Windows Home Server (WHS) - Best ... Thing ... EVER!

Holy Moly!

Why doesn't Microsoft market WHS better? This is the single best piece of software (and hardware) I have EVER used! Centralized storage, redundant backups, optimized file storage, restricted user access, remote file access, remote server and PC control!

Unbelievable.

Pretty straight forward to set up and configure.

This is awesome!

...

We now return you back to your normally scheduled programming.

 

It is truly wonderful. And it'll integrate into Windows 7 so nicely.

 

Yeah this has been on my to get list for a long time, I was going to get the HP unit when it was on sale for the fact it has even more options added into its OEM version of WHS and the smallest/nicest case.

But I realized with over 2 TB of data on my desktop I would need 2x + more on my WHS so I need to build my own with at least 6TB looking more at 8+TB of space. Some of the stuff like my media can be moved to the server and streamed so I do not need to have 2 copies, but a lot of it I want local.

I put this together like a year ago and never ordered, things were on sale then - http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=9880951

I'll probably stick with that case/cpu/mobo but will have to look at a new psu & hdd's when I finally get around to building the server.

Stuff like This is why I would almost pay and get the HP unit rather than build my own. But I figure most of the HP exclusive stuff will be available to regular WHS users as an unofficial plug in at some point.

 

Actually, WHS is quite efficient. I have 4TB storage, and thought I'd have some issues with space as well. So far between two backed up PCs, my music collection, photos, several ripped DVD's, and huge collection of game patches and mods, most with duplication, doesn't exceed 1TB by much.

I kind of reevaluated what I kept where, backed up, duplicated, etc, and so far I'm quite happy with it.

I know I'll probably need more storage in the future, but I've got 4 bays I can use, and figure I can eventually swap out the 1TB's with 2TB's one at a time when they get cheap enough.

The one thing I realized though is that it isn't so easy to duplicate your drive with the WHS system partition on it. Its best to make that drive as large as you can to start. Apparently it uses that drive somewhat as a "cache" too, so you can only copy files that are no larger than the free space on that drive. I can't see needing more than 100GB max free at any given time anyhow, although realistically can't imagine any file larger than 10GB (older backed up system partitions with something like Acronis). WHS also automatically fills that drive last.

My setup is very similar:

Athlon64 X2 5200+ Brisbane (65W)
ASRock A780LM
Antec Earthwatts EA430
PNY 2x1GB DDR2 (already had)
SilverStone SG01 Sugo Case (already had)
4 x 1TB WD Caviar Black

I wish I went with Caviar Green for power consumption, but they cost the same at the time I ordered, and have always been enamored with speed = better I didn't consider this machine would be on 24/7 with no sleep or hibernate enabled.

 

HDD choice will save you power, but even more so is the PSU choice probably. how efficient is it? Also the PSU in that wish list has 6x esata power connectors on it stock so I knew it was ready to power a massive server like setup. (mobo also has 6 sata ports native)

Also note the 4850e CPU I planed to use is a 45w cpu not 65w. The power cost for mine and yours wont be huge but it will add up over time, I am more concerned with heat/noise than cost really. My desktop makes my room HOT when in use for games or encoding, so I want this server to not add more to the mix.

For those who dont want to build your own $289 Refurbished - http://www.ecost.com/detail.aspx?ed...ase-_-Systems&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=43006146

Thats where its at that case is so awesome, nice small and quite. You can fit 8TB in there if you used 2TB drives, but I figured it would save me a lot of money to get 6x 1.5TB drives and build my own.

 

Haha I looooove that thread

yep, can't wait for home server 2.0. It will be Windows 2008 R2 (Win7Server) based, and fit perfectly by it's time, then.

Yep, PSU is a main thing. I got a silent psu with 400W (with ordinary size of the typical tower-psu). It made my server so hot, it's unbelievable.

Now I replaced it with a plugin PSU from short-circuit.com, that delivers 200W. Now my server has 7°C - 10°C less in temperature.

Should get another 2TB drive by today => 4GB by then.

All Caviar Green btw.

I went with a Core2Duo btw. As my server will host my webpage, will run a database, maybe some media crunching and ripping, etc.

and, as you may know by now, it's in an IKEA Furniture (check my sig).

