14 replies to this topic

[eagle63]

Hey guys, quick question. I've been running WHS 2011 on a test box for a few weeks, and before that I was running v1 on a different machine that has since been scrapped for parts. Anyway, I'm about to build a new machine and have more or less decided on going back to v1 - at least until Windows 8 comes out. (DE plus plugins were the primary factors for my decision)

Anyway, I was considering living with 2011 and utilizing the built-in backup feature until I did some reading and discovered that there is a 2TB limit on the amount of data you can backup. (regardless of how many drives you have, you can only backup a grand total of 2TB of data) My question is, has anything changed in this regard? Has Microsoft lifted that limitation or is it still there? This discovery was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. But the blogs that I read were from last April, so I'm crossing my fingers that maybe something has changed for the better. (probably wishful thinking) Thanks for any info!

[pcdoc]

Hey guys, quick question. I've been running WHS 2011 on a test box for a few weeks, and before that I was running v1 on a different machine that has since been scrapped for parts. Anyway, I'm about to build a new machine and have more or less decided on going back to v1 - at least until Windows 8 comes out. (DE plus plugins were the primary factors for my decision)

Anyway, I was considering living with 2011 and utilizing the built-in backup feature until I did some reading and discovered that there is a 2TB limit on the amount of data you can backup. (regardless of how many drives you have, you can only backup a grand total of 2TB of data) My question is, has anything changed in this regard? Has Microsoft lifted that limitation or is it still there? This discovery was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. But the blogs that I read were from last April, so I'm crossing my fingers that maybe something has changed for the better. (probably wishful thinking) Thanks for any info!

Just to clarify, it is the image of the server backup that has to be less than 2T. You can also backup as many 2T clients as you want as well as long as you have a storage volume large enough. There are dozens of threads in this forum that talk about this as well as the options. We will need some details on what you are trying to backup as well as approximate sizes and we can make some specific recommendations. As for waiting for Windows 8, you can do that and use "storage spaces" but depending on how much data you are trying to protect you might be better off with a RAID configuration. If you are talking about just a couple of drives you will be fine, but if you are talking about 4T+, I would consider a different option. Storage spaces will be much like some of the third party DE and will have mirroring/spanning. As your storage needs grow, a RAID 5/6 become a more efficient way to store data. Lastly, Windows 8 will not solve your backup problems in terms of a bare metal restore. For that you will need Sever 8. If you need a backup solution, you will still need to figure your strategy. If you detail what you need to do we can help.

[eagle63]

Thanks PCDoc, but the client backups are also backed-up as part of the server backup right? (unless you
exclude them) So if you had a single PC client that was backing up a full 2TB, then you've now maxed-out your server
backup limit.

My hope when I setup my 2011 box was that I could use my old 4-bay Drobo (the slow model) as the backup
"disk". This seemed - in theory - to be the best of both worlds: fast data drives without the
complexities of DE, but with a redundant storage device as the backing store. Then when I learned that
regardless of how much storage I had in the Drobo, it could only accept a grand total of 2TB of data
I suddenly lost interest in 2011.

I get that there are 3rd party tools to accomplish backup (such as allway sync) which I could certainly
use, but one of my goals was to keep the data storage stuff as simple (and "stock") as possible. Maybe
that's silly though and I should re-consider.. I don't know.

[ikon]

To be honest, I don't like image backups for data. For the OS, in order to do bare metal restores, absolutely; but for data, no thanks. I would rather have 2 copies of the data and have the files in both versions easily accessible using Windows Explorer.

[jmwills]

Data files need to be in the easiest form possible. I like shadow copies for easy restorations and then you could backup the source for a secondary copy.

[pcdoc]

Thanks PCDoc, but the client backups are also backed-up as part of the server backup right? (unless you
exclude them) So if you had a single PC client that was backing up a full 2TB, then you've now maxed-out your server
backup limit.

My hope when I setup my 2011 box was that I could use my old 4-bay Drobo (the slow model) as the backup
"disk". This seemed - in theory - to be the best of both worlds: fast data drives without the
complexities of DE, but with a redundant storage device as the backing store. Then when I learned that
regardless of how much storage I had in the Drobo, it could only accept a grand total of 2TB of data
I suddenly lost interest in 2011.

I get that there are 3rd party tools to accomplish backup (such as allway sync) which I could certainly
use, but one of my goals was to keep the data storage stuff as simple (and "stock") as possible. Maybe
that's silly though and I should re-consider.. I don't know.

Actually the Server/Shares backup is different than the Clients so there is a 2T limit on your server and the critical shares, and no real limit on the clients (except for each has a 2T limit on its own. It can be workable. I also agree with ikon on data. Pulling data from an image is much slower than just a copy.

