Page 1 of 4 1234 LastLast
Results 1 to 16 of 54

Thread: Windows Home Server

  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Leeds
    Posts
    2,599
    Thanks
    81
    Thanked
    106 times in 94 posts

    Windows Home Server

    I'm builing a WHS tonight (see signature for spec) and just wanted to get some general tips for getting things setup properly. Recommendations for plug-ins would be nice too .

    I've no experience in dedicated home networks, so bare that in mind! I had my house wired with Cat5e during the renovation so network speeds should be good.

    I'm looking to have this store all my recorded TV (recorded directly to server), films, music and photos in one place across 4 drives.

    At the moment I have two drives containing films and TV, as well as another 2 drives of music and photos. The drives arent big enough to house everything in one, so thats why they're split. How will WHS manage this?

  2. #2
    jim
    jim is offline
    HEXUS.clueless jim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Location: Location:
    Posts
    11,435
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked
    1,639 times in 1,304 posts
    • jim's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z
      • CPU:
      • i5 2500K @ 4.5GHz
      • Memory:
      • 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Sandisk SSD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • ASUS GTX 970
      • PSU:
      • Corsair AX650
      • Case:
      • Silverstone Fortress FT03
      • Operating System:
      • 8.1 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2716DG
      • Internet:
      • 10 Mbps ADSL

    Re: Windows Home Server

    WHS just forms one massive drive, and then stores everything on it. It's a bit more intelligent than that under the hood though. You can select certain folders to be duplicated if you want, so you've got redundancy on the box. Bear in mind it's a massive pain to move the OS, so put it on the drive you're least likely to swap out unless you've got unlimited physical space to keep adding drives.

    As for add-ins, this website is excellent: http://www.whsplus.com/, which is related to http://www.wegotserved.com/ which is another very useful site for advice and help.

    The most important add-in is Advanced Admin Console, wouldn't go without it myself. Allows you to easily access Server 2003 features from the console which is very handy. Be careful though, you can get into the wrong frame of mind and start specifying local folder names accidentally if you use it: when configuring applications without add-ins on the server, say the standard windows install of uTorrent, always use UNC paths like \\server\videos rather than standard paths like D:\shares\videos.

    The Disk Management tool is very useful as well, keeps you updated on what's going on with your drives so it's easier to spot a problem and keep track of them. I like WHS File Manager as well, a very easy to use split screen file explorer which is handy if you need to rename or move files on the server - doing that kind of thing via explorer on a remote machine makes it all very sluggish.

    Apart from that, I've just installed applications that seemed useful at the time - like the Squeezebox server, PS3 Media Server, probably more as well that I can't think of right now. Have a browse through that site, see if there's anything you might find useful and go for it

    One more tip - if you ever can't get into the console because it won't connect, remote desktop into the server - it'll ask for the username (Administrator) and the password you set up for the console. It'll warn you to be very careful because you can bust the server, but just load up the console. For some reason using remote desktop and then firing up the console on the server itself tends to work. I wouldn't advise changing things from the remote desktop interface though, it's too easy to break something - stick to the console and advanced admin add-in.

  3. Received thanks from:

    menthel (18-01-2010),s_kinton (15-01-2010)

  4. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Leeds
    Posts
    2,599
    Thanks
    81
    Thanked
    106 times in 94 posts

    Re: Windows Home Server

    Quote Originally Posted by snootyjim View Post
    WHS just forms one massive drive, and then stores everything on it. It's a bit more intelligent than that under the hood though. You can select certain folders to be duplicated if you want, so you've got redundancy on the box. Bear in mind it's a massive pain to move the OS, so put it on the drive you're least likely to swap out unless you've got unlimited physical space to keep adding drives.
    Thanks! I've got myself a seperate 60GB laptop drive for the OS, forgot the mention that.

    I think it will be a steep learning curve and a nightmare to setup to begin with. Having four drives is not ideal, but cant be helped at the moment.

    When using the duplicate function, can you specify the drive to duplicate to? I'd like to keep with movies and films drives seperate from the music and photos drives if possible. I dont want to store any music, videos, photos etc on the client PCs, I want it all on the server if poss.

    Do you or anyone have experience in recording TV directly to the server from Win 7 Media Centre?

    I'm assuming the E4300 at 1.8Ghz will be sufficient to deliver all the above? I've actually had it clocked to 3.2Ghz in another PC, but want it clocked as low as possible and undervolted.

    Also, I do not want to setup users or passwords on the client PCs, will this effect how the server operates?
    Last edited by s_kinton; 15-01-2010 at 04:57 PM.

  5. #4
    jim
    jim is offline
    HEXUS.clueless jim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Location: Location:
    Posts
    11,435
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked
    1,639 times in 1,304 posts
    • jim's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z
      • CPU:
      • i5 2500K @ 4.5GHz
      • Memory:
      • 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Sandisk SSD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • ASUS GTX 970
      • PSU:
      • Corsair AX650
      • Case:
      • Silverstone Fortress FT03
      • Operating System:
      • 8.1 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2716DG
      • Internet:
      • 10 Mbps ADSL

    Re: Windows Home Server

    Quote Originally Posted by s_kinton View Post
    I've got myself a seperate 60GB laptop drive for the OS, forgot the mention that.

