First time posting here, but then again I never had this type of issue.
You may want to grab a coffee or favorite drink while you read this story.

Background story: I added 2 WD HDD, 1x1TB and 1x 2TB drive. Both NTFS for Movies and Music sharing. I use TWONKY server software for the shares. This allows me to pull the drives whenever I want to move to another system if needed. This avoids having to manually transfer all files to another drive before safely removing the hard drives. Unfortunatly my 2TB HDD is 95% full. Time to upgrade. But wait, I noticed that I am not using the full capacity of the original 2x 500GB drives. In fact the OS is only using 20GB to run.

Change out Main HDD's option to a smaller Primary drive (C:):
So I figured if I put in a blank HDD is slot 1 (bottom slot) then I should be able to scrub the system and reinstall onto a blank drive. No problem right? Then I can put TB HDD's in plus reformat the one 500GB HDD and now I have more space.

The Problems:
I didn't realize it was ok to put in a blank primary drive, and rest to factory setup via pushing the little button in, plus launching the recovery software on my main system and connect via network. What I figured was this was no diff than a regular system. I guess not.

My scrub setup steps:
1) Remove all drives
2) Open MSS and connect my KVM cable (connecting my Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse)
3) Connect my USB-CDROM and insert the Official HP PC Restore Disc v1.0 (Solid Green CD)
4) Boot to CD and reinstall OS to blank HDD

But that did not happen. So I figured that I needed to get into BIOS setup and tell the boot order that the USB-CDROM was first on the list.
But that did not happen. It booted to the SMI setup and some strange Windows boot up started and then BSOD.
This happened 3 times. Finally the SMI fully booted and it showed the CD Recovery window... (a small window with a checklist of things to setup), then a DOS screen (windowed) popped up and showed that all drives (C-E) were not found, but it showed that my HDD device and that it was compatable and ok to install. Then it sat there doing nothing. I closed the DOS window, and the system shutdown and rebooted. I let this happen 5 times.
I realized that this wasn't right and I thought it was not booting properly. I then went back to the BIOS and selected the Optimized Defaults BIOS. When I selected this, the SMI USB-Disk disappeared from the Boot order. Then nothing was booting, it just sat there.

I got online, and came here to search for options. and after reading alot I realized I should just select the proper recovery option. I'm running Win7 64Bit. The HP software didn't like my OS, I grabbed the official MS connector software for 64Bit, but after installing the connector software it tried to connect to the server to download the rest of the software. (how stupid is that, in the name of all things holy, who decided that I can not download the software without the server?) So I put the original Boot HDD's back into the MSS so my system can connect to downlaod and install the 64bit Connect software. But it could not find the server. I can ping the server, and can view the shared drive, I can even RDP into it. But that software still can not see it. Now I have to manually move the setup files to my Win7 desktop then install. The connector software is now installed and I can see the server. all is well.

But wait, I still did not scrub my new HDD. I take the Original HDD's out and put the new HDD back in. And it will not boot. So now I start the system, wait for the lights to blink Blue/Red and I use a paperclip and hold the restore button until it starts to blink blue. Remember I am still able to watch everything via KVM. I see the "SiS191 PXE BootROM v0.7 USE BEV/BBS" setup and it starts looking for DHCP. Is dispalys the MAC address and the GUID. So now I start the recovery software to connect to the server. Nothing happens. and the PXE BootROM stops stating... "PXE-E53: No boot filename recieved" "PXE-M0F: Exiting SiS191 PXE BootROM." And my restore software says it can not find the server.

I read troubleshooting for this. I made sure Firewalls were shut down, Port addressing was open for the software, I even connected the MSS directly to the Win7 system. Nothing. So I went to the wife's Vista 32Bit laptop and tried. still nothing. I continue to get the same results over and over.

