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Is it possible to add 3TB drives without using WHS format that will create a 2TB and 1TB partition ?

edited June 2011 in DrivePool

It's posible to add a 3TB drive to WHS2011, however it will add the drive as MBR and format it NTFS and therefor create one 2TB and the balance as two partitions. From what I read here, Drivepool can add a drive through it's own interface as a GPT drive and format it NTFS. This should then display the single drive as one 3TB drive, correct ?

I also know that because of the way the WHS2011 does it's backup of drives as 2TB VHD, it will not be possible to add this drive to the Windows scheduled backups. correct ?

However, since I added the drive through DrivePool and am duplicating it, I should have a level of file protection, correct ?

 

Comments

  • edited June 2011 Resident Guru
    Pretty much. I have three 3TB drives in my pool, added via Window's Disk Management interface as single-partition GPT drives then formatted as NTFS with 64K clusters. DrivePool happily saw them and had no trouble adding them to the pool.

    You are correct re WHS's 2TB VHD limitation on backups, at least last I checked. I use a robocopy script instead. DrivePool should however detect when multiple partitions are on the same drive and not use them for duplicates, so as long as all partitions are total (edited 2011-06-22) under 2TB you should be able to use both DP duplication and WHS backup if you want to. I suggest testing this before relying on it, as DP is still in beta after all.

    DrivePool's duplication does provide a level of protection, however it's not the same as a backup - it's more like mirroring (albeit friendlier). It protects against drive failures, but not against someone deleting a file. So "horses for courses", if you know that expression.
  • Why use 3TB disks? It's not cost effecient. The whole point of having this software is that it collates your data, regardless of its physical location.

    Currently you can buy 2x2TB (= 4TB) disks for the same as 1x3TB (=3TB)

  • edited July 2011 Resident Guru
    Because there was only room in the case for three more disks, and 3x3 > 3x2. :)

    (and it helped I had the opportunity to get them at dealer price)
  • From my point of view, the problem is not the size of the disk but the space in the case. What happens when you run out of space on these drives? You'll still have the same original problem. Not enough space in the case.

    There are so many large cheap cases available nowadays, there really isn't any reason to go for anything other than the cheapest $ per GB HDD. Enterprise storage is a thing of the past.

  • Resident Guru
    Which cheap cases would you recommend with 12+ 5.25" bays?
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