New Pics will be online soon, there you'll see it with the new PSU.

 

davepermen is your site hosted from your server?

I was looking and found that you can host a wordpress page just like my home page from windows home server and it will have a url with a plug-in and some work.

Considering I have a very fast ISP and unlimited bandwidth I want to do this as it will crush the free hosting that godaddy is giving me.

But I have not found a way to get a generic XXX.com url via home server hosting.

I guess I can take my domain and have it direct to the WHS though no matter what the url is since I already have a domain.

Originally I was looking at a method of doing it with no domain purchase.

 

without domain purchase, you get something like vicious.homeserver.com.

with a domain, you can redirect the domain vicious.com to vicious.homeserver.com and it works.

I haven't yet done it for the home server, some other issues to fix before. but i've done it before without home server, worked so far so well.

if you have a fixed ip, you can just let the domain point to the ip i don't have one

but my site will move to the home server.

i plan to have wave.davepermen.net as well, if you know what i mean

 

Man this is something I really need to do one day and I keep pushing it back for other stuff.

Currently I really want a Wacom Intuos4 Medium and those are like almost $300 thats half the cost of my server.

Plus a lot of other stuff I have on my "want list"

My actual starter server will just be probably 2x 1TB drives, and I will take out the 2x 640GB drives in my desktop now and replace it with a VelociRaptor and a 2nd hard drive for a scratch drive.

Its best to add more storage down the road when I need it as it will be cheaper/better/faster heck by the time I need more maybe SSD will be better than HDD in cost (we can only wish lol)

 

don't replace it with a velociraptor! put in an ssd.

and take the 2 640gb drives into the homeserver, and maybe 1tb drive.

about the same cost. more storage, higher performance.

 

SSD still cost to much and wont give me enough storage space. the VR is 320GB and will be faster than what I have now.

Even the new cheap 160gb Intel are going to be almost $500 and the 320GB VR with 2x more space is like $129

Infact may as well get 2 VR's and use one for my scratch drive. The kind of stuff I am doing wont need a SSD I just need a fast drive for video work and photoshop.

I'll get a SSD for my laptop for sure, its on the previously mentioned "to get list" probably the 80gb intel (though I really want like 120gb like the vertex offers) the laptop will get greater benifit from the SSD than my desktop will and laptop drives are slower than desktop drives to start with so its a better upgrade.

 

you DON'T want the velociraptor. you don't want that one:



it's the tiny pixels on the bottom. do you want that? NO YOU DON'T.

2x 1tb drive == 200$.
moving your current 640gb drives == 0$

=> 200$ saved.

the velociraptor = 130$?
no velociraptor = 130$ saved.

so you have 330$ not spent.

spend 100$ more and you get an intel 160gb from ebay. 1.24tb storage on the home server, 160gb intel ssd.

oh, and, if you have gb lan, you don't need a fast big local disk at all and can life just as well with an 80gb intel. work on the server, not locally.

cost/gain estimation has to be done, and your cost/gain is worse then mine. believe me..

 

davepermen.. those are all SSD's vs a single hard drive and its RANDOM read you posted. (4KB to boot witch is really small and hard for a HDD)

All photoshop and video work is sequencial not random and its not small files it one BIG file, in this area HDD does almost just as good as SSD.

For me its going to be about cost and size. You know that I know my stuff and already figured it out.

I think you miss read my above post. I said I was going to move the 640gb drives to the server and replace them in my desktop with the VR.

Trust me when doing a uncompressed 60fps dump from an image capture program the 1GB Lan is not going to be fast enough I need a local disk and I dont want to do that kind of work on a SSD as just a 3 minute clip is like 30gb and it will wear out a SSD fast and fill it up fast.

I also like to keep all my games installed and when they take 8gb each and you have 20 games that uses up a lot of space that will mostly be wasted on a SSD, but I would enjoy the slightly faster load times keeping them on a VR.