I thought I'll try the SMI option and allow it to boot back into that. But now it's not in the BIOS. I now go back into the server BIOS and Load the Fail-Safe Defaults. Sure enough the SMI USB-Disk Boot option has returned. Alright now I'll boot into that, right? NOT... What happens next is the system boots and I see all the drive infor plus the IRQ info at the bottom of the screen the cursor is blinking onder the "Verifying DMI pool Data ............." (this is a normal boot) but it just sits there. I go back into the BIOS and make changes to the Fail-Safe Defaults... I enabled the selection for the USB 2.0 support (BIOS Menu options - Integrated Peripherals/SIS OnBoard PCI Device/USB 2.0 support) for good messure I also enabled USB Keyboard and Mouse support) Looking back now... If I make this selection the SMI USB Disk removes itself from the Boot order. So I can't have that happen, I need to make sure the SMI is still working. I power up the MSS and do nothing. I let the lights blink Red/Purple... this happens for a bit of time, then the light sits solid Red.

So I say the heck with this, I'll just put the original system HDD's back in. I do that and it boots up.
I notice that the second 500GB is not being used for anything No drive (E:) is even on it. so I tell the system (via connector software) to remove this HDD. All goes well and I remove it. I boot up the MSS and now it only has the one system HDD. Seems ok.
Not wanting to give on my blank HDD to be the smaller system drive, I read more on this forum and try a few different things. Changing the BIOS defualts a few times trying to boot from the USB-CDROM, or boot via network or boot Via SMI. Nothing.

New Problem:
I gave up and put the original HDD back in, and it tries to boot. It stops right at the beginning, big grey bar across the bottom. I realize through trial and error that it does not like to boot with anything plugged into the USB ports. I discovered this as I was logged into the MSS via KVM (not RDP) It seems if I plug in anything USB storage device the system freezes (crashes) . I tried the USB-CDROM, and other USB jump drives I have.

So now, in order to boot to the original system HDD I have to set the BIOS to Optimized Defaults so that the SMI is not in the boot up order. As I mentioned if the Original HDD boots up and it sees the SMI USB it stops before it even loads. This does not help that with the SMI Boot disk not loaded and that I can not view the SMI drive as it's not available. So I can not go into the SMI drive to save those files to a USB stick in order to boot from. The system will not boot if the SMI USB Disk is present in the BIOS.

I thought if I can get somebody on here to send me the SMI files and put it on a jump drive, I could force it to boot that way, but with all this USB boot stoppages happening, I have no idea if that will even work now.

It's worth a try. Anybody have the SMI files they can send me? Plus instuctions to make my USB Jump drive bootable with those files?

Now that you're up to speed on my situation.... Anybody want to help me out?
If I need to, I can put the original HDD in and have the system up and running again, but I know the moment I put any USB drive in, the MSS crashes.

It should not be like this and it just bugs me.

Thnx in advance

Update:

I did more reseach... I found a reply post that comp1962 put in second from the bottom of page 1.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7892

I followed his instructions based on the fact that I can boot my Original HDD.
An as I mentioned in my first post, playing around with the USB 2.0, if it's disabled the SMI Disk will show up.

But the moment I put a USB device in, the MSS crashes. So this time I RDP'd into the MSS and I got my SMI files.

Here is his instructions.

To unhide the SMI USB Hidden Partition you need to do the following:

(1) RDP to your server
(2) Enter the device manager & select System Devices
(3) Right Click on HP MediaSmart Server and select Disable
(4) Reboot the server
(5) RDP to your server again and enter My Computer and you will see an extra drive which is the area containing the SMI Files
(6) When your done enter the device manager again and select System Devices
(7) Right Click on HP MediaSmart Server and select Enable
(8) Reboot your server

I did this and now I have the files over to my bootable USB drive. I built up the Bootable USB disk based on this site....

http://connecteddigitalworld.com/2009/0 ... at-matter/

So now I have to figure out how to force the MSS to boot from the USB jump drive.

