Hello everybody, I am just secured my WHS 2011 ISO and Key and would be very interested in upgrading my ex490 but I do have a few questions.

I currently have the factory 1tb drive and one 2tb drive installed. I am eventually planning on having two 2tb drives as I want the OS drive to match the 2nd drive in size/speed.
Right now, I have duplication turned on for my ex490 and I believe that everything on drive 1 is on drive 2, would that be correct? or would it only duplicate the shared folders?

Also, I am really confused with the loss of drive extender. Does that mean if you add four 2tb drives to the server, it will read only 2tb rather then a total 8tb?
All I know is I'd like to have my data replicated, what is on drive 1 I want on drive 2, incase any failure that can happen I want to be prepared for it.

Thank you

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EX 490 with 4GB of memory, E8400 and 8TB of drives.

I have to ask. If you are asking why to upgrade the OS then why would you do so
WHS V1 does work for what you specified you desire.
So is there a reason to change os systems other than just because?

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If you go with WHS 2011 you'll need to use Stablebit DrivePool or DriveBender to get the functionality of DE.

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HP MSS EX490, Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300, 1TB System drive, 6TB Storage pool managed by StableBit DrivePool

Thanks for the posts!

I am wanting change, I work in a server 2003 enviroment and cannot stand being outdated. Production wise I understand but at home I am wanting to upgrade software a bit. This is the reason I am not running windows 98 on my desktop

Actually, WHS2011 looks fun and I may put it on my VM and play with it before I consider installing it onto the server.

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EX 490 with 4GB of memory, E8400 and 8TB of drives.

Thats a good idea to try it out to see if its of interest to you. You might want to pickup another drive and install WHS2011 in yoru EX490 to test it out to give you a better feel for how it will work in the EX490.

I would also reveiw what others have posted about running WHS2011 in a MediaSmart Server to better understand any issues you may encounter.

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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

I'd second the suggestion for installing on a new/different hard drive. Indeed - just do it in your desktop computer - that way you don't have to mess with answer files and all that other fun stuff. I temporarily unplugged my hard drives, plugged in the server destined hard drive and installed WHS 2011 on it in my desktop. Just decline to do updates and also defer registering/activating. Once it reboots to the login screen, login, shutdown and then put the hard drive in your server - it should boot up just fine. You can then remote in and continue testing things out. Obviously I would run Windows update how many times it takes to get all the updates installed first thing

Did you get WHS2011 to work on your EX490?

No, I didn't do anything to it as I've been contemplating selling it.

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EX 490 with 4GB of memory, E8400 and 8TB of drives.

If you do decide to sell your EX490 and go with another server, I would put the new server online first. I would then copy the data to the new server and leave the data on both servers until you gain confidence in the new server. I chose to keep my old servers running primarily because they contain Client Backups of offsite computers so my situation is different then yours.

When I first built Highlander I was reluctant to rely on it for Client backups and then when I proved the client restore function worked I gained even more confidence in WHS2011. I am running the released version of Stablebit Drive Pool not the beta versions and very much enjoy its flexibility over DE in WHS v1. I had my data on both WHSv1 and WHS2011 servers until I gained full confidence in Stablebit Drive Pool then I began the process of moving my old storage pool drives to Highlander which is now fully populated with 22 Drives.

So I would recommend you establish confidence in your new server just like you have confidence in your current server which will allow you to keep your data safe. When your confident your server solution is viable then sell your EX490 to offset the cost of your build or to fund your server expansion.

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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

Comp1962 makes a very good point here. This is exactly the same approach I have taken. I started the process of decommissioning my EX490 yesterday.

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HP MSS EX490, Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300, 1TB System drive, 6TB Storage pool managed by StableBit DrivePool