Help: WHS Build

E

[-erick-]

n00b
Joined
Feb 4, 2010
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34
PC1
Asus Commando with e6700
4x2gb TX DDR2-800
Palit 9400gt 1GB
WD 640gb Green (Win7 64bit)

PC2
Asus Rampage 2 Extreme i7 920
3x1gb DDR3-1600 GSkill Trident
Palit GTX295

1x150gb WD Raptor (Win7 32bit)
4x1tb (WD, Samsung, SG)
2x2tb (WD)

2x1tb (TT BlacX, Antec-MX1)

Lappy1: Acer 4530
Lappy2: HP Vivienne Tam

PC1 Currently serves as a Downloading PC/HTPC machine.
From what i read that WHS cannot be used (i assumed) that you cannot make it as a HTPC.

I was thinking of making a Raid 5, install a Win7 64bit and install WHS in Virtual PC.

I have created a Raid0 (with 2 320gb) drive, But havent tried a raid 5 needs at least 3 disk (i got 3x1TB for it). If i want to add another disk can i add a 2tb to it? Or does it need to be the same sizes?

I would like to make this pc connected to a 32" LCD TV.

TIA

[PC2 Drives have no backup/failsafe for the data]

So i was planning to create PC1 as WHS/HTPC hybrid or something; still open to new or better suggestion.
 
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Ideally, you would run your WHS as a separate computer in your basement or something. Is there a particular reason why you want to run WHS on your HTPC if the files are to be stored locally anyway?
 
first reason is that my wife would kill me if i add another PC at home. lol

we got 2 desktop, 2 laptops for a family of 3 (me, wife & 5yr old son). In the philippines, this is uncommon to have such a number.

I know you can build a WHS with a minimum spec (atom, 2gb mems) but if i can run it with one PC then that would be awesome.

Asus commando is capable of Raid,0,1,5,10. Will it be possible for me to make this happen? or will it be a hassle to configure/maintain?
 
Adidas4275 said:
what about a streamer device like the WDTV Live?
Click to expand...

i don't plan to get one. Its to restrictive. HTPC is a lot more flexible.

I haven't installed WHS yet and i am concerned on the RAID/hdd it does? lets say
i have 3x1tb to add to the "pool" 1 drive dies, when i replace it does it automatically restore what it lost on the dead drive?
 
i was just trying to help the .... i need 1 PC to fill a void which most suggest using 2 PCs.... problem
 
Adidas4275 said:
i was just trying to help the .... i need 1 PC to fill a void which most suggest using 2 PCs.... problem
Click to expand...

and i appreciate your answer. :)

Thats why i am here, looking for suggestions and comments for my build or rebuild.
 
[-erick-];1035289159 said:
I have created a Raid0 (with 2 320gb) drive, But havent tried a raid 5 needs at least 3 disk (i got 3x1TB for it). If i want to add another disk can i add a 2tb to it? Or does it need to be the same sizes?
Click to expand...

You can certainly add a 2TB drive to a 3 x 1TB RAID 5 array BUT you'll only be able to use 1TB of that 2TB in a 3 x 1TB RAID 5 array. So basically if you add a 2TB drive, you'll only have a 3TB RAID 5 array, not a 4TB RAID 5 array. If you haven't figured it out by now, a 3 x 1TB RAID 5 array is actually a 2TB RAID 5 array.

OK assuming that you don't use RAID 5 and have a 3TB drive pool, if you have duplication turned on for all files and folders and one drive dies, whatever data that was on the dead drive will be restored to the new replacement drive/storage.
 
Thanks Danny for clearing up the WHS hdd restore and Raid5 query.

So which will be better? Using the software RAID on my mobo or just use the WHS?

Should i install WHS then VM (Win7 for MCE) (is this possible) or Win7 64 bit then VM (WHS)?
 
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The problem is that HTPC and WHS won't coexist well. You need the HTPC to run win7 IMO. You want hardware acceleration for video decoding, if your processor needs to any decoding cause the vid card can't, you want that native. Not constricted in a VM, but native drivers and everything.

WHS can run in a VM, but not well, typically HyperV would be about it, as you want WHS to have direct acess to hard disk, and WinVirtualPC and the like won't do it.

Why do you need WHS? as backup? Win7 functions pretty well as a file server, and a decent pc could be a HTPC and a file server all based on Win7.

let us know. And I would aviod RAID with WHS, just let the server handle the drives.
 
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You can expose drives directly to WHS that is running in a Hyper-V VM. Also, if you use a hardware raid controller, all you have is an intermediary step of creating the raid volumes before exposing the disks directly to the WHS VM in Hyper-V. Doing this is really pretty basic stuff in Hyper-V.

As for not running well, WHS has been running the same in my VM versus a physical box. I just gave it its own dedicated hardware (NIC's, drives, and etc, while provisioning enough CPU and ram and everything runs great. I think a lot of people have done Hyper-V WHS.
 
Hyper-V WHS works well, he stated he wanted to use a OS level hypervisor, in a pm to me he stated Virtual PC, and that just wouldn't work well.

