Hi JohnBick,
Yes, both the 4-bay and the 8-bay models are compatible. Thanks.

_________________
http://www.sansdigital.com
Sans Digital Official Post: http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2389

Hot-dang! From 4 to 12 disk drives in a single step!

I Guess the eSATA connection is a bit faster, but other than that is there any reason I would want to go with eSATA 4-bay (TR4U-B) over the USB 8-bay (TR8U-B) model? What are the realistic speeds for these alternatives?

Speaking of eSATA bays... Is there any update on the inability of the HP MSS to address the fifth bay in a 5-bay (TR5M1) unit?

_________________
....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

I have a couple drives in ThermalTake muse enclosure hooked up via USB. It's horribly slow.

I vote go with the eSata enclosure fill it up and then slowly start upgrading your smaller drives. Or add a small 2 drive usb enclosure until bigger cost effective drives come out. I'd hate for you to be stuck with an 8 drive USB enclosure and hate the speed you get.

I have a HP MSS 475 with 2x 500GB drives - to which I added two 1.0 TB eSATA drives.

I am interested in buying a TowerRAID TR4M unit - but the specs on the web site say that it only accepts 1.0 TB hard drives - and I wanted to put the new Seagate Baracuda 1.5TB drives into it.

Does anyone know if the TR4M unit will take the Seagate 1.5TB drives? At 4x500GB difference - for only $240 more - I can add 6GB to my MSS.

Thanks.

Lou

It will be fine with 1.5TB drives. If mine ever gets here to Canada, that's the first thing I'll be putting in it.

It has been confirmed that the TowerRAID series does support 1.5TB hard drives.

_________________
http://www.sansdigital.com
Sans Digital Official Post: http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2389

I just hooked up a TR4M yesterday and installed one 1.5 tb drive and one 1 tb drive. Both drives formatted and added to the storage pool without any problems.

Hi JohnBick,
The realistic speed for USB is about 20MB/s, where as the eSATA performs at 70MB/s. So yes, there is quite a bit of difference. If capacity is you priority, the TR8U-B might be more suitable. But if performance is also an important factor, then the TR4M-B might be more suitable.

We still have not hear from HP regarding the 5-bay issue. We are still working on that.

_________________
http://www.sansdigital.com
Sans Digital Official Post: http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2389

IS there a place to get step by step instructions to set up the TR4M with an MSS EX475? Specifically - what to do in what order and what lights you expect to see in what order.

I got mine today - installed two Seagate 1.5TB drives into the TR4M. Plugged in the eSATA cable to both the MSS and the TR4M and turned the TR4M on - all I get is the one amber light in the front lit. Left it for a while - does not seem to be polling the drives.

Have no clue what to do next - any help would be appreciated.

Lou

Install the drives in the TR4M, plug the esata cable into the MSS and the TR4M, plug the TR4M into the wall socket, turn the TR4M on, reboot the MSS and the MSS should see the TR4M's drives, add the drives to the storage pool (if that's what you want to do with them).

OK - did that - left it for about 15 min - WHS Console is on - drives are nowhere to be seen - Lights on front NOT lighting up except power light - host light not lit either. Took out and reseated both eSATA cables - no change in Host light.

Next step?

Thanks for helping - I really appreciate it (and that is NOT meant to be sarcastic - I am so excited to be adding these drives to the pool!!).

Lou

Try same with a different eSATA cable. Turns out some of those things don't work so well.

You could also try shutting both units off, checking the connection, turning on the TR4M and then turning on the MSS. I saw at least one post where the user needed to have BOTH units turned off to get the TR4M recognized the first time. (I do not yet have one so cannot speak from personal experience. But I am jealous!)

_________________
....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

Different cable helped - I had bought one from NewEgg - it does not seem to be any good - I hooked up the one that with the TR4M - and now all the proper lights on the front of the unit are lit.

Hard drives now show up in the Server Storage tab - adding them now.

Thanks so much for the help!!

Lou

Just got my TRM4-B, installed a 1.5TB and now I'm removing one of my 1TB USB drives. Can't wait to retire all the USB drives.

I wish HP would sell the EX475 with a single large drive installed and let users populate it as needed - I am stuck with my two original 500GB drives in my EX475 - I now have 5.5 TB total storage on my server, and It will be a while before I need more - plus I have two more slots in my TR4M so by the time the 2 TB drives start coming out I can put them in there!!

With the exception of the bad eSATA cable - the installation of the TR4M was easy - but it would be helpful if the manual (a) said something about the lights and what they mean (2) said something about the drives NOT being polled or lighting up the front until the eSATA cable is plugged in.

The manual is very software heavy in orientation - need some hardware troubleshooting built in.

Called SansDigital Tech Support and they did NOT suggest putting a new cable - took my number and said they would call me back.

Great product so far, though!!

Lou