Hi Everyone, I've had my MSS for a while now but only recently got into media streaming with MediaBrowser for W7MC. I've been ripping my DVDs and BDs to the MSS and have run out of room, so here are my questions:

1. How can I tell if a hard drive will be compatible with my server?
(I want a drive that doesent require any additional configuration other that the standard MSS "add a drive" procedures)

2. Whats the largest drive I can get?

3. Are there any specs I should look for that will offer better HD streaming performance?

4. I noticed that BestBuy has 2 differnt versions of WD 2 TB drives; one is a "Black" model (WD20000LSRT), and the other is a "Green" model (WDBAAY0020HNC-NRSN), the "Black" model is about $50 more than the "Green".
Do either of these fit my needs, and is there any advantage in terms of media streaming that I'll receive if I go with the "Black? model?

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys may have for me.

Well, I'll jump in on this one. You could do a search on the posts (harddrive) and most likely see alot. Any 3.5 sata drive will work in the server, 2TB is as big as you can go. Everybody has their own preferances, but, These would be mine and what I use. ( any drive is going to fail, sooner or later ). I will always have at least 1 drive non-pooled to keep backups of the folders.

1) Hitachi Deskstar 2TB Serial ATA / SATA II 3.0Gbps 3.5 Hard Drive, 7200RPM, 32MB, HDS722020ALA330 , 0F10311 I have 6 of these and will be buying more.
2) Western Digital Black or Blue
3) If I had no choice I would get the Western Digital Green.
With the green you get savings on power and a little less heat, although I have 4 Hitachi drives in and do not have a heat problem. I have seen alot of posts about the Green Drives failing (check NewEgg.com)
4) Seagate drives, I would not buy a seagate, I think there is a reason why they are cheap. Your system drive is most likely a seagate now. You could get a better drive for the system and use seagate's for the rest (Pooled) because when they die and they will sooner then others, you would still be ok.
I have used refurb drives in a raid setups to save money because if one fails your still ok. But for a single system drive I would want the best. As I said, any drive can fail at any time no matter which one you get.

Streaming, I don't believe any drive would stream any better then any other (not enough to worry about) your network connection would be the limitimg part of the setup. Are you on a Giga network?
I have switched out my system drive for a 2TB, but the server won't really use it under normal running, I did it so I would have extra room to pull drives if needed.

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[X510 CPU/RAM/All 2 TB Red's] [X510 CPU/Sync'ed Backup/All 2 TB Hitachi's]
[X510 /2 in box]
[X710 LIAN LI DIY W2016E] Stablebit Drivepool [EX-503 LIAN LI 5-bay USB3 External]
Fear the Cloud

I agree mostly with gardian but the seagate 7200.12 series drives have been much better, and seagates XT drives are really nice. otherwise. I like both the WD , Hitachi ,and Samsung drives so far...

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EX490 3.0Ghz E6600 3X WD20EARS 1T ST7200.11 ----Esata attached TR5M 2X 2T Samsung F4 2X 2T Baracuda LP 1X 2T WD20EARS
DIY build HAF 912 case Asus M4A88-TD EVO MB 4 gig Ram Phenom II X4 3.2Ghz B55 VelociRaptor 600 3X WD20EARS