Windows Home Server 2011

W

whippy999

New member
Hello everyone, anybody got WHS 2011? if so whats it like as im looking for a normal backup server for my gaming pc and Dell XPS 1340, netboo, etc.

Is it worth buying the whole unit or just build a system to do it? just want to know how good it is at its job and whether just use my game/web server to continue on the back-up job as well.

Thanks
 
I never understood the purpose of a backup server anymore, I understand a backup harddrive, but in most peoples cases unlike TTL, or other Video producers/uploaders, IMO there is no use for a whole system.
 
Well you see, I make systems, but program in Java and c++, create websites, games production, takes up a lot of space, sort of needing centralised storage, desktop all day and laptop at night, so what do you think would be a good job for what I need? large storage, automatic backups every night, centralised storage, thanks
 
i'd recommend a NAS device. but i'd use it as a primary storage device as well as for windows backups. windows 7 professional and above does automatic backups to network shares. but be aware: whatever RAID level you're using, it does not replace backup. so, you'd be able to backup your data to an external USB or eSATA harddrive. i personally replicate my NAS to an almost identical one every once in a while using replication jobs (QNAP TS-859 pro+ and QNAP TS-859 pro with Lian Li EX-50 eSATA extension both using twin load balanced gigabit connections).

you can even run apache webservers with several VHOSTS on them as well as MySQL or even PostgreSQL databases. DLNA mediaservers are a mostly a built-in feature. mine even supports bonjour and apple time machine backups.

these devices are not cheap. but the main benefit is: near to zero maintenance (despite the occasional firmware upgrade) ......and: they're really fast. mine do max out gigabit ethernet when reading/writing sequentually. just make sure there is something like an Intel Atom D5xx or greater in it, i'd stay away from those slow Marvell CPU's and similar.
 
well i have been looking at videos on youtube of home server 2011 looks ok plus you can get the os for £36 from CCLonline.com wich is exilent and just build a small system to install it on it is alot better than buying a prebuilt one and alot cheper
 
I got very enthusiastic about using it, as like yourselves, I read some good things, saw some good videos.

.. then I read the forums of people using it.

It's good.. until something goes wrong. (Hey it's Windows, you can't vouch for that not happening)

The way it handles harddisks I didn't like. For single harddrive, small solutions, it's borderline easy to recover your files from in the event Windows goes t1ts-up. If the DE (drive expander) has spanned your shizzle over numerous disks and your very important stuff isn't in the "landing zone" - that's where you have problems.

Single disk I believe it's wholly possible to just take the disk out and revtrieve stuff as a slave to another pc. There will be a hidden DE folder with the original copy of your goodies in it. My understanding is, with a mulitple disk setup, DE spreads the wealth and you have no chance.

But hey, this is reading the bad stuff. I'm sure people are using it to great effect and will praise it. (cos it hasn't busted for them yet
tongue.gif
)

In the end I just installed Windows 7 on a spare pc and used it on the network.
 
Don't quote me on this, but I'm sure it was still in Vail.

IF they decided to take it out of 2011, it would be a good thing, but we may find it'll be DE V2.x named something else.
 
I have that in installed on a 24/7 system in the loft, its just for ventrilo and backups and some files since I only have 120GB in the main rig, the network speed is 1gb so its fast enough for a mapped drive. and the server is just a single core amd, nothing flash at all.
 
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