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Vail upgrade for me isn't going to happen based on what happened to today with my current WHS ... RRS feed

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    I just had my HP WHS (non-Vail version) go down when I attempted to remove a drive (to replace it with a larger one). Unfortunately the server would not re-boot and gave me the 5 blinking red lights when I tried to do so. I attempted to run a "server recovery" utilizing the factory disk. It seemed to load successfully. Because my computers are all running Windows 7 64 bit, I had to borrow a friend's 32 bit laptop to load the initial connector software (as a side issue, this Microsoft-created craziness needs to be fixed for schleps like me who purchased their WHS systems 3 years ago when practically everything was 32 bit). Unfortunately during the 3 times that I attempted to load the initial connector software, the "initialization" of WHS failed and gave me a "tip" to call for support - fat chance of getting anywhere with that one.

    I am now in the process of purchasing additional drives so that I can do a complete "factory reset". Because I don't want to lose approx. 10TB of personal data (most of it high def non-commercial camcorder video) I plan to remove all of the WHS drives and painstakenly copy the files from each one via an external enclosure.

    Yes, I should have backed this up with another server, however, being a home user with limited resources, I chose to use file duplication instead. Had I known how easy it is for WHS to completely "lose its mind", I certainly would have looked into it.

    Bottom line: Based on this experience and what I've learned thus far re Vail, there is absolutely no way that I would ever upgrade to Vail (as it is now) because it does not use NTFS AND a failure like this, utilizing Vail, would wipe everything out and leave me with no chance for any file recovery.

    Thursday, November 18, 2010 12:52 AM

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    Bottom line: Based on this experience and what I've learned thus far re Vail, there is absolutely no way that I would ever upgrade to Vail (as it is now) because it does not use NTFS AND a failure like this, utilizing Vail, would wipe everything out and leave me with no chance for any file recovery.


    Not true.
    You can access the Vail HDDs through another Vail Server or re-install the Vail machine with the storage drives disconnected and then add them once more.

    But I understand your frustration.

    One WHS v1 machine in the basement with a mixed setup of harddrives in and outside the storage pool. And now, next to it, a Vail Refresh brother for beta duties.
    Thursday, November 18, 2010 12:09 PM
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    Sorry to hear about your experience (my own server rebooted also a few times recently due to disk issues, which are only manifesting them in a crash and nowhere else). But you can never trust a single machine, be it WHS, Vail, Linux ...

    Even if it is protected against a single disk failure, there is nothing besides organized backup process protecting your important data against:

    • own mistake: Delete one wrong folder and it is gone on both the original and duplicated disk with no recycle bin behind
    • malware: Can easily do the same before you can say blink, as long as you have write permissions to the network resources
    • overvoltage: Happens rarely, but can burn each single disk in your server in a moment
    • Theft: What is it? But happens from time to time. As well as incidents involving Fire, Water and similar nasty stuff.

    WHS gives you the benefit to have it already stored in one place and not cluttered about several desktop PCs, so backup of the data is easier. Sure it needs additional work and resources, but this depends from how important and unique the data you have stored on the server is. The family fotos are for sure more important than a ripped DVD.

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf

    Thursday, November 18, 2010 12:36 PM
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    First, I appreciate the empathy during my time of great frustration.

    I'll continue to use the old WHS version for the same reasons that have been previously listed. It is fantastic ... when it works ...

    All I'm saying is that I will never trust it like I once did. I never fully anticipated how difficult it might be to restore WHS and have it merely incorporate my old files into the restored version. I'm also quite surprised that Microsoft - a large company with lots of smart people - didn't anticipate this either - or the 64 bit connector problem, for that matter - and provide decent fixes for them. It seems to me that when a catastrophic problem like mine occurs (which can happen very, very easily), a novice like me should merely be able to re-install WHS, and WHS would go out to all of the other drives and figure out what to do with the files that are on them (that the previous version of WHS placed there already). In other words, this should truly be a "home" product (as the product label states) and not something that can fail in a major way fairly easily and require an IT background to sort everything out.

    Ultimately, however, my point is that I greatly appreciate that the files were saved in the NTFS format so that I could at least access them as an absolutely last resort. I fear that the final version of Vail will not offer this fail-safe alternative AND I definitely do not trust the capability to automatically "access the Vail HDDs through another Vail Server or re-install the Vail machine with the storage drives disconnected and then add them once more" based upon my recent experience with the current WHS.

    Thanks again for your comments.

     

    Thursday, November 18, 2010 2:54 PM
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    First, I appreciate the empathy during my time of great frustration.

    I'll continue to use the old WHS version for the same reasons that have been previously listed. It is fantastic ... when it works ...

    All I'm saying is that I will never trust it like I once did. I never fully anticipated how difficult it might be to restore WHS and have it merely incorporate my old files into the restored version. I'm also quite surprised that Microsoft - a large company with lots of smart people - didn't anticipate this either - or the 64 bit connector problem, for that matter - and provide decent fixes for them. It seems to me that when a catastrophic problem like mine occurs (which can happen very, very easily), a novice like me should merely be able to re-install WHS, and WHS would go out to all of the other drives and figure out what to do with the files that are on them (that the previous version of WHS placed there already). In other words, this should truly be a "home" product (as the product label states) and not something that can fail in a major way fairly easily and require an IT background to sort everything out.

    Ultimately, however, my point is that I greatly appreciate that the files were saved in the NTFS format so that I could at least access them as an absolutely last resort. I fear that the final version of Vail will not offer this fail-safe alternative AND I definitely do not trust the capability to automatically "access the Vail HDDs through another Vail Server or re-install the Vail machine with the storage drives disconnected and then add them once more" based upon my recent experience with the current WHS.

    Thanks again for your comments.

     


    There are some bugs in the process of promoting non-default server storage (a foreign storage pool) to default, which can lead to some headaches, but the non-default pool will mount up just fine in a folder on C: on your server, and you can access the files there to copy them to your shares. This is practical today, since Vail is a beta product now, but would probably not be practical in a released product. Who has an extra 3-4 drive connectors, after all? However, I'm sure Microsoft will resolve the other issues...
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Thursday, November 18, 2010 3:06 PM
    Moderator