Datasheet

If you have more than one hard drive on your WHS computer, backups get mir-
rored automatically. Computer geeks tend to think of that as a
RAID feature —
Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, see Figure 1-3 — but WHS doesn’t use
RAID technology. RAID’s too complicated for most home users to maintain, and
it’s married to specific kinds of hardware.
The Windows Home Server approach to highly reliable data storage works
with plain, everyday hard drives, and the kinds of hard drive controllers you
find on any PC these days. It’s all done with smoke and mirrors — and some
smokin’ good programming. No fancy hardware. Nothing to break down. The
following list takes a closer look at what you don’t have to worry about:
 In the WHS world, disk drive volumes and folders get extended as
needed and you don’t have to fuss with the details.
 Individual folders can and do reside on two or more disks. You needn’t
deal with any of it.
 When the WHS machine starts running out of disk space, it tells you.
Install another drive (see Chapter 18) and the drive is absorbed into the
collective, Borg-style: more space becomes available, and you don’t
need to care about any of the details.
Okay, you
do have to do one thing: When you run out of space, you
have to add more. But disks are cheap and easy to install.
Figure 1-3:
The Vogon
International
Web site
has a
thorough
description
of RAID.
13
Chapter 1: Bringing Windows Home Server to Life
05_185926 ch01.qxp 10/17/07 10:37 AM Page 13