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[benn600]

After hearing a lot about WHS, I decided to order the 120-day trial package.  It actually comes with three discs.  All I really care about at this point is the installation DVD.  I do NOT need or want the automatic backup of client machines because all our folders are mapped to the server and that is all I worry about backing up.

It was looking like all drives must be formatted before they can be used at all.  It turns out that this is only if you want WHS to assimilate the drive space and magically make it available.  In my case, I already did the work with a hardware RAID card so I don't need its software helper.  The breakthrough was when I discovered that no-drive letter drives are for the WHS storage space but normal drives can still have drive letters and can behave normally (like in other Windows operating systems).

So I just set it up like I did with W2K3 server, essentially ignoring the WHS component.

So far I am very impressed with it and from 0 to finished took about 4 hours.  That includes installing, configuring, installing all my server apps, restoring backups, configuring, and setting up applications/titanium network drive.  My last W2K3 server installation met tons of problems and I spent around 20 hours reinstalling and setting it up.

Now I'm running on a single 320GB drive.  I would like to get a RAID5 configuration going on the three main drives and I may in a few months when I need to buy the full version.  I'll probably just reinstall the server apps at that point.  Maybe I'll investigate the connector application and see what it could help me with.

So the key to this whole project is whether or not my RAID array regains its once seen 400MB/sec data rate.  Unfortunately, it entered degraded status this morning due to a hard drive failure.  It was only at 45% and I dared not start a major OS change in a degraded state...but I knew this week would be very busy and I wouldn't have much time...so I paused it and went ahead with the install.

In the degraded state, I estimate data duplication rate of 100MB/sec.  That means 100 read + 100 write...and its in its degraded state.  So it seems somewhat likely that I will see satisfactory results.  Also, when fast forwarding with MC on our HTPC before (W2K3 server) it would stutter.  I just tried it and it FFed at 100x with no visible slowdowns (and its rebuilding, too).

I'll just keep running with it for a while and would really like to set it up with the OS on RAID5 but I'll only do that once I commit to WHS because I'm keeping my W2K3 server drive untouched so I can revert if I need to.

I guess the way I look at it is that it seems like everything in W2K3 server that I care about but with the WHS stuff I am not interested in at this point.  All the updates are for W2K3 server and upon installing, I am greeted with over 30 total updates (I get everything).  I'm going to let my RAID finish rebuilding and then I'll install them because reboots are rough on the rebuild process.

[benn600]

Folder browsing over the network also seems snappier.  It has delays but they may be partly due to the rebuild process.  I guess I'll know a lot more once its done rebuilding--probably 24 hours from now.

Copying data from it also seems more consistent (speed wise).

I guess initial instincts are positive and it could be a great improvement over the problems I was having before.

It does annoy me that the OS goes on a 20GB partition.  I would rather not make it a 20GB partition.  I end up having to install MySQL, hMailServer, etc. on a different partition/drive so I'm not limited by this tiny partition.

Anyone else try the 120 day trial?  That's a long time!  Could I just buy in place--I'm sure I can...without having to reinstall from scratch with a full product key?  Our computers are starting to get slower and show unused programs.  I have made some big changes to our install base and I'm considering reformatting.  It has only been 5 months, too.  But I think I'll spend another month evaluating WHS and make a decision...then I should format all our computers and the server.

[newsposter]

careful with WHS, there are loads of web reports of filesystem and file corruption, unrecoverable corruption.

if you want a server, use a real server OS.  Server2003/2008 or any of the Linuxii

[AoXoMoXoA]

HEADLINE: "Windows Home Server bug corrupts files"
http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9838093-37.html?tag=newsmap

[benn600]

I have server 2003 but it doesn't give me full speed on my RAID.  Now come to think about it: with WHS I used the original mobo CD and not the latest drivers.  Maybe I'll try W2K3 server with the CD drivers.

But I'm going to bet that is only when using WHS's storage management system.  I'm just using the drive as a letter and sharing it manually.  I think the core features I use are directly from W2K3 server.

Plus, it appears to only do that with certain apps (based on the article).

[KingSparta]

Unfortunately, it entered degraded status this morning due to a hard drive failure.

How Long Does that Take?

[benn600]

How long does it take?  Uhhh, a few milliseconds?  I think it decides a hard drive is bad quickly.

Rebuilding took almost 20 hours.  I'm fully operational now.  I have not yet ordered another spare hard drive, though, which I should probably do.  I just don't feel like spending another $100, especially when the drives really aren't failing because they work fine standalone.

But like I said, in degraded state the array performed much faster.

[KingSparta]

Rebuilding took almost 20 hours.

For What Size Drive? 320GB?

That sounds kind of long to me

In the degraded state, I estimate data duplication rate of 100MB/sec.

Sounds kind of slow

can the speed of recovery be speed-ed up thru a hardware switch or something?

I Was doing some reading on Raid 6 this weekend, that's why I am asking.

I do have one raid drive in my computer, but it is a Old IDE Raid 0, 1 Controller.

[benn600]

16 * 500GB drives all in one RAID6 array for 14 drives usable space or 7TB.  1TB taken for redundancy.

I was getting ~400 MB/sec with Vista.  Now I get less than 50MB/sec with W2K3 server.  Using Promise Supertrak EX16350.  Very happy except for the speed decrease.  Vista worked better in my case.

[ThoBar]

just out of curiousity I did a quick bit of googling, have you tried... (I'm assuming you have)

I've noticed several posts about poor performance so you might have problems with your settings. If you have performance issues with this controller I recomend trying to disable NCQ (and of course enable write cache).

Also, I'm assuming you've updated ALL drivers on your system (including MB chipset etc)?

[benn600]

I have disabled NCQ in the past--because of something like what you found.  I should try it again, though.  If I remember correctly, each and every of the 16 drives has its own setting so disabling it actually takes a small amount of effort...about 5 clicks per drive, equaling 80 clicks!  That's a good idea, though, I need to try it again.

As far as I know I have the latest everything.  Actually, in this latest install, I tried the stuff on the CD thinking it would be something different at least and it may/may not be different.