Sep
12
WHS Disk Management
Filed Under Computers, Home Server, Projects
In a recent post, I wrote about my Windows Home Server expansion from 1TB to 3TB! In the post I had shown a couple of screenshots of Add-In’s that I am currently using. One of the Add-Ins was the WHS Disk Management add-in by Sam Wood. I have been so impressed with this Add-In, that I thought I would show-case it for any “would-be” do-it-yourself Windows Home Server people.
Directly from Sam’s site, the “Windows Home Server Disk Management is an Add-In that is designed for users who need more detail about their server’s storage status than what the standard WHS Server Storage interface provides.”
One feature stands out above all others, and that is the ability to show a “server wireframe.” The wireframe lets you “create” a mock-up look of your current server. There are a couple of stock wire-frames, or you can create one yourself. I created the following wire-frame that represents my current server:
The wire-frame view is great. The view allows you to select an individual hard drive and map it to its location within the server, which is awesome for disk management. In the event that a drive goes bad (hopefully not anytime soon for me), I am able to quickly discover which drive needs to be replaced by click the drive that is marked unhealthy, and seeing where it is at on the picture.
In addition to a great 3D view, the Add-In offers some neat additional statistics, such as: individual drive usage, temperature and disk activity. For the average user these stats are next to meaningless, but for the average nerd, the ability to see these extra stats is about as awesome as a plate full of chocolate to a pregnant woman. 
If you haven’t already, check out Windows Home Server Disk Management by Sam Wood.