Windows Home Server FAQ

erebus720 said:
I see it, I just don't see the toolbar. I can click on stuff, but not do anything.

Yeah I think that's what I'm going to do. I was doing it before at one point. What about the ftp transfers?
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Perhaps the webgui and WHS plugin is not setup and configured correctly.

As far as FTP transfers I can't help you. I haven't used FTP in more than 6 years.
 
erebus720 said:
I must have the WHS plugin to use the gui?

My last box (non whs) It worked fine.
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Well then I don't know what you are talking about. The whole point of using utorrent on WHS is that you can access utorrent via the console on any other machine. If there's something else you are trying to do then I guess I don't understand.
 
erebus720 said:
I had utorrent installed normally, and I could access the webUI in my browser but the toolbar doesnt display, I don't need / want to access it it in the console.

I just followed this guide:

http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Install_uTorrent_on_Windows_Home_Server

This doesn't get me anywhere.

*pulls hair out*

I really would like to manage utorrent from my browser
Click to expand...

Well that guide is for installing it in the console. Perhaps you'll need to find and download this toolbar of yours.

Besides, once setup you won't ever need to look it at. Like I said, it can autoload torrents and move them wherever you want when they are done.
I can see them via the console or I can just remote desktop into the server and deal with the app itself, though I never need to do that as I have it so automated.
 
I really would like to access it in my browser, I have seedboxes to manage and it would make it alot easier.

This is what I need :)
 
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erebus720 said:
1. Id rather not keep a small drive in the WHS out of the storage pool for uTorrent, Is it safe to download into a share?
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On this very thread, start on post #479 and go from there. A few of users, myself included, have been discussing that very subject extensively (20+ posts!).

erebus720 said:
2. I have uTorrent installed, and the webGUI active, I can connect to it.. However I don't see the toolbar in the browser. I want to have webgui access to add torrents. How can I fix that?
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Sorry, can't help you there. I've never used uTorrent webGUI.

erebus720 said:
3. Computer backups.. Is there a limit on the amount of machines I can backup? I know that only 10 machines can connect to the WHS at a time(I think). I have machines that are rarely on.
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I believe WHS has a 10-machine, 10-account limit. Meaning you can only have 10 machines using the backup feature, and 10 different users with personal share folders. The great thing is, if you manage your users correctly, you can access those shares from ANY networked computer (just give them the same name and password on all the computers).

As for the 10-machine limit, I believe that's self-explanatory: no backup for the 11th one until some other machine is dropped out. You might be able to add a second low-power WHS machine with only a couple of disks just for backup purposes, though, if you have another machine available. You might even have it power up only during backup times, using Lights Out, and save power...

I do, however, believe that you can have more than 10 simultaneous data transfers to/from the server, though I have never tried that. It might need some of the transfers to be from the same username (to keep it inside the 10-account limit), though.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

Miguel
 
i use utorrent webui with the console addin and it works fine.... i also added a link to my private homepage with the webui so i dont actually have to log into the console....
 
We have Idrive on our whs, my roomie uses it to backup some of his stuff, and I have a few things on there too.

Is it safe to be using the D:\shares for the backup targets?

There isn't an option to use anything else.. (afaik)

We did this for quite awhile, I didnt realize it.

Don't wanna bork shit on the new WHS
 
I'm not familiar with Idrive but you'll need to use UNC paths:

\\server\video
\\server\backup

etc.
 
Yeah I don't think it can, Im installing the "explorer plugin"

Well see :|

Yea I dont think it can, In explorer I can right click and add stuff to the backup target, or backup this item now.

Neither do shit.

Would mapping the \\server\share to a drive letter in windows be fine? I dont see why not.
 
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Does Single Instance Store work for data between backups and shared folders to not take up 2x the space?

If not, Can I share data that's part of a back up?

I want a large amount of media on my main system (~2 TB), have a backup of it, but also have it on my WHS as a shared item. Can I do this without have 3 copies of it?
 
erebus720 said:
Yeah I don't think it can, Im installing the "explorer plugin"

Well see :|

Yea I dont think it can, In explorer I can right click and add stuff to the backup target, or backup this item now.

