It reboots many times in the process as well, so be patient.
#Windows home server 2011 alternatives install
The install is not exactly brisk – it takes about an hour, even with nice quick hardware. Once again, it might be a good idea to use newer hardware where possible, which will lead to less chance of failure. It will inform you that all the drives in the machine will be deleted – and you have to confirm this.
#Windows home server 2011 alternatives windows
Setting up Windows Home Server v1 cannot be more easy – merely boot the install disc on your machine, and confirm most of the on screen tidbits. Frankly Microsoft, there is not a lot to make us even look at WHS 2011 if you take out drive redundancy. Windows Home Server without Drive Extender does not give it any significant edge over other solutions like FreeNAS, except for automated backups. Drive Extender is the number one reason Windows Home Server had a fanbase. This is a huge mistake on Microsoft’s part. While the base server operating system has been upgraded to Windows Server 2008, Microsoft decided to let go of the Drive Extender technology. Microsoft recently launched Windows Home Server 2011 – an “upgrade” which is a spectacular letdown. Problem is, Microsoft only had this technology in Windows Home Server version 1. So if any drive fails in you Windows Home Server, that important folder will not be lost. For example, this means you can have your photos always duplicated (in real time) over two drives. For example, you might have three drives of different sizes, and they will all form one big “drive”.īest part is, you can select a folder you deem important enough to have duplicated over two drives at any time. Drive Extender works in amuch more friendly fashion – you just keep on adding drives, and the system adds that drive to the data pool. With traditional Redundant Array setups you needed a lot of technical skills, and drives that were the same size and speed to make it run efficiently. The “proprietary method” that WHS v1 uses is called Drive Extender, and it works very well. However, the OS still uses the primary drive for its system installs and also as a first point to write files to when copied to the server, therefore a speedy drive is your friend. WHS v1 uses a proprietary method to distribute storage instead of complicated RAID setups.
When choosing hardware, it is beneficial to use two or more hard drives with Windows Home Server, but also a good idea to use the fastest drive you can for the system partition. You can find it at most specialist computer shops for around $99. It is rock solid, and has a great community of add on developers. After looking at all the options, Windows Home Server version 1 is still your best bet.
We need an OS that is stable, has the ability to backup PC’s on your network, and also has drive redundancy to keep your data safe in case of drive failure (and yes, drives do fail). There is a number of operating systems to choose from for home storage. You can choose whatever size drives you want, but look at things like power usage and reliability. As a start I am using the built in 250GB Seagate drive as the boot drive, and then three Western Digital AV Green Power 2 Terabyte drives. For the purposes of this article I am using a HP Proliant Microserver – a great compact little server with ample expandibility for home use. In my previous post I described my hardware choices when building my new Home Server, something that I am handling as a weekend project.
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