Effect of system disk on WHS performance

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computerpro3

LightningRod
Joined
Mar 29, 2003
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The system disks on my WHS are old 400gb hitachi 7200rom drives in raid 1. They are both starting to go, and they are from like 2004 anyway so it's time to replace them.

I have a $75 gift card on Amazon that I plan on using for it. My question is, is it better to get a small fast drive like a 60gb ssd (I prefer SSD for noise and reliability), or something like a 2tb 5400rpm drive for the system disk?

Are backups placed on the system disk? IF so, what happens if the 60gb drive fills up? Is there a way to force them onto another drive?
 
if by system disk you mean the C:\Windows and all of that garbage, the ssd is better.

you can backup to an external disk through your backup program. by default windows restore can be set to use a small percentage of the drive so I wouldn't worry about that.
 
gjs278...do you own WHS v1?

1. The primary disk for WHS is partioned into 2 drives C & D with a small portion assigned to C for the "OS". For the most part, it doesn't matter on WHS (especially V1) since a) the primary drive is the last spot data is put b) WHS is not OS drive "intensive". There is no "landing" spot any of the crap anymore.

2. As for the backup, i'm not sure where gjs278 got his data, but it seems a bit misinformed.

a) WHS v1 does not have a backup method for the OS drive nor was it meant to have one. WHS intended that when the primary failed, you would replace it and do a repair install and carry on. Any addons, etc could be replaced in short order.

b) As for backing up the backup database...WHS v1 puts it on the pool drives. There are apps to help you back this up but it is more than likely not on the primary drive much less C:\ drive. Also, it is a "database" file and not a iso/etc.
 
I don't rely on any built in windows backup method, I always take an image of the disk. so I guess my info is not relevant to your situation. I personally would just turn off any backups that attempt to put themselves on the system disk, make an image of the system partitions into the pool, and if I ever need to repair the system drive, grab that image from the pool and restore it to the next system disk I had available.
 
I used an old 500gb 7200rpm Maxtor for a couple of years with WHSv1. When I rebuilt my WHSv1 early this year I but an 80gb Intel X25-M g2 in it for the OS drive. It can't be described as 'snappy' now, but it doesn't seem so 'laggy'.

IIRC you need a 65gb min formatted area for your primary drive so the 60/64gb SSD's probably won't work.
 
gjs278 said:
I don't rely on any built in windows backup method, I always take an image of the disk. so I guess my info is not relevant to your situation. I personally would just turn off any backups that attempt to put themselves on the system disk, make an image of the system partitions into the pool, and if I ever need to repair the system drive, grab that image from the pool and restore it to the next system disk I had available.
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Your point doesn't answer his question and the size it takes to implement your method is larger. The WHS backup method is sector based so if you have a bunch of win7 machines, a lot of data is duplicated but only gets written once. Furthermore WHS can create snapshots at varying points as well. No different than any other backup program. Furthermore, if you do need to recall from a backup...it is simple as shit. Now, if you want to create an image type snapshot every once and a while as an alternate form of system backup...then go ahead. But to somehow think other programs are superior to the WHS's method is blind ignorance.
 
Trepidati0n said:
Your point doesn't answer his question and the size it takes to implement your method is larger. The WHS backup method is sector based so if you have a bunch of win7 machines, a lot of data is duplicated but only gets written once. Furthermore WHS can create snapshots at varying points as well. No different than any other backup program. Furthermore, if you do need to recall from a backup...it is simple as shit. Now, if you want to create an image type snapshot every once and a while as an alternate form of system backup...then go ahead. But to somehow think other programs are superior to the WHS's method is blind ignorance.
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sure I answered the questions. what's better, the 2tb drive or the ssd? the ssd. you don't put system applications in the pool, they would all go to the ssd for quicker load time. it may not be worth it, but if he finds a 60gb drive for $75, it will be better than a 2tb 5400 drive, whether that is worth it is up to him.

as for the backup question, I agree with the poster in the other thread quoted below:

cre3d said:
AFAIK, server 2008 supports backups of it's own drives but doesn't do the kind of automated client backups that WHS2011 does. WHS also provides you with a rescue disk that will streamline the restore process. Of course this is all totally doable with something as simple as a copy of acronis and some scheduled tasks using robocopy to copy the image files over to the server.
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if the WHS backup method dumps into the pool, then there's nothing to worry about. the system disk ssd won't get filled and will be fine. when it fails, it can be restored using the WHS method.

it there was an issue where WHS was filling up the ssd, you could avoid space problems by just using your own backup method to dump images to the pool or an external source. if the ssd fails, you boot up any live cd, grab the os image, put it on the ssd, and you're back up and running.

the advice I gave is general for any OS, whs included.
 
My question is, is it better to get a small fast drive like a 60gb ssd (I prefer SSD for noise and reliability), or something like a 2tb 5400rpm drive for the system disk?
Click to expand...
Save your money.

I still like a small system drive so WHS doesn't start putting "pool" files on it but it's not gonna make any difference in speed when the other drives are slower.
 
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