August 21, 2009 at 8:20 am
I've been running a WHS server for several years now (did the beta then bought the product at RTM); it's on an older Dell desktop that I added 16 1TB drives to via 2 controllers each with 2 eSATA ports (using Addonics port multipliers to connect the drives).
The WHS backs up the various PC's in my house (4-8 depending), and acts as a file server, print server, and media server to a slew of devices. It's really excellent, and I have had very few issues with it at all - it just runs and does it's thing.
The strategy WHS uses to provide reliable storage is very interesting, sort of an app-level (folder/file-level) RAID-1 approach. NTFS reparse points are key to the strategy and it is both simple to manage and very effective. A key benefit versus RAID is that with all the drives managed as a large storage pool, the system can be fully immune to multiple drive failures (and if not fully immune, you will only lose a relatively small amount of data on successive drive failures).
Performance of WHS has been excellent as well; my system (with two gig-E network ports) can serve lots of clients at once, including sourcing multiple mpeg-4 video streams. The storage approach in WHS makes the most of slow disks/controllers, and uses idle time to do the leveling/replication.
But regardless how effective WHS is, it's no substitute for an off-premises backup solution! I've been doing the take-a-disk-to-work thing (Vantec EZ-Swap cartridges rock), but that's getting old so I'm looking for a net backup solution for WHS itself.
In short, it's been a great system for me....
August 21, 2009 at 8:29 am
I have an external drive that I back up to nightly.
I really should subscribe to one of the online services, but haven't yet.
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August 21, 2009 at 8:32 am
RAID isn't a substitute for backup, and I didn't mean to imply that. I was curious how many people wanted to deal with that at home, monitoring failed drives, etc.
My plan is to use WHS with their drive technology as the backup machine, main stuff on other machines.
I do currently use Live Mesh since I have 3 machines that I move stuff around on. It's great if you have multiple machines, as long as you have small files. Not sure it would work great for your photo library, but I do have it running for articles, editorials, blogs, presentations, SQL Scripts.
August 21, 2009 at 8:33 am
Steve,
You mention having your data backed up to hard drives kept all over the house, what if your house gets destroyed by fire, flood, terrorists, the governement etc etc?
Where do you restore from then?:w00t:
Phill
August 21, 2009 at 8:47 am
Have a good resume on the web :w00t:
That's a great point, and I have no idea. Guess stuff is gone. However with the volume I have around here, none of the online backups I've looked at make a lot of sense.
I do have a lot of pictures online at places, so I'm semi-protected.
August 21, 2009 at 8:50 am
One suggestion I had was to back up to a portable HDD and then take it to a trusted friend or relative.
The likelihood of both of your houses being destroyed is low.
August 21, 2009 at 9:01 am
I have two external hard drives that I back up to. One I keep in a fireproof box in the house, the other in a safety deposit box at the bank. Once per month - more often if there are a lot of new files I put on to it - I back up to the fireproof box's drive, then take it to the bank. I take the bank's HDD and back up to it when I get it home - then it goes into the fireproof box. It's not elegant or sophisticated, but it works and makes me feel a little bit safer.
August 21, 2009 at 9:10 am
I burn my most critical stuff (work docs, SQL scripts, app code, etc) to DVD (Rar'd with password) and give it to my friend. It's not everything, but it means that the most important stuff is unlikely to be destroyed unless a single disaster takes out half the city.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
August 21, 2009 at 9:35 am
My WHS box has been backing up the family PCs for over a year. It's actually come in handy twice when I had to recover files that got corrupted or accidentally deleted. Maybe even saved my marriage.
:hehe:
There is also more and cooler stuff for WHS that's being worked on right now. A buddy of mine in WHS told me that this week is a "code complete week" and there's plenty of coding and completing for some future release going on.
August 21, 2009 at 9:43 am
Ben Moorhouse (8/21/2009)
I'm thinking I need to do some kind of off-site stuff, but it will just be things like photos and written data (the stuff which can't just be re-purchased or re-downloaded).I need to get myself sorted out first, but would love to hear how you get on?
I upload photos to my album on webshots.com, so I can download them to my desktop wherever I am working. I also keep my photos on a mini-HD as a backup.
For documents, I've started emailing them to myself as a backup. That way Google has them on their servers. If they contain personal info I password protect and/or use a crypto key with them.
August 21, 2009 at 9:48 am
David Reed (8/21/2009)
There is also more and cooler stuff for WHS that's being worked on right now. A buddy of mine in WHS told me that this week is a "code complete week" and there's plenty of coding and completing for some future release going on.
Anything you can share?
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
August 21, 2009 at 9:56 am
I'm glad this topic came up - it reminded me to copy some recent photos from my computer to my mini-HD device.
August 21, 2009 at 10:00 am
Jon Monahan (8/21/2009)
I have two external hard drives that I back up to. One I keep in a fireproof box in the house, the other in a safety deposit box at the bank. Once per month - more often if there are a lot of new files I put on to it - I back up to the fireproof box's drive, then take it to the bank. I take the bank's HDD and back up to it when I get it home - then it goes into the fireproof box. It's not elegant or sophisticated, but it works and makes me feel a little bit safer.
Mostly I'm watching this thread because I'm curious about the consensus. A couple of things to note, that most here probably already know. Don't count on fireproof boxes to be fireproof. The box won't burn, and the stuff inside might not ignite, but it takes a lot less than spontaneous ignition to destroy the contents of a disk inside of a drive. I doubt the box is heat proof.
Be careful about the assumptions made in trusting RAID drive configurations. Mirroring is fine, but something like RAID 5 with the capacity of today's drives, you'll find that the mean rate of failure of the disks is greater than that required to rebuild one of the disks. This means that if the disks are too large, RAID 5 is worse than useless. Even when the do work, capacities that large take increasingly longer to rebuild.
FWIW, I have two portable drives as large or larger than my HDD, and I just image to them. I have to admit, I haven't even restored the image since I got my laptop back from service, let alone done new backups. And that was over a year ago. Hopefully, my opiu.,qweroiu won't faillk/.x,mzcv/.,..... :w00t:
August 21, 2009 at 11:11 am
GilaMonster (8/21/2009)
David Reed (8/21/2009)
There is also more and cooler stuff for WHS that's being worked on right now. A buddy of mine in WHS told me that this week is a "code complete week" and there's plenty of coding and completing for some future release going on.Anything you can share?
Of course not. Otherwise what fun would it be to taunt others with forbidden knowledge?
😎
Anything Official™ would be found here anyway: http://blogs.technet.com/homeserver/default.aspx
😀
However, the WHS seems to have taken to heart the lack of add ins due to the complexity of (and limitations to) standing up a new one. Also, the [CENSORED] looks to be very cool! Stay tuned.
August 21, 2009 at 11:23 am
I've been using Mozy for several years now and it's been great. It's configured to back up all my data and it backs up automatically when the computer is idle. Although I've never had to restore from there, it gives me great peace of mind knowing that my data is backed up and off site.
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