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PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:04 pm 
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I have a ex490 with all drive trays full.
I am considering buying a vga debug board to access the bios as well as I need to expand the storage space.
So my question is:
If I buy a port multiplier like the esata sans digital trm5.
Can I just plug and play a pool drive from the ex490 to the expansion tray in the sans digital?
Then I have a open tray in the ex490 for the vga card.

Or do I need to go through the software remove drive/add drive process.

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PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 4:32 pm 
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You can place your storage pool drives anywhere you like. WHS will not care if your current drives are in the PortMultiplier or in the server itself all it requires is to be able to see and access the drives. If you want to move the drives then you should shut the server down and with the power off on the PortMultiplier simply move the drives. Turn the PortMultiplier on then turn the server on and WHS will find the drives.

Personally I would just leave the existing drives in the server and add new drives in the PortMultiplier. To better help you identify the drives in your server and PortMultiplier I would recommend you install the ADD-IN Disk Management. One thing I would not do is install or remove the drives when the PortMultiplier is on as it may lockup your server. I own 7 PortMultipliers of which I built 2 by modifying EX470 Enclosures. One of which I have connected to my WHS2011 Server I fondly call Highlander and the other I have connected to a client which I use as a docking station to work on drives.

While having a Debug Cable attached to your EX490 will open up a new world of possiblities which will make troubleshooting your server easier it is not necessary for using a PortMultiplier be it connected USB which can accomodate upto 8 drives or eSATA which can support upto 5 drives per port.

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PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:32 am 
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Thanks for the info. And Tips
That will save some headache .
I want to install the debug card for bios access and the most simple would be to stick it in a drive tray.
But currently all trays are populated with 2tb drives.
Since I need to expand my storage anyway. I was contemplating a port multiplier. Either a estata 5 slot or a usb 8 slot.
I was worried that I may have issues with using the console to remove a pool drive that I may run out of space.

Last time I replaced a defective hard drive. I had to turn off duplication to make room for the loss of storage. Then another drive died in the process. Actually my system drive.
So needless to say it took quite a while to get back to where I was. Since the system drive ended up with data on it that I lost.

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PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 2:38 pm 
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You know you do not have to install your debug cable in an actual drive tray. There are many ways people install them and some place them below the top cover on top of the actual drive cage. For me I chose to mount mine on the side of my EX470's so that I could easily service the unit when necessary and still have easy access to the debug board.

Check out my installation: viewtopic.php?p=70165#p70165

Since my EX470's share space with my other servers I use a 4 port KVM Switch so that I can share a single Monitor, Mouse and Keyboard between all the connected units. If your server is located near a client then having a KVM switch 2 ports or more can come in handy allowing you direct access to your server on the fly.

Hope this helps.

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PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 12:48 pm 
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Thank you. But I was looking for the least labor intensive way to install it and the drive tray option seems to fit , at least for now.
Once I get one I may tend to go that route since I would give up a drive slot.
Once I get my port multiplier(can't decide on usb or esata) I probably will go with the drive tray installation till I fill it up.

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Popcorn C-200
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Amazon FireStick
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