[eagle63]

Thanks all. I don't mean to turn this into a v1 versus 2011 thing, but since I'm guessing most of you have experience with both is there any big reason why I should stick with 2011 on my new box? I get that v1 is older technology (server 2003), but it's still supported and I'm not looking for a solution for the next 10 years. Probably the next 1 - 3 years. Once Server 8 is out I may migrate to that. DE is pretty idiot-proof, and it provides (I think) the easiest way to deal with a failed drive. (just remove the old and put in a new one, no need to "restore" from a backup) Whichever way I go, I will be using Crashplan to backup everything to the cloud - so that's my failsafe. Thanks again, now just waiting for the UPS guy to arrive with my HP N40L!

[jazzerjay]

Thanks all. I don't mean to turn this into a v1 versus 2011 thing, but since I'm guessing most of you have experience with both is there any big reason why I should stick with 2011 on my new box? I get that v1 is older technology (server 2003), but it's still supported and I'm not looking for a solution for the next 10 years. Probably the next 1 - 3 years. Once Server 8 is out I may migrate to that. DE is pretty idiot-proof, and it provides (I think) the easiest way to deal with a failed drive. (just remove the old and put in a new one, no need to "restore" from a backup) Whichever way I go, I will be using Crashplan to backup everything to the cloud - so that's my failsafe. Thanks again, now just waiting for the UPS guy to arrive with my HP N40L!

Please post your trials and tribulations with the HP NL40L. In another post I mentioned looking at something to replace my HP Mediasmart server and I'm looking for more of a smaller footprint instead of a full tower. The NL40L doesn't come with USB 3, so some folks may not give it the appropriate attention. Again, thanks!

Jay

[jmwills]

USB 3.0 is just amazing for speed. There is a reason this unit is at the price point it is.

[ikon]

Thanks all. I don't mean to turn this into a v1 versus 2011 thing, but since I'm guessing most of you have experience with both is there any big reason why I should stick with 2011 on my new box? I get that v1 is older technology (server 2003), but it's still supported and I'm not looking for a solution for the next 10 years. Probably the next 1 - 3 years. Once Server 8 is out I may migrate to that. DE is pretty idiot-proof, and it provides (I think) the easiest way to deal with a failed drive. (just remove the old and put in a new one, no need to "restore" from a backup) Whichever way I go, I will be using Crashplan to backup everything to the cloud - so that's my failsafe. Thanks again, now just waiting for the UPS guy to arrive with my HP N40L!

I don't honestly think there is an overwhelming reason for you to stay with 2011. If v1 meets your needs (including disk access speed), then more power to you.

[eagle63]

@jazzerjay, @jmwills

I assume you could add a USB 3.0 card to the box if you really wanted it. If I had a newer Drobo (such as the Drobo S) then that might matter to me, but the 2nd gen version that I have is USB 2.0. Of course, if I had the Drobo S then I might just do WHS 2011 and have the Drobo manage all the drives...

[ImTheTypeOfGuy]

Thanks all. I don't mean to turn this into a v1 versus 2011 thing, but since I'm guessing most of you have experience with both is there any big reason why I should stick with 2011 on my new box? I get that v1 is older technology (server 2003), but it's still supported and I'm not looking for a solution for the next 10 years. Probably the next 1 - 3 years. Once Server 8 is out I may migrate to that. DE is pretty idiot-proof, and it provides (I think) the easiest way to deal with a failed drive. (just remove the old and put in a new one, no need to "restore" from a backup) Whichever way I go, I will be using Crashplan to backup everything to the cloud - so that's my failsafe. Thanks again, now just waiting for the UPS guy to arrive with my HP N40L!

You have discovered one of the many reasons some of us have stuck with v1. I am using v1 and crashplan and it works well.

[ikon]

@jazzerjay, @jmwills

I assume you could add a USB 3.0 card to the box if you really wanted it. If I had a newer Drobo (such as the Drobo S) then that might matter to me, but the 2nd gen version that I have is USB 2.0. Of course, if I had the Drobo S then I might just do WHS 2011 and have the Drobo manage all the drives...

I have 2 of the StarTech USB3 add-in cards. I haven't fully narrowed it down, but I'm very suspicious that the one in my WHS2011 is not performing at anything like typical USB3 speeds. I've had much better luck with the USB3 ports built onto motherboards.

[jmwills]

I used a Gigabyte board this weekend (see Signature line for SBS Server) to connect to a 3.0 portable drive. Amazingly fast. I'm not a big fan of add-in cards if the capability is on the board to begin with.

[ImTheTypeOfGuy]

Yes USB 3 is amazingly fast. I have found that when I connect USB 2 devices, the transfer rates are still faster using USB 3 even though the device doesn't have that technology. I notice this on my hp touchpad, Canon camera, and Canon video camera.