Umfriend

I second the last sentence: "Have fun and take your time"!
 
Indeed, budget and use case are decisive (and sometimes mutually exclusive).
 
Now, *if* budget is not that much of a deal, you might want to consider building a server with a server OS, such as Windows Server 2016 Essentials. It is windows, it will run DP (and Scanner and, if you are so inclined, CloudDrive). I run Windows Home Server 2011 on an overpowered i7-3770. Here's what it does:
- File sharing. So my kids each have their own storage on the server and their PC/Lappys can be thin (not that they are, ugh, another story). My wife has a small business and one employee, also their own storage on the server.
- DP & Scanner. I do use duplication so that in case a HDD fails, there is no need for a restore of (part of) the Server. It is a continuity/uptime consideration
- Client backups. This is absolutely great IMHO. Should a client fail, it can be rather easily restored. It stores multiple backups. Either a full or single file(s) recovery can be done. It supports iMax AFAIK, but not (yet) Sierra.
- A downloading client that we'll not discuss.
- Serviio DLNA media server. I can stream to my SACD/Blue-ray player, TV and mobile devices (using GinkgoDlna and VLC for instance)
- Server Backup. And this last thing is my main benefit. The Server itself backs itself up, including file-shares and client backups. I rotate backup disks offsite. So assume the house burns down and all PCs/Lappys and the Server itself is lost. In that case, I get the offsite server backup disk, build a new server and restore that backup. From that I can then restore the clients.
 
Now many here have huge Pools, tens of disks, but if you're looking for something smaller and are inclined to go this way then I could give you some pointers. Having said that WSE 2016 sets you back, I think, about USD400.... I think you can try WSE 2016 for 180 days at no cost (other than quite some time and a PC to install it on).
 
As for hardware, aside from disks and the case, this all could easily by run on a 2nd gen i5 or small Ryzen. Heck, my first ran on a Celeron G530 and that worked fine as well.

I do not consider DP as a backup. It is a redundancy tool which enhances uptime. The cool thing, for me, is that should a drive fail then the Server will still be up and recovery, as in re-duplicate, is done easily which saves a lot of time compared to a recovery from a backup. But if the files are important (and surely some are) then a real backup is essential IMHO.
 
I don;t know Synctoy nor other backup tools, they may be suitable indeed.
 
Wrt to the faulty file, if two copies are written correctly and then on one HDD it gets corrupted somehow, then the corruption will not automatically replicate to the othet copy I would think. The question would really be which copy you retrieve once you try and load the file. Moreover, if you coupl DP with Scanner, then this partly mitigates such a circumustance, should it occur (which I think is extremely rare). But Chris should be able to provide more info.

Really OT but I know some here used to visit there as well. Has Terry Walsh ditched the forums he had on wegotserved? If so, what is a good alternative?
 
Sometime this year I will build a new server running WS2016 essentials and as I have got no real clue about VMs I need some advice. Basically I want to build a big-ass Server for client backups and file sharing and, running on the same HW but isolated wrt access, a virtual desktop. The idea is that I can then someday buy a very light laptop that would basically be a VDI(?) and actually run my work things on that VM/RDP (but without any danger of damaging the actual Server part of the Server).

As a small update, I now had a rather good scenario and managed 97MB/s (3TB in 8.5 hrs).
 
Use case is everything. And if prices are close, then I'd go for something else (e.g., I would consider the 8TB IronWolf at EUR 299 instead of 259) but them 10TB IronWolfs... are still somewhat expensive.

If it is for cold storage, so mainly write-once read-many, then you could consider the Seagate Archive HDDs. I believe 8TB are the largest (I have two of them for backup purposes) and they are way cheaper per TB.
 
Now write performance *can* be very bad. I think I just had a worst-case situation due to a restructuring of my Server storage (which is backed up to the Archives) and managed a 10MB/s write but this is a very distinct situation. A clean Archive HDD will get you anywhere between 60-180 MB/s write speed and assuming most writes will be less than 20GB you should get to the higher end of that. They read like crazy though (for spinners).
 