 

all things that matter are random. even the video editing largely gets affected by the randomness. and where sequencial matters, your cpus will be too slow to spit out the data fast enough (f.e. while compressing).

if your 1GB lan is too slow you have a problem. it's only 20% faster at max than my 1GB lan. yep, my GB lan allows transfers of 100MB/s from and to home server (yes, I've done it, yes, it works).

a velociraptor can give you 20% more speed. two 80gb intel (or a single vertex) give you 140MB/s write, 500MB/s read speed.

just FORGET the velociraptor. it's not worth it's money.

if you're not ready for an ssd, just stick with your hdd's. the raptor is not worth any penny. my homeserver is a (soon) 4TB disk with 100MB/s readwrite speed. my pc has 200MB/s readwrite speed (and bigger), and kicks the raptors *** for anything else besides sequencial stuff by a factor of 100 and more sometimes.

yes, that picture is extreme. but you don't have a clue yet, how much that matters. even in your cases (photoshop for sure, videos not that much, but still). two 80gb intel cost you 440$ right now. raid0 is a given on your pc i guess. wait some weeks (2 weeks max?) and the prices of the vertex and all will have to have dropped. maybe a 256gb vertex will be <400 by then? no clue, but we'll see.


edit: and i know you know your stuff. but you haven't yet tested ssds (or have you now?), and not yet experienced how much you want to take your raptors to test how far they can fly out the window..

edit: and you plan on buying an ssd, when it gets cheaper, later. so you invest now in a temporary disk costing money (say 150$) and later into an ssd that costs money (say 250$). combine that, and you get a nice ssd right now. playing with numbers is fun

 

Check these out: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148412

$115 shipped for 1.5TB and its a low power eco model.

Thats a good deal.

 

i don't like that particular one. we have one of those (payed more back then) and it's very hot and noisy.

I'll only buy Western Digital Caviar GP for the next time for my home server, they so far all proved to be very quiet, and not vibrating much (the samsung one is terrible, you hear the slow vibration in the whole house at night if you don't put it very specially so that it doesn't propagate it's vibration).

but it's a good deal, yes.

currently, here at switzerland, the 1.5tb Western Digital Caviar GB is best priced, and the 1.0tb Western Digital Caviar GP directly behind.

1.0tb is for 88sfr right now.

great for storage, really great.

 

Hmm no more 4850e, egg doesnt have it or the 5050e or what ever the next step up was.

Now looks like this is replacing it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103683

At that cost I would almost probably look at the intels as the 4850e was both low power and low cost. Now the cost is getting up there.

edit: frys.com has the 4850e $56 + ship.

I am going to start looking around at parts again. I may have an extra source of revenue here soon and this would be a good first thing to get as it carries more importance than some of my other wants.

Power Pack 3 is out now too that adds a lot of Win 7 support for WHS.

 

only the beta, the full powerpack will come around the same time as win7.

but yeah, it even makes me thinking about switching to win7. while i still hate the taskbar

lets see what i bought for my homeserver:

• Thermaltake CL-P0323 Sonic Tower Rev. 2, around 40$
• Foxconn G43MX, Intel G43, Sockel 775, around 90$ (has 6sata ports)
• 2x Western Digital Caviar GP, 32MB, 1TB, around 90$
• Intel Pentium E5200, Dual Core, 2.5 GHz, 2MB around 80$
• Mushkin 2x2GB Ram around 30$
• PSU from short-circuit.com PW-200-M-P4/12.5A 150W AC-DC around 70$

• IKEA Casing around 150$

soon, another 2TB disk will come..

 

Yeah 2TB is great for more space in a single drive but a big jump over 1.5TB drive in cost

If it was not for the sub par specs I would get a refurb HP and toss 4x 1.5TB in it for now and later just tag external drives onto it. That little blue case will fit in my crammed house much better than a big server case.

But building my own will leave it with a lot more room to grow so a better investment overall and it will probably live longer due to better hardware.

I'll tell you who makes really efficient and quiet PSU's is seasonic.

I only had the corsair in my wish list due to the huge sale, high rated efficentcy and the 6 sata power cables.

 

yep, the 2tb disk was an impulse buy. that thing that saves our economy right now

but it wasn't wise. i would have bought the 1.5tb one else

(or two of them, for around the same cost )

 

I just bought the WHS OS and another TB HD. Turning my old AMD based desktop into the home server. So far, the OS is pretty easy to use. I'll probably have to buy another TB soon though. The only annoying part, is that WHS can't stop my parents from calling me late at night to tell me that they're computer's died. You still have to restore it, though WHS makes it much easier.

