I know that you can add an external USB drives as well as eSata but does anyone make a multi drive bay solution that will work with WHS and the EX487? Something that would hold 4+ additional drives.

Errrrr.... just read the EX487 doesn't support eSata port multiplying. How frustrating. So the only option is to use single USB drives??? Do they have a firmware that updates the EX487 to support port multiplying?

Unfortunately no, it's a hardware limitation. If you require more storage you may want to consider an upgrade to an EX49x or Data Vault. Depending on your needs the new X310 can be quite affordable though it lacks the media focused features of the EX models.

_________________
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?

This still remains an interesting question, I have the ex 495 which is now fully populated and I suppose that in the not too distant future I will want to add additional hard drives. So the question remains what would be the best solution for adding say four additional drives to my server.

A multi-drive eSATA enclosure is the most reliable and highest performance way to expand the storage of your EX49x which does support port multipliers. You can add up to 5 drives via eSATA. I have reviews of several different models in the Reviews section of this site.

_________________
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?

Am I limited to five bays with the EX 495? The EnhanceBOX E10 PM looks sweet, but if I'm limited to five bays what would be your recommendation? Preferably the least expensive solution.

A single eSATA port can support a max of 5 drives, so you are limited to a 5 drive enclosure. Sans Digital makes a nice inexpensive one, as does Rosewill and Icy Dock, though 5 drive units are less common than 4-drive.

Sans Digital 5 drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6816111057
http://www.amazon.com/Sans-Digital-Towe ... 001LF40N6/

Rosewill 4-drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6816132029

Icy Dock 4-drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817198044
http://www.amazon.com/Bay-3-5-Sata-Esat ... B003CNQPGU

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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?

Just felt the need to chim in here regarding expanding the EX48x. While the eSATA is limited to only one drive there are multibay USB Enclosures that support upto 8 drives on one USB Connection. While the USB connections are not as fast as the eSATA it does offer a means to expand your EX48x Server without having to upgrade.

Here is a link to the Sans Digital TR8U 8 bay USB enclosures http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... &x=14&y=35

If you search the forums you will find some posts about how these units work with the HP MediaSmart Servers. The offer an option for expanding your existing server storage capacity. Should you chose to upgrade your server later one these enclosures are still usable. The one thing I should point out is that I believe you will not be able to access the Smart Data on the drives for those who area currently using the Home Server Smart or Disk Management Add-ins.

There are also smaller USB Enclosures available as well for those who want to add capacity but may not be able to afford the $299 price tag on the 8 Bay Enclosure.

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Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8