Windows Home Server

HEADRAT · 12 Jan 2009 at 22:31

Wired GigE here.

chimaera · 13 Jan 2009 at 07:24

I'm currently using 100/10, although i'd recommend gigE.

I had my WHS running off powerline for a while and it was fine for a 1 desktop 1 laptop household, i don't think the 85mbps plugs that i've got could handle any more than that, maybe the 200mpbs boxes or the soon to be 600mpbs would be a big improvement.

The main problem i had was speed backing up the PC's every night, over powerline it took ages and since my desktop is an older single core machine it took quite a performance hit. Of course you can avoid that by scheduling nighttime backups using hibernation but i couldn't be bothered.

HEADRAT · 13 Jan 2009 at 09:20

Remeber backups are incremental though, do the first one with "wired" then subsequent backup shouldn't take too long as it will only be backing up "what changed".

wonder_lander · 13 Jan 2009 at 09:23

Signed up for 3 years of Avast £54.45 inc tax.

Was already using this on the client machine anyway so it makes sense to keep with them for me!

wonder_lander · 13 Jan 2009 at 09:23

HEADRAT said:
Remeber backups are incremental though, do the first one with "wired" then subsequent backup shouldn't take too long as it will only be backing up "what changed".

This is exaactly how I have done mine. First backup was just over 2hrs wired and then about 20mins a day for the incremental overnight

wonder_lander · 13 Jan 2009 at 09:25

Anyone know of an add-in that can email me each day at a set time giving me a status update of the WHS?

I'd like to know the network status, individual disk usuage, backup info, share sizes

PhillyDee · 13 Jan 2009 at 09:29

HEADRAT said:
If you wanted to make things really easy you could use something like the ICYDOCK enclosures:-

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-017-BT

really nice kit, I had some a while back but just thought they were overkill TBH, you don't really change drives that often.

Was it you I bought one from?

I like them because you can get 5 drives into a 3-bay space. I rarely change drives, but its so easy to just stick one in and bung it in. I dont have to move the box to unscrew / dismantle the sides, its just a case of Server shutdown, plug in drive and turn it on. Plus, they have good cooling for the drives. Could do with another 5in3 if anyones got any going

HEADRAT · 13 Jan 2009 at 09:33

PhillyDee said:
Was it you I bought one from?

I think it probably was

HEADRAT · 13 Jan 2009 at 16:25

Yay more space

wonder_lander · 13 Jan 2009 at 20:27

Looks like you've got a bit of breathing space for now!

HEADRAT · 13 Jan 2009 at 20:36

Yep it was getting a bit chocka

Plenty of room now, should last me a while me thinks!

BoomAM · 14 Jan 2009 at 09:51

Was that bug with WHS ever fixed? There was some software bug a while back that could cause en-mass data loss.

HEADRAT · 14 Jan 2009 at 10:48

Yes, it didn't effect everybody put PP1 (Power Pack One) solved the problem.

chimaera · 14 Jan 2009 at 18:41

HEADRAT said:
Remeber backups are incremental though, do the first one with "wired" then subsequent backup shouldn't take too long as it will only be backing up "what changed".

Well it took about 30 minutes every night, serves me right for making grand statements

i found that it just hogged all my system resources, on the off chance that i was surfing the net or playing games at 2am my PC started crawling as the backup started. It's improved since i went back to 100/10 but i think that's only because the data speed is quicker and gets the job done in half the time.

Just out of interest does anyone have any recommendations for a new budget WHS machine, all i need is a mainboard and CPU so i was thinking either a dual core celeron or E2200.

HEADRAT · 15 Jan 2009 at 09:08

The minimum specs

* 1.0 GHz Intel Pentium 3 processor
* 512 MB RAM
* 80 GB internal hard drive as primary drive
* 100 Mbit/s wired Ethernet

so I would say a E2200 would be fine, find a board with as many SATA connections as possible, then buy the biggest drives your budget will allow.

HEADRAT

PhillyDee · 15 Jan 2009 at 17:37

I would look at b grade stuff. I did for my original build.

HEADRAT · 16 Jan 2009 at 10:47

Dependant on how much space you want why not:-

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-055-AS&groupid=43&catid=1078&subcat=

and a couple of USB2 hard drives, I think that would be great as nice low power box.

I'd be tempted to pull out the 80GB drive and replace it with something a little bigger mind you.

or maybe something like Shuttle X27.

I'm actually pretty tempted to give one a go

This also look very cool:-

Col_M · 16 Jan 2009 at 12:43

theheyes said:
Do you guys all have wired networks? I'm looking into WHS but 802.11g isn't really going to cut it. I'm thinking of going the ethernet over powerline route but just wondered what everyone else was using.

My network is all 100Mbps ethernet, you do notice the limitations when moving a lot of data but for accessing data it's plenty fast enough. Saying that as all of my kit has gigabit ethernet ports so I just need to upgrade the switch at some point which won't be too expensive.

wonder_lander · 16 Jan 2009 at 12:56

HEADRAT said:
Dependant on how much space you want why not:-

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-055-AS&groupid=43&catid=1078&subcat=

and a couple of USB2 hard drives, I think that would be great as nice low power box.

I'd be tempted to pull out the 80GB drive and replace it with something a little bigger mind you.

or maybe something like Shuttle X27.

I'm actually pretty tempted to give one a go

This also look very cool:-

That looks well sexy!

HEADRAT · 16 Jan 2009 at 15:35

Or the EdgeStore DAS400 4 Bay USB, can be had for £99

the Omaura TFHDD Home Theatre Storage looks very cool as well, but is a bit of a HCPC part

5x 3.5” Standard Hard Disk Drive (SATA)