Hiya All!

Whew, I have done my fair share of reading here, and am getting ready to jump in with a massive WHS.

Situation:
My current file server is a box running windows 7. It's also doubling as a HTPC, recording TV, and feeding TV/Movies to the flat panel in my office (where we spend an inordinate amount of time). It's got 5 1TB drives in it, and is running raid-5, so 4 TB of space (which is just now starting to get a little tight). Everything is "protected", although after experiencing a massive corruption of the raid array last year, I think I'm ready for something new. I think my mistake here was buying more storage than I needed. I assembled the machine when 1TB drives were brand new ($200+ each) and over half the storage went unused for a very long time.

Vision:
I am loving the look of the Norco RPC-4220. I'm envisioning being able to harness the dynamic allocation of WHS by being able to populate it with 2TB drives, and expand my storage as needed, taking advantage as the drives get larger/cheaper as time goes on.

I think the loadout I'm envisioning would be...
Norco RPC-4220
Sturdy Intel CPU + MB (as many PCI slots as possible)
4g ram
700W+ PS
60 gig SSD for OS (big enough?)
Slim DVD
Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 cards for SAS control (can I get away with buying one to start?)
2TB drives. 4 to start, and then add as space is needed.

I'm estimating this at about $900, plus the cost of the data drives. (ouch)

Concerns:
1. WHS still doesn't have media center integrated into it. This means I'll need another machine in the loft just to serve media up to the LCD on the wall. *cry* I've heard rumors that Vail will remedy this need, but again, rumors.

2. Vail is coming. Would it make sense for me to wait before starting a project of this magnitude?

3. Backups. I know, I know, there are hundreds of threads here on the subject of backups, and I've read so many I'm dizzy already. When it comes to preserving your media, is it best / safe to just add drives and turn on duplication? The danger there is, corrupted files get duplicated, and there's no way to go back. Also, I don't like my backup drives spinning constantly... power, and wear. I know that's the price for real-time backups, but as many have lamented about, I'd prefer to be able to connect external drives, (maybe 8TB in a 4-bay ESATA dock?) and have some automated process refresh the archive as needed, maybe once a month (or whenever I get around to it). If I'm crazy in my lack of trust in duplication as backup, someone just tell me.

Vision 2:
I haven't used WHS before, and it may take me a little time to get used to the nuances of it, as well as familiarizing myself with the plugins and other tricks of the trade. I could probably easily get away with a $350 refurbished MSS, maybe even attaching a 4-bay dock if space is tight, and make due with that until Vail comes along. It's the "safer" route that I usually don't take, but with the lay of the land, if this might be a better alternative in the short term, I definitely wouldn't mind pushing creation of the monster till later.

Thanks in advance, not only to the MSS gurus, but to the brave souls that have already walked these roads, and climbed these hills, so that us following in your path have it easier.

First off, welcome to t he forum



You would need another machine either way. Are you talking about connecting your WHS directly to your TV if WMC is integrated? WHS is really not meant to be used for that purpose, so whether WMC is integrated or not you are going to want a separate player (whether it be an HTPC, PCH, or other). One thought regarding WMC integration is that currently if you have an Xbox360 and want to use it in WMC mode, you need to have a separate Windows PC running WMC turned on, as well as your WHS serving up the media. The goal would be to have WMC integrated into WHS so there is no need for this intermediary PC.



There is no timeline t hat I know of when Vail will become public. It could be 6 months, it could be a year, who knows. How long are you willing to wait?



Really depends on your preference. I rather just use duplication so I don't have to worry about rebuilding any of my library. I also don't have to worry about figuring out what files I lost. For instance, WHS treats all data as one big pool, so you will not know that movie x is on HDD 4 and movie y is on HDD 5. If you don't have duplication enabled and a drive fails, you will need to figure out what you lost first before you attempt to recover. With duplication, simply pull out the bad drive, add a new one, that is it. It is really personal preference though, there is no correct answer



I think getting an HP MediaSmart Server is a good way to get introduced to WHS. I owned an EX470 for over a year (my first experience with servers) before I moved on to my DIY WHS (Shawshank)

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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

Right, as I understand it, the 360 is doing a form of terminal serving into the main WMC machine (just like Linksys extenders, etc do). When that's the case, the main WMC machine is really doing all the "work". I mean, if WHS puts that capability into it, running another client and displaying it seems the same effort as putting it to the remote terminal... you can see that's how extenders work currently on MCE/Vista/7. I wouldn't expect them to create something new to do that... just give WHS the same WMC integration as the rest of the products...

