Hello All,

Im seeking advice on a WHS that's in the works right now. I currently have a Netgear ReadyNas Duo with 2 1.5TB drives in XRAID (1.5TB of storage), and is filling up. Looking to expand with my new WHS

The main purpose will be:

1) Serving content (Mostly HD movie content) to a PS3.
2) Hopefully to back up 2 computers hardwired and 2 laptops through wifi.
3) Ability to access all personal files remotely with strong security.
4) Allow guests (friends and family) to view pictures/videos and access to certain shares

The hardware of the build is a follow:
Case: (Purchased) Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811129042

Power Supply: (Purchased) OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ500MXSP 500W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817341016

CPU: (Purchased) Intel Core i3-530 Clarkdale 2.93GHz 4MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115222

Motherboard: (Looking to buy) GIGABYTE GA-H57M-USB3 LGA 1156 Intel H57 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128430

Memory: (Purchased) CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C9
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820145260

OS Hard Drives: (Looking to buy) 2x SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822152185
Looking to run the OS drives in RAID1 for redundancy. Please see question below regarding this.

Storage/Data Pool Drives: (Looking to buy) 2x (2 to start) 2TB drives. Anything but Seagate really.

Questions:

1) My number 1 priority for this system is that my data is safe. With Intel's H57 chipset, they offer RAID, 5x SATA controlled by the Intel Chipset and 2x SATA controlled by the Gigabyte SATA2 chip. So total of 7x onboard SATA drives.

My plan is to setup 2x of the 1TB OS drives as a RAID1 setup to make sure if one goes down, the other is still going and I can rebuild with a new drive with not a lot of down time. Would this be possible with the onboard RAID offerings from either the Intel or Gigabyte chipsets? Please note I will setup RAID ONLY for the OS drives and not the storage pool. Also, is 1TB big enough for the OS only drives? Should I go smaller or bigger? I've read conflicting things about which route to go.

2) Since I have the ReadyNas Duo, is there a way I can do nightly backups of selected shares from my WHS to the ReadyNas? Anyone have any experience with this?

3) How hard would it be to setup my WHS to backup my laptops through wifi nightly? I understand for the first time I should do it wired, but wifi should be fine for incremental backups after the initial one. Also the computers that are to be backed up nightly, can they be shut down, the schedule to turn on, backup and shut back down? Or do they have to be in sleep mode and woken up?

4) Does any add-ons required for the PS3 to find the WHS? Right now with the ReadyNas I just have to enable UpNp and everything is shown on the PS3. Nothing has to be transcoded, as most are already in a PS3 compatible format.

5) Same question as the add-ons but for pictures that I need to show clients and or friends and families. Do I just make a guest account and let everyone log in through that? Of course with limited access to certain shares.

6) Remote accessing from anywhere, be it another hardwired computer or through wifi; what determines the speed of the DLing? My connection is FIOS 25/25Mbps, both 25Mbps upload and download speeds.

7) Is there a way to slipstream the PP3 into the new OEM version of WHS that I have now? Also so I can slipstream the RAID drivers into there as well. I am familiar with slipstreaming for Windows XP but not sure if it'll be the same for WHS.

Those are just a couple for now, I really need to know the RAID question about the OS drives, so then I can go ahead and order the motherboard so I can finally set this thing up.

Thanks again to everyone in advance for your help, once everything is worked out, and I have all the parts, I'll get some pictures up!

You don't really need 1TB drives for the OS drive. WHS v1 OS only uses 20GB of space. Minimum 80GB drive is required and more than adequate. If you plan to use the machine for Vail you'll need 160 GB OS drive.

Thanks cavediver! Love the Andromeda build! Do you have any other insights on the other questions up there? Also, what are you using to back up your system drive? This is the reason why I would like to run the OS drives in RAID1. Thanks again!

There is no good easy way to back up the system drive in WHS v1. Most rely on the server recovery option included with the original WHS installation disks. This will change with Vail.

Thanks! So would you say using the onboard raid in RAID1 for the OS be useless then? I want ANY security I get for the OS drives.

Not necessarily. If you search around the various forums, you'll see a lot of people using raid 1 for the WHS OS drive. I considered it, but after much research, decided it wasn't worth the hassle. It's easy enough to do a server recovery with the original WHS installation disks. One of the reasons I prefer a small, storage pool free, OS drive, is I believe it makes it easier to do an OS server recovery.

