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    DE v2 Volumes are formatted as NTFS. The Fat32 you see in disk manager is the discovery volume at the beginning of the DE partition. We added the volume to avoid unintentional formatting if a DE disk is plugged into a client machine. In the next milestone, the Fat32 will have a readme file explaining where this drive came from, and in the future, could have links to a web site where a read-only driver can be made available. We chose Fat32 as it is can be read on most operating systems.

    Thanks,

    This post is provided AS IS and confers no rights. Mark Vayman, Program Manager, Windows Home and Small Business Server Team
    • Proposed as answer by Jenus Thursday, April 29, 2010 9:10 AM
    • Marked as answer by Ken WarrenModerator Thursday, April 29, 2010 1:17 PM
    Thursday, April 29, 2010 4:23 AM
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    Just wondering if more people are seeing this issue. Vail has formated the storage pool in FAT32 but the system drive (C:) is in NTFS. I have added my info to a Connect bug report that someone started. If you are seeing this issue to consider adding to this bug report so MS can get it fixed.

    https://connect.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer/feedback/details/554598/drives-show-fat32-in-computer-management

    fasthair

    That's normal for how Vail handles the drives.  It's working as designed.
    • Proposed as answer by kariya21Moderator Thursday, April 29, 2010 3:41 AM
    • Marked as answer by fasthair Thursday, April 29, 2010 3:56 AM
    Thursday, April 29, 2010 3:41 AM
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    Yes, this is because of DEv2.
    http://www.tomontech.com
    • Marked as answer by fasthair Thursday, April 29, 2010 3:56 AM
    Thursday, April 29, 2010 3:54 AM
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  • Question
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    Just wondering if more people are seeing this issue. Vail has formated the storage pool in FAT32 but the system drive (C:) is in NTFS. I have added my info to a Connect bug report that someone started. If you are seeing this issue to consider adding to this bug report so MS can get it fixed.

    https://connect.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer/feedback/details/554598/drives-show-fat32-in-computer-management

    fasthair

    That's normal for how Vail handles the drives.  It's working as designed.
    • Proposed as answer by kariya21Moderator Thursday, April 29, 2010 3:41 AM
    • Marked as answer by fasthair Thursday, April 29, 2010 3:56 AM
    Thursday, April 29, 2010 3:41 AM
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    Wow I sure didn't expect that. Any reason for going back to FAT32? I thought NTFS was suppose to be a better file system and why we use it now. Is this because of the new DE system?

    Thanks for the answer kariya.

    Thursday, April 29, 2010 3:48 AM
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    Yes, this is because of DEv2.
    http://www.tomontech.com
    • Marked as answer by fasthair Thursday, April 29, 2010 3:56 AM
    Thursday, April 29, 2010 3:54 AM
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  • Question
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    DE v2 Volumes are formatted as NTFS. The Fat32 you see in disk manager is the discovery volume at the beginning of the DE partition. We added the volume to avoid unintentional formatting if a DE disk is plugged into a client machine. In the next milestone, the Fat32 will have a readme file explaining where this drive came from, and in the future, could have links to a web site where a read-only driver can be made available. We chose Fat32 as it is can be read on most operating systems.

    Thanks,

    This post is provided AS IS and confers no rights. Mark Vayman, Program Manager, Windows Home and Small Business Server Team
    • Proposed as answer by Jenus Thursday, April 29, 2010 9:10 AM
    • Marked as answer by Ken WarrenModerator Thursday, April 29, 2010 1:17 PM
    Thursday, April 29, 2010 4:23 AM
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    "We chose Fat32 as it is can be read on most operating systems." You anticipate the need for this because....
    Saturday, May 1, 2010 1:08 AM
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    People will plug DE-owned drives into other computers to see what's there. Better that there be something that says "please don't mess with me", don't you think?
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Saturday, May 1, 2010 2:35 AM
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    Are you flipping kidding me?  They are EXPECTING people to take drives out of their server and put them into a different machine?  Really?  So let's give up the security/reliabilty of NTFS and move steps backwards to fat32?  not to mention.....on a 64bit os.  Come on, you can't exepct us to believe that this is a good thing.

    Thursday, August 12, 2010 8:54 PM
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    Are you flipping kidding me?  They are EXPECTING people to take drives out of their server and put them into a different machine?  Really?  So let's give up the security/reliabilty of NTFS and move steps backwards to fat32?  not to mention.....on a 64bit os.  Come on, you can't exepct us to believe that this is a good thing.

    You miss the point. The FAT32 volume contains nothing in this build, it's a small volume carved off of the full disk with no data in it. In a future milestone it will contain a file explaining the reason people shouldn't mess with the disk. Otherwise, the disk would mount with "unknown file system" or something similar, with no explanation.

    And yes, users will take disks out of their servers and mount them elsewhere just to see what they can find.