Neither do shit.

Would mapping the \\server\share to a drive letter in windows be fine? I dont see why not.
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A variation of this works for me when I backup the folders on the server with another external usb drive via Synctoy 2.0. Give it a shot. /crosses fingers
 
Its working, haven't had a problem yet.

It was ran using d:/shares for 5-6 months. What problems would it of caused?

Whats your method?
 
erebus720 said:
Its working, haven't had a problem yet.

It was ran using d:/shares for 5-6 months. What problems would it of caused?

Whats your method?
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I just open up SyncToy, do left to right duplication, with left being the server share folder and right being target external usb drive, run, and have never had a problem. SyncToy doesn't have a problem recognizing either location over the network.

It is simple, not in depth, but it is fool proof and I don't have to worry about real time software mucking up the process. Also, if something goes hideously wrong with the whs I have the usb turned off and not attached to the box. Call me paranoid.

I don't map network drives because (as noted earlier in this thread I believe) it shows up as always full and frankly it annoys me that it thinks this and isn't smart enough to distinguish.
 
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WARNING

Do Not Use HDDs such as the WDxxEARS that have the 4k sectors (aka Advanced Format) on your WHS.

The sectors size is not natively supported on XP/2003 and requires special software to work properly.
This combined with WHS DE could essentially eat your data.
 
Hmm, from the preview I read a couple of days ago, I was under the impression that 4K sectors were going to be emulated by the drive's firmware when exposing it to the OS...

The only warning notes I read have to do with the XP-based "sector misalignment", which can end up hurting performance...

So, as usual, can you provide a link? As soon as I read that preview, I was like "YES! Perfect for WHS!". Now I'm :confused:.

Cheers.

Miguel
 
There are two ways to align any partition on the new drives:
1. Use WD's Align utility
2. Set the jumper on the drive to offset the LBA.

I wouldn't be surprised if the 1st was a no-go with WHS - the DE would wipe out any formatting/alignment you had done (unless it's a backup drive).

The 2nd however should work in theory; since it's a hardware (not software) way to trick the drive into behaving the way an older Windows OS would like, WHS should be fine with it.

Of course, this is all in theory...I haven't gotten one to practice with yet so I'd be interested to see what nitrobass24's experience is...
 
__Miguel_ said:
Hmm, from the preview I read a couple of days ago, I was under the impression that 4K sectors were going to be emulated by the drive's firmware when exposing it to the OS...

The only warning notes I read have to do with the XP-based "sector misalignment", which can end up hurting performance...

So, as usual, can you provide a link? As soon as I read that preview, I was like "YES! Perfect for WHS!". Now I'm :confused:.

Cheers.

Miguel
Click to expand...

Miguel - the original AnandTech article pointed out the inherent problems all of the Windows 5.x flavors, including WHS, would have with the new drive (second paragraph of http://anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3691&p=2)
 
http://wdc.com/en/products/advancedformat/

http://www.pcper.com/comments.php?nid=8113

quote from the pcper link:
...Increased use of RAID was what led Microsoft to change the default partition start from sector 63 to sector 2048. This change started with Vista and is included in Win 7. Those still running XP with a default partition will see a performance hit with these new drives, as each 4k cluster modified will not be properly aligned to the 4k blocks of the Advanced Format drive. Because 63 is not evenly divisible by 8, each 8-sector cluster written will result in 2 4k blocks modified on the newer drive.
Click to expand...

also:
versions. Installing a jumper between pins 7-8 on the drive does nothing more than direct the drives firmware to offset the LBA by one (i.e. sector 63 becomes 64 as far as the drive-side of the data is concerned). This would cause a default XP partition to perform as if it was aligned properly. You can't shift this jumper after data is present on the drive as it would cause the Partition Table / Master Boot Record to be offset by one sector as well and therefore cause it to be unrecognizable by the OS.
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I think if it all works out method 2 mentioned by LhasaCM should work. But this is all in theory....
 
