I currently am running win2000 server with 2 identical 300gb drives mirrored through the disk manager. I would like to break the mirror and then install WHS to one of the drives then connect the other drive (internal) and copy all of the shared data I have now into the shared folders in WHS. As I understand it WHS formats any drive when you add it through the console. Is there a way to get my data onto the server other than to connect the second drive to another computer and transfer the data back to the server over the network?
WHS formats any connected drive when you install the OS. If you connect a drive later, you will have the option of formatting it for use in the storage pool, but you are not required to do so.
So to do what you ask you would just break the mirror, disconnect one of the drives, then install WHS. It will format any drives it finds, but it won't find the drive that isn't connected. Then you can connect it, copy the data off of it to WHS, and add it to the pool at your leisure. Until you add the drive to the storage pool, the space will not be available for WHS to provide to users via shares, backups, share duplication, etc. It will appear as another drive letter in Windows Explorer on the WHS.
copying mirrored HD to WHS
