MediaSmartServer.net
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/

Primary Drive Failing... Add another drive?
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14692		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  applety [ Tue Jul 03, 2018 8:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Primary Drive Failing... Add another drive?
I know it sounds strange, but here is the situation:
I have a 2 drive WHS 2009 with 2 1TB drives. All I really care about is the files on the shared folders which are duplicated.
The primary drive is starting to fail.

I was thinking, before I replace the primary drive, what if add another 1TB drive? Wouldn't the shared folders then re-balance between drives 2 & 3?
Then I could just pull out and replace the primary with a smaller SSD.

What do you think? Is that crazy? Is it going to cause any issues?

TIA
Author:  Ruben Rocha [ Wed Jul 04, 2018 9:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Primary Drive Failing... Add another drive?
First and foremost I have never tried a ssd in the hp mediasmart.
I don't believe it has support for a SSD such as trim, Besides getting it to fit in the drive caddy properly.
So let the buyer beware.

If you wish to use folder duplication I would always suggest to have at least two pool drives plus the os drive.
When whs is installed the os drive is formatted to.
C;/ 20gb
D:/data size is whatever is left over( used to be called landing zone)
Leaving the os drive to get mostly what will not fit when the pool drives become full. This used be be what is called a landing zone.
But way back then the landing zone was a temporary holding space till windows DE moved it to the pool drives.
Now it is just part of the drive pool.

DE is somewhat strange when it runs and may or may not migrate data immediately to a new pool drive just because you add one.
It usually takes add net new data files for it to kick in.
You may need to force it using a very old tool called drive balancer.
After you add a second pool drive.
https://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39664
I would use the most current version.
It will take a while and hopefully your os drive will survive the process it is a lot of thrashing.

OR

Best suggestion.
Buy your two new drives

just pull the os drive.
Add another pool drive.
Add a ssd os drive.
Run recover not reset.
Then plug the old os drive into a desktop.
Enable view hidden files/folders in file explorer.
Then copy over all the data in the data partition.
You will get some warnings about file already exists on the duplicates, in fact it should be all of them. I would ignore them as to not replace the file due to the os drive is in question for reliability.
That will cya on any files that are not duplicated.

This may take quite a while to create the duplication files on the new pool drive. It all depends on how much data it has to duplicate.
Since windows DE usually runs a little at a time, no matter which method you use. So you may see high cpu and memory usage for a day or two till it settles down. Plus you will need to deal with ms and hp updates.
Btw,
The updates will break your connector on the desktop because the versions are out of sync. For this you probably will need to reinstall the connector for each update if you want to see what is going on.

Done.
Author:  applety [ Wed Jul 04, 2018 12:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Primary Drive Failing... Add another drive?
Thank you Ruben!

That is very helpful.
I should have specified that this is a home built system, not an HP.

As for the SSD, I took your advice and looked how the ICH9DO would handle SSD's and found a bunch of information indicating that this was not a smart choice.

Thank you for the smart instructions. I will do this as soon as the drives arrive.
Author:  Ruben Rocha [ Thu Jul 05, 2018 9:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Primary Drive Failing... Add another drive?
trim is the dfrag component for ssd drives.
The process is called garbage collection.
Plus it really needs special drivers, and sata3 ports to take full advantage of the performance.
Author:  applety [ Fri Jul 06, 2018 7:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Primary Drive Failing... Add another drive?
So I replaced all the hardware. Checked that BIOS registers all the drives properly.
Booted it back up with OEM Server disc and I see nothing! Is that normal?
Author:  Ruben Rocha [ Sat Jul 07, 2018 11:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Primary Drive Failing... Add another drive?
So what actually did you do, exactly.
Step by step would be helpful.

Also when you see nothing what does that mean?
No connector, no data,.
I also don't understand why you would boot from the cd?
After you run recover you would not use the cd.
Author:  applety [ Sat Jul 07, 2018 12:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Primary Drive Failing... Add another drive?
So I removed the sata0 (primary) drive and replaced it with a new drive.
I left the sata1 drive alone.
I added a new drive at sata2.
I then connected a monitor and keyboard to the server.
I booted up the server and held down the 'del' key to open the BIOS settings.
I confirmed that all 3 drives were showing up in BIOS and that the DVD drive has boot priority.
I then opened the DVD drive and put the OEM windows server install disk in.
I rebooted the system.

When it starts up, it shows me the BIOS screen, the DVD spins up and reads for a minute or so, then everything just idles.
If I just start it up with no DVD, it just idles. Nothing shows up on the screen.

I never get a chance to choose 'Restore' or anything. Maybe that is the part I am missing?
Author:  Ruben Rocha [ Sat Jul 07, 2018 12:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Primary Drive Failing... Add another drive?
I need to think on this.
What is the info printed on the cd.
With mediasmart it came with three cd's.
Server recovery
Client recovery
Connector software.
You may be using the client recovery cd. Not the server cd.

Since it is not a hp mediasmart.
Is the drive in sata 0 a virgin drive or reused from somewhere else.
Maybe you have the incorrect cd installed?

or you still need to select the boot menu from boot to select the usb drive.

On a desktop it is usually f12.

Normally you would use a desktop to install the os. Because the mediasmart is a headless unit.

Connect directly to the server from the desktop with a utp cable.
Boot both up and insert the os cd in the desktop and boot from the desktop cd drive.
Author:  Ruben Rocha [ Sat Jul 07, 2018 1:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Primary Drive Failing... Add another drive?
I edited my prior post so read it again.
Author:  applety [ Sat Jul 07, 2018 1:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Primary Drive Failing... Add another drive?
The DVD I have been using says "Server Installation DVD"
I also have a Home Computer Restore CD, a Home Connector CD and an "OEM Preinstallation Kit" CD.
I also tried booting from the "OEM Preinstallation Kit" with no avail.

The DVD drive is not USB, it is built in and IDE.

I did try booting with an XP disk, and it started to prompt me to install XP, so I know the drive is working properly.

I also tried going down to just the primary hard drive, but that didn't make a difference.
The SATA0 and SATA1 drives are brand new.
Author:  applety [ Sat Jul 07, 2018 7:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Primary Drive Failing... Add another drive?
Well, after spending the entire day, I think I finally got it going.
I am not sure exactly what the problem is, either the internal DVD reader or the IDE drivers or bus.
The monitor I was using apparently also had difficulty displaying certain screens, so I had to swap that out for an older one.
I did end up replacing the power supply and it booted from DVD once, but I only had one drive connected.
Once I reconnected all the drives back up, it would never boot from the internal DVD again.

Finally, in the end I found that booting off a USB DVD player did the trick.
It gave me the option to Restore, and is happily doing it's thing.

Thank you for the assistance.
Author:  Ruben Rocha [ Sun Jul 08, 2018 10:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Primary Drive Failing... Add another drive?
Great now lets hope you get all your updates.

The OEM Preinstallation Kit is probably something you need to look into.
It may have some utilities that apply just to that unit.
Just like on a mediasmart it has hp updates to install same.
But Preinstallation says maybe it is to prepare the unit for whs install.
I have no clue on what it is for.
Page 1 of 1 All times are UTC - 7 hours [ DST ]
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
http://www.phpbb.com/