You might be able to, if you do a quick google you'll probably find someone who has at least tried, but I don't expect it'll be that quick.. Bare in mind though you can get 5 hard drives inside and another if you take a cable through from the eSATA with a slight bodge and may have to use a laptop drive... And remember one drive comes with the server

Just did a bit of research and looks like WHS requires 65GB of space to install, so really that rules out a USB stick.

The boot drive can be in any location, but if you are looking to expand at a later date, then I'd suggest in the Optical bay at the top, but you will need to update the firmware to a non official version to make use of the full speed on the port.

The other option to consider is to run the OS drive in RAID 1, and mirror it if you wanted a bit more security.

In terms of keeping the OS drive free of any other data, the easiest way would be to partition this off so have an OS section and a data section, but use it for non essential data if you are not going to mirror it in RAID 1.

The HDD prices at the moment on 2TB drives are silly, most of us got ours before the floods, but some weren't so lucky..

http://www.tekforums.net/computing-technology-web-communication/flooding-hdd-prices/

Section 2.1 of this guide covers the firmware, and should be the first thing you install..

For RAID 5 you need to have 3 matched drives? so you need to have 3 1.5TB drives..

And what I meant for the OS is to have a RAID 1 pair for the OS, which you can setup in the on board raid and a RAID 5 triple for the data, which you need to setup in the OS, but each of the RAID arrays need to use matched drives... I'm not sure what you mean about the 500 and 250 for this OS though

Quote from: XEntity on February 12, 2012, 18:39:46 PM

Section 2.1 of this guide covers the firmware, and should be the first thing you install..

For RAID 5 you need to have 3 matched drives? so you need to have 3 1.5TB drives..

And what I meant for the OS is to have a RAID 1 pair for the OS, which you can setup in the on board raid and a RAID 5 triple for the data, which you need to setup in the OS, but each of the RAID arrays need to use matched drives... I'm not sure what you mean about the 500 and 250 for this OS though

Ok thanks , found the firmware details. Maybe it might be cheaper option for me to get another 1.5tb drive until prices become more sensible again as i already have two. So  it is possible to set up 2 RAID options on one device? would the RAID 1 just mirror the os , the the RAID 5 on other 3 drives keeps it secure from the os should it go pear shaped. does the RAID 1 need to used matched drive?

Regarding the 500gb and 250gb i was presuming i could use these in the unit but now that you point out the drives must be matched i can see that wont be possible.

If in the future i wish to upgrade the drives am i right to belive they must all be replaced to keep in-line with the matching pairs?

Just to clarify, ideally you match the drive model itself, but it's not essential, but you must match the size of the drive otherwise you basically lose out on usable space, so no you don't have to replace all if one dies.

And yes you can run multiple types of raid on the same machine

Quote from: coffeebeankat on February 12, 2012, 20:33:19 PM

Quote from: XEntity on February 12, 2012, 18:39:46 PM

Section 2.1 of this guide covers the firmware, and should be the first thing you install..

For RAID 5 you need to have 3 matched drives? so you need to have 3 1.5TB drives..

And what I meant for the OS is to have a RAID 1 pair for the OS, which you can setup in the on board raid and a RAID 5 triple for the data, which you need to setup in the OS, but each of the RAID arrays need to use matched drives... I'm not sure what you mean about the 500 and 250 for this OS though

Ok thanks , found the firmware details. Maybe it might be cheaper option for me to get another 1.5tb drive until prices become more sensible again as i already have two. So  it is possible to set up 2 RAID options on one device? would the RAID 1 just mirror the os , the the RAID 5 on other 3 drives keeps it secure from the os should it go pear shaped. does the RAID 1 need to used matched drive?

Regarding the 500gb and 250gb i was presuming i could use these in the unit but now that you point out the drives must be matched i can see that wont be possible.

If in the future i wish to upgrade the drives am i right to belive they must all be replaced to keep in-line with the matching pairs?

Just to clarify, ideally you match the drive model itself, but it's not essential, but you must match the size of the drive otherwise you basically lose out on usable space, so no you don't have to replace all if one dies.

And yes you can run multiple types of raid on the same machine

I have secured a 3rd 1,5tb drive now at resonable cost , and will follow you advice about setting up a RAID1 for the OS to do this i have one internal 250gb drive currently but no matched drive (internal) i do have an external 250gb drive (2.5") would this be usable for the RAID 1 if plugged into one of the usb connections? or does it have to be fitted inside on one of the bays?

Looking forward to getting this up and running soon.

Sounds good, yes the drive will need to be in your computer, if the external one uses a SATA drive, why nt remove it from the external caddy?

I have finally managed to secure all the upgrades and drives needed, had some issues with a drive from robert dyas which was faulty  I have so far managed to fit the ram, the graphics card and the drive to the 5.25 bay. so will my first job once powering on be to update the firmware so the top hard drive function better? followed by the whs install? how do i set up the two different RAID options?

Yes upgrade the BIOS first, then you can raid the boot drive using the raid option on boot before you install WHS, it should prompt you to press F8 or similar, if not you might have to enable raid in the BIOS.

The RAID 5 you then need to setup in WHS

Thanks, wish me luck, will be first time i have attempted this.

You'll be fine, you wont break anything trying to set it up, just don't put anything important on there until you've done it

Let us know how you get on!

Quick question, i wanted to run xbmc on the hp but can i also use it as a server to backup my files ect at the same time,would it involved partitioning my drive in some way ? sorry if thats a daft question.