    I think it will be a steep learning curve and a nightmare to setup to begin with. Having four drives is not ideal, but cant be helped at the moment.

    When using the duplicate function, can you specify the drive to duplicate to? I'd like to keep with movies and films drives seperate from the music and photos drives if possible.

    Do you or anyone have experience in recording TV directly to the server from Win 7 Media Centre?
    Nope, doesn't work like that. It's quite complicated, but it doesn't work like standard drives. That's why there are so many problems with replacing the OS drive - even if the OS drive has just the OS on, you can't copy it over to another disk and then have put that one in and have it work.

    All WHS will do if you set duplication to "On" is guarantee to have the files on separate drives - you'll notice as you fill it up that it will start with drive number 1, fill it to the maximum, and then start on drive number 2, and fill that to the maximum. It may even put some files on the OS drive.

  6. #5
    jim
    jim is offline
    HEXUS.clueless jim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Location: Location:
    Posts
    11,435
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked
    1,639 times in 1,304 posts
    • jim's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z
      • CPU:
      • i5 2500K @ 4.5GHz
      • Memory:
      • 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Sandisk SSD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • ASUS GTX 970
      • PSU:
      • Corsair AX650
      • Case:
      • Silverstone Fortress FT03
      • Operating System:
      • 8.1 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2716DG
      • Internet:
      • 10 Mbps ADSL

    Re: Windows Home Server

    Quote Originally Posted by s_kinton View Post
    I dont want to store any music, videos, photos etc on the client PCs, I want it all on the server if poss.
    I do that myself. I've got \\server\music, \video, \photos, \documents, \public all shared on the server.

    They're all limited access, with three specified users - myself, my girlfriend, and administrator.

    Each of us has our own password, which matches our username and password combination used on the various networked machines. As a result, the WHS never asks us for permission to access the files on the server - our usernames and passwords match those of the users on the server so it just sends us straight through.

    All of those are full read/write access, except documents. In that are three folders, one for each of us, and only the specified user + administrator has read/write access, the other users have no access. If we want to share a file, it goes into \public. Then, on each machine, I map "My Documents" to \server\documents\jim or whatever - as appropriate. So all of our documents are saved directly to the server, and are the same regardless of which machine we log onto. Works extremely well, although it takes a bit of time to set up on each machine because you have to log in as each user, and move "My Pictures", "My Videos", "My Documents" etc to the right place. Once it's working properly though, it doesn't need anything doing to it.

  7. #6
    Senior[ish] Member Singh400's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Posts
    2,933
    Thanks
    136
    Thanked
    310 times in 247 posts

    Re: Windows Home Server

    I didn't think anyone coud love WHS more than me, but it looks like snootyjim does

    I tend to RD in and make changes. But other than that I'm the same as Snooty. Also, I'm running out of space! (oh noes!)

  8. #7
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Leeds
    Posts
    2,599
    Thanks
    81
    Thanked
    106 times in 94 posts

    Re: Windows Home Server

    So will I need to setup users & passwords on the client machines? There's only me and my girlfriend in the house with access to everything. I want to keep it nice and simple.

    I had a quick google about recording directly to the server, looks like it involves a reg edit which is fine, but I'm surprised MS didnt support this properly.

    Thanks again!

  9. #8
    jim
    jim is offline
    HEXUS.clueless jim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Location: Location:
    Posts
    11,435
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked
    1,639 times in 1,304 posts
    • jim's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z
      • CPU:
      • i5 2500K @ 4.5GHz
      • Memory:
      • 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Sandisk SSD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • ASUS GTX 970
      • PSU:
      • Corsair AX650
      • Case:
      • Silverstone Fortress FT03
      • Operating System:
      • 8.1 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2716DG
      • Internet:
      • 10 Mbps ADSL

    Re: Windows Home Server

    Quote Originally Posted by s_kinton View Post
    So will I need to setup users & passwords on the client machines? There's only me and my girlfriend in the house with access to everything. I want to keep it nice and simple.

    I had a quick google about recording directly to the server, looks like it involves a reg edit which is fine, but I'm surprised MS didnt support this properly.

    Thanks again!
    No, just mentioning it to show how I work things out in case it helped you.

    Don't need passwords at all - in my case it's to keep out prying eyes... and so that me and my girlfriend have some document privacy.

  10. #9
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Leeds
    Posts
    2,599
    Thanks
    81
    Thanked
    106 times in 94 posts

    Re: Windows Home Server

    OK, thanks.

    One last thing. When I add the drives to the server they're going to be full of files, will it ask me to format them or will it just add the files to the server 'as is'? Bare in mind that the two pairs will be images of each other (2x music and 2x movies).