I have added a pix I took with my iPhone, it's the Screen shot of the boot screen. You can see the Jump Drive and the SMI USB Disk plus the blank HDD 160GB.

It just sits there and the status light was blinking Red/Purple and have a moment it turns solid red and stays like that.

So I rebooted, went into the BIOS and went to the Boot Priority selection. I've uploaded another pic. In it you can see the Jump Drive (SanDisk Cruzer), SMI USB Disk, HDD, Bootable Add-in Cards (No idea what that is for).

I'm still trying to find a BIOS configureation to boot to the USB or the SMI.

Will keep ya'll posted on how I do.

BTW I did attempt to boot my main Gaming rig (Disconnecting all drives) and boot to the Restore CDROM and the installation told me it can not install unless it's to a network server. it even tried to search for the MSS. That was no good. I did copy the Restore CDROM contents to the Bootable USB Jump drive and boot my Gaming rig. I got a BSOD. I read that it crashes based on no drivers for the SATA. But why did I it continue with the CDROM install and not the USB install? Strange.

So as I type this I also make changes on the MSS and reprt it now. Almost a play-by-play.

I decided to only Enable the USB 2.0 and strangley enough it now boots to the SMI. The small windows pop's up titled Initializing Restore CD... Then the a DOS windows popped up with info about Windows Firewall and IKE AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules.

Then another DOS window popped up stating that the Drive was good. and that the Listener Created. Now it just sits there. What is it created for? Is it waiting for something? (See Pic)

So I verified that I can boot to the USB-CDROM and the USB Jump Drive. Both had the MSS Restore files. And each time BSOD. Again I believe it is looking for SATA drivers. That are not there.

So unless somebody can point me in the right direction from where I am now. I have to try to read more and see if something sounds familiar to try.

Cheers Ya'll, eh?

Wow, I ah, wow, ah, I am almost speechless.
I see you hail from the northern land where the Holmes on Homes rules and I see you are with the forces, so I am going to be nice.
Scrub a drive, I don't know what that means, but it doesn't sound good.
The system drive (bottom bay) is partitioned into two drives, a small os/system drive and the rest (depending on the total size of the drive is part of the big pool for storage / shares. The system drive will try to keep the data on the other drives as much as possible. But this is all water under the bridge right now.
You need a couple of things right now:
1) I hope you have the data on that system backed up somewhere else.
2) Ya need to hope somebody that has the video setup can help you get the bios back where it needs to be.
3) Ya need to check all those drives to make sure they are all good. The Smart program is awesome for this.
P.S. I believe it makes a difference which usb port is used when booting. I believe it's the lower rear. They are not all the same.
I'm still unclear what you were going for, were you trying to increase the size of the system drive? Or decrease it.
I use a 2tb main system (bottom drive) so if I want to pull one of the other drives their will be plenty of room to move the data.
I don't have video so can't help their.
Good luck

_________________
[X510 CPU/RAM/All 2 TB Red's] [X510 CPU/Sync'ed Backup/All 2 TB Hitachi's]
[X510 /2 in box]
[X710 LIAN LI DIY W2016E] Stablebit Drivepool [EX-503 LIAN LI 5-bay USB3 External]
Fear the Cloud

Thnx Gardian for the reply... "Gardian??" Ultima series?

Yes, I'm Canadian, eh? And yes, Royal Canadian Air Force, I repare/fix Military aircraft. I miss working on the F-18's. I used to be IT Professional before I joined the Mil. (hardware side - system builds, Photocopier/printer repare. That sort of stuff) I still build computers and Networks and give advice to friends whenever they want to purchase IT gear. BTW I have moved to Mac side too. Still need to play with Linux and other OS's.

