looking at addin WHS to my system but few questions

[newstuart]

My present system consists of a HTPC (wi ndows 7 64 bit)with 2 tb of storage - i wanted to keep this simple and reliable so my movies is the only thing on it. This then feeds my extenders around the house.

I also have a xp based server which has backups of all the 2tb of storage on the htpc and also has homeseer running on it together with skype software and drivers for my phillips voip skype phone

I have a copy of WHS but when i looked at it (last summer) there were no drivers for the voip phone which killed it for me but i believe this is now available.

My questions are,
1) I have 4 1tb hardrives at present (2 in htpc, 2 in server - each pair has the same on them) - if I changed the server to run WHS would this storage method still be best?
2) If a hardrive fails in WHS what happens?

[elootos]

(03-26-2010 09:49 PM)newstuart Wrote:  My present system consists of a HTPC (wi ndows 7 64 bit)with 2 tb of storage - i wanted to keep this simple and reliable so my movies is the only thing on it. This then feeds my extenders around the house.

I also have a xp based server which has backups of all the 2tb of storage on the htpc and also has homeseer running on it together with skype software and drivers for my phillips voip skype phone

I have a copy of WHS but when i looked at it (last summer) there were no drivers for the voip phone which killed it for me but i believe this is now available.

My questions are,
1) I have 4 1tb hardrives at present (2 in htpc, 2 in server - each pair has the same on them) - if I changed the server to run WHS would this storage method still be best?
2) If a hardrive fails in WHS what happens?

In WHS, you can set certain folders to have 'duplication' whereby WHS copies all that folders data onto 2 discrete drives so if one fails, it exists still on the other. So in WHS you'd add all 4 drives to the pool, then set the folders you want backed up to 'folder duplication'. I believe it to be a seemless integration, so the WHS tray icon would warn that a drive had failed, but all your data would still be accessible as normal. The only part required by you would be to replace the dead drive and add the new one to the pool again.

I like to think that WHS will tell me in time that one of my drives is starting to fail, giving me enough time to remove it from the pool (a one-click process).

[huxley]

I have a question, if the WHS hardware fails (planning on the use of old kit) will the hard drives be readable if you put one in a caddy on another pc?

[elootos]

(05-31-2010 11:24 PM)huxley Wrote:  I have a question, if the WHS hardware fails (planning on the use of old kit) will the hard drives be readable if you put one in a caddy on another pc?

Yes. The drives contain your server's folder hierarchy spread across them but the files are always intact and stored in old-fashioned NTFS format. So on your server you may have:

server/films/dvd/film1
server/films/dvd/film2
server/films/dvd/film3
server/films/dvd/film4
server/films/dvd/film5

and for example, drive 1 may contain:

films/dvd/film3
films/dvd/film5

and drive 2 (etc) may contain:

films/dvd/film1
films/dvd/film2
films/dvd/film4

The only server-only information stored on them are a few hidden folders on the root containing index information so it knows what goes where.

[huxley]

ah cheers for that.