Also, are you guys planning on backing up WHS at the sametime as well?

 

I think 2TB is the limit a x86 OS can address in a single drive, they can cram 640gb on a 2.5" disk now so I know they have the tech to take 2TB drives up to a larger size, and they could cost less.

I wonder what will happen first larger than 2TB HDD's or consumer class/priced SSD for the desktop market over 2TB.

It would be nice to just have a big non standard SSD (meaning not 2.5 or 3.5" but just a block or something) of like 5TB and get 2 of them and call it done. Somebody needs to do that with slower memory since speed is not an issue for a backup server and make it really cheap. You just toss them on the floor of your case or use them externally.

 

i plan on backing up my whs to my dads whs and vise versa, yes. and, probably, later, i plan to back both up to our holiday appartment, and put there another whs (a cheap atom box and some of the disks we don't want locally anymore, i guess ).

teach your dad how to restore his pc, and he can do it on it's own.

then againn, those calls should not be often.


i started with an old pc and some old hdd's as well. but more than one disk is important, so all the data on the whs is save (you can chose per share, if it's dublicated, or not).

 

Yeah, I was wondering how I'd get the WHS backup to work. I suppose one way is to pack it up to another WHS haha, but that seems like overkill. I think you could just leave an external HD in there as well, but I'm wondering how would that work once you're dealing with much larger backups.

 

I dont quite get what you meant, you mean make a back up of the actual server?

For me my plan is something like ths.

Shadow Clone or what ever WHS calls it for redundancy for every file that is local to the server only, meaning the stuff I am storing on the server and not backing up from another computer.

For all the computer backups no duplicate copy, because I will have all the files on both the WHS and the computer it came from.

With that setup it should be near impossible to lose any data (In my whole life only 1 HDD died on me, I hope it would be hard to have 2 disks die on me in rapid succession before I could replace one of them), and for my actual backup plan, I only want it to happen like 1 time a week because no need to run all that data for backup so often when there is nothing really going to change in a weeks time that I cant get back or already made a copy of manually if I knew it was important.

I have not yet decided if I will backup my laptop, because I dont think I would bother myself to find a safe place to setup my laptop so it can do the backup or want to do it often. My laptop is only used outside the house. I could go ahead and change it to raid 1 since it has dual hdd's so it can protect its own data if I felt so inclined.

I am going to have way too much stuff to be making a backup of my backup.

The more space I have the more addicted I get to placing more movies and stuff on it.

 

i would backup your laptop just as well. why? why not? it's simple, it's the original purpose of the WHS.


one thing i have to check is non-shared data on the home server. if the home server c: drive fails, one can do a simple restore of the os. but one then loses all non-shared-file data. so if i install an sql database on c:, it will be lost. for all that, i have to configure some scheduled backup to some shared folder.

but any data on your shares are safe, even if the os gets corrupted.

but if your house burns down, then obviously, you're with nothing left. having an external backup for the really important data out of your home is a good thing.

not all your movies, vicious. only the important stuff

 

I dont think I have anything so important I would go to that extent, but there is a lot of free online sync stuff where I can have maybe family pictures and stuff stored those are something the wife would kill me if I lost.

If my house burned down my computer files would be the last thing on my mind, and then all I can say is thank god for Steam digital download

 

i have quite some important stuff on my pc. from private projects that may or may not sell (music productions, dj stuff, programmed software for some clients) banking stuff, account infos, etc. all that stuff, as well as tons of personal stuff exist in digital form only.

and you would be very happy to get all your private stuff back after your house burned down. because the house can get replaced, your personal stuff can't. and that's the power of the whs. i don't care about anything physical anymore, as it can all be replaced. everything that can't, gets digital, and then copied around, so it can't get lost.

 

Eh one step at a time for me, I have no money to build the first server, let alone a 2nd one nor a place to keep the 2nd one (well I guess I could have it at work I dont think the boss would mind)

I do have stuff I wouldnt want to lose, lots of photoshop projects, pictures, web pages, old games and things you cant find anymore, and even my anime but I also know how to move on if I did lose it.