Where I buy my HDDs, a 10TB IronWolf will set you back EUR 439 whereas an 8TB Archive does 259. So 20TB IronWolf comes in at EUR 878 while 24TB Archives do EUR 777...(Although there is currently a discount on the 8TB Ironwolf at EUR 299).
 
I would also suggest to get something like an hot-swap bay, something like this http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=141. This allows you to backup up critical data (like the OS HDD and non-DVD data) to removable HDDs, allowing you to rotate backups offsite. This way you have protection against accidental deletes, system failure, theft and fire etc.

So I moved to 2.2.0.746, all good. I now have two unduplicated Pools of single 4TB HDDs, partitioned as 2x2TB and a third Pool that consists of the two with duplication.
 
Big upside for me: the issue where duplicates can be stored on the same physical HDD is now "solved" (well, worked around). So because this now allows me to continue to use 2TB volumes (given the limitation of WHS2011 Server Backup) with larger Pools, I can keep WHS2011 for quite some time. This is a real money saver for me. Thanks!
 
I would have chosen a different implementation as I now need three Pools to accomplish this. I would rather have had the option to define strings within a single Pool. However, the current implementation has the benefit that it uses, I would think, sort of the same code as opposed to something new and the additonal overhead (I assume that for each I/O, the service now needs to make three calls) presumably is very small anyway.

Best of luck Chris...Hope it'll be all history soon.

All, thanks for your info, it has been most helpful. I have decided that Viagra is cheaper
 
I'll wait for a while and at some stage, probably 2018-2020, go the Essentials route and not to do the VM stuff. Just to complicated for me, not motivated to educate myself on this and save the expense. It will allow for a cheaper server. I'll test-drive on some old machine I got lying around and then use the existing i7-3770 machine and that setup should last me another 10 years. In 4 years or so I'll simply buy a new even more powerful lappy for work.
 
The only real thing that does not work currently is a BMR of my lappy given that WHS2011 is W7-based and does not support the newer USB-standard but I guess a small converter-card would allow me to plug my NVMe SSD into a PCIe slot in an existing machine and BMR there.

No, your data is fine. I am assuming that the died OS HDD was not part of the Pool in any way BTW, otherwise the data there may be lost.But any an all data that resided on the other three are still there and very reasily recoverable.
 
First, you could connect the other 3 2TB HDDs to another computer, set Windows Explorer to show hidden folders and below the poolpart.xxxx. folders you will find your data. DP stores files as regular NTFS so no worries.
 
Further advise:
1. Buy a new HDD
2. Disconnect all other HDDs
3. Insert new HDD in Server
4. Install WHS2011
5. Install DrivePool
6. Turn off Server
7. Connect disconnected HDDs
8. Reboot
 
DrivePool should recognise the pool, remeasure/rebalance and all should be well.
 
Step 9: MAKE BACKUPS! WHS2011 Server Backup works great and if you get, say, an Icy Dock hot swap bay for one HDD, slam an 8TB Archive HDD in there and back the Sever up once a day. Buy another 8TH HDD and swap them weekly, keep one copy offsite.

Ouch! Get rid of them soon. And don't make new ones.

No problem at all. Just restart, it'll be fine.

He drives? Don't have 'm. But once Drivepool does stripes/strings/groups, I'll build a WS2016 machine and buy 2 of those 10TB HDDs as BUP-HDDs.

I've had Seagate and WD fail on me. Not Toshiba and HGST but the I have not had them either ;-). Bought one HGST recently to replace a failing Seagate (which was RMA'ed) and I'll see what knowlegde I can gain from this sample of 1 (one).

I can see backups over USB (2 or 3). I would not however run USB connected HDDs in a Pool due to the connection that may be dropped (even within spec) where you want/expect 24/7 uninterrupted connection.
 
