Media-Tomb wrote:
I'm a little late to the party.
These little servers have been rock solid for me over the last 10 years, save for the PSU in my first 47x. But I guess PSU failure isn't unique to just the MSS... So better late to the party than never.
I'm answering with somewhat of a guess as I use that lower USB port for another purpose.
Other users have successfully setup to boot with a thumb drive using the Synology OS DSM with the help of the Xpenology USB bootloader. Meaning, you should be good to go.
I just checked BIOS and on a ex49x, the boot order will default to the USB port having primary boot priority if BIOS senses you have a thumb drive plugged into the port. When nothing is there, selecting to boot from USB isn't even shown as an option in BIOS Device Priority.
Interestingly enough, the same behavior happens in BIOS when a thumb drive is plugged into the center rear USB slot. So there's no telling if you could actually boot from that center port as well...
Myself, I'm running WHS v1 on a ex49x and I've been keeping that lower USB clear in order to use it to bypass the "updated" ex49x PXE boot and paperclip dance required by HP to get into reset mode.