Network Storage Solution Recommendation

Talk about setting up your home network.
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evhfla

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Network Storage Solution Recommendation

#1

Post by evhfla » Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:44 pm

I currently have a Windows Home Server v1 running at home, which has served me and my family successfully and faithfully for several years. I used it mainly to stream movies, and to play TV shows recorded with Windows Media Center 7 to 4 Xbox 360s, to store music and family pictures and backup some important documents. My issue is that my windows home server is running out of disk space and I can’t add a new disk because all seven drive bays are full. Most of my drives are 1.5 TB. An easy solution is to start using bigger disk like 3 TB Hard Drive of which I have purchased a couple. The problem is of course Windows Home Server v1 does not support drives greater than 2 TB. So possible solutions as I see it are as follows:

1. Windows Home Server 2011. The pros are that it supports drives greater than 2 TB, however it doesn’t support native drive extender and is also dead as Microsoft will not be releasing another version of Windows Home Server. Plus, I am pretty sure is based on Window Server 2008 R2, which although rock solid, has been make somewhat obsolete with the release of Window Server 2012.

2. Windows Server 2012 Essentials Or Otherwise. The pros are that it is the latest version of Windows Server and it supports drive extender in the form of the newly introduced Storage Spaces. The cons are that there is no backup solutions for other pc’s if I need it and It won’t have a utility that will allow my Windows Media Center PC to automatically archive my recorded TV shows to the server as Windows Home Server does.

3. Windows 8 with Storage Spaces/Pools: The pros are that I will no longer have to have 2 computers [Windows Media Center Desktop with Ceton Turner & Windows Home Server where files are archived] on to stream my movies, music etc… The cons are no backup solution for other PC’s if need be, read on the internet that the performance of storage spaces in Windows 8 is poor. Lastly, I am not sure how well Windows 8 will worked as a file server. For example, I have a WD TV Live hub that currently connects to my home server that will need to connect to whatever new solutions that I come up.

Any thought and insight in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

gcoupe

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#2

Post by gcoupe » Sun Aug 19, 2012 11:37 am

Er, Windows Server Essentials does support the backup of client PCs. In fact, I believe it is the same single-instance storage backup mechanism as used in WHS v1 and WHS 2011. I'm not sure about whether it will handle Recorded TV archives. It's supposed to have at least some of the media capabilities of WHS.

The biggest negative about WSE2012 is the price. $425 in place of the $40 cost of WHS 2011.

A Windows 8 system can certainly act as a decent file server. The drawback, as you say, is that there is currently no equivalent of the centralized backup system for client PCs that WHS has. There's an ongoing series of articles over at We Got Served exploring the use of a Windows 8 setup to replace WHS. I'm curious to see what they will say about the backup options...
Geoff Coupe

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Scallica

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#3

Post by Scallica » Sun Aug 19, 2012 12:16 pm

Consider using WHS2011 with FlexRaid.

http://www.flexraid.com/screenshots/fle ... n-windows/
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evhfla

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#4

Post by evhfla » Sun Aug 19, 2012 4:47 pm

gcoupe wrote:Er, Windows Server Essentials does support the backup of client PCs. In fact, I believe it is the same single-instance storage backup mechanism as used in WHS v1 and WHS 2011. I'm not sure about whether it will handle Recorded TV archives. It's supposed to have at least some of the media capabilities of WHS.

The biggest negative about WSE2012 is the price. $425 in place of the $40 cost of WHS 2011.

A Windows 8 system can certainly act as a decent file server. The drawback, as you say, is that there is currently no equivalent of the centralized backup system for client PCs that WHS has. There's an ongoing series of articles over at We Got Served exploring the use of a Windows 8 setup to replace WHS. I'm curious to see what they will say about the backup options...
Thanks for the response. One other thought or consideration do you have any idea if a Windows Media Center PC will be able to see TV shows archived on a Windows Server 2012 Essentials as it currently does with Windows Home Server. In other words there is definitely some integration between Windows Media Center and Windows Home Server that allows the former to see Recorded TV Shows on the latter. Is that also applicable with Windows Server 2012 essentials?

gcoupe

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#5

Post by gcoupe » Sun Aug 19, 2012 5:57 pm

evhfla wrote: Thanks for the response. One other thought or consideration do you have any idea if a Windows Media Center PC will be able to see TV shows archived on a Windows Server 2012 Essentials as it currently does with Windows Home Server. In other words there is definitely some integration between Windows Media Center and Windows Home Server that allows the former to see Recorded TV Shows on the latter. Is that also applicable with Windows Server 2012 essentials?
I'm sorry, I really have no idea about that. I'm not testing Windows Server 2012 Essentials, so cannot confirm or deny whether that integration exists.
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Cup

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#6

Post by Cup » Mon Feb 04, 2013 5:44 am

Is there the "automated integration" that you had with WHS? No.
But, yes, you can still 'see' shows that you moved to the Recorded TV share on the server, so long as you've added that folder on the server to your Recorded TV library (easily done from within MC.)
I've done it. It works, and fairly painlessly. The only part that keeps it from being completely painless is that there's no way to move a file from within MC - you have to do it from Explorer.
I end up doing the moves from my desktop, rather than from dropping to the Desktop on the MC box (in the living room), or remoting into the server. Not horrible, though. I can live with it, especially considering how much more my WS2012E box can do vs. my old WHSv1 box.
-Cup
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#7

Post by digitalvideodude » Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:47 am

Just thought I should point out that using Windows 8 in a "storage space" does NOT store the data in a readable format "offline/failure" if for some reason "the pool" becomes toast... this is not a positive feature vs WHS V1 that stores data in readable NTFS files, so if your pool becomes toast in WHS it can be "rebuilt" from the HDs storing the data less any failed HD in the pool. Folder duplication would allow the data lost on the failed HD to be retrieved on the other HD the data is stored on... this is a better "fail safe" mode that Windows 8 does NOT offer!

For this reason alone, I'm sticking with WHS V1. It's easy to expand HD space by adding another case for HDs & using SATA Port Extender Cards... I've found a 5 port card for $59 at Newegg. Also, you can get IBM quality (used) RAID cards & use in JBOD mode for $65 to $150 on ebay easy... these are 8 port raid SATA III cards... you need to use a Motherboard with x16 slot or x8 or x4 PCIe v2.0 (or higher) slot to work it. Again, surplus/used is your friend if your MB does not have these extra PCIe slots or upgrade to one for $80+ new.

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#8

Post by Cup » Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:20 am

While I haven't played with Storage Spaces in Win8....

In Server 2012 Essentials, you can enable Duplication on the pool - this will mirror files on two drives.

In either OS, the pool drives are readable on another computer - it just needs to be running Win8 or Server 2012. ;)
-Cup
~~Nearly every day of my life is some kind of computer hell....

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