I am looking for a suitable alternative to Windows Home Server [since microsoft announced the death of Vail by removing drive extender - why would anyone pay for WHS when there are better free alternatives!?!?!?!?!?] Anyway, I am interested in using Windows 7 and a spanned volume. I have a hardware NAS with a RAID 5 array where I store and data I need redundancy for. For my films, mp3s etc. I do not require this level of protection. I have read that with a spanned volume in Windows 7/server 2008, if one disk fails then data is lost in the entire volume - is this correct? How are the files arranged in a spanned volume? Does the OS fill one disk and then move onto the next? If that is the case then surely I one disk fails, then any files which are physically spanned across the two would be lost but the remaining files on the volume could be recovered surely? Any info appreciated.

G.I.Y.F.! A simple Google of the internet for spanned volume rewarded me with a link to a Wiipedia article that answers your question directly: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Spanned_volume Drawbacks Unlike RAID, spanned volumes have no fault-tolerance, so if any disk fails, the data on the whole volume could be lost. For future use: Remember - Google Is Your Friend (G.I.Y.F.)!Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

G.I.Y.F.! A simple Google of the internet for spanned volume rewarded me with a link to a Wiipedia article that answers your question directly: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Spanned_volume Drawbacks Unlike RAID , spanned volumes have no fault-tolerance , so if any disk fails, the data on the whole volume could be lost. For future use: Remember - Google Is Your Friend (G.I.Y.F.)! Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. ” I have re-read my original post, yet I still cannot see why you have automatically assumed that I am stupid, have not heard of Wikipedia, and incapable of using a search enginer. For the record Rick, I can assure you I am none of those. I have specifically asked a question that the wikipedia pag (which you very unhelpfully submited a URL to), does not answer. In fact, I have stated the same fact and queried its validity. The reason beingthat it is WIKIPEDIA, a site anyone can contribute to and clearly that page is a stub and lacking in both detail and references. Have all of your 2204 posts on Microsoft forums been so aruptly rude and unhelpful? I am sure not. If you dont have anything helpful to contribute, I would ask that you move onto a thread you can assist with. You dont need to comment on every post. Now, if you can tell me with any experience or references WHY ALL data is lost if one disk fails, I will be be very grateful Rick. The reason I ask the question is that even with the most complicat3ed of RAID setups, data can be recovered if the partition formating is a known standard. As a spanned volume does not appear to be (on wikipedia anyway ;) ) striped or formated like a RAID volume, I suspect that the data loss would be minimal.

G.I.Y.F.! A simple Google of the internet for spanned volume rewarded me with a link to a Wiipedia article that answers your question directly: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Spanned_volume Drawbacks Unlike RAID , spanned volumes have no fault-tolerance , so if any disk fails, the data on the whole volume could be lost. For future use: Remember - Google Is Your Friend (G.I.Y.F.)! Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. ” [Off topic, but just to make a point about sighting wikipedia as a reference. If you examine the history of the wikipedia article, the sentance "spanned volumes have no fault-tolerance , so if any disk fails, the data on the whole volume could be lost." was actually written when that page was first created, on 25 April 2005, long before Windows 7 or server 2008 were released. In other words, in a forum which by its very nature is constantly evolving and updating, populated by a vast weath of knowledge by its users; that article is completely worthless and irrelevent on this forum]

I think the key information is "so if any disk fails, the data on the whole volume could be lost" with the emphasis on "could be". And I doubt seriously if Microsoft has made any significant changes to the functionality of a spanned disk. In Windows there is absolutely no control on where anything is written on a "spanned" disk so therefore you don't have any control over whether your data "could be" lost. Unlike in Unix or Linux the added disks are assigned directories and I don't think they allow a directory to span more than one disk. So, you can try to pick apart my information and that found on the internet, but that's entirely your option. If you want to take a chance and use a spanned disk, that is entirely up to you.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.