Migrate an entire drive pool to a new WHS2011 server

bazcal

Hi,

First of all, great product. I started with WHS v1 and was quite put out that DE died in the way it did. Thanks for filling the gap so thoroughly.

My current WHS 2011 build has a separate 250GB boot disk, 4x 2GB directly connected sata disks, then 2x 2GB and 3x 1.5GB disks in a Sharkoon USB3 enclosure (as individual disks). The 6x 2GB and 2x 1.5GB disks are in the drive pool. The last 1.5GB disk is for server backup.

All this is running on an Asus AMD E-350 motherboard (with 8GB ram) which I'm finding is underpowered for all the add-ins I've been collecting (e.g. Media streaming and iHomeServer etc.)

I'm now building a fresh install of WHS2011 on a Zotal H67 based MB with a Core I3-2120T (which should have 4x the horsepower), still with 6x SATA connections and USB3.

What process would you recommend I use to move my data from the original server to the new one?

When I moved from WHS v1 to 2011, I had both machines on the network and would have to copy data out/ remove a drive then add the removed drive to the drivepool and repeat. I don't really have the free space at the moment to use this approach again. 

(also thanks for the ability to move the DrivePool activation off the old server and onto the new one. I hope my other commercial add-ins will be equally friendly).

Many thanks, Barry.

Shane

Hi bazcal,

After you've installed WHS and DrivePool on the new machine with only its boot drive attached, then and only then connect all of your old data drives (doesn't matter whether via SATA or USB). DrivePool should detect the original pool.

(the boot drive will be wiped when WHS is installed on it, so don't use a drive that has anything you wish to keep as the boot drive)

dvdluvver

Just to give you another anecdote that this works.   Awhile back I did this with a 20 disk pool (combination of internal, eSATA and USB drives).  Worked exactly like Shane describes.   It's almost crazy how simple it is!