Windows Home Server 2011 49.99 FS

I have WHS 2011 running in a VM right now with a single drive, but I was under the assumption that you could set up the software mirroring in Disk Management as you could with full-blown Server 2008 R2. I swear I remember discussions about that at WeGotServed.com when alternatives to DE were being discussed.
 
jebo_4jc said:
what the hell are you talking about?

yes you can
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I was pretty sure that you could and was planning on doing this next weekend. An IT guy at work just showed me how he had is setup that way and I was starting to question if he had done something extra to get it to work. Thanks for the reassurance.
 
Sprtfan said:
I was pretty sure that you could and was planning on doing this next weekend. An IT guy at work just showed me how he had is setup that way and I was starting to question if he had done something extra to get it to work. Thanks for the reassurance.
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Here's a video on drive mirroring:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCSNDBZCKmY&feature=player_embedded#at=19

I'm doing that right now, along with an external drive for auto backup. And as you can see, the drives don't have to be the same as typical Raid 1 is. So you still have more flexibility than Raid but less than DE.

It's funny that for V1 there were so many complaints that it didn't officially support Raid, and now that you can use Raid with WHS everyone wants DE. If you're MS, you just can't win.
 
The only people who wanted Raid in WHS v1 were those who didn't want to use DE (due to duplication) or wanted an extra layer or reliability, or wanted to mirror the OS volume.

Such people were in the extreme minority.

You can use Raid with any Windows OS. The fact that WHS supports it officially is no big deal, its not a feature. MS made a deliberate decision to abandon DE because they moved WHS over to the server division, it has nothing to do with Raid, and doesn't benefit home users.
 
First, RAID is not a backup....correct, but neither is DE.
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I never said DE was a back-up....I know it's not.

DE can use mixed drives, but that increases the chances of data corruption, which then leads to the very reason MS removed the feature. Like I said above, do some reading on the subject to understand WHY it was pulled.
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It was pulled because MS didn't want to take the time to overcome it's TB limitations.

what the hell are you talking about?
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I suggest you check the WHS info. RAID1 was never incorporated into WHS but that doesn't mean you can't mirror/back-up anything on it.
You said RAID1 was optional with WHS and it isn't.

WHS was intended to be a media/simple back-up for home computers and has no reason to use any RAID system for website/office use.

The origional simple Home Server for media sharing intent has been lost with Version 2.
 
You're not making much sense. I think you've gotten confused. Bottom line is, software RAID is possible in WHS 2011. And it really isn't that difficult to set up.
 
jebo_4jc said:
You're not making much sense. I think you've gotten confused. Bottom line is, software RAID is possible in WHS 2011. And it really isn't that difficult to set up.
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I said RAID wasn't included with WHS. Nothing more and nothing less.

Whatever you say but maybe you otta read this article about Why Windows Home Server Doesn't Use RAID.

I stand by my statement about RAID NOT being included with WHS and have nothing other to add to this thread.

Good Luck with WHS11! :)
 
Old Hippie said:
There's no installing over the old WHS, 64bit only, no drive extender, and you can't remove a drive and read it with a regular windows OS.
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Wait, what? It does something/formats your extra drives so you can't use them on another machine without a format?
 
Numan said:
Wait, what? It does something/formats your extra drives so you can't use them on another machine without a format?
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I said I was done with this thread but you're gonna be the exception that proves the rule...

The individual disks cannot be removed from a WHS2 machine and be read by a normal Windows OS like they were with WHS1.

Like I've been saying, WHS2 is no equal much less an improvement, to WHS1.
 
Bottom line is, software RAID is possible in WHS 2011. And it really isn't that difficult to set up.
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The other bottom line is....I wasn't talking about WHS2011 including RAID.

I'm talking WHS v1.

Sorry for the confusion.
 
Old Hippie said:
I said I was done with this thread but you're gonna be the exception that proves the rule...

The individual disks cannot be removed from a WHS2 machine and be read by a normal Windows OS like they were with WHS1.

Like I've been saying, WHS2 is no equal much less an improvement, to WHS1.
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That's just...odd. I was sure you could do that with 2008R2 and WHS2011 is a lessened Aurora which was some offspring of 2008R2. Well good to know thanks!
 
Well anyway.... I bit earlier when the deal was still there. This will be my first home server.
 
That's just...odd.
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WHS was targeted for a market they thought would be larger.

IMHO it was more of a brainchild idea that didn't pan out to be a separate profitable market.

You have WS and WSBS competing with it and they couldn't figure out how to combine the OSs basics without spending a lotta money.

WHS1 was completely different and got dropped for lack of the 'paying publics' interest.

If it were profitable, MS would still have it. :)
 
I'm not an expert but whs 2011 has been working fine for me since I installed it a month or 2 ago. I run a few 2tbs in a raid 1.