  11. #10
    Jay
    Jay is offline
    Gentlemen.. we're history Jay's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Jita
    Posts
    8,365
    Thanks
    304
    Thanked
    568 times in 409 posts

    Re: Windows Home Server

    they will need to be formatted as WHS doesn't access the drives as a normal OS would. As said above it pools them.
    □ΞVΞ□

  12. Received thanks from:

    s_kinton (15-01-2010)

  13. #11
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Leeds
    Posts
    2,599
    Thanks
    81
    Thanked
    106 times in 94 posts

    Re: Windows Home Server

    Quote Originally Posted by Jay View Post
    they will need to be formatted as WHS doesn't access the drives as a normal OS would. As said above it pools them.
    Poo, so I'll have top add two drives and allow it to format them

    Then copy the other two drives files over

    Then add those two drives and format them accordingly.

    Then set WHS to duplicate the files and copy them back over?

    Sound right?

  14. #12
    jim
    jim is offline
    HEXUS.clueless jim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Location: Location:
    Posts
    11,435
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked
    1,639 times in 1,304 posts
    • jim's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z
      • CPU:
      • i5 2500K @ 4.5GHz
      • Memory:
      • 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Sandisk SSD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • ASUS GTX 970
      • PSU:
      • Corsair AX650
      • Case:
      • Silverstone Fortress FT03
      • Operating System:
      • 8.1 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2716DG
      • Internet:
      • 10 Mbps ADSL

    Re: Windows Home Server

    Not necessarily. You can slot in a drive without pooling it, so you could - for example, put in the first drive and format it in WHS. Then put in drive number 2, set it as a backup drive, then copy the contents over using the file manager add-in I recommended. Then wipe drive number 2, put in drive number 3 as backup, copy to number 2, keep repeating

    I did that a little while back when I had a drive shuffle because it was much quicker to transfer the files across the SATA link in the server than to use my external USB caddy.

  15. #13
    Jay
    Jay is offline
    Gentlemen.. we're history Jay's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Jita
    Posts
    8,365
    Thanks
    304
    Thanked
    568 times in 409 posts

    Re: Windows Home Server

    yes, but that could go horribly wrong if you are new to WHS
    □ΞVΞ□

  16. #14
    jim
    jim is offline
    HEXUS.clueless jim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Location: Location:
    Posts
    11,435
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked
    1,639 times in 1,304 posts
    • jim's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z
      • CPU:
      • i5 2500K @ 4.5GHz
      • Memory:
      • 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Sandisk SSD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • ASUS GTX 970
      • PSU:
      • Corsair AX650
      • Case:
      • Silverstone Fortress FT03
      • Operating System:
      • 8.1 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2716DG
      • Internet:
      • 10 Mbps ADSL

    Re: Windows Home Server

    Quote Originally Posted by Jay View Post
    yes, but that could go horribly wrong if you are new to WHS
    True. I wouldn't do it without having everything backed up, but then I wouldn't do anything without having everything backed up .

  17. #15
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Leeds
    Posts
    2,599
    Thanks
    81
    Thanked
    106 times in 94 posts

    Re: Windows Home Server

    So whats the best way for a WHS newbie?

  18. #16
    jim
    jim is offline
    HEXUS.clueless jim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Location: Location:
    Posts
    11,435
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked
    1,639 times in 1,304 posts
    • jim's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z
      • CPU:
      • i5 2500K @ 4.5GHz
      • Memory:
      • 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Sandisk SSD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • ASUS GTX 970
      • PSU:
      • Corsair AX650
      • Case:
      • Silverstone Fortress FT03
      • Operating System:
      • 8.1 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2716DG
      • Internet:
      • 10 Mbps ADSL

    Re: Windows Home Server

    It's up to you... if you put a drive into WHS, it will give you a choice - format and add to the pool, or don't format and use as backup disk.

    You can either backup and wipe the lot externally, then just slot them in and copy the data back over, or you can put them in one at a time, wipe one disk and then copy over the data each time. As long as it's all backed up and your data is safe it doesn't really matter which you do, I mentioned the second because it can be quicker as it doesn't rely on network speeds/usb caddy speeds to work.

    Just make sure you've got everything fully backed up elsewhere if you want to try the second method in case something goes wrong and you format the wrong disk or whatever

  19. Received thanks from:

    s_kinton (16-01-2010)

Page 1 of 4 1234 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Windows - 32-bit vs 64-bit
    By Paul Adams in forum Software
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 30-03-2011, 02:54 PM
  2. Replies: 22
    Last Post: 25-11-2009, 11:12 AM
  3. Replies: 2
    Last Post: 21-11-2009, 12:55 PM
  4. Windows Home Server
    By [GSV]Trig in forum Software
    Replies: 13
    Last Post: 03-07-2009, 09:13 AM
  5. windows home server?
    By lodore in forum Software
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 13-07-2008, 12:04 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •