Sorry for the length, but I want to make sure I get my haves and needs clearly defined. I’ve decided that I really need to migrate myself over a server and would love some advice.

We have 4 computing devices in our house now:
1. An office PC (e8500 CPU, 4GB RAM, ATI 5750, 500GB system drive). It has a Seagate 1.5TB 7200.11 drive. A while back, we used this system a lot. Now, not as much. It’s become mostly a file server. We use it for computing when sitting at a desk with a mouse/keyboard makes sense. The 1.5TB is our primary storage for music, documents, photos, books, etc.
2. A Sony laptop. This is the computer we use the most, generally in the living room. We store nothing on the laptop. We access files on the office PC.
3. An HTPC in the living room. I built it to be a front end and media storage in one. It has 9.5TB of storage in 6 Seagate LP drives for DVD/BD rips (1 x 2TB, 5 x 1.5TB). It is also an e8500, 4GB RAM, ATI 5750 system with an OCZ Vertex SSD.
4. An iPad used for media/data consumption, accessing content from the office PC.

A few other points:
1. I no longer PC game. My wife and I played WoW for a long time. We quit at the beginning of this year. I have no intention to return to PC gaming. I game in my living room on consoles.
2. Power consumption is big. Our electric bills are usually $150+. I want reduce that. The office PC runs almost constantly and all it does most of that time is serve files from the one drive.
3. I’d like more robust file access inside and outside the house with more streaming, automatic downloading, and other nice access/process features.
4. All our computers are running Win7 x64 Professional.

I recently bought a Mac Mini for iDevice development in my spare time. I used boot camp and installed Win7 x64 Pro on the Mac Mini so it dual boots Mac OS or Win7. I plan to make the Mac Mini our replacement office computer. It will run Win7 default and Mac OS only when I want to code. I like the small footprint, low noise, low heat, and low power of the Mac Mini, although it sucks that it’s not as powerful as the e8500/4GB office machine. My longer term plan, after I generate revenue in the app store, is to swap the Mac Mini for a 2010 iMac. The iMac would dual boot Win7 and be used the same way as the Mini.

Lastly, I have 2 years left of unlimited Carbonite backup service. I run this on the to-be retired office PC. I also replicate important files from the office PC onto the HTPC, just to have another local copy. I do a lot of this syncing manually with All-Way Sync which kind of sucks. The drives in the HTPC present as 6 drive letters and I’m often balancing what’s on what drive.

I realize I made a mistake with the HTPC by putting data and the system in one. I needed a huge case requiring fans. Although it is pretty quiet now, I’m afraid it’ll get louder with the summer heat. When the new Ceton cablecard tuner releases, I intend to sell off my TiVo Series 3 and make the HTPC our primary living room interface for DVR, movies, etc. That means it’ll be running much more each day. Heat, noise, and power consumption will become a major factor.

My plan for the HTPC is to rebuild it as a Core i3 Clarkdale, ITX setup with the SSD and 1 local media drive for DVR storage. I’m targeting a new case from HD-Plex. No fans, smaller form factor. I won’t be able to get that case until August at the earliest though.

So that brings me to the server. I want a capable system with a small footprint, low power, room to grow, and room to start with the 6 Seagate LPs or more. I want redundancy, but I’m not sure I need it on everything. I think I can forgo it on the ripped DVD/BDs. If I lose those rips, I can recreate them. It will just take time.

I’m considering:

1. Build a WHS v1 box. Either a Lian Li Q08 or Fractal Design Array case with ITX, Core i3 Clarkdale, and a Seagate Momentus XT system drive. I can get WHS on TechNet so no extra cost for that.
2. Build the same machine, but run Vail now.
3. Buy an off the shelf big NAS, like the Thecus 7700, Qnap, etc.

I’m scared to use Vail now. This would be my one system I trust all my important files to. It’s probably not smart to put that trust into beta software.

If I go the WHS v1 route, I’d want to upgrade to Vail when it comes out. All the rumoring suggests no same system reinstall from v1 to Vail with data retention. I may be able to stop redundancy and gather all my files to try and open up a drive or two. I could then pull those full drives, reinstall Vail from scratch to re-establish a new data pool, and hook up the full drives on another PC. As I copy each drive’s contents to the new server install, I’d wipe it and add it to the new growing pool. Is this how people would migrate data? Is it as easy as I’m thinking in WHS v1 to control what goes on what drive and pack the data up to make empty drives?

I’d rather have the flexibility of WHS vs something like the Thecus I think. I’m also kind of scared of RAID 5/6 vs the data pool with redundancy of WHS. RAID 1+0 on the Thecus would cut my storage size down too much. The WHS gives me flexibility to get redundancy on the folders I choose. RAID on the Thecus wouldn’t allow that. Plus the Thecus would end up costing more than the WHS box would cost me to build. I’m just not sure I see the value.

There are two other options I’m considering:

1. Buy a DLink DNS-321 now and set it up for mirroring with 2 drives. Store everything I have except my DVD/BD rips, which would stay resident in the HTPC for now. When I get the HD-Plex in the fall, then I would re-evaluate the situation. Maybe Vail RC/RTM will be out and be solid enough to trust as a primary install. If not, I’ll decide from the same choices I’m facing now.
2. Change my current e8500 system into a WHS v1 server. Build the new ITX i3 system when Vail is stable. That would give me easier migration. The problem is it means that same PC keeps running in our office sucking more power, making more noise, and heating up our upstairs during the summer.

Part of my issue too is that some components I’d look for in the new server (such as the Lian or Fractal case, the new Gigabtye H55 ITX mobo, etc) are also not readily available right now. I’m kind of tired of waiting. I want that office PC shut down ASAP.

So, given all this, the current state of the market, and available software/devices, what would you do?

I can provide some helpful suggests, but I need more information. Because I don't want to make assumptions.

1. How many SATA ports are the HTPC motherboard?
2. What system is the Blu-Ray burner installed on?
3. How much free disk space is available on the HTPC?

Essentially, you want two new systems (HTPC and Media/NAS server), which requires planning to migrate the data from the old systems to the new systems.