Sometimes when something like that happens you just have to look at it as a new start.

Im sure since you are a WHS enthusiast you have come across this site already but if not you will enjoy it: http://www.wegotserved.com/

Im still trying to figure out if you can get a HP version of the WHS and use it on non HP hardware, that seems to be a hard question to track down an answer for.

 

as the important stuff is quite small, even a usb stick would be enough. and that one can be placed somewhere save at work, yep.



but sure enough, one step at a time. get your server. get all ssds except for the server, experience quiet and fast computing with huge storage and not caring about hw anymore at all, and then start caring about outsourced redundancy

 

Alright, so basically unless your like dave whose planning on using 3 seperate WHS, backing the server up itself is probably unneeded. I guess having two layers of protection plus online storage is enough. I'm still a little confused though about the SSDs, you're not saying use SSDs for a WHS are you?

Well, can you assume that the HP version would be sorta like an OEM OS CD? You could ask on the official WHS forums as well to get an response.

 

Some fun stuff I plan to do:

http://wiki.wegotserved.com/index.php?title=Teamspeak_Server_on_Windows_Home_Server

also does Vista work like this: http://wiki.wegotserved.com/index.php?title=Join_Windows_Home_Server_To_A_Domain

So that I can just turn my computer into a server/domain kinda thing.

Because I want to have a website on mine and not just use it for backup I think I may spring for the AMD X3 Cpu, I may end up needing the extra power.

 

backing up the server is unneeded except if you install non-standard stuff on it (as you lose all that when the c: drive dies).
backing up the data on the server out of your house is not unneeded, but online storage is one way. i hate online storage, so i don't want that. i prefer "friend site storage". everyone has a friend who could host your data. espencially, as whs starts spreading.
my "whs buddy" is my dad. as i don't life at their house anymore, they need an own whs => we have two, synching important stuff between those tho is only logical
the third whs is just an idea. i guess i won't ever implement it.

but i prefer synching with a friend over synching with an online service. first, it's free, second, it's trustable. in the worst case, you can go over to your friend, and copy back your data manually. try do that with the jungledisk if it happens to be dead. try suing them if they abuse your data.

no. but on every system except the whs. thanks to the whs, i don't need much local storage per system, so a 80gb intel ssd is much more than enough for most cases (and the 160gb version for the notebooks). even smaller ssds are considerable, depending on use case (a 32gb one for a media center? why not?).
that way, ssd's can be hold quite small and thus get affordable..

i think it's the original disk + the hp disk. but i don't know, per se.

 

no need for the domain, the whs + pc's will work close enough to a domain to not need it. (what, exactly, do you want to have the domain for?).

whs can manage your users and passwords. each user having it's own share for data, only some sync tool needed to handle it.

 

Well, I just finished transferring my WHS to my new hardware and it went pretty flawlessly.

With the 65W Athlon 64 X2, four Caviar Blacks, 2GB RAM, onboard everything else, the system only draws a little over 60W from the wall idling, and with copious disk and network activity peaks over 100W, saw 120W a couple times, but mainly 100-110 for a short period, then back down to 60's. That's like burning a 60W bulb day in and day out, which really isn't all that significant, considering it's doing a lot more than just providing light with wasted heat!

Hard drives are sitting at about 35c on average.

All in all, initial response is pretty good. Quiet too. Have all SilenX fans in there (4 of em!).

 

sounds great. you still know "pics or it didn't happen!"

you call fans quiet? i call no fans quiet!! waiting for the first real-cheap ssds to replace the hdds.. then it's called silent.

today, another 2gb ram + 2tb hdd should be there. then, new updated pics will follow (with the new psu..)

 

after reading this thread, I want one now

 

Very true! Makes it easier to store everything in a centralized place...but then I guess, what's the point of backing up a computer with no important files in it? I suppose even SSDs have enough space for important files, but I mean, as of right now you're not going to be able to use them for storing a ton of music, movies, and games, etc. Especially if you're not at home a lot, I know you can remote access in and access the media files on the WHS, but that's not really the same IMO as having it on a local disk.

Also, WHS right now is only $100 on newegg.

