Mirror, mirror on the drive. I need my data to stay alive. Windows Home Server 2011 has a built in Drive Mirror feature that will allow you to create a synchronized copy of the drive. While this feature is not new to Microsoft products, the ease of setup from within the Server Manager makes it easy for the WHS 2011 user to create Mirrors. Check out the video!
Windows Home Server 2011 Drive Set Up
Before you start the mirror process you want to make sure your data is organized. Best practice would be to mirror before any data is on the the drives to save time, but if they already have data you are still ok.
Organize your data and decide which drive(s) you will Mirror.
Windows Home Server 2011 Drive Mirror
To create a Drive Mirror you use the Server Manager. If you do not see the Server Manager in your Task Bar, navigate to Administrative Tools through the Start Menu. You might want to grab your favorite beverage and RAID the cookie jar before you start this process.
The video will show you how to create a Drive Mirror.
My drives had a lot of data on them when I created the Mirror. I would suggest doing this when they are empty if possible.
4 1/2 hours into the Mirror process. The drives were half full so I know it was going to take a while.
6 1/2 hours into the Mirror process. It was ok. I had time to go outside and spray the ants with RAID anyway.
Disable Backups During Mirror Process
I decided to cancel my backups during the Mirror sync since it was trying to backup C: and F: data while it was also moving D: and E: data. This taxes the CPU and just makes the whole process take longer. I would suggest starting the backup again after the Mirror sync is done and process is completed.
Conclusion
Creating the Mirrors in Windows Home Server 2011 is easy and works great. I feel safe that my data is backed up and am even planning on adding more drives as these start to fill up.
Windows Home Server 2011 Release Candidate
You can download Windows Home Server 2011 at:
Download WHS 2011
The installation of Windows Home Server 2011 has only a few basic requirements.
Windows Home Server 2011 is a 64-bit only operating system.
You can install the server software either manually or unattended.
System Requirements
- 1.4 GHz x64 processor
- 2 GB RAM
- At least one 160 GB (or larger) hard drive
- NTFS is the only supported file system
Supported networking configuration:
- Your server computer must be connected to a router via a network cable
- Windows Home Server works best with a UPnP certified device, but it is not required
- The router works best in the 192.168.x.x subnet, but it is not required
Try Windows Home Server 2011 and download from Connect today!
And don’t forget to check out some of our other Windows Home Server 2011 Videos and Walk-throughs
Thanks Tim – this is cool!
I'm going to try this myself now – well done!
Is data mirrored in real time, or only when you run the mirror process?
Can mirroring be triggered through the 2011 console?
C!
The controller sends the same data write to both hard drives at the same time.
You must remote in to yoru Server to set up the mirroring.
So what happens if something breaks. Can you take your drives out and view your files on other windows computers or do you have to rebuild your system to be able to get access to your files again?
Have had two system drives die in WHS v1 and needed to access stuff on the storage drives and it was easy.
Can this be done if you use whs2011??
The files on the drive can be viewed on another PC. In addition, WHS 2011 backs up the system drive so you are covered as long as you enable the backups.
Just installed a fresh WHS 2011 on a box and decided to try the software mirroring. Even with an empty disk the “resyncing” process takes for ever. Seems the amount of actual data does not have any impact, only size of disk.
I’m mirroring two 1 TB disks onto a 2 TB disk. I’ve seen reports on the web about resyncing starting on every boot, if so this is a dead-end option for me. Have you experienced any resyncing on reboot?
Are you running the RTM version of WHS 2011?
I am, and i have a single 500 GB drive for the system drive and 2 x 2TB drives, running in RAID 0 and dont experience the problems you are describing.
Andrew
Yes the RTM version. I’m not having and hardware RAID support. Only four standard SATA drives and “software” mirroring in WHS 2011 (i.e. software RAID 1).
btw: RAID 0 is no mirroring or parity, only striping accross multiple drives for increased speed, but absolutely no redundancy or fault tolerance. Not something you want you want on WHS. But then again I assume you mean RAID 1.
btw 2: Are you having any kind of hardware RAID (either on dedicated card or motherboard)?
Hi Pal
The server I am using supports Hardware RAID, so I am using that.
And I did mean RAID 0 for my backups. I’m not worried about redudancy or fault tolderance so much on those as I always have the original computers available if I need them. For me that is more about having “another” copy of anything stored on those computers.
As and when I decided to store any data on the actual server then I will look at using mirroring.
The Mirror set up for the WHS 2011 should take less than a minute to complete. You said two disks to one, but then said four disks. What set up are you trying?
I have successfully mirrored my system drive and wanted to mirror my 1tb drive and 2tb shared folder drives to my 3tb drive external hard drive, which is connected via ESATA cord to my server. The mirroring process has been going on for over 10 hours now, and I don’t know if it is going to be successful. Unlike when I mirrored my system drive, I do cannot see the mirroring progress (there is not data showing as to what percentage of how much of the mirroring has been completed). In fact, other than the word “Resynching,” and my external hard drive feeling pretty hot to the touch, there is no indication that the mirroring process is running. Can anyone shed some light on this situation?
Thanks.
I hope you let it continue. Depending on the amount of data, drive speed and CPU you had, it could take a full day to create the mirror.
Thaks for this article and video. I am finally upgrading to WHS 2011 and was not aware of the mirroring functions it has!
Is there a performance hit if you mirror 7200rpm drives to a 5400rpm drive?
I do not suggest mixing drives with different speeds.
I bought a HP Micro Server N40L with 2 HD and each has a capacity of 250GB. The RAID 1 is being set for the mirroring. I have WHS 2011 installed on the server. My question is, will the server does the mirroring automatically or do I have to do it manually with WHS 2011 as descripted on the video from Timothy Daleo. Any help will be appreciated and thank you.
William