    All of this is explained above.

    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Thursday, August 12, 2010 11:26 PM
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    You miss the point. The FAT32 volume contains nothing in this build, it's a small volume carved off of the full disk with no data in it.

    I am confused.
    My system, with 3 disks, shows similarly to the OP.

    According to Server Manager/Disk Management

    Disk 0 - Parttion 1 C: 60 GB NTFS, Parttion 2 DE Disk xx GB FAT32
    Disk 1 - Single Parttion  DE Disk xx GB FAT32
    Disk 2 - Single Parttion  DE Disk xx GB FAT32
    xx is either the full disk or the remaing balance
    All DE DISK Volumes are in the storage pool and working.

    These volumes are not small and data is stored somewhere!

    I understand the concept of the small "Entranceway" volume but shouldn't I then be able to see it.

    Is it simply that Disk Management isn't working properly with VAIL DE?

    A link to something that explains what is going on would be much appreciated

    David

     

    Friday, August 13, 2010 11:25 AM
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    Every partition on a disk is visible in Disk Management, whether there's a drive letter assigned or not. The FAT32 "discovery volume" is only there to warn people away from messing with the disk; it's not there to give people access to the data on the disk, and it doesn't expose that data in any way.
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Friday, August 13, 2010 1:13 PM
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    Every partition on a disk is visible in Disk Management, whether there's a drive letter assigned or not. The FAT32 "discovery volume" is only there to warn people away from messing with the disk; it's not there to give people access to the data on the disk, and it doesn't expose that data in any way.

    After further investigation I have found what I think is the answer.

    Server Manager-Disk Management - Graphical View
     partition block shows partition at full disk size
     right click partition block and choose Properties
     ... Volume reported at 32.7 MB (the "small" volume?)

    Server Manager-Disk Management -  Volume List
    Scroll right to see Capacity ... FAT32 volumes at 33 MB !

    In other words the Disk Management reporting is partly wrong - and that is the bit that people are most likekly to see initially.

    I am no longer confused - just puzzled. Why, this far along the road, hasn't this been flagged as an issue? Surely it should be up there under Known Issues - Storage ?

    David

    Friday, August 13, 2010 1:49 PM
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    After further investigation I have found what I think is the answer.

    Server Manager-Disk Management - Graphical View
     partition block shows partition at full disk size
     right click partition block and choose Properties
     ... Volume reported at 32.7 MB (the "small" volume?)

    Server Manager-Disk Management -  Volume List
    Scroll right to see Capacity ... FAT32 volumes at 33 MB !

    In other words the Disk Management reporting is partly wrong - and that is the bit that people are most likekly to see initially.

    I am no longer confused - just puzzled. Why, this far along the road, hasn't this been flagged as an issue? Surely it should be up there under Known Issues - Storage ?

    David

    I wouldn't worry about it.  First, everything is functioning as designed (DE v1 shows some "strange behavior" when logging into the server desktop as well).  (It may just be the only way the WHS team could get DE to work.)  Second (and more importantly), logging into the server desktop is unsupported so it won't be seen by end users anyway.  Having said that, feel free to file a bug report on Connect if you want.
    Friday, August 13, 2010 2:28 PM
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    Logging onto the server isn't supported?  I find that funny considering the installation takes you directly to a desktop once it's done.

    Yes i do understand that the actual drives once de is done may be ntfs, but that it is being reported (or GUI reported) to be fat32.  If MS really thinks that the owner of the WHS is going to just take a drive out and put into another machine "just to see what's on it" they really have no clue who their customer base is for these.  WHS isn't in homes where there isn't an IT person, or a family member who is going to support it.  If you asked 10,000 Win7 users if they even knew what WHS was I doubt 1% would even say yes, let alone have one.

    Exactly what is the flavor of the Kool-aid here?

    Friday, August 13, 2010 3:39 PM
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    Logging onto the server isn't supported?

    Correct.  That's true for v1 and Vail both.

    I find that funny considering the installation takes you directly to a desktop once it's done. 

    Yes, it does (as does every other OS when installed).  And that's also why there is a big warning about being there once the install is complete.

    Yes i do understand that the actual drives once de is done may be ntfs, but that it is being reported (or GUI reported) to be fat32.

    So what?  The point is to keep the NTFS portion of the drive hidden.

    If MS really thinks that the owner of the WHS is going to just take a drive out and put into another machine "just to see what's on it" they really have no clue who their customer base is for these.

    I agree that the target audience of the product (the average-joe who knows virtually nothing about computers, especially hardware) probably won't.  However, the people who are knowledgeable about computers (including any support person the average-joe user takes his broken server to) might.

    WHS isn't in homes where there isn't an IT person, or a family member who is going to support it.  If you asked 10,000 Win7 users if they even knew what WHS was I doubt 1% would even say yes, let alone have one.

    Exactly what is the flavor of the Kool-aid here?