I think ya sold me on duplication. It's still not perfect, but the advantages seem to outweigh the cons.

Still in the air about jumping in for the monster server, or just patching my space issues with a MSS and some external storage. If you had it to do over again, would you take the easy, out of the box solution, or go for the gusto?

WHen I received my EX470 I have never dealt with servers before, let alone build a PC. The MSS really served as a great introduction into servers, and in many ways led to my growing interest (or obsession according to my wife) around the whole server/digital home setup. If I had to do it again I would do things the same exact way (started with the EX470 and then moved on to bigger/better things). The EX49x series is much nicer then the EX470 I had (I set my dad up with an EX495)

_________________
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

A motherboard with as many PCI-X slots as possible. PCI is a little dated and can only handle 120MB/sec which two drives could saturate

+1 for an HP MSS EX49x as a first server. They're easy to setup and use for document & media sharing, PC backups, general data storage, and remote access. And for what you get, they're reasonably priced.

I would also concur, If you have had no previous server experience your best bet at success is going to be one of the HP Mediasmart systems.
A great way to cut your teeth and start your collection.
Even at non stop collecting it took me 1.5yrs before I felt the space starting to dwindle.
By then you will have gained enough experience to know what you want and how to define it.
A crucial step in building a DIY you will be happy with.

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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

Update:

I think for the time being, I've talked myself out of the 20 drive megaserver.

A buddy here a while back was able to snag a re-certified 485 on newegg for $299, and I've been scouting, waiting for the same deal, but alas, I don't think it's gonna come around again.

My media is now sitting at about 3.5 TB (and growing quickly). My concern with the older MediaSmart servers is 4 bays, and no port multiplication. With duplication, and 4 2TB drives, I'd just about be bumping up against the limit from the start. Plus, I have that 4 bay enclosure just waiting in the wings.

The 490 series is what I'm looking at now (4 drives + 4 in my enclosure will buy me a couple years of use). However, I'm looking in the $500 range for one, and I'm a pretty experienced system builder, with a MSDN license, so WHS is already free.

I'm now thinking that for the $500 a new 490 would cost me, I could probably put together a respectable 6-8 bay tower, with good CPU/Motherboard, that would support esata port multiplication, and have a few advantages over the HP version, at least from a hardware perspective. (performing upgrades on the MSS servers is apparently, a bear)

The path you are now considering is what I decided on, if you look in the server with no name post, you can see my spec. If you exclude the data drives and the Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 it was in the $500 to $600 range including WHS. My current path is to have all my files on 3 machines, the WHS and my NAS, and backed up on my brothers WHS in another state, not including the 50GB I have on Carbonite . Once I get more comfortable will likely go with just the WHS, my brother as backup, and Carbonite.

My thoughts on this is what are you comfortable with doing. Buying a 495 is quick easy and fairly low risk. BYO is not as quick, slightly more risk in exchange for more options. In my readings have seen a MSS expanded to over 40TB, but it does come with some limitations. Much less so in a BYO.

Dave

Remember that with an EX48x you CAN use multi-bay external cabinets THAT ARE USB-CONNECTED... Up to 8 drives in each...

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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

Well, took the path of least resistance. The Egg has a ex487 for $350, so for the time being, that'll do.

Just need to keep my eye open for a good USB enclosure... 4 drives isn't gonna cut the mustard for very long.

On a related note, what's the opinion on reloading the software fresh (with a 2 TB main drive) and wiping off all the undesirable software... like the virus protection?

Nothing wrong with doing a factory reset with a new 2 TB drive as the main drive. As for wiping off the "undesirable software", depends on what you want to wipe off. If it's the add-ins that come with it from HP, such as McAfee, then no problem doing that. Just don't install them and delete them from the Software share > Add in folder, or place them in a different folder for use down the road if you want them later. If it's the HP software that is more hard coded into the WHS that you want to delete, then that's a different issue and there are some threads about that here and there. Consider buying the HP 3.0 softare disks and doing your factory restore on the 2 TB disk with the new software.

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HP MSS EX490 with Intel E6300
4 GB RAM
7 TB Drive Storage

MediaSmartServer.net Wiki, it's loaded with helpful information about WHS and the HP MediaSmart Server.

Thanks everyone!

EX487 up and running... 1.5TB included was apparently (2) 750 gig drives, so I pulled em, installed fresh with a 2TB, and the machine is now loaded with 8TB, and humming along nicely.

All that's left is to find a reasonably priced 4 bay USB enclosure, and I should have enough storage room for the foreseeable future.