Project Scope: I wanted to try a real low power server using the new Atom D510 and retire the old Dell Dimension "backup" server. To complicate things, I wanted to use a 30GB OCZ Vertex for the system drive.... and I wanted the OS partition to be aligned.

Project Results: Fantastic! Boots to WHS desktop (including login) in around 20 seconds. Transfers with my EX495 as high as 90 MB/s..... all at 33 watts idling the Vertex plus a Seagate 7200.12 4-platter HDD. My Dell ran at 130-150 watts.

Project Details: Apex case $30 delivered. Intel D510 board $80 delivered. 2GB 800MHz RAM lying around. 30GB Vertex under $100. Mostly Newegg "deals."

Tricky parts: Installing WHS to less than 70GB HDD and having the OS partition aligned. I did this by installing to a spare 320GB HDD and used Partition Wizard to copy the 20GB OS partition to the Vertez before Storage Management (and the D:\Data partition) is installed (anytime before about the 4th reboot). Couldn't simply clone the OS partition because there is no cloning software that I am aware of that has enough granularity to ensure the cloned partition is aligned on the SSD, particularly since WHS installs the OS partition non-aligned to begin with.
My home-brew technique is to create a small partition on the SSD using Windows 7 (the smallest allowable is 8MB). That partition will be aligned properly by Windows 7 and the starting boundary of unallocated space will be aligned. Then copy (Partition Wizard or Acronis) the WHS OS partition to the unallocated space on the SSD and voila, it is aligned. Go back and delete the 8MB partition, set the copied partition active and now the first partition seen by Windows is the aligned C:\SYS partition. Throw it back in the case and resume WHS installation. 84 MS updates later including PP3 and I was ready to add to the storage pool.

I've read of issues installing WHS to the Pine Trail platform but I had no problems at all. Windows XP drivers for the Intel Chipset & Video went without a hitch as well as for the Realtek Audio and Gigabit LAN.

A great little low power server that will also support Vail when that's released.