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PostPosted: Sat Nov 15, 2014 12:26 pm 
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So, I've had my EX475 for almost 6 years. My main use is to (1) store family photos and home videos, and (2) run automated backups for my family's PC's

I added memory (thanks to all you kind folks!!!) early on, then, at one point, bought a hard disk to put into Bay#3. We had an invasion of dustbunnies, and the newer hard disk in Bay#3 died suddenly. Fortunately, because of folder duplication, the data that I care about (basically, all the photos & home movies) are safe. Some of the family PC backups may be munged, but I'm not as concerned with that.

System drive (Bay#1, 500GB Seagate original disk) and Bay#2 (also 500GB Seagate disk) appear to be running fine.

Considering that the hardware (power supply, fans) on the EX475 might be good for another 2-3 years--what are my "best practice" options at this point?

I'm planning on buying 1 or 2 additional hard disks for Bay#3 (and possibly #4)--1 TB 3.5" SATA disks (I'm not low on storage space). I'm thinking the WD Caviar "Red" (NAS-aware) drive(s).

Here are some of the options I'm thinking of--help me out with either more suggestions, or recommending one of the options, please:

(1) After installing new drives, "remove" original Drive#1 (using WHS system). Put system on one of the new drives. Put original Drive#1 in "safe" location, so if system drive goes south, I have a starting point?
(2) After installing new drives, just leave everything as is?
(3) After installing new drives, "remove" original Drive#1, put system on new drive, then, put original Drive#1 back into the storage pool?

I will add that I am now backing up the photos & home movies into a portable 2TB USB drive--total amount of space used by our family photos & videos is about 300 GB. (Yippee for folder duplication!).

Thanks in advance, all!


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PostPosted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 3:44 am 
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Its totally awesome your storage needs are not all that great making backing up the data a much easier task for sure. Its good your taking the initiative to backup your data outside the server. Some do it with multiple drives they rotate around between backups. Hey drives fail and so what good is a failed backup drive.

The system drive is not so easy because of how WHS uses the system drive its not like you can just image it and rotate the drives around its way more complicated then that. If your current system drive is in good health then I would just leave it alone and if your looking to just increase the system drives storage capacity then either Clone the drive using the Clone Guide or perform a Server Recovery to preserve your data.

Here is a link on how to properly clone a system drive: http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2010/01 ... tem-drive/

I will also mention that performing Server Recoveries is a pain and if your still running the original version of the HP Software that came with your EX470 then I would urge you to do it with an old 32 XP System as you would have the best results.

Now all drives will eventually fail and sometimes they just fail without warning. WHS reports the file system health and touches a little bit on other things. Home Server Classic or HSS Classic actually reads the SMART Information from the hard drives and reports the physical health of a hard drive. With bot monitoring your hard drives you stand a better chance of being able to replace a hard drive before it fails however neither can predict a sudden failure.

To add to the complexity of Server Recoveries are the newer Advanced Format Drives and some play well with WHS and others need to be prepared or Aligned to work well with WHS especially when used as a system drive which has 2 partitions on it. Unfortunately there is no clear one stop solution for using these drives in WHSv1 so you really need to check with the drive manufacturer. Some claim the RED Drives work well, others claim Seagate drives work well and I have played around with the Toshiba Drives that are listed as 512e meaning they emulate the 512b sector sizes but to be honest I do not run those WHSv1 servers all that often to know for certain if they are viable or not. So for this I would have to defer to those in the forums who actively still run WHSv1 as their primary servers. I do have 1 WHSv1 server I do run 24-7 but the drives in that server are all older drives meaning none are Advanced Format.

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 12:09 pm 
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Thanks for a thoughtful and thorough reply!

After running the backup database repair wizard, it looks like I lost most of the backups of the PCs, but none of the stuff that I really care about (family photos etc.)

Losing the PC backups is not a huge deal, as I can take new snapshot backups. I do run the risk that one of the PCs will die before a new backup has been done, but that's something I'm willing to live with.

Sounds like my plan is:

(1) Buy 2 1-TB disks (I really don't see the need to go to 2-TB)
(2) Install them in the storage pool
(3) Check the "duplication" status (again!)
(4) Look at the "backup database wizard" (in one of yakuza's guides), and maybe do a snapshot of that.
(5) Put on my checklist for DST changeovers: Clean dustbunnies from server, in addition to changing all the clocks in the house!

In 2-3 years (which is *way* past the lifetime of the EX475 :-), I'm going to need to research new solutions for NAS/backup. I don't really use the streaming/media functions, the EX475 for our family is really peace-of-mind backup.

Again, thanks for the thoughtful and comprehensive advice!


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PostPosted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 12:25 pm 
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My 2 cents. You are backing up, that's great, a lot found out the hard way that not doing so can be very bad.
If you are going to be using that server long term I would look at buying a used one for spare parts.
I have 4 total, 2 in the box for spare parts.
As far as drives, I swapped out all my drives for the 2TB reds. They run a little slower but cooler.

As far as backing up, keep doing what your doing but you could add a third, add a 2tb drive and when it asks if you want to add it to the pool, click no. Then when you go to the backups page, you will see where you can backup the shares to that non-pooled drive.
I have two of these non-pooled drives that I rotate and have a second server with all Hitachi drives that I synctoy the shares to weekly/monthly, it's fast but runs warm..
It's also a good idea to have a copy of the most important data off-site, Grandmas house or safe deposit box, just in case of fire/flood/theft.

Just some ideas, some like a fast Black 2tb main drive and the reds for the rest, the blacks will run a little faster but also warmer.

I deep clean the servers at least twice a year and have an air cleaner setting net to them. I give them a blast of air every couple of months.

I keep a couple of extra drives on hand, I have a couple of power supplies on hand and I have two usb to sata docks to work with drives.

It's all about how important your data is. Some use the cloud....as a backup. I won't use the cloud and I won't use seagates, but that's just me.

I saw a poll that said people were only willing to spend about $300 to protect there data but those same people would spend thousands to recover it if it went south.
I have data going back to the late 80's, personal, so I can't lose it so I spent my money up front and will use these servers as long as I can. All our netbooks and desktops are win7 and I will not do win8, will wait till win7 is forced out and see if win 10 will work on these servers.
If not, I have a DIY win2012E server just in case.

More then you needed to know, but hopes it helps... And goodluck

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 4:53 pm 
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I don't think I'm quite organized enough (nor do I think I have the hardware dexterity :-) ) to buy spare EX470's or 475's from ebay--although the power supply might not be a bad idea for an inexpensive spare.

I've got my system running on a UPS, so I think my power going into the power supply is clean.

I appreciate the comments on the WD-Reds being a bit cooler. Since I'm mostly backing up, cool is a good tradeoff vs performance. Also the suggestion on non-pool drive--I might just do that with a USB external drive (those are also getting quite inexpensive). A Toshiba, WD, or Seagate on a USB connector.

Yes, I too am trying to avoid Win8. One of my children is in college with a Win8 laptop, but I said that I would not backup their college machines--by that time, they're supposed to be on their own.

In a few years (once the youngest is off to college), the EX475 (or its replacement) will be doing automated backups of 2 PCs (spouse & me), and storing family photo & home videos. I'm not a social media person (I still have a flip cell phone), so some of the newer "personal cloud" systems' feature set are not quite a match. (Not to mention personal privacy, and possible "oops, didn't mean to post that!"

Again, thanks to all for their helpful contributions!


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