I had already tested it out in virtual machines so had few unexpected surprises. Alternatively you could run with USB drives in nice tidy enclosures, but I don't need tidy. So yes, I have two drives sticking out of the case, but I needed the storage.

I then used the 2TB and 1.5TB drives together in a simple volume to hold File History backups, and also image-based backups.

I ended up installing the system on an old 500GB drive I had lying around, then using the two 3TB drives to mirror data on the server - I ran into a setback when Storage Spaces had to wipe the data from a drive to use it in a Storage Space - d'oh, so I had to copy the data to another drive, and then back again after creating the Storage Space - adding about 20 hours to the process. Also added 2 USB 3 ports, juicy bonus, or so I thought, more on that later.īefore doing the install, I backed up all the data onto one of the 3TB drives by plugging it into another machine and copying everything over the network. So I ordered a Transcend PDC3 SATA board, to add 2 more SATA ports, and definite support for 3TB drives, if the on-board controller didn't. There was mixed opinion on the internet as to if the board with its ICH7 controller would support 3TB drives. I ordered two Western Digital Red 3TB drives to go along with it. But undoubtedly the price is a deal breaker, the product is clearly aimed at the small business. But as someone who has run a server at home since Windows 2000, hosting commercially successful websites from it, along with Small Business Server 2003, just so I could get push e-mail to my phone, it was more a returning to the norm. I was running it with a 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB drives.įirst up Windows Server 2012 Essentials isn't cheap, it is insanely expensive to use as a home server, at around ten times the price of WHSv1. Only downside is there's only space for two 3.5 inch drives, I have a third in the 5 1/4 inch bay. Plus getting something a bit more modern was much desired!įor background I put together the current box from an Asus T3-P5G31 around 2008 or 2009, does the job nicely, small and compact. But with WHSv1 falling out of support, it had to be done, that plus all the drives were almost full, which was having a noticeable impact on performance sometimes, so time to do something about it. I never bothered moving to Windows Home Server 2011, the lack of Drive Extender was the deal breaker for me. A couple of weeks back I started the upgrade from Windows Home Server to Windows Server 2012 Essentials.

Windows home server 2011 upgrade price