RE: Re: NAS or WHS

["Steve Morgan" <smorgo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've been running WHS since Beta 1 (as I've mentioned on several
occasions)
with nothing but complete success.

It's running on a 2.8GHz P4 with 1GB RAM, 640GB internal disk and 2.5TB of
USB disk.

I use shared folders with folder duplication turned on. I don't run my apps
with files actively held open on the server, so I never experienced the
dat=
a
protection bug (which has now been fixed).

I've had an external hard disk fail with no loss of data. The server
whinge=
d
at me (obviously) which is how I knew the disk has failed. It also told me
which files were at risk (because the duplicates weren't available). As the
cause was a PSU failure, replacing the PSU the next day and reattaching the
disk sorted everything out admirably.

I have it backing up 3 Vista machines, 1 XP machine laptop from work, 1
Windows Server 2003 running ISA Server and 1 Windows Server 2008 running
Team Foundation Server, SharePoint and SQL Server.

All seamlessly. The only issue I've found (and it's a documented issue) is
that one desktop that's attached to a UPS doesn't always wake up
automatically in the middle of the night to backup. A manual backup is only
a couple of mouse-clicks away from any machine on the network.

If it's not obvious, I'm very happy with it.

Steve Morgan

-----Original Message-----
From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
noughtomate
Sent: 27 November 2008 12:56
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] Re: NAS or WHS

I'm a little on the fence with this.=20

The reason being, I've lost data in the past and have learned lessons=20
from it. My general 'Home Strategy' is, if I can read the data without=20
any additional system or software level management involved, then this=20
is better.=20

The 500GB of data I once lost on a Hard disk was a RAID Stripped=20
array. As a result, the data recovary cost doubled for me. (Something=20
like =A3600 vs. =A3300)

So my attitude is to keep data as simple as possible and know which=20
disk it is written to.=20

What does this have to do with NAS vs WHS ?

A NAS is a NAS. It does what is says on the tin and pretty much acts=20
as a good file server and occasionally can give you extras such as=20
Itunes servers, Download managers etc... Most NAS's are based on Linux=20
implmentations and are hackable to your own needs. If you're a Linux=20
wiz, a NAS should suit you well.=20

As I'm not a Linux Wiz, I use WHS but I do not use the Shared Folders=20
functionality.=20

Go to the Wegotserved forums and have a read on the Disk management=20
submissions. There are plenty of threads where people are concerned=20
about where their data is really stored. There are tools available to=20
find out the true disk a file is stored on, but the recovary process -=20
from what I've read - has not been straight forward and may be costly=20
if you expreience data loss.=20

So although I'm currently using WHS, I have created my own shared=20
folders as regular Server 2003 folders (as opposed to WHS pooled=20
drives), so I know I can pull out the disks and read them elsewhere.=20

If your requirement is to automate backups and make data available=20
around your house with SWIMBO friendliness and minimal administration,=20
then generally I'd say WHS is the way to go.=20

My personal recommendation is don't trust WHS backups Shared Pool back=20
ups and back up that data to another store where you know where the=20
data really sits.=20

Cheers,

Balraj

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "Mark McCall" <lists@...> wrote:
>
> > WHS is so much better - not only a file server, but the way it=20
> > backs up PCs in the background is amazing=20
>=20
> I'd agree.  If you are a Windows household then go with WHS.
>=20
> M.
>



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