Thanks cavediver! It seems like you're the only one helping me out, I really appreciate it! So per your suggestions Im going with 2x of these:
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822152181

Not sure if I'll leave it in a RAID1 setup or use 1 have leave the other as a back up for it, I might just try RAID1 for it.

Does anyone else have an input on ANY of the other questions? I really want to buy everything before this weekend so I can set it up this weekend. Thanks!!!

Backup through WiFi should not be a problem. WHen I built my new workstation, I moved the old one to the living room, and there is no way to run a cable, so I got an 802.11n card for it so it could connect via wireless. It has no problem being backed up with my WHS.

Remote access uses RDP, so you don't need a ton of bandwidth. Liek anythign else, it's the slowest piece of the link that determines overall speed, for most people this is their internet connection. If you intend to doanload or rip movies on one computer and copy them to the WHS< I woudl suggest you go GigE all around, as it takes literally forever to copy a BD rip over 100Mb. Even with 100Mb ethernet, the slow spot will still be your 25Mb FIOS - oh how I wish I could get FIOS here and dump Comcast...

Not sure about a PS3, I have a 360 and quickly dumped it due to the idiotic 4GB file limit, even when accessing via a network share. I use a Popcorn Hour A110 to stream my movies and music from the WHS.

Slipstreaming should work the same way, it is after all essentially just Server 2003. Wirst case, the F6 to install drivers is still available to get the RAID drive installed. With your fast conection it won't take long to download all the updates - after a fresh install over the weekend I had to run updates 4 times until it got them all, and there were a LOT. This is all post-SP2 stuff for 2003, since there are no more SPs there's nothing to slipstream in. In one of the update cycles it installed PP3 so it's all good to go.

--Randy

You'll need to use SyncToy or some other sync program to do this.

I backup my laptop to WHS via wifi. Currently the laptop is connected to my Vail test server and backing up nightly via wifi to the Vailserver.

Sorry, I can't help you with this as I don't own a ps3.

Basically, yes.

There are a lot of variables that can affect download or upload speeds. Each system and/or network is different.

There are posts about this with howto instructions at wegotserved's wiki.

Thanks Randy!!!!!

Regarding the Wifi and PC back ups in generally, does the PC has to be on or in sleep? Or can it be shut down and the WHS will wake it up and back up then shut them back down?

Yeah all the hardwired connections on the LAN are gigE already, wifi still at G but planning to upgrade to N after this WHS is built. Over wifi I get a very sad 2-3mb/s writing to my NAS

FIOS is indeed awesome, my next step up might be to get the 50mb/s plan but I dont think I'll need that just yet.

The PS3 also has the stupid 4GB file limit, but I think this is more so because of the HD's system NTFS vs. FAT32. However through my NAS I was able to read my Bluray rips no problem, laggy but it goes.

Yeah I probably won't slipstream and just uses the DVD that came to install and DL all the updates, I'll pull a floppy drive from another PC just for the F6 at the beginning and I also read another time within the install process. Just order the last pieces and everything is on it's way here.

Thanks again for the help I REALLY appreciate it!!

WHS will wake your PCs from sleep to do the nightly backup.

Thanks cavediver! Not wanting to sound stupid, but when you mean "wake" do you mean the WHS will turn on the computer from a powered off state, back up, then shut down. Or wake as it, I DIDN'T turn my computer/laptop off, but put it into "Sleep" mode, then the WHS wakes it up, back up, then puts it back to sleep?

I'll make sure to checkout the wegotserved wiki. Any other precautions or tips for a first time WHS installer? I've probably done hundreds or Windows installation, just never WHS. Thanks!!

WHS will not turn on your PC from an off state. It will however, wake a PC from sleep. I tried hibernate mode on one of my XP machines and WHS would not bring it out of hibernate, but will wake it from sleep.

Thanks cavediver, you're helping me out more than you know!

Okay, another question.

Im in the process of slipstreaming SATA/RAID drivers onto the disc. My particular motherboard has drivers specifically for Windows Server (32 bit) Can I use those? I read somewhere where I needed Vista and Xp drivers for different parts of the installation? How do I know which ones I'll need?

This is a link to the drivers available for my motherboard:
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/produc ... l=1#driver

Select "Show all" to see all of them.

Since I will be only be doing the install with the system drives, Im assuming I'll need to only installing this driver:
"Intel SATA RAID Preinstall driver (For AHCI / RAID Mode)" Is this correct?

Bare with me here guys, this is my first time slip streaming for a RAID setup. Thanks!

WHS is Windows Server 2003. If you have Windows Server 2003 drivers, use them. Otherwise, use XP drivers.