But hé, if it works it works.

Well, a parity solution takes a long time to recover I would think. Some argue that it also puts additional stress on the remaining HDDs, increasing probability of cascading failure (but, IMHO that is quite a stretch). I use duplication solely as a means to increase uptime. Backup for loss due to accidental deletions, viruses, fire, theft etc. And yes, I rotate Server Backups (which include client backups) offsite.
 
What is you setup?

Duplication <> Backup. And if you are not protected against accidental deletions then it isn't really a backup.
 
Having said this, it is understandable if one does not backup everything as some things are either unimportant or can be regenerated rather easily.

And I would try to reconnect it to the box directly or any other real SATA-only connection. Just to check.

Until we get Grouping / Strings...

The 2TB volume limit in WHS2011 you refer to does not apply here. You can use 8TB HDDs and have them in the Pool without any issue.
 
Ever checked Event Viewer for suspect messages? Tried replacing the SATA cable? How is it connected exactly?

I would say yes. I can not find a "normal" 6TB HDD that is cheaper than these 8TB HDDs and they read like crazy (for spinners, certainly at 5.9Krpm). And if you write about 1 movie a day (assuming they are less than say 25GB) then you won't even suffer a write-penalty). Or per hour. Or per ten minutes I would think. And if you have a number of them in a Pool and don't use file-placement rules it gets even better still I would speculate.

I use them for Server Backup. Drashna has them in his server as part of his Pool. There is a write-penalty but truth be told, I can not think of many use-cases where one would notice. For spinners, they read like crazy. If it mainly write-once / read many then I would say these offer the best value for money indeed.

Especially for C:\ (OS) you might want to consider performing actual backups one way or the other. DrivePool (had it supported it), dynamic disks, RAID do not protect you against deletions, failed updates/installations and whatnot. Actually, this goes for all data.

As I read it, you have 48TB capacity and 21TB of data. I would duplicate all as I assume you do not make backups and do want to be at least somewhat protected. Duplication <> backup but at least you are likely not to lose anything in case of a single HDD failure. It will leave about 6TB free (although, due to duplication it would only be about 3TB net).
 
I would consider adding one or two (or four) 8TB Seagate Archive HDDs. They are cheap per TB and read like crazy. There is a write-performance penalty but, frankly, I do not see that affecting your system as it would hit only when you have a lot of writes and I assume most of your data is actually static. It will leave you with a lot of room to move data to from current HDDs that start to fail.
 
The is a File Placement add-in that helps you to ensure that media files that belong to each other or not scattered over many HDDs (you could get it to have groups of files to be written to two HDDs only) but I do not use it and can not actually help with that.
 
I am usnure what you mean exactly by "I had one drive with data on it, and it added the free space to the pool, and there was a drive with just the data on it that remained.  I moved the data, but it didn't remove the now empty drive."

Playing media over an network? Probably 1GB Ethernet? That is about 125Mb/s max. The 8TB (Seagate Archive I assume) reads like crazy until the last, say, 2TB. IMHO< read striping is only sensible if you have heavy (read) I/O on the machine and streaming a video ain't that.
 
Also, I'd keep balancing as default. It will first fill up the 8TB HDD (most space free) and the other copies will be dividided over the 2 2TB HDDs (it needs to go there due to duplication and will select HDD with most space free).
 
I think, once you get to 4TB of data, DP will not allow you to write data to duplicated folders, sort of Disk Full, and at least report errors in duplication status if you force more data on the 8TB HDD. Christopher will tell.

Ah new case will come someday. Just bought an Icy Dock 5 HDD in 3x5.25" cage. Rather nice but cooling wise, meh. In any case, once DP features Grouping (or "Strings"?) I can build my desired 2 x 4 x 2TB Pool for which I'll need another, larger case. So the fact that I do not have that yet is, basically, all your fault! ;d