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RAID Rant: RAID is NOT Backup!

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With the loss of Drive Extender in WHS and my search through RAID alternatives I’ve noticed a lot of people equate RAID (and RAID like solutions) with backup. RAID is not backup. RAID provides redundancy for one hardware component to improve uptime (and RAID 0 doesn’t even provide that). In the case of Windows Home Server Version 1 the folder duplication feature has the same limitations of RAID 1. Redundancy, not backup. I kept all my WHS v1 files duplicated because it would have been a huge pain to lose one non-duplicated drive in the pool and cause a lot of down time. So I duplicated it all – and still did backups. So why isn't RAID comparable to a backup? Read the rest »

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Obvious Lessons Learned

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Sometimes I never learn. Ran into two self-inflected speed bumps while rebuilding my Windows Home Server 2011. 1. Read The Messages – I spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out why WHS 2011 didn’t like the drivers for the RAID controller. Then I finally read the message and didn’t jump to a conclusion. The problem was it couldn’t find my eSATA connected DVD drive. A switch to USB and all was well. 2. Power is important. Balance a power brick near the power strip’s power switch and it’s sure [...] Read the rest »

Ethernet cable

Frustrations of a Bad NIC

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I’d recently mentioned that the performance of my WHS 2011 box wasn’t up to what I expected, and worse, it was inconsistent. Well, Saturday morning it was absolutely terrible, with constant timeouts when I tried to access files on the server. Read the rest »

Fixing the power lines

Saved by The UPS

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Every time I buy a UPS I cringe at the expense, yet I do it and have my servers and main PCs hooked up to a UPS with the shutdown software installed. I just bought one for my new server build. I was going to use the one from my WHS box but decided both would be online long enough to give the new hardware it’s own UPS. In my mind I justify the expense since it provides protection to the computers. I didn’t want the nice new hardware to take a power hit and I didn’t want to remove a UPS from my still production (at the time) Windows Home Server. So I dug into the wallet and bought a UPS for it. Tonight that decision was validated. Read the rest »

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The State of Vail (Windows Home Server v2)

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I started to write this article on Sunday, at which time it had a lot different focus and the only thing that remains is the title. I was writing about what I liked in Vail and that many of the ways I use Windows Home Server had already migrated to Vail, despite it’s beta status. Then today Microsoft dropped a bomb and announced they were discontinuing Drive Extender in WHS and SBS. My first reaction was that WHS is now dead to me. Read the rest »

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WHS System Build: Drive Cage Tribulations

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I have most of the parts in house for my WHS System build and I started putting things together and testing Windows Home Server V2 (Vail). I talked about the the case I picked and plans to try out the EasySATA docks. The good news is I ordered the docks from Amazon so it was easy to return them. The bad news is it was downhill from there. Read the rest »

fireworks

The OS Quest Trail Log # 53: Attack of the SATA Ports Edition

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The latest Trail Log brings news of two problems resolved. The first was that one drive in my Windows Home Server wasn’t reporting SMART info, although seemed to be working fine otherwise. The second was a problem with a PC I was building - when it was powered on it would freeze when looking for the hard drives. Turning it off and immediately back on would resolve the problem after which it would run just fine. I also rant on the Apple iPhone hype and the Apple Microsoft revenue/market cap comparisons. Read the rest »

Apple iPad Image

My iPad Has iPhone Envy – I Have a Headache

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I woke up this morning and connected my iPad to iTunes. iTunes saw my iPad differently and turned it into an iPhone. Complete with ringtones. Unfortunately it no longer allowed it to run iPad apps and removed them all. So it was time to dig into the iPad backups and fine an older one where it was still an iPad. I managed to find one and get my iPad's personality restored. Read the rest »

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School of Hard (Drive) Knocks – Part 2

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At the beginning of the month I wrote about my Windows Home Server hard drive problems and at the time I was waiting for WHS to finish removing the bad drive from its storage pool. When I posted the article I was letting Windows Home Server run through the drive removal process while I slept. I had pulled the plug on the bad drive since it brought the server to its knees and was now trying to remove the traces of it from the pool. When I woke up in [...] Read the rest »