Firstly, long time lurker/reader here. I bought WHS v1 back in 2008 and several times I've done research for issues & needs and almost always Google has led me to WeGotServed. So thank you to all the good posters here who have been making this the place to go all-things WHS.
So here's the deal ... I have 2 WHS v1 servers, both are custom built with one being for backups and the other for storage and streaming. The backup one works fine and will continue as is for as long as possible. It's the storage/streaming server that's in question.
Before proceeding, let me first describe the storage server system: Chassis is a Norco 4220 with 20 hot-swappable bays, MB is a Supermicro X7SBL LN1 with an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E8200 @ 2.66GHz and 4GB RAM. The system was built to be scalable, so that I could simply add drives over time as needed. Currenly I have 8 drives with about 14TB of data.
I have WHS v1 SP2 running on a separate 2.5" OS drive ... and I have a spare of the exact same drive in case I wanted to set up some kind of RAID array for the OS (but I never did).
Everything has been working fine, except when I tried installing 3TB drives. I never realized the limitations until reading about LBA, GPT, UEFI, etc. Anyways, given the 3TB+ drives are becoming economical, and my system is all about storage, I need an upgrade path.
My goal is to simply keep this a storage/streaming server where I can keep adding drives. Given how I've built an extensive folder structure (for photos, movies, videos, etc), I am also going to continue with a drive-extender type "pooled drive" solution with folder duplication as the redundancy.
As mentioned, I don't need backup as I have the other WHS v1 server for that.
I've checked with Supermicro and the MB supports Windows 7 (32/64bit), Windows 8 (32/64bit) and Windows Server 2003. There's no direct support for WHS 2011 though a tech says W7 or W8 drivers will work. Not sure about Windows Server 2012 Essentials.
Windows 2011 doesn't seem to suit my needs, besides it doesn't support larger drives anyways. So ... with this in mind, so far I've come up with two options:
- Windows 7 64bit with Drive Bender
- Windows 8 Pro 64bit with Storage Spaces
My preference is to go with Windows 7 because I know the platform and I'm comfortable with it. I also have 4 other W7 PCs and laptops in the house. That would be easy peasy. However, the key is to understand the process for installing W7 + Drive Bender and to migrate the data over. I've been doing research here and still don't have all the steps yet.
Windows 8 is the second option ... that would allow me to have a new and more efficient OS in the house that I can get "smarter" on, plus I won't need Drive Bender. I haven't done a ton of reading on Storage Spaces, so not sure how reliable/viable, etc it is as a long term "pooled storage" solution. It's absolutely a must for me to retain my folder structure, so having a good pooled drive solution akin to drive extender is key.
Given that, I thought the best place to go was here. With all the experienced knowledgable folks, I'm hoping to receive your insight/feedback so as to aptly understand the tradeoffs.
From there I am hoping to understand the migration process, which I can clearly document and share with others if it hasn't already been posted.
Thanks a mil for your help -- !!
Roger