Scrub is a term that has been used to clean off a HDD, reformat or repartition down to a blank drive then do what you want.
In my case install WHS OS. Bring it back to a full basic working OS without any 3rd party software. For example I want to reinstall my Gaming rig back to a basic Win7 64-bit install, without all the games installed. I would "scrub" my system.
HP MSS has their basic WHS install with everything they want for you. Including 3rd party software. (McAfee and such). In the Military we call that an OS Image. All the systems are the same, and if a HDD gets messed up, they can slap in a fresh HDD and re-image it back to the basic setup.
In today's PC's (Dell, Acer, Toshiba, etc... they have there own recovery proccess. Usually hit [F10] on startup and follow along to restore the system to factor default. This is great, no need to "Scrub" a system the old way.

Keep in mind, I have the EX475, this is the 1TB purchase = 2x 500GB HDD's. I did not use this setup to it's full potential. The 2nd 500GB drive was never used. I put a 1TB HDD (Bay 3) for my Music and a 2TB HDD (Bay 4) for my Videos. When I started running out of room on my 2TB HDD I wanted to use the 2nd 500GB HDD for the over flow. I figured I'd say screw it and pull both 500GB drives and replace the system's 500GB HDD with the 160GB HDD. Make that one my system drive. This is where I started having issues.

Now to answer a few of your questions/comments.

The system drive (bottom bay) is partitioned into two drives, a small os/system drive and the rest (depending on the total size of the drive is part of the big pool for storage / shares.
Yes, I am familiar that this part. Just from reading on this forum I have figured out that I can boot from the lower USB port for my USB-CDROM and USB Jump drive, no worries there. As well the (bottom bay) I call it slot 1, is also called (Disk 0). This is where I put my blank HDD for the new WHS install.

1) I hope you have the data on that system backed up somewhere else.
As for backing up data I don't worry about that. it can all get lost forever and I'm fine with that.
I still have the original 500GB HDD that I use as a default and I don't plan on "scrubbing" that HDD at all, in the unlikely event that I can not install WHS on the new 160GB blank HDD, I can still put it back in and go from there. From time to time I put it back in and verify the MSS hardware is still functioning. At any given time I could put the original System HDD back, load up the TB HDD's and be on my merry way. But then I feel I'm giving into defeat by not accomplishing my task of having the 160GB HDD as my system drive.

2) Ya need to hope somebody that has the video setup can help you get the bios back where it needs to be.
I think I may have figured out the BIOS settings. I can now boot to whatever device I want. USB-CDROM or USB Jump Drive or SMI USB Disk or the Original HDD.

3) Ya need to check all those drives to make sure they are all good. The Smart program is awesome for this.
According to the picture "Listener Created" (I type-o'd the title when I uploaded) The drive *IS* good for install. Not sure I need the Smart program. But where would I find that?

I'm still unclear what you were going for, were you trying to increase the size of the system drive? Or decrease it.
I wanted to decrease the size of the system drive by using my spare 160GB HDD as I mentioned above.

Hope that helps clear up what the situation.

Again thnx for the reply

Cool, I think I see where you were going. Really, you can use a pc/server any way you want, you paid for it and it is your personal property, but the server was not really designed to be used the way you have used it (IMHO) and I believe that has made it harder on you right now (having to do something because of space) then it should be.
I'm going to run through how it was meant to be.The system is designed to be headless (no video) You have the 3 cd's that came with the system? The system is designed to take that bottom drive, make a small partition, lay down the system Image and use the rest for data (the start of the data pool). when you plug in another drive, it should be added to the pool, and the next drive should be added to the pool. As your data grows in the pool, you add drives to increase the size of the pool.
IE I have 4 500 gig drives and am running low on room. I (remove) in the os one of the drives from the pool, the system will move that data on the drive to the available space on all the other drives, then you can add a 1 or 2 tb drive in that spot, add it to the pool and the system will start moving data to it, then you can remove another 500 gig drive (using the os) and it will move data off that drive to the others, etc.etc. etc. At some point you have 4 2tb drives in the server, all in the pool (except the little os space) and then you add a drive via usb to the pool.
The drives should not be setup individually, they should be pooled and this is done using the connector/console, not by using the windows explore or disk management.