LhasaCM said:
Miguel - the original AnandTech article pointed out the inherent problems all of the Windows 5.x flavors, including WHS, would have with the new drive (second paragraph of http://anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3691&p=2)
Click to expand...
Oh, right, I forgot that tiny tidbit of information. Thanks!

However, I don't see that as potentially "data unsafe". That Anandtech article clearly states a misaligned partition should only experience speed decreases, not data loss.

From what I've read, it seems a misaligned cluster structure will cause extra read and write operations, because data must be fetched or written to one more cluster per cluster, just like how it happens with SSDs. Data should still be safe, right?

LhasaCM said:
There are two ways to align any partition on the new drives:
1. Use WD's Align utility
2. Set the jumper on the drive to offset the LBA.

I wouldn't be surprised if the 1st was a no-go with WHS - the DE would wipe out any formatting/alignment you had done (unless it's a backup drive).

The 2nd however should work in theory; since it's a hardware (not software) way to trick the drive into behaving the way an older Windows OS would like, WHS should be fine with it.
Click to expand...
According to Anandtech, the 2nd way is also a no go, unless the default 20GB partition on WHS ends up coinciding exactly with a 4K (-1 LBA) cluster barrier. Seems to me Veil will be needed sooner rather than later.

Which is nice, M$ being told "step it up, people!" by the HDD manufacturers... hehehe

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but 4K clusters can actually allow for more HDD data area, because parity information and whatnot take less space, right? That's one of the biggest reasons for the shift, as I understand it... If that's the case, it will be interesting to see drive densities increase even faster...

Cheers.

Miguel
 
__Miguel_ said:
However, I don't see that as potentially "data unsafe". That Anandtech article clearly states a misaligned partition should only experience speed decreases, not data loss.

From what I've read, it seems a misaligned cluster structure will cause extra read and write operations, because data must be fetched or written to one more cluster per cluster, just like how it happens with SSDs. Data should still be safe, right?
Click to expand...

Theoretically, that's basically correct. I am curious what prompted the original warning.

__Miguel_ said:
According to Anandtech, the 2nd way is also a no go,
unless the default 20GB partition on WHS ends up coinciding exactly with a 4K (-1 LBA) cluster barrier. Seems to me Veil will be needed sooner rather than later.
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Good caveat; even with the workaround, you don't want to use one of these as a system drive in WHS. However, as just another drive in the pool, the jumper trick might be enough to avoid the performance decrease.

__Miguel_ said:
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but 4K clusters can actually allow for more HDD data area, because parity information and whatnot take less space, right?
Click to expand...

Yes, in total, less ECC data is needed with the larger sectors, allowing for more usable space.
 
LhasaCM said:
Theoretically, that's basically correct. I am curious what prompted the original warning.
Click to expand...
Let's see the reply, I'm curious about this one.

LhasaCM said:
However, as just another drive in the pool, the jumper trick might be enough to avoid the performance decrease.
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And that's actually the way most of these drives should end up, at least for already-built machines.

Let's face it, migrating data to a new server (especially if the hardware you're using doesn't change) is a MAJOR pain (I count 6h+ on my last one, and that was for under 1TB of data...). So for those WHS machines already in place, the extra jumper will probably let it be OK until you are ready to loose your mind when upgrading to Veil... lol

LhasaCM said:
Yes, in total, less ECC data is needed with the larger sectors, allowing for more usable space.
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So, that means probably we'll be seeing a 2.5TB drive from WD, based on the WD20EARS (that is, 4 platters, 64MB cache, the works), only with that extra space left from the 4K sector migration correctly used?

Also, does anyone find the insanely huge cache jump odd? I mean, even the 500GB drive has the extra cache... Usually, sub-1TB drives have 2-8MB of cache, they seldom go up to 16MB... Can it be the sector emulation needs that extra cache area? If that's the case, then power consumption will probably go up, at least on the first generations...

