1. RDP into the MSS/WHS desktop

2. Plug in the drive -- it will become Drive E:

3. Open Drive E: through My Computer

4. Drag/drop your files into the shared storage pool using the "SHARED FOLDERS ON SERVER" icon on the desktop. DO NOT access DRIVE D: THROUGH MY COMPUTER. Only access it through that icon on the Desktop. (It needs to be done this way to assure that the Drive Extender is properly employed.)

...JohnBick

2. Sorry, I should have specifically stated to plug it in to a MSS USB port! The advantage of doing it directly is, of course, it is much faster than sending it over a wire -- or wireless. And while I described copying data to the MSS from the USB device (your original request), the reverse works as well -- but always access anything in the storage pool through the Shared Folders.

4. Yes. Do not access any of the pool storage as "D:\xxx\yyy..." as this will not go through the Drive Extender logic. (It is actually possible to do this but even those of us who have been using WHS for a while tend to avoid it. Too easy to make an error and mess up the Data Extender logic.)

By "Control Center" do you mean the WHS "Console"? (If the answer to that is no, re-post -- for now I will ass-u-me that is a "yes"!) You could install the Advanced Admin Console Add-In and access the E: drive that way. You would then need to navigate into the D: drive to find the items to copy. As I said before though, this should generally be avoided unless you REALLY know what you are doing.

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Of course all this is only answering the question asked. Given the direction this dialog is taking I need to ask "what are you trying to do?" If you want to use this USB device as a disk to be shared on your network as you would share any other disk in a workgroup, that is one thing. But if you want to use it to back up the WHS itself then I would just use the facilities of WHS PP1:

(A) Install the disk and, using the WHS Console, go to the Server Storage tab, but do NOT add it to the pool. Using the console select the option to use it for backup.

(B) Go to the Computers and Backup tab and your SERVER will now be on the list of computers. Right-click on that and you can back up your shares to your new disk.

And if you want to back up your WHS backup database -- get the BDBB Add-In.

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From the flavor of the original question I had thought you were looking for a quick way to load data into the MSS. If you really have a bunch of files to move from your computer I would just use the 100Mb connection and let it run a while. Clean and easy, especially if you are new to all this. By the time you set it up and copy a bunch of files you probably have not saved all that much time anyway.

I am still using 100Mb and, to me, it is not worth the effort to try to do it faster. What I do today is to use the MS SyncToy version 1, NOT version 2) to set up the folders to be synchronized and then just let that run overnight. And I have done it manually a few times.

...JohnBick

hi, i want to do the same thing you did pcavelle but when i open my USB drive thru my computer on advanced admin console i cannot drag files into the shared folders icon on my desktop. how did you actually send the files from the usb drive to the MSS?

ty