 

first: yes, there are still enough important things on the individual systems. just not "big" things, and "old" things.

on the systems, there are the sort of data that is "active in use". and that is important to get backed up.

in my case, for example, are all the music tracks in production stored locally, and i don't want to lose them. as well all the portable data is locally, of course. that is f.e. all my music for djing, and other stuff.


second: even if the system itself has no useful data (true at the setup from a friend), the backup is still nice. system dies -> restore -> system back alive as if nothing happened.

another thing about whs is, espencially over a gb lan: if you want to "just try out something", do it, then restore. i installed win7 on my machine without thinking about anything. later, i just restored and continued to use my machine.

it sort of makes your pcs "virtual", and very unimportant. what ever happens, just get a useful system, restore, all fine again.

fact is, whs makes local storage less important, but the actual local footprint one has depends entierly on the use of the system. still, moving all big fullhd movies over to the whs normally releases enough gb to be able to buy a small ssd and be done

 

Since I picked the parts for the AMD based system so long ago some of those parts are not for sale anymore I decided to go parts picking again.

I did find an outstanding deal for the AMD 5050e only like $48 HERE but I decided to look around at the Intel parts as well because if I had to pay $20 more for a cpu but found a good mobo $20 cheaper the net cost would be the same.

So happens Intel does not really have the budget cpu offering without a small catch 22. The 2.8ghz budget cpu is like $90 and the closest thing to budget based was the E5200 for $66 that catch 22 is for the cheap intel cpu's you have to be willing to sacrifice virtualization. They cut it off all the cheap cpu's and I had to debate with myself if I am going to need it. As far as I can tell the answer is no.

So I went with the E5200 on my Intel build, now here is the next important factor. Its rated as a 65w CPU while the AMD 5050e is rated as a 45w cpu. So you think the AMD is going to be more efficient. The problem there is that 1.) the Intel is clock for clock faster so it has to use less load to do the same job. 2.) the AMD is 65nm process while the Intel is a better 45nm process

Given those two variables I can very confidently conclude that the Intel is actually going to be the more efficient cpu.

But I really left my decision up to the motherboard hunt.

I didnt go look at the current AMD mobo list, I just used the one I picked last time and compared it to what I could find for intel.

The Intel board that was most suited was this one.

Things I was looking for.

> Onboard grapics to cut gpu cost and to save power/heat
> 6+ SATA ports
> E-SATA bonus
> Overclocking bonus
> MATX bonus
> Low cost
> Good review
> Gbit LAN
> Lots of USB Bonus

This mobo had all of that! Its only about $30 more than the cheapest mobo so it was really worth it and just screams WHS use.

I also found a new PSU choice this one

What I needed

> Not too expensive
> High efficiency
> Bonus 6+ sata power cables
> Bonus modular

This PSU met all that, infact its really really efficient and thats good, Im looking at less than 50w idle on this system I think. Plus with MIR this thing is less than $35 right now.

Between the MATX mobo and the modular PSU should be a clean easy build. The case stayed the same as last time the Antec 300, its still on sale, it looks good, and its functional with 6+ HDD racks and fans infront of the hdds so I can put low power fans on them.

I do not trust my hdds to passive cooling, I always actively cool them.

For ram I just got the cheapest 4gb kit with standard 1.8v, figured why not spend the $20 more for 4gb instead of just getting 2GB, this mobo supports DDR3 if I had any reason to use it.

The best HDD's are the $130 WD Green 1.5TB but they are out of stock right now. I dont have the money to order anyways. I think maybe I will order all these parts shy of the HDD's to take advantage of the sales/rebates/free shipping and just go hunt for HDD deals.

Here is the whole list:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=12123206

Just shy of $600 with a few rebates to take out and most of it has free shipping. Not too bad thats the cost of a HP 1TB Media Smart Server with a lot less power behind it and less room to grow (see prices HERE)

I did my research and decided that 99.8% of what you can get out of the HP exclusives with there OEM version of WHS you can do on the MS version with plug ins, but then there seems to be actually a lot less hassle with the MS version on a DIY machine because your at the mercy of HP for a lot of things if you get there box, like already the older 47X series is not able to get/use the 48x series update without a hack. I also found that you can hack to use the HP MMS OS on a DIY box if you really wanted too but its not worth it.