Cheers.

Miguel
 
okay guys, scratching my head....

I got a new motherboard for my WHS... a Foxconn ELA P45 with 3 PCIe 16x ports for my norco 4020...

I am wanting to install the drives with ACHI and when i set it to ACHI in the bios the drives automatically show up in WHS PP1.

does PP1 have ACHI drivers for sata drive native? I got a bluescreen when installing and luckly i have enough backup hard drives to have had a complete backup of my data...

anyways, I tried using the RAID drives from the motherboard for the intel matrix but i am not using raid... ACHI. do i need other drivers that were not included in wit the CD?
 
Adidas4275 said:
okay guys, scratching my head....

I got a new motherboard for my WHS... a Foxconn ELA P45 with 3 PCIe 16x ports for my norco 4020...

I am wanting to install the drives with ACHI and when i set it to ACHI in the bios the drives automatically show up in WHS PP1.

does PP1 have ACHI drivers for sata drive native? I got a bluescreen when installing and luckly i have enough backup hard drives to have had a complete backup of my data...

anyways, I tried using the RAID drives from the motherboard for the intel matrix but i am not using raid... ACHI. do i need other drivers that were not included in wit the CD?
Click to expand...

I would give these a try :)
 
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?

I got it working... it is finishing up the install now... i needed to hit f6 at the blue "old" install screen for ACHI to work.

confusing that the first install, WHS specific, was able to see ACHI drives..
 
Adidas4275 said:
?

I got it working... it is finishing up the install now... i needed to hit f6 at the blue "old" install screen for ACHI to work.

confusing that the first install, WHS specific, was able to see ACHI drives..
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ok well nvm if it worked then great.
 
thanks for the link to the drivers.... i downlaoded them.... easier to use those than the stupid flash based UI for the CD from the motherboard...


damn 83 updates for WHS right now..... they need SP1 to go with PP3 :D
 
Hello to Everybody,
I just built my first WHS.
I have one question , I think here WHS-gurus can answer... :)
Is it possible to share a folder or the full disk of "Unmanaged Disk" in WHS?
Thanks in advance...
Ah,1 more question?
Can I transfer files within WHS unmanaged disk to storage pool ? (this would be
the fastest data migration...)
 
omega_new said:
Hello to Everybody,
I just built my first WHS.
I have one question , I think here WHS-gurus can answer... :)
Is it possible to share a folder or the full disk of "Unmanaged Disk" in WHS?
Thanks in advance...
Ah,1 more question?
Can I transfer files within WHS unmanaged disk to storage pool ? (this would be
the fastest data migration...)
Click to expand...

you have to RDP in and share it just like any normal share in Server 2003 or XP.

the user rights have to be set and there was something that I needed to change... it was in the advance settings for security.... there are user IDs that are crazy numbers and such... you need to set access for those, otherwise you will not get access.

you cannot create a unmanaged share from the console.... AFAIK
 
Adidas4275 said:
you have to RDP in and share it just like any normal share in Server 2003 or XP.

the user rights have to be set and there was something that I needed to change... it was in the advance settings for security.... there are user IDs that are crazy numbers and such... you need to set access for those, otherwise you will not get access.

you cannot create a unmanaged share from the console.... AFAIK
Click to expand...

Thank You!
Do you have idea about copy files from unmanaged disk to storage pool inside WHS?
 
just copy them from the unmanaged drive to the network share... use

//server/music

not D:\de\shares\music (or whatever it is)
 
How do you prevent a user from accessing the WHS console other than creating a user logon w/limited rights? 'Specifically on a Mac... It's being backed up to an HP EX490 so the software has to be installed in order to implement the Time Machine plug-in, can the Console app be un-installed independently of that tho? I think it can be on Windows (the Console and HP's other software show up as separate entries in Add/Remove) but I dunno on Mac... I'm actually trouble-shooting this remotely for a family member for whom I set it up or I'd have a lot more leeway to experiment on my own.
 
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