Would he be able to run Win7 in HyperV and keep hardware acceleartion and the like for HTPC duties?
 
Thank you guys for the response.

Basically what i want is a PC that can do backup/restore function (like WHS) so easier for me to manage my pcs.

2nd is make a HTPC/Downloader hybrid PC (for viewing my downloads to a 32" HDTV, cable here in the philippines s*cks no HD content yet)

3rd: Have my 8tb++ data have data recovery (either by WHS or RAID5 (asus commando))

Actually i am more open to suggestion if you guys think there's a better solution. (As long as its Windows based) i dunno linux based system/config.

Thank you guys again for your help i am a server/whs noobie, i am an above average computer enthusiast.

Getting a Hardware Raid controller here is difficult to obtain (local) so i'll be thinking of getting one when my friend gets back to the US to "refresh" his citizenship.
 
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good call on the hardware RAID card. Just read the horror stories here about on board FAKE raid. It was enough to make me do enough research and go spend several hundred and get a decent hardware RAID card back then.

If you do decide to by pass RAID and go with file duplication on WHS I can tell you it did save me one time on a hard drive crash. Just had to get the bad drive out and hook up a new one and all my files were there.
 
pjkenned said:
You can expose drives directly to WHS that is running in a Hyper-V VM. Also, if you use a hardware raid controller, all you have is an intermediary step of creating the raid volumes before exposing the disks directly to the WHS VM in Hyper-V. Doing this is really pretty basic stuff in Hyper-V.

As for not running well, WHS has been running the same in my VM versus a physical box. I just gave it its own dedicated hardware (NIC's, drives, and etc, while provisioning enough CPU and ram and everything runs great. I think a lot of people have done Hyper-V WHS.
Click to expand...

thanks for the info; so if i run Hyper-V i can run both WHS and Win7 in it. At the moment, i can either use the raid on commando? or should i just let WHS "eat it" for the storage pool?

ie: 320gb SG (Hyper-V)

plug in 3x1tb's (2xWD Green, 1xSG) then Install WHS (50gb? enough) then feed the 3x1tb's in the storage pool. (then copy data to it)

Install another VM (Win7 50gb?).

i got 8gb of mems so how much should i allocate for WHS (2gb) Win7 (2gb) rest for Hyper-V?
 
ok to start with i would have a main machine very powerfull set up on a desk but also linked to a large screen use this machien for download etc at the desk then get a media center remote and sit on the sofa hit the button you now have a media center system for all that hd tv and movies

the whs sits other side of desk holding all the films music etc with media streaming on windows 7 media center detects this
 
if both the pc's are used by different ppl then i would build a whs just for the file hosting and pc backups
 
[-erick-];1035301380 said:
thanks for the info; so if i run Hyper-V i can run both WHS and Win7 in it. At the moment, i can either use the raid on commando? or should i just let WHS "eat it" for the storage pool?

ie: 320gb SG (Hyper-V)

plug in 3x1tb's (2xWD Green, 1xSG) then Install WHS (50gb? enough) then feed the 3x1tb's in the storage pool. (then copy data to it)

Install another VM (Win7 50gb?).

i got 8gb of mems so how much should i allocate for WHS (2gb) Win7 (2gb) rest for Hyper-V?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how media center works in a Hyper-V VM if that is what you are after. I usually keep low power boxes running Win 7 w/ Media Center since they are quiet.

WHS requires 62 or 64GB (can't remember).

I usually run Hyper-V off a Server 2008 R2 environment, so I'm not sure how much memory needs to get allocated to the base Hyper-V server (since I do always give R2 at least 4GB). My guess is that you will be able to do something closer to 2GB for WHS and 6GB for Win 7.
 
thanks for the help guys.

Will try the Server 2008 R2 - Hyper V and create WHS and Win7 this weekend. Will report back on the thread if its good enough :)
 
Tested the Server 2008 R2 and its not noob friendly.

Installed WHS "vail", added the 1st 2tb on the storage pool. Offloading data to it (afterwards) will add the second to the storage pool.

I only have 30days to use this, if i ever re-install it again (will my data be safe?)

When i added the 2TB (WD Green) it was formatted in FAT32 not NTFS; will my 8-20gb mkv safe to copy to it?

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Or will my Data be safe until WHS2 is officially released? or should i download the "official" evaluation iso in M$? if so will this DE Drive be safe?

TIA
 
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i would not use vail for anything mission critical.....

it is an untested pre-alpha
 
thanks for the info guys, will just finish the filetransfer. Will see if i can reinstall WHS SP2 trial over it. I only got 2tb "free" space only, i was planning to add the current 2tb to the pool after transferring the data to the storage pool.

In WHS SP2 trial, can i plug a data drive like what i am doing now? or will it be automatically added to the storage pool without my consent (autoformat)?

btw, why was the drive formatted in fat32? not ntfs? as we all know that it has a 4gb limit, (atm the files i am copying are just from 350mb-1gb 720p TVshows)
 
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