Diceis Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 What do you think works best ... I have 2 x 1tb drives and 1 x 500gb sata drive Ive currently got my 500gb as my OS (WHS 2011), Windows automatically partitioned this drive upon install, 60 GB for the OS and left 465GB spare. With the 2x1tb Drives I created a raid 0, which WHS aoutomatically chose that drive for my server folders and contains pictures, vids etc. Initially I was going to have the 2TB as Raid 0 and install everything on there, but thought if my OS becomes corrupt then I still have my files on the Raid array. Was this a good decision ? Oh, one more thing, I backup everything to and external drive :-) I was going to have a Raid 5 but cant afford another 1TB drive atm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmwills Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 I'd use the 500 gig for the OS and the 2x1TB for data. You could use the balance of the OS drive for downloads, offloading of backups, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_Miner Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 (edited) What do you think works best ... I have 2 x 1tb drives and 1 x 500gb sata drive Ive currently got my 500gb as my OS (WHS 2011), Windows automatically partitioned this drive upon install, 60 GB for the OS and left 465GB spare. With the 2x1tb Drives I created a raid 0, which WHS aoutomatically chose that drive for my server folders and contains pictures, vids etc. Initially I was going to have the 2TB as Raid 0 and install everything on there, but thought if my OS becomes corrupt then I still have my files on the Raid array. Was this a good decision ? Oh, one more thing, I backup everything to and external drive :-) I was going to have a Raid 5 but cant afford another 1TB drive atm A lot depends on how critical the documents/files you have on the server. I would never RAID 0 drives with critical/important data. One bump and everything is gone and you're dependant on the frequency and QUALITY of your backups. In my case I'd mirror the 1TB Data drives (RAID 1) and have 2 external backup disks with one disk always rotated off site. I like JMWillis's idea of using the 500 for the OS only -- if you lose it -- it's inconvient but if the data is accessable on your data drives then your good to go with a new OS drive. Plan on and prepare for drive failures and MB failues. Expect failures at the worst possible time (that's when they always happen to me). A good templete/starting-point would be to check out PCDoc's Back-up Strategy. That's my 2 cents. Edited March 28, 2012 by Joe_Miner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diceis Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 I'd use the 500 gig for the OS and the 2x1TB for data. You could use the balance of the OS drive for downloads, offloading of backups, etc. Thats what I have currently, I dont know if you was re-affirming what you read and liked what I put or something else In my case I'd mirror the 1TB Data drives (RAID 1) and have 2 external backup disks with one disk always rotated off site. You want the long story, sorry I should of elaberated. All the files I have on my server are on my main computer upstairs and they are synced with the server one a week, The server is for wsus for laptops and netbooks/streaming/remote access and other computer backups and a few other bits. I also have a external 2tb drive that syncs with my main PC, which is supposed to go offsite, just havent found a suitable offsite location yet , Is this overkill lol. I have 35,172 friends and family photos, 3,000 legit MP3s, 100+ home videos etc etc, dont fancy loosing them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmwills Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I'd RAID 1 those 2x1 TB drives. Like Joe said, you have no redundancy as of now, but if you trust the backups, you are okay. Do you test the backups? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrossco Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Even if you're not as concerned about redundancy, I'd at least mount each of the data drives as JBOD and manage your server folders independently. At least then, if one drive dies, you've at least retained any data on the good drive. This same scenario with RAID 0, and everything is hosed. I'm not all that dissimilar in my setup. I have a couple of 2TB drives, but instead of backup up my important files directly to them, I backup from my PC to my WHS and my WHS to the 2TB drives. I tried using WHS backup feature, but it doesn't seem to work well with swapping between drives that I store at the office. I've found that SyncToy 2.1 still works well for my purposes. On another note, I typically create a volitale share called "Downloads" and through it on the "D" parttion, which is the extra 465GB you just feel weird about not putting to use. I don't put important files on the volume, just scratch stuff that doesn't get accessed frequently... Hope at least some of this is helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcdoc Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Yep, I agree with mrossco, joe_miner, and jmwills. Mirror the 1T for redundancy as you can never be too careful with data. Lost a drive about 4 months ago in between backup cycles. Glad I had redundancy. Only you can decide how important you data is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikon Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I'll offer a slightly different perspective. As long as you have complete copies of your data in at least 2 places, I'm not so concerned about the RAID0. But, I do believe you need to sync more than once a week (unless, of course, your data changes so infrequently that once a week is enough). That said, I would never myself run with my data in only 2 places. I'm similar to mrossco in that: my data resides on my main desktop; it's replicated to my WHS (in my case, every night by a Scheduled Task that runs a RoboCopy batch file); it's again replicated to an external LIan-Li EX503 box attached to my server. In addition to the 3 points above, my data is also replicated to drives in an external drive dock every day. There are 2 sets of drives that are rotated offsite. Finally, to futher ensure drive health and longevity, I use SpinRite on my drives twice a year (one drive at a time, swapping in a spare drive for the one being SpinRited). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diceis Posted March 31, 2012 Author Share Posted March 31, 2012 Finally, to futher ensure drive health and longevity, I use SpinRite on my drives twice a year (one drive at a time, swapping in a spare drive for the one being SpinRited). Spinrite Rocks ;-) Do you test the backups? Yes I test the backups my data resides on my main desktop; it's replicated to my WHS (in my case, every night by a Scheduled Task that runs a RoboCopy batch file); it's again replicated to an external LIan-Li EX503 box attached to my server. In addition to the 3 points above, my data is also replicated to drives in an external drive dock every day. There are 2 sets of drives that are rotated offsite. Nice setup, sounds like my cup of English Tea Think thats what I'll do, as Ive already got that kind of setup/infrastructure already. Thanks for all your help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikon Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 You're most welcome. The great thing about these forums is that we can all share and exchange ideas, concepts, tips, and tricks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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