Windows Home Server Drive Extender

Technical Brief

Windows Home Server Drive Extender

Microsoft Corporation

Published: August 2008

Version: 1.1

Abstract

This technical brief provides an in-depth look at the features and functionality of Windows® Home Server Drive Extender. The brief has been updated to include additional information for Windows Home Server Power Pack 1.

To learn more about other aspects of Windows Home Server, see the Microsoft Web site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=100260).

The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication.

This Technical Brief is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT.

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Contents

Windows Home Server Drive Extender 3

Features and Functionality 3

Benefits 3

Drive Extender In-Depth 3

Windows Home Server Console 3

Removing Hard Drives 3

Hard Drive Partitioning 3

Shared Folder Duplication 3

Drive Extender Filter and Migrator Service 3

The Magic of Tombstones 3

Balancing Storage 3

NTFS and Drive Extender 3

Unhealthy and Missing Hard Drives 3

File Conflict Notifications 3

Additional Tips 3

Viewing Orphan Shadow Files 3

Disabling Volume ShadowCopy Services 3

More Information 3

Windows Home Server Drive Extender

Windows® Home Server Drive Extender is a new storage technology that enables you to use internal and external hard drives for additional storage on your home server. In addition, you can enable Folder Duplication for specific shared folders on their home servers. Maintaining two copies of a shared folder on separate hard drives helps protect against the failure of a single hard drive.

Features and Functionality

The core features of Windows Home Server Drive Extender are:

• Predefined Shared Folders

Your home server is preconfigured with shared folders named Photos, Music, Videos, Public, and Software. From the Windows Home Server Console you can specify user permissions for these folders and create new shared folders. You can easily move files and folders from your home computers into the shared folders on your home server by using a drag-and-drop operation.

• Easy to add more storage

From the Windows Home Server Console, you can add a new hard drive to your home server by following a simple wizard. The amount of storage available to your shared folders and home computer backups increases proportionally. The hard drives you add can be either internal or external (for example, USB 2.0 or FireWire).

• Shared Folder duplication

If you have two or more hard drives on your home server, Windows Home Server helps protect against hard drive failures by ensuring that files stored in shared folders are automatically duplicated to multiple hard drives.

Benefits

Windows Home Server Drive Extender offers the following benefits for storage solutions. Some of the benefits are:

• Allows the seamless addition of more hard drives

As you add more hard drives to your home server, they are treated as a single large pool of available storage space. You no longer need to deal with drive letters (such as E:, F:, and G: ) because you can add more hard drives.

• Works with internal and external hard drives

You can add internal or external (for example, USB 2.0 or FireWire) hard drives to your home server to increase the available storage.

• Shared Folder Duplication

Windows

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