Microsoft Home Server Issues

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#375379 1-Sep-2010 17:20

I have to add that once you add the hard drive internally, Windows Home Server will ask you want you want to do with it, the option you need is "add to storage pool" (or words to that effect).

HOWEVER THIS OPTION WILL FORMAT THE DRIVE AND DELETE ALL DATA!!

So as said before, make sure you backup all your data.

If you can afford it, it's often easier to just buy an internal drive and not have to crack open a USB case. Plus it means you already have your data backed up, and once the new drive is in you can copy the data to it.

Plus - if you did this, WHS can then use the external USB drive as a backup drive, and abckup your shares to it. You can never have enough backups ;-)

SepticSceptic

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#375384 1-Sep-2010 17:29

kman82: Ah no worries yeah ill be right...yer its a separate external 1tb. Ok ill get a pci SATA controller and power converter. Im guessing the power cable will just break out from the old Y power cable to suit SATA

Yep. It will split out from the existing HDD power lead. Usually.

And don't forget the SATA cable :-) See if you can get one that has some kind of clip that holds it in place at both ends. It's quite easy to knock loose the unclipped ones when delving into PC innards.

Don't forget the PCI 1gig NIC card as well. You don't need a RAID capable one, just get one with 4 SATA ports on it. 2 at the barest minimum.

You will need some screws to hold the HDD in place in the PC case. Some USB enclosures just use rubber mounts to hold the HDD in place - like the WD smart books.

The neat thing with WHS is that you can keep adding in HDD's as your requirements grow, and then duplicate your most important stuff across multiple HDD's. (Folder Duplication). You may need to upgrade the PSU eventually when you have 3 or more HDD's, especially if the original PSU is only a 250 or 300W job. It's all incremental costs, not like you are outlaying a huge amount upfront, and that warm fuzzy that you are saving an ageing PC from the dump. At least for a wee while anyway :-)

SepticSceptic

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#375385 1-Sep-2010 17:31

timbosan: I have to add that once you add the hard drive internally, Windows Home Server will ask you want you want to do with it, the option you need is "add to storage pool" (or words to that effect).

HOWEVER THIS OPTION WILL FORMAT THE DRIVE AND DELETE ALL DATA!!

Opps, my bad - forgot about that aspect. All my WHS drives have been new.

richms

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#375398 1-Sep-2010 17:56

IME USB is pretty useless for anything other than bakcups. Even USB3 cant hold its own when compared to esata for actual use of the drive even tho benchmarks dont look too bad mostly.

Its just such a shame that esata is treated like a luxuary on external drives, when really USB should be the added feature with plain esata ones being cheaper since they dont need a bridge.

Richard rich.ms

kman82

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#375519 1-Sep-2010 22:16

ok peoples the update is..-ive installed the sata bus...installed the external hard drive inside the tower ..it auto recognised it and is fully accessable, had a few problems finding drivers for it but now seems to recognise it. WHS now recognises it as an internal scsi now can access all my files no problems. I have the gigabit lan card installed and installed a 8 port switch.

transefer speeds are now 10 to 12MB/second..haha getting better

kman82

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#375521 1-Sep-2010 22:21

the switcher i picked up was a

http://www.shopferret.com.au/cheap-45257865-ASUS-GX1008B-8-port-10-100Mbps-Unmanaged-Layer-2-Ethernet.html

SepticSceptic

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#375599 2-Sep-2010 09:37

kman82: the switcher i picked up was a

http://www.shopferret.com.au/cheap-45257865-ASUS-GX1008B-8-port-10-100Mbps-Unmanaged-Layer-2-Ethernet.html

That's not a gig switch, only 10/100 - you need an extra 0, as in 10/100/1000 switch.

That's why you are not getting the thru put - 10 to 12Mbp/s is indicative of only a 100 meg network, and even at that, it is still slow. It will affect some video streaming.

In the task manager network tab, you should be getting around 40-50Mb/s, peaking @ 70-80mpbs. And that's for a 100meg network.

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timbosan

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#375612 2-Sep-2010 10:14

SepticSceptic:
kman82: the switcher i picked up was a

http://www.shopferret.com.au/cheap-45257865-ASUS-GX1008B-8-port-10-100Mbps-Unmanaged-Layer-2-Ethernet.html

That's not a gig switch, only 10/100 - you need an extra 0, as in 10/100/1000 switch.

