Is that a tea leaf you just left on the ground? If so, it doesn't sound very optimistic.

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MGannon
DIY WHS "NorthStar" - viewtopic.php?f=22&t=6517
Intel E5200 Pentium Dual Core
2 GB RAM
19.25 TB Storage

I don't mean it to come across that way, as I truly do not know what the migration experience will look like - if I knew I wouldn't even say as much as I have. I'm just saying that a significant precedent has been set, migration of any type is a non-trivial activity, and doing it across OS platforms seems to be a difficult thing.

With that said, part of my roll as MVP is to pass on to Microsoft the thoughts and expectations of the community. I'm headed to Seattle next week for the yearly MVP Summit and this topic is one I'll be sure to bring up with the WHS team.

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Alex Kuretz
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Remember Alex, if you are going to represent us we need you with a clear head there, so no boozing

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Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

I'll be meeting Nigel for the first time, we're already planning not much else besides boozing!

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Alex Kuretz
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This time next week, we will have started!

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All of this is going to drive me to drink.

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Current DIY server DL380 G6 2xquad core 2.8ghz 32GB rdimm ram 512mb 2xHP 410 raid with 2x sas expanders (2 X norco RPC-4220) 48 slots stacked with room to grow.
30TB (Movie/File/Music)Win 2012 essentials 64bit Storage spaces
Ex490 E6400 4gb ram

well, if you are going to speak to the Microsoft Vail team, see if you can ask them, if there is any way they can "release" a little documentation on that leaked version of Vail.. There are hundreds of "extra" testers trying to play with it, I can only assume extra input would be usefull to them. As it is, it won't work for more than 30 days, so there is only a limited amount of testing "leaked" installs can provide mtop them, then it would need to be installed again or more likely forgoten about for now.

Mitch

The leaked version was not intended for consumption by the general public, I can guarantee you won't get anything else from MS until they are ready for public feedback.

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Alex Kuretz
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of course they didn't intend for it to be released/get out, but now that it has, perhaps they could take advantage of the extra "testers". that was my point.

Remember, the key for Vail is not the traditional migration; instead it is the integrity of the data that is important -- and THAT is not an unrealistic expectation. Today, when we do a restore or migrate our old data disks to a new machine, we completely reload the OS on the C-Drive. I would expect/demand a migration path that would be no different. When I upgrade a server from 32-bit to 64-bit my data does ni\ot change today in a non-WHS environment. I expect the same from Vail.

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....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

But isn't this different in the sense that the data drives are can merely be scanned and the tombstones rebuilt in the new Vail format?

It's funny how they are now mandating a 160GB system drive so I assume (might make as ass of myself as stated here) that the data should recover to the new system.

But it's all hard to say and it certainly wouldn't be the first time MS drops the ball. I mean look at WinMo 7 - no copy and paste, no multitasking. I don't know I hope I'm wrong but I've really switched to having low expectations from certain firms.

In general it is very hard to design a new WHS based on Vail until it actually comes out and we test it a bit. The reason being that the current WHS is not designed to much else than storage and despite the fact that people load different programs onto it being based on server 2003 it has limitations. I decided to leave WHS alone as a file server and backup device only and I have a separate machine for Windows Media Center and HTPC/Gaming roles. What if it turns out that Vail is also a good HTPC and gaming OS? I could build one machine to handle all "living room" tasks as well as mass storage.

It would have to be intelligent enough to avoid bogging down the system with DE tasks or QSM tasks or search indexing while the user chooses to play a 3D game or other intensive media related task. It's a level of intelligence I do not expect from Microsoft frankly and sadly speaking.

You are making some very strong assumptions about the technology in Vail and asserting that Drive Extender is the same in both versions of WHS.

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Alex Kuretz
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I really, really hope it is better. But backwards compatibility and database conversion are not particularly difficult I would assume.

I take it that perhaps if it could do it, it may take days to read the data in WHS (current) format, recognize it and then convert the database and rearrange the data. They may ask for a specific percentage of free space perhaps. But maybe they are switching from straight duplication to some other method of "duplicating" data.

So say I have 9TB of data, maybe they could ask for an additional 6TB of free space to manage the conversion of formats. It could generate the new data in the free space while deleting data in the "old" drives to make space for the complete 9TB dataset.

Anyway it would be possible that they expect people who are MSS and premade appliance owners to buy an entirely new machine with Vail preloaded and they will offer us to do a network transfer the old fashioned way. I suppose a "server recovery" style migration only helps us - the DIYers and technically inclined people who also happen to be the most vocal supporters of WHS. I guess we are not their target market anyway. They like to think this is a simple to use home appliance but they failed to realize that it isn't quite that friendly (I could never recommend this to people like my parents - because things do go wrong and they often need registry edit level support to fix them) and secondly the OS is a hit mostly in tech-centric communities.

I think again, any of us could devise a way to do it with some common sense but MS is a company that does not really care at the end of the day. All they want is to sell more pre-built systems. I suppose I should be thankful that they have even offered us a product like WHS which has no competition in the monopoly ridden OS market and that they are further developing it.

Is 160GB the minimum requirement the beta testers need for the leaked version?

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Lilbisqit

That's what I hear.

I also looked at some of the screenshots. The system drive will be 60GB. Also duplication will be duplication. No parity or other fancy data protection scheme. Also I believe you will be able to select subfolders for duplication now.

The new interface is nice but simple. Silverlight will be used to allow you to stream your media via remote access. It looks like firefox could be used and maybe even silverlight on mobile phones. Transcoding will be automatic.

I see nothing that says they intend to make the system easier for people to do other things like run TV tuners or use it as an HTPC. It seems the design intent is the same: storage server + media streaming.

I wouldn't personally use it for anything else and keep a separate machine to be my HTPC/Gaming machine. However since it has everything Win 7 has and is based on Win 2008 getting drivers and software to work on it should be easy for those who choose to make it a multi-purpose device. Personally I want to let it do what it does best and not ask it to take on more than it can chew.

I'm surprised nobody here has posted any experiences. I suppose it would reveal that poster to have obtained a test copy through unofficial channels. But hey it wouldn't be the first time.