I'm going to try to make this succinct.
I only use WHS to backup 3 PCs. So I have no use for file serving and duplication, remote serving, etc. I decided to move to WHS 2011 because of AF disk compatability. I lost my last backup archive on WHSv1 because of this. I'm trying to find the best way to replace WHSv1's DE functionality for PC backups. The one thing that I liked about the original DE was the ability to vacate a potentially failing drive and replace it with a new one with no loss of data.
After much reading on the web, here and elswhere and digging into "WHS 2011 Step by Step", my understanding of the 2TB limitations are:
- WHS 2011 can't backup PC drives bigger than 2TB (this is fine for me).
- WHS 2011 can work with > 2TB drives internally to back up PC backups.
- But if >2TB drives are used, WHS 2011 cannot use its own backup procedure to back itself up to external media. Each internal volume must be < 2TB for the external backup to be successful.
Q1: I assume that as < 2TBdrives are added to WHS 2011 to a total well over 2TB, it will use any available space for the PC backups?
Q2: And as long as each individual volume of those drives is under 2TB, the WHS 2011 backup routine will be successful in backing it up to external media?
Q3: If the external back up is done to media that is > 2TB, is it possible recover WHS 2011 with this media?
Q4: Does this mean that DrivePool / DriveBlender can only be used build multiple 2TB pools if you want to use WHS 2011 Backup Routine?
Q5: Is there an alternate way to backup and resture WHS 2011 that overcomes this 2TB limit?
Q6: Are any WHS-built internal Dynamic Disc RAID options are similarly subject to the 2TB limit?
Apparently, using DrivePool with Scanner allows the similar desired DE behavior of vacating and replacing drives. This seems like a viable option, but if the 2TB limit applies to the above answers, then this could only be done with small pools making it much less attractive and useful in my scenario, where I'm only concerned about PC backups.
Thanks for shedding any light on this and possible alternatives.