Streams all my media, backs up my home computers, and runs our minecraft server hassle free. It's also great to have all of the stuff in an easy location for LANs. It may not be as good as whs1 but it's good enough for me @ $50 :) .

I was always put off by drive exteneder mostly because i just didn't trust it. A raid is less flexible but atleast i know it works.
 
I don't understand why people would buy WHS 2011. Its like going from Windows XP to Windows ME. Microsoft moved the product to their business server team. That team didn't "deem" it worthy of adding more work than necessary so they pulled a bunch of features. Not sure why MS just didn't discontinue the product all together instead of having this mini me version. I'm a huge MS guy, but this ranks with MS Bob and Windows ME.
 
Old Hippie said:
The individual disks cannot be removed from a WHS2 machine and be read by a normal Windows OS like they were with WHS1
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Sure they can. I've done it already with a drive from the pool I moved to another machine. Even the third party DE-like plug-ins tout it as a feature. Each time you make a "definitive post, you are providing incorrect and misleading info. Use a product before you bash it.
gamerguy76 said:
I don't understand why people would buy WHS 2011. Its like going from Windows XP to Windows ME. Microsoft moved the product to their business server team. That team didn't "deem" it worthy of adding more work than necessary so they pulled a bunch of features. Not sure why MS just didn't discontinue the product all together instead of having this mini me version. I'm a huge MS guy, but this ranks with MS Bob and Windows ME.
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They pulled some features, but put in some LONG awaited features. I'm moving to it for the improvements of the Remote UI. If people are hung up on the loss of DE, then that will be fixed shortly. If people would rather use RAID, like me, there's nothing holding you back. Considering the cost, it shouldn't be a surprise that a lot of people will upgrade. It's definitely worth the $50, if I didn't already have it through TechNet.
 
Sure they can. I've done it already with a drive from the pool I moved to another machine.
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I'm more than glad to be corrected in some of my observations.

You moved a data pool drive from a WHS2011 machine and had it read as a single drive by a separate 64bit w7-Vista operating system....correct?

BTW....WHS1 didn't need "third party DE-like plug-ins" to do it's job.
 
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Just wanted to add that if you have a RAID 1 set up inside WHS2, you can remove 1 of the disks and read data off of it in another computer. If it was using software raid, you would need to go through Disk Management to see it. Not as user friendly or easy as DE but not to bad. The backup made through WHS2 can also be read on a win7 machine but you would still need to go through Disk Management and mount the drive as a VHD.

I was a big fan of WHSv1 but will be changing to WHS2. I actually like using RAID better than DE and WHS2 added several nice features that WHS1 didn't have. I think WHS2 could have and should have been much more but is still a nice product.
 
Thread has gone way off course! It was a pretty good deal if you needed WHS 2011.
 
DeaconFrost said:
It amazes me how many people were still complaining about DE, especially the ones hoping it will come back. You should do some reading on the subject before forming your opinions. Microsoft felt it was too buggy, so they took it away. End of story. Will something similar be implemented by Microsoft in the future? Possibly, but not likely.

The reason is, there are currently three third party contenders to fill that role. They work well, but are still in beta. So why not make your opinions based on the OS itself? WHS 2011 is far more advanced than V1. The remote UI alone is worth the upgrade. Then you can choose.....wait for one of the 3 plug-ins to go final and get that, or just get a cheap RAID card and build your own server. No big deal, and hardly a deal killer.
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Not entirely true. They felt it was too slow and they had problems getting it to work in a SBS environment. Since WHS is the red headed step child, they yanked the feature because SBS makes them more money.

Bottom line: The only real compelling reason to upgrade is if you want to stream your content over the internet. Since, as I understand it, it doesn't have full media center in it, this is of limited use. For example, I have a HD Homerun box on my network AFAIK I can't fire up my 360 and connect to media center running on WHS V2 and start watching TV. No, I still need a separate computer running an OS that supports Media Center to be on the network and running. This is IMHO another huge oversight in WHS V2. V1 can't do it either, but common MS, would it have been that hard to include it? If MS had included Media Center in it, then I could overlook the removal of DE, but with those two features missing, why bother? I can carry my content on me with my Zune or my phone, and don't have to worry about having a data connection to stream over.
 
The deal is dead, but it got me thinking about building a home server. The same $59 deal is going on over at Amazon with free shipping and no tax. Still a good deal for $59 bucks.
 
MajorDomo said:
The deal is dead, but it got me thinking about building a home server. The same $59 deal is going on over at Amazon with free shipping and no tax. Still a good deal for $59 bucks.
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It got me thinking about it too but honestly it would be a fun "tinker" project but not very practical for me.
 
At this price, if you have the hardware, it's great to back up a few of your more important files, if nothing else.
 
Damn, came to late for this deal, I was gonna set this as a "tinker" project too.
 
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