Replacing system disk on WHS

[krypto]

The existing system disk is a 250GB drive on the first port of the onboard controller. I have duplication enabled for most of my data.

I bought a new 500GB drive and decided that I'd like to use it as the system drive.

Unplugged old sys drive and put it aside, inserted WHS DVD, I got the following:
1. With AHCI enabled get to running green microst bar but nothing further happens
2. Switching from AHCI to Native IDE get to setup screen but no re-install option. Only new installation and this will destroy all your data.
3. Reformating the new HDD had no effect
4. Numerous reboots no effect
5. Cursing got me a BSOD - who says PCs don't have a mind of their own

3hrs and no progress. Luckily I have the old sys drive and its okay.

However, this really concerns me as I am very happy with WHS but I don't want to risk loosing all my data if a system disk fails.

How do I force the re-install option or is there another path to changing the system disk?

[GlenR]

If you have data on you other (no-system) disks WHS install should give you the option of re-installing so you don't lose data. When I was testing WHS for my review I removed and formatted the system disk without losing data.

When install runs, it should ask if you want to install new and it will have a drop-down box to give the second option of re-install. Can you give us some more detail about your setup?

[krypto]

I definitely didn't give me the re-install option. While I solved the problem by cloning the drive using acronis this bothers me if my drive ever fails.

I suspect its something to do with the initial installation using AHCI which WHS didn't like. Doing a reinstall hangs indefinitely with the mobo set to AHCI and only gives me the install option when set to native IDE.

[forsythem]

I had exactly the same symptoms and end result when I went from the public release beta (or RC, whatever it was) to the purchased one. Problems with the drive, caused reboots etc. until I read about the "Native" option, that then worked, but without an option to upgrade or repair the installation...

Fresh install of WHS was the only result I was able to obtain. As it's pretty new stuff, and I'm a bit hesitant about trusting new stuff, I had all my data backed up anyway, and could rebuild the whole server from scratch.

[woohoo]

I'm planning to set up a WHS machine soon and wonder if there's a consensus on what disk system to use - AHCI, RAID or IDE?

Originally Posted by GlenR

When I was testing WHS for my review I removed and formatted the system disk without losing data.

I don't suppose you know how your review system was set up Glen?

[GlenR]

The MoBo in the review system didn't support AHCI and WHS does not support RAID as this conflicts with the disk "pooling" or "bundling" that WHS uses.

I ahven't tried AHCI with WHS, but in theory the only difference should be the ability to hot-swap the data only drives.

[krypto]

If you look at the WHS forum there is plenty of talk about AHCI and RAID.

1. I suspect if I'd built WHS without AHCI ie Native IDE, I wouldn't have had my issues
2. From what I have read it is possible and fairly simple to install WHS on a RAID set-up. In particular the system disk. I may still try converting my WHS to RAID for the system disk now that I know a bit more about it.
3. RAID is only really of value for the system disk as you can duplicate the rest using a simple setting
4. If you want to keep it simple/reliable use IDE. From what I can see there are no performance gains with AHCI although it does allow hot swapping which I don't need.

[woohoo]

Thanks guys. IDE it is I think.

[CraigMBecket]

Hi woohoo,

Fully agree with krypto's assessment, native IDE is the way to go.

Craig.