That's why you are not getting the thru put - 10 to 12Mbp/s is indicative of only a 100 meg network, and even at that, it is still slow. It will affect some video streaming.

In the task manager network tab, you should be getting around 40-50Mb/s, peaking @ 70-80mpbs. And that's for a 100meg network.

Don't forget that a single copy of transfer is unlikely to provide enough data to saturate a gigabit connection due to limitations in the source system (i.e the WHS), it would be best to test with either multiple copies at the same time, or a proper network testing tool.

But otherwise, 12Mbps is fine for streaming most content, including HD (from memory Freeview HD is less than that? But Blu-ray is more like 20+ Mbps??)

cyril7

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#375632 2-Sep-2010 10:39

wsttcp is a simple and effective throughput test tool

Cyril

kman82

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#375638 2-Sep-2010 10:48

timbosan:
SepticSceptic:
kman82: the switcher i picked up was a

http://www.shopferret.com.au/cheap-45257865-ASUS-GX1008B-8-port-10-100Mbps-Unmanaged-Layer-2-Ethernet.html

That's not a gig switch, only 10/100 - you need an extra 0, as in 10/100/1000 switch.

That's why you are not getting the thru put - 10 to 12Mbp/s is indicative of only a 100 meg network, and even at that, it is still slow. It will affect some video streaming.

In the task manager network tab, you should be getting around 40-50Mb/s, peaking @ 70-80mpbs. And that's for a 100meg network.

Don't forget that a single copy of transfer is unlikely to provide enough data to saturate a gigabit connection due to limitations in the source system (i.e the WHS), it would be best to test with either multiple copies at the same time, or a proper network testing tool.

But otherwise, 12Mbps is fine for streaming most content, including HD (from memory Freeview HD is less than that?? But Blu-ray is more like 20+ Mbps??)

So why would my 100mb network still be lagging

SepticSceptic

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#375661 2-Sep-2010 11:23

kman82:
So why would my 100mb network still be lagging

could be your laptop - those HDD's in laptops are slow - 5400RPM, meaning far slower HDD read/write than a standard 7200 rpm drive.

Antivirus can slow things.

If you have just added in the additional HDD into WHS, it could also be a slow in reading from thw WHS as the folder duplication etc still needs to take place. Wait until the HDD activity has slowed on WHS, and then test data transfer. It can take up to 24 hours after adding in a new HDD.

kman82

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#375677 2-Sep-2010 11:39

Bloody windows home server is more trouble than its worth

SepticSceptic

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#375706 2-Sep-2010 12:33

kman82: Bloody windows home server is more trouble than its worth

Au Contrair - it's been everything BUT WHS (OS) that has caused you grief !

Copying files from USB drives thru a USB port.

Slow laptop drives

Slow network NICS and switch

And now you have shortchanged yourself by only getting a 10/100 switch ? Especially after going to the effort of getting a gig NIC, and upgrading the WHS H/W with a SATA card.

Any other "server" device would have the same issues if you have the same type of hardware.

timbosan

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#375711 2-Sep-2010 12:38

SepticSceptic:
kman82: Bloody windows home server is more trouble than its worth

Au Contrair - it's been everything BUT WHS (OS) that has caused you grief !

Copying files from USB drives thru a USB port.

Slow laptop drives

Slow network NICS and switch

And now you have shortchanged yourself by only getting a 10/100 switch ? Especially after going to the effort of getting a gig NIC, and upgrading the WHS H/W with a SATA card.

Any other "server" device would have the same issues if you have the same type of hardware.

+1

WHS is a great product, however your hardware was not really up to scratch and any O/S would have had the same performance issues.

I run WHS of a P4 with 1GB of RAM over a giagbit LAN and have no problems streaming HD content to a PS3, no lags etc, and this happens at the same time as my Macbook can be doing a backup and others and downloading from the net, all through the same switch.

I suggest you plan a test to copy data FROM the server, do it several times, measure each one and discard the highest and lowest.

Or use the tool Cyril suggested.

And can you clarify what you mean by 'lag', is it slow to copy files? Do videos stutter when streamed?

richms

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#375766 2-Sep-2010 14:32

100 meg should work fine for any content if its the only thing going on at the time. But it will be slow to actually copy stuff on and off the server, and if that starts to happen while you are trying to play stuff, and you have slow as drives and network, then it will break up.

Richard rich.ms

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