News - Microsoft introduces 'Storage Spaces' for Windows 8

[Ross1]

Noted, updated the post, thanks.

heh, you may want to change it again though, as a system that has parity on a single drive is most analogous to raid 4. Flexraid is also a windows solution that allows parity on a single drive, with a dynamic array that allows not just added drives but drive capacity increases.

[Scribe]

Not sure I see the point of pre-setting the maximum capacity (especially at more than the drive capacity),
surely that just makes it confusing to see how much space you currently have left ?

I agree, I do understand the advantages of thin provisioning, for one you don't have to keep adjusting the maximum size as you add drives but if it were me I'd just whack it to the maximum 50TB and not tell the end-user and only show their real space.

[baius]

I saw Home Server flash several times reading the article. Not too keen on WHS, especially with the glitches v1 had.

This will likely tie in well with the HomeGroup idea of doing the 'hard' stuff for users (network sharing, backups) but it doesn't appeal to me as a (self-proclaimed) power user.

I only trust raid1, or outside-PC backups. Bit backwards, sure, but I have my reasons.

[mikerr]

I only trust raid1, or outside-PC backups.

Surely you mean RAID1 AND outside PC backups - "RAID is not backup".

[Scribe]

Surely you mean RAID1 AND outside PC backups - "RAID is not backup".

Nor is it completely trust worthy! Data spread across 3 devices you can tell if one is wrong... two? Nope.

[kingpotnoodle]

heh, you may want to change it again though, as a system that has parity on a single drive is most analogous to raid 4. Flexraid is also a windows solution that allows parity on a single drive, with a dynamic array that allows not just added drives but drive capacity increases.

No I think they do spread out the parity information, in the same way they spread out the slabs of actual data. It's like RAID in that things are spread over many disks, it's unlike RAID in that the arrangement is not uniform... I think.

[kingpotnoodle]

I saw Home Server flash several times reading the article. Not too keen on WHS, especially with the glitches v1 had.

This will likely tie in well with the HomeGroup idea of doing the 'hard' stuff for users (network sharing, backups) but it doesn't appeal to me as a (self-proclaimed) power user.

I only trust raid1, or outside-PC backups. Bit backwards, sure, but I have my reasons.

RAID 01, 10, 6 are arguably safer than a RAID1 as they can tolerate in certain circumstances a 2nd disk failure during rebuild...

The best solution combines RAID, which protects you from most failures like a disk failure, with off-machine (ideally off-site) backup for those really dire situations like fire, complete machine destruction etc.

I personally use a mix of RAID, off-site backups (Dropbox) and Windows "Volume Shadow Copy" along with the historical restore features of my Dropbox account.