Windows Home Server 2011 - Creating a Drive Mirror

[haggard90]

Could you please explain why someone might use hardware RAID 1? This seems much easier and I'm looking into mirrorig my server drive.

Loved this video by the way.

[jpltim]

@haggard90 hardware RAID 1 would be used for a system where fault tolerance is required. A good hardware controller takes the load off of the PC and having two drives, like in an Icy Dock, makes changing drives easy. RAID 1 is not faster of course but it makes a single drive failure a non-issue.

[hulkhatepunybanner]

This tutorial is not easy to follow. It probably requires previous knowledge of the setup on this particular system. I don't know. Just an observation.

[jpltim]

@hulkhatepunybanner This video is not meant to show the full process flow and, in some situations or use cases, could require an understanding of software RAID in a Windows environment to ensure proper set up. The mirror concept itself is a little more advanced with WHS 2011 but the Drive Mirror process is virtually the same on Windows 7 and WHS 2011. Check with the main Microsoft help page for more information if the video has not covered an area or specific step you want to learn more about.

[hulkhatepunybanner]

@jpltim Thanks! I was looking at a rackmount solution with two 1Tb HDDs in RAID1 to replace a dead HP EX470 with WHSv1. Would this RAID1 setup handle the mirroring using hardware RAID, independent of WHS 2011? Or would I have to manually go through the WHS mirroring process you were illustrating in the video?

[jpltim]

@hulkhatepunybanner If you are going to do a hardware RAID I would not recommend mixing in software options. Find a good RAID controller card and use that as a base.

[hulkhatepunybanner]

@jpltim Here's the thought I got once I thought it over. If I use hardware RAID 1 the machine will just create a clone of my WHS installation and whatever data I've added. So if one drive fails the OS goes about as if nothing happened. WHS should be "clueless" to this mirroring...? As opposed to WHS doing its own mirroring which I'm guessing is just a duplication of the data and not the system. Does this sound right? Though I'm not sure what happens if the system drive fails in this case.

[jpltim]

@hulkhatepunybanner If you use the WHS 2011 OS RAID then, upon drive failure, it is just a drive replacement issue. When you use the WHS 2011 OS backup feature you cover yourself for OS errors and other software related issues. Remember, if you bork your OS, RAID 1 will just make two copies of your borked OS.

[jpltim]

I want my OS drive separate so I can upgrade, test or rebuild the OS without any hassles. It is just a matter of preference.

[sausagenmuff]

why would you not just mirror C as well instead of scheduling a backup?

[maethu01]

nice tuts!

[UEsweden]

nice title "My Movie"