I have a new EX487, and am filling it up fast as I do a lot of video recording in HD.

I know it is pretty easy to replace/add drives to bays 2,3,4.

But want if I want to replace bay 1 (which has system files)? Do you have to restore the WHS operating system?

Thanks in advance....

Greg

I would also like to know about this. Im new here and im getting my order next week

any help would be great!

Yes, you can and yes you have to restore the WHS OS.
This step is rather painless with the MSS. Just insert the server restore disk. It takes about 30 minutes and you are good to go. However, you will also have to recreate all your customized settings and install any add-ins that you had installed before.
Cheers,
Lars

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HP Microserver, 8GB, 2x1.5TB, WHS2011
HP G42, Core i3, 4GB, Win7 64bit
13" MacBook Pro, 8GB, OSX 10.6.7
Apple Network infrastructure & 2 Apple TVs

For a new box, or one with no data on it, just swap the disk and do a Factory Reset.

I do recommend running any new unit in the condition it is shipped in for at least 24 hours to assure you have a working unit. Then make changes/additions one at a time so, if there is a problem, you will have an easy time of tracing the problem.

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

thanks for all the advise!! cheers

If you were going to replace the 750 gig for something larger...what would you specify?
1 or 1.5? And which WD models for this hard drive?

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MSS 485 w 2.5 Terabytes, iMac I7, and Macbook Pro 2.4 Mhz.

Can the OS be placed on a USB drive? I've been researching NAS, and one of the features on some that seems really handy is the ability to have the OS on a USB drive (or CF etc) so that if the primary HD fails it doesn't take the OS with it.

It sounds like you've been putting stuff on your MSS for a little and you say it's filling up fast. Be sure to make sure you migrate any data on Drive 0 (system drive) off of that drive to your other drives before replacing it and doing a restore. Otherwise, that data might be gone forever.

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HP MSS EX490 with Intel E6300
4 GB RAM
7 TB Drive Storage

MediaSmartServer.net Wiki, it's loaded with helpful information about WHS and the HP MediaSmart Server.

I put a 1.5TB as my system drive on my EX485, and repurposed the stock 750GB in Bay2...

I am fine with this storage for now... I'll start populating Bay3 with a 2TB once the prices come down (and I know my storage needs will allow me to wait for the prices to come down)...

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HP EX485 - In Production Since March 27, 2009
- Bay1 - Seagate 1.5TB HDD (Replaced in 2011)
- Bay2 - Empty
- Bay3 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD
- Bay4 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD

History
- 10/24/2011 - HP EX485 Server Failure (System Drive Failed)

is it not possible to just mirror the OS section of drive 0 onto another drive .. pretty much like what happenes to all the data when you select duplicate ?

Unfortunately no, and WHS doesn't do volume mirrors, instead the Drive Extender feature will make sure that any shared folders with duplication enabled will have all files copied onto more than one physical disk.

_________________
Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
Have you tried our Add-Ins?

I'm planning to do the same thing. Replace the system drive with a 1.5 TB drive then use the original 750gb system disk as the 2nd drive. Do I need to do anything to the 750gb drive before inserted it into slot 2? I didn't know if the system gets "confused" if the drives in slot 1 and 2 both have drives with the OS on it.

Thanks in advance.

Yes you need to delete the partitions on the old system drive prior to adding them to the WHS storage pool. Details of why you need to do this are documented here.

_________________
Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
Have you tried our Add-Ins?

Whats the benefit of doing this? I should be receiving mine (EX485) tomorrow. also ordered a 1.5 with it. I just figured i will leave the 750 as stock

CAMS: Welcome to the World of MSS/WHS! Good to have you aboard!

What is the advantage? In the opinion of many of us, nothing! The "ideal" configuration for a WHS system is a three-drive (or more) configuration. In this configuration all the backups, shares and duplicates will be stored on the non-system drives first and the system drive will only be used for the 20GB system partition until one of the others fills up. This is actually particularly nice as with no data on it, the system drive can be easily replaced if it should begin to fail. (It can be replaced even with data on it but the process is more involved.) When the other drives start getting to 80%+ utilization you should look at adding a drive. Getting to four is simple. Going beyond that which is better, adding an external enclosure or using the system drive? Many of us believe that even at that point adding a multi-bay external enclosure is the right answer as you have the space to expand even further.

And then there is the cost factor! You can get a multi-bay expansion unit for a very reasonable price! Why not spend the $$ there instead of on a drive that may never really be used?

I do not recommend swapping out the System Drive unless you are taking building a 4 x 2TB MSS right from the start. And even then if you expect to use all that space save the $$ on the system drive and get an expansion unit instead!

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch