Server 2003 to 2012R2 and Misc Software

Schmarvin · March 10, 2015

Hey everyone,

I haven't been on here in awhile, but I'm back. Had a couple of questions.

First Question:

I have an old server I've been using as my home server. It's running Server 2003 Standard (32-bit). I know I'm blowing away the OS so I can run 64-bit. I'm doubling the memory from 8GB to 16GB.

Here is where it gets tricky. So, I have a raid controller (RAID 5) to 4x 2TB hard drives. These drives contain all of my data. I also have another RAID 1 array 2x 250GB drives for my OS. This second array is on the motherboard, not a controller like the first one. If I blow away my OS on the RAID 1 array, will my data on the second array be affected? I don't really have any programs or useful data on the OS drives, just the Server '03 system.

I want to blow it away and start from scratch without affecting my data, is it possible?

Second Question:

I have that 4x 2TB raid array with all of my data. Well, none of it is programs or software that's installed. It is mostly just installers, home media (like pictures, movies, and videos), my production edits and videos, miscellaneos documents, incremental backups from my workstation, and other useless crap.

Is there any software free or paid that will compress everything on that array, AND STILL be able to read and watch videos/pictures? I want something that does extreme compression. I've got dual Xeon quad-core processors in the server. I may think about going to VMs in the future though. But for now, its just a storage array. What are my options? Cheap/free preferably to the front.

Taswell · March 10, 2015

Re-installing over the existing 2003 installation should not be a problem unless all the software you have installed is on a separate drive then then all those programs will need re-installed as well. If you install your Raid Drivers and see all the existing Drive Partitions in the Server 2008 installation Disk Management Screen then it is guaranteed to work. Just make sure that server 2003 ins't referencing any of the other drives as installation directories before wiping out the installation. That way there aren't any broken Paths that leave Misc Files all over the place.

Ahsay ODB/ACB Backup sever will do everything you want it to do. It is enterprise level software though so its pretty expensive.