looking for.

[Tom]

Yeah, I already have quite a bit of space used up and am just using an array of externals. I really want to put them all on one machine.

Lets call those four drives F: G: H: and I:
I want to write to F and have G mirror F as soon as F is written. And the same for H and I. Will that be hard to do?

I've been a Mac user for a decade, though can still get around alright on my wife's Vista box.

Will it be hard to set up the first time by using a Mac, or will I need to use a PC to set it up?

[shootme]

It's called "Drive Extender". It's a "feature" that they have decided to remove from the upcoming new release of WHS code-named "Vail" (due to "claims" that it doesn't scale on enterprise applications like SQL server...big controversy). It will do what you want and is one of WHS's greatest strengths. You can choose to "mirror" drives or "extend" current storage usage....and the great thing is that you plug in another drive and it adds itself as an extension of the already assigned drive letter (no E,D,F,G). It would just add extra capacity to say G:\ if that was what you were already using (neat eh?)

No you don't need a PC to set it up. It works just fine using a Mac.

[Rson]

You will have a max of 7tb of storage since it is Hotswappable.

So, you will have one massive drive unless you partition it. I am sure that you can divide up the drives to different arrays but if you mirror them you will be at a total of 4tb.

[Tom]

Yeah, I want the mirrored things so that I can have a backup incase something happened.

[Rson]

Actually it is backed up.....the 3 drives recreate the bad drive.

Look up Raid 5....My guess is that is how the server is configed.

[surlynkid]

if you are playing on the arena of 8TB of space, how critical is it that you do not lose info from that 8TB? i run a thecus 5200 with five 1TB drives. it is almost full. that is in addition to 2.5TB on my PC and the same on my wife's PC. I also keep bare drives around for a thermaltake unit. i will probably set up a second RAID on my network rather than go to 1TB on the first. it really sounds like you need a similar RAID with five 2TB drives. buy the matching backup spare at the same time. that will get you about 7.6TB usable and a spare drive to swap in just in case one crashes. don't buy cheap drives either.

[dcopeland]

Don't totally rely on just mirroring as a "backup".. aka controller dies.. you can end up with multiple copies of corrupt data and/or bad copy gets written and mirrored.


David

[shootme]

Look up Raid 5....My guess is that is how the server is configged.

Rson...you are dead on about the rest, but Drive Extender is not the same as RAID 5. There is a big difference.

Dcopeland...also dead on. Drive mirroring (RAID 1) is not a backup solution. People wrongly assume that is the case.

[Rson]

Originally Posted by shootme

Rson...you are dead on about the rest, but Drive Extender is not the same as RAID 5. There is a big difference.

Yeah I don't have the product and am shooting blank....but I did read this...

Microsoft dumps Drive Extender from Windows Home Server, effectively neuters product | ZDNet

[shootme]

Basically, Microsoft either 1. Couldn't figure out how to solve the issues with enterprise applications such as SQL server which had problems with Drive Extender and thus had no profit motive to continue developing the technology....and/or 2. They saw it eating into their profits for their enterprise lines of Server OS's...

Either way, it works for the purpose of what it was intended. I cannot think of a better application than photog enthusiast...

It works and it works well in the current version of WHS. The current version will provide years of service with no need to ever upgrade to the latest release. By the time you are looking for something newer, hopefully something new will be available to take it's place. Either way, it's the best solution for today's problems.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by dcopeland

Don't totally rely on just mirroring as a "backup".. aka controller dies.. you can end up with multiple copies of corrupt data and/or bad copy gets written and mirrored.


David

What would be the ideal way to back it up?

I was planning on using 4TB as primary space that I would read and write from and 4TB as backup. Then copy the 4TB onto two 2TB USB 2.0 External HDs to keep in my house and 2 more externals to store offsite.