    Friday, August 13, 2010 4:25 PM
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    Logging onto the server isn't supported?  I find that funny considering the installation takes you directly to a desktop once it's done.

    Yes i do understand that the actual drives once de is done may be ntfs, but that it is being reported (or GUI reported) to be fat32.  If MS really thinks that the owner of the WHS is going to just take a drive out and put into another machine "just to see what's on it" they really have no clue who their customer base is for these.  WHS isn't in homes where there isn't an IT person, or a family member who is going to support it.  If you asked 10,000 Win7 users if they even knew what WHS was I doubt 1% would even say yes, let alone have one.

    Exactly what is the flavor of the Kool-aid here?


    So you think it would be better to leave the disks as "raw", unpartitioned space, or an unknown partition format? It's impossible to expose the data on them in any meaningful fashion, given that Drive Extender manages that data in 1 GB blocks. Even if the average user doesn't mount server storage drives on other computers, it seems like a good idea to warn the occasional inquisitive owner that it's not a good idea to mess with the drive(s). A FAT32 discovery volume offers maximum compatibility (off the top of my head I don't know of a personal computer OS that doesn't support mounting FAT32 somehow, though I'm sure there are some out there) and is trivially easy to implement. What, exactly, is the problem with doing this again?

    Please understand that Windows Home Server is a consumer product, designed for and marketed to consumers. It isn't a business product (though it can and does fill a need in the small/micro business space). Most copies of Windows Home Server are sold as part of a hardware/software "bundle" by an OEM, bought either online from an e-tailer or at some store like Best Buy, and supported by the OEM and the original purchaser. A close second is copies installed from system builder packages; those are split between true system builder installations (i.e. your corner computer store which built one for you) and enthusiasts installing on their own hardware.

    And yes, use of the server desktop is indeed unsupported, at least technically. By design, the Console (in V1) or Dashboard plus Launchpad (in V2/Vail) will provide all the management needed. This includes managing added software components; there's an extensibility model which requires that software be installed in a particular way, and that it expose itself in the console/dashboard in an appropriate fashion.

    The Kool-Aid ™, BTW, is "blue". :)

    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Friday, August 13, 2010 4:56 PM
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    "Exactly what is the flavor of the Kool-aid here?"
     
    Sour Lemon?  :)
     
    Art [artfudd] Folden
    --
    "kariya21 [MVP]" wrote in message
    news:92d5b3f6-b715-4e62-88b1-99e999d19cd7@communitybridge.codeplex.com...
     
    Logging onto the server isn't supported?
     
    Correct.  That's true for v1 and Vail both.
     
    I find that funny considering the installation takes you directly to a desktop once it's
    done.
     
    Yes, it does (as does every other OS when installed).  And that's also why there is a big
    warning about being there once the install is complete.
     
    Yes i do understand that the actual drives once de is done may be ntfs, but that it is
    being reported (or GUI reported) to be fat32.
     
    So what?  The point is to keep the NTFS portion of the drive hidden.
     
    If MS really thinks that the owner of the WHS is going to just take a drive out and put
    into another machine "just to see what's on it" they really have no clue who their
    customer base is for these.
     
    I agree that the target audience of the product (the average-joe who knows virtually
    nothing about computers, especially hardware) probably won't.  However, the people who are
    knowledgeable about computers (including any support person the average-joe user takes his
    broken server to) might.
     
    WHS isn't in homes where there isn't an IT person, or a family member who is going to
    support it.  If you asked 10,000 Win7 users if they even knew what WHS was I doubt 1%
    would even say yes, let alone have one.
     
    Exactly what is the flavor of the Kool-aid here?
      
    Friday, August 13, 2010 5:50 PM
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    New here... just set up my WSH (3rd time) ...annoyances with the lack of changablity of the workgroup name...   Like the first poster, my 1TB drive I added to the storage pool showed up in disk managment as being fully formatted (all 931mb) as Fat32.  Before I found this posting I went ahead, right clicked, and formatted it in NTFS.  So far no ill effect.  I suspect a lot of technically savy people are going choke a bit when they see the drive they just added apparently represented as Fat32, and "fix" the problem. 

    I am interested in seeing how recoverable each drive/unit of the storage pool is when pulled and connected up to a Win 7 box.

    Friday, August 27, 2010 3:16 AM
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    ...I am interested in seeing how recoverable each drive/unit of the storage pool is when pulled and connected up to a Win 7 box.
    Not at all. The data that comprises the shares is stored in 1 GB blocks that are managed by Drive Extender V2. This is handled at a level below the file system, so you won't see even the blocks, only the discovery volume. There's a suggestion on Connect to make drives readable on non-Vail systems. Probably for this to be truly useful you'd have to mount as many of the server storage drives as you could simultaneously.
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Friday, August 27, 2010 12:50 PM
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