WHS OS backup drive question

Omegas

Omegas

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Jan 19, 2007
Messages
11,255
Ok, I've got an Acer Aspire with 2 x 1.5TB Sam Greens and 2 x 1TB WD Greens. Right now I have it setup where the Launch drive is on a 1TB, the other 1TB I'm using for OS backup, and the 2 x 1.5TB's are Pool drives. Should I be using that setup or not worry about having an OS backup drive? Also, I do have a 120gb USB drive for backup that I keep off-site with of all my important data, would it be possible to use that USB based Backup drive to also be my OS backup drive or is WHS not capable of using a USB drive for that purpose?
 
If I recall correctly and if it hasnt changed, the ONLY way to reliably back up a WHS OS drive is with raid 1. So unless youre doing that, then no, you arent backing it up correctly.
 
jay2472000 said:
If I recall correctly and if it hasnt changed, the ONLY way to reliably back up a WHS OS drive is with raid 1. So unless youre doing that, then no, you arent backing it up correctly.
Click to expand...
I know this is often repeated but RAID (especially RAID1) is not a backup, it's just redundancy. If you overwrite a file or corrupt a file or lose a file or something--where will you recover from?
 
Let me explain as best that I can with my very limited knowledge. In the WHS console's Backup section you have the option of backing up multiple computers and also the server itself. When you tell it to backup the server it requires one of your harddrives to be not included in the drive pool. Once you pull one of your drives out of the general pool, it uses that drive to do the server backup to. Now I've had my server setup like this for many months and the most the backup drive has on it is 60gigs of data. I'll try to get some screen shots when I get off work to show what I'm attempting to explain.
 
You can read about it here but basically the answer is "No".

The OS drive holds all the constantly changing information about the shares and an image back-up will be out-of-date very quickly.

This is why Jay is correct..
If I recall correctly and if it hasnt changed, the ONLY way to reliably back up a WHS OS drive is with raid 1.
Click to expand...

And vraa's comment, while true, shows he/she has no experience with a WHS OS. ;)
 
To elaborate on Hippies elaboration of what I said (Department of redundancy department, anyone? anyone? :D )

Basically WHS's C drive is so dynamic that you cant really make an image of it. By the time its done, the drive has changed.....


Therefore, it was discovered that you could in fact back up the OS drive using Raid1.

All caveats apply, raids is not a backup etc, etc.

And as pointed out, it wont prevent you from screwing up and losing Data.

Personally I have 2 separate WHS boxes. One is a server, the other mirrors the first for backups only ( the second server does NOTHING other than power on, copy data/add/delete/etc then back off and unplugged , no addons or anything)

I suppose if you were really insecure you could Raid1 the OS, tell WHS to duplicate everything and be pretty protected. Youd still be susceptible to lightning, theft, fire, etc.
 
kk, so I'm basically pissing in the wind leaving that 1tb drive as a OS backup drive. Have removed it and added it back in as a pool drive. 1.3TB's open now but wow does a 2TB look good right about now...

Btw, I do copy all my "Important" data onto my media center monthly, and have a portable that is stored off-site that is backed up every 6months. I call that good enough :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top