Adding drives with data to WHS?

[gaikokujinkyofusho]

Hi, I have been looking around and haven't been able to find any postings/info that clearly says (I am sure it is out there): If a drive, with data on it, is added to a WHS using drive extender, will that data be lost or be added to the "pool" of data? (assume the drives to be added contain NTFS partitions). Sorry if this is a boneheaded question but a definitive answer is kinda important before i give it a try.

Thanks!

-Gaiko

 

[00Roush]

I am fairly sure that WHS will "configure" (ie format/erase) the drive before it gets added to the pool of data drives. So basically yes all data would be lost. But this does depend on what version of WHS you are using. The newest version does not have the drive extender software and my understanding is you can add disks just like you normally would in Windows. I know when I played around with the older version of WHS I found that I did not have to use the WHS interface to add disks if I didn't want to. Since WHS was Windows Small Business Server 2003 at its core I could just add and share disks like I normally would in Windows Server 2003. So adding the disk myself I could add a disk that already has data on it and not loose the data in the process.

00Roush

 

[Generious]

WHS V1 =. You add a drive to the pool, data on the disk is wiped and drive is formatted.
WHS2011 = You connect the drive to server which has a partition already data will remain unless you format the drive.

 

[gaikokujinkyofusho]

WHS V1 =. You add a drive to the pool, data on the disk is wiped and drive is formatted.
WHS2011 = You connect the drive to server which has a partition already data will remain unless you format the drive.

Thanks for the replies. I am a bit confused about WHS2011 though, i realize that drive extender has been removed but does 2011 have some other redundant storage solution built in? (that would allow pooling together of different sized drives?). If not... geeze, i was going to rely on WHS for some simple DIY redundant storage, guess I might go back to looking at ZFS.

 

[Generious]

Thanks for the replies. I am a bit confused about WHS2011 though, i realize that drive extender has been removed but does 2011 have some other redundant storage solution built in? (that would allow pooling together of different sized drives?). If not... geeze, i was going to rely on WHS for some simple DIY redundant storage, guess I might go back to looking at ZFS.

For WHS2011 the default is stand alone disks if you want redundancy you have three options

1: Hardware Raid ( Decent controller is expensive, cheap ones are FakeRaid)
2: Via the OS create a software mirror/raid 5 ( Overhead and long array rebuilds)
3: Wait for Drive Bender/Stablebit addons to reach RC stage currently both in beta 3 & 4.

In saying that I installed Drive Bender about a month and half ago and I have been running it since so far no issues( Beware its still beta! )

ZFS will need a decent amount of ram 6GB plus ( avoid ZFSGURU for now developer can awol ) plus you will need a decent log/cache disk pref a 32Gb ssd or 2x16GB ssd's

if you have vmware workstation install it create a whs2011 vm and install drive bender on it and test it out yourself, I'm liking it so far

Decisions Decisions Decisions you will figure it out, I had to rebuild my system 12 times before I settled on whs2011 after trying, openfiler/freenas/whs2011/whs V1/nexenta/openindiana/debian/ubuntu/fedora/amahi