Next advice on WHS v1 Upgrade path

J

jazzman161

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 6, 2004
Messages
220
Hey all. I have been using my WHS v1 + DAS setup for about 4-5 years with good success. Pretty much I just need it to store files & computer back-ups. I have certain folders (movies, pictures, documents) duplicated.

My issue is, running on WHS v1, I'm stuck with 2TB drives and I would like to upgrade the OS (maybe to Win7?) so I can start populating the server with 3TB+ drives.

How would you guys recommend I proceed? Do you guys see a way to consolidate all this into 1 box while upgrading the OS and still keeping all the hardware,cards,etc. Any reason to upgrade what I have?

(See server setup below)

WHS
AMD X2-245 64-bit
A785GM-M based mobo
2GB memory
AOC-SASLP-MV8 (1 8087 port support 4 drives, 1 port connected to expander)
7 2TB drive

DAS
HP SAS Expander
8 2TB drives
 
I would suggest you look into UnRaid, its based on Debian Linux and boots off a flash drive and managed via a web interface. I am not sure if your HP SAS expander would be supported but you can download a 30 day trial and boot it on your system and see without changing anything. You can mix and match drives with UnRaid as long as your largest drive is dedicated to parity. It has lots to offer in terms of features and will cost about the same (for the Pro version that supports up to 24 drives, they have cheaper versions that support fewer drives) as a Windows license ($129)
 
I, too, have a WHSv1 system I am looking to replace. My current plan is to employ a spare Windows Server 2012 (non-R2) key I have, stick in a raid card and create a raid 5 array using three 3TB Hitachi drives. The shares are easy to set up, permissions should be easy, too. I still have to look into backups for the computers in the house, but I think I might be able to just copy over the inetpub folder after setting up IIS and configuring a few other things.

Curious to see where you go with yours.
 
If I opted to go the Unraid route, can I still keep all the data on my current WHS? I did some searching online but couldn't really find any info on going from WHS to Unraid except for one that erased all drives and I'm not trying to do that.
 
I would post this question over in the UnRaid forums, I am not sure on the answer, but as UnRaid gives you three choices for file system, XFS, BTRFS or ReiserFS I would assume you would have to wipe your drives, do you not have your data backed up to a second drive(s)?
 
If you don't want to go the UnRaid Debian route you could always try out Snapraid on Windows.
 
I would second the SnapRAID advice. However neither of these will let you keep your data in the current WHS format or allow you to convert without making a backup of your data first then reformatting.
 
So it seems no matter what OS route I go, I will need to build a 2nd rig to help with the data transfer from my old WHS v1 server.

Is that right?
 
Man... that is a lot of data to deal with. If you go the unRAID route, DO NOT use ZFS with the current hardware you have. You NEED to use ECC RAM if your going to use ZFS.
 
FireBean said:
Man... that is a lot of data to deal with. If you go the unRAID route, DO NOT use ZFS with the current hardware you have. You NEED to use ECC RAM if your going to use ZFS.
Click to expand...

Recommended? Yes. Need? Heck no, one doesn't "NEED" ECC RAM for ZFS.
 
I went from WHS v1 (Drive Extender) to WHS 2011 (DrivePool) to WS 2012 R2 (DrivePool) using all the same hardware and cards. I upgraded every component at different intervals, but you CAN do an in-place upgrade.

DrivePool is the best option, it's the most like Drive Extender, and you can upgrade your existing drives without having to reformat them.

http://forum.covecube.com/discussion/574/how-to-migrating-from-whs-v1s-drive-extender/p1
 
If it isn't broken..don't fix it. My $0.02 is to get an external drive. Then turn off duplication on non-critical data static data (e.g. movies) and copy it to that drive once a month or so. Gives quite a bit of space back for little $. The hardest part is not being lazy when doing it once a week/month. Keep the drive offline for extra paranoia. This should push you out a bit longer w/o any heavy cash out of pocket.

Still using WHS v1 myself. The damn thing won't die which is why i'm still on W7 for our house PC's. However, I will probably move to Synology after this. The 1515 or the 1815 give enough bays and have expansion units if required.

I've also shifted away from bare metal backups (which WHS has). Too many tings can cause them to fail. I just put my data in one spot locally to be backed up and keep an install flash drive on the ready.
 
Wanted to bump this thread:

I have drives dropping from the pool and now it looks like either the AOC-SASLP-MV8 card or expander are starting to crap out too.

So my question is, considering I need a new server to start migrating this data over. Would it be better to go the DIY route or maybe a Synology 1815+? I know that's pretty open ended but I guess my question is, if the cost would be roughly the same, I'd go the Synology route even though I might be missing out on features I don't need. (Roughly $800) But if there's a substantial savings doing it myself, I could go that route. I guess I just don't want to spend TOO much time researching parts if it's not going to be cost effective in the end.

My server needs:
Store & stream movies/music to HTPC (HTPC will handle transcoding)
Duplicate said files so to protect from HDD crashes (like WHS v1 File Duplication)
Back up/store pictures
Back up computers on network (if possible, like WHS v1 does, so if the computer crashes, I can just load from the image)
(BONUS NEED): Transcoding of movies to stream on phone/tablet
 
Looking at your needs, I have found these so far:

Store & stream - any solution will work
Duplicate files - raid options are best to handle drive failures, and files can be backed up to external media from an OS (even if using Windows 7/8.x/10)
Backup pictures - OS like 7/8.x/10 can backup files to the shares - I have set up Win 10 to back up file history to the WHS box for each user
Backup computers - not as easy as WHS was, but the "Windows 7-style" backup and imaging are available in 7/8.x/10 and can point to a share

Transcoding of movies - no clue on this. I think you'd need a DYI solution
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top