You don't have to do it this way, but it is easier to grow the system this way and it is the way it was designed. As far as a clean load from the image, just uninstall mcaffees and the other things you don't use, I did. I know it's not completely clean, it has all the drivers and it works.

I hope this helps.
What I would suggest for you (like you suggest for your people) I would suggest you buy 1 or 2 (1 or 2 tb drives). Plug one of those new drives into the bottom bay, connect a win7 32 bit or xp 32 bit pc via cat5, run the factory reset cd and then add the next 1 or 2 tb drive to the pool using to connector/console. I would not remote desktop or use the video unless you really have to. Then you can start growing your pool and maybe even turn on duplication. (data replicated on each drive so if one dies, it can be replaced and not lose your data.)

I guess that's all I can suggest, now if you really want to play, build a small DIY and get a copy of OEM WHS2011 and play with it. That is what I am doing, I am getting ready to load Win 2012 Server Essentials on my DIY X710.

All hail Holmes on Homes. I wish you good luck!

_________________
[X510 CPU/RAM/All 2 TB Red's] [X510 CPU/Sync'ed Backup/All 2 TB Hitachi's]
[X510 /2 in box]
[X710 LIAN LI DIY W2016E] Stablebit Drivepool [EX-503 LIAN LI 5-bay USB3 External]
Fear the Cloud

Hey SoryuDragon....I am amazed with your determination.

While you can add drives as non-store pool devices its actually simpler to use the storage pool feature of WHS. Imagine if you would a server with 20 or 30 hard drives and yes they do exist. If you tried to figure out what data goes were on which drives it would be a major PITA to keep track of. The storage pool just keeps thing simple and no real need to remember which drive your data is on just Folders and so forth. Best of all WHS spreads your data across all the drives in the storage pool so no real need to dedicate space for one set of files or another because the storage pool acts as one big drive using the combined capacities of all your drives.

Anyway Guardian has your back but keep us posted on your progress.

_________________
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

Gardian and Comp1962, thnx for the replies.

I have to say, I am familiar with how the WHS is supposed to work. When I bought my EX475, I used it for the way it was intended, I added a 500GB drive to make three drives. Then I added another 500GB drive. That brought the pool up to 2TB, but then the first additional drive started failing. Oh and they were almost all full. Lets just say the system was unable to rebuild the lost data. And I lost a lot of data. Not to mention it took a while to backup the remaining data onto other systems just so I can "safely" remove the dying HDD in order to RMA it. This is when I decided that I would run simple NTF drives seperate and point the MSS to the folders for sharing. Seems to work great. And it still works great. Although, my WD LiveTV's do not like the Windows shared folders, this is why I moved to Twonky software for my streaming media.

I guess all I really needed was a simple system to allow my video, music and photo sharing within my own LAN. I use my Synology CS407 for all my other storage needs, plus I run a seperate Media system for ripping DVD's/Blu-ray's, plus digital encoding of old formats (VHS, BetaMax, 8MM, whatever I need) then I have a Macmini hooked up to the 65" LG Plasma, as well as my project Dell Poweredge 2850... I wanted to do something with that. but not sure what.

The MSS was just basic files sharing as well as I run my Teamspeak server on it for personal home use while playing online games with the son. Based on it's nice small chasis it is great on a single shelf on the Rack. I use my WD LiveTV's to stream movies to my other TV's throughout the house. As long as I have HDD's full of media, I'm fine. So the system only gets RDP's into once in a while, not all the time. There is not KVM hooked up to it.

So, I'm at the point where I can put my system HDD back in, my TB HDD's and the 2nd 500GB drive and start sharing again. But I don't want to do that. I have faith in my abilities to figure this out and even with suggestions for fine people such as yourselves. No matter how small of a suggestion.

This doesn't mean I can not install a basic WHS onto my 160GB HDD. And I plan on doing it. I just need a bit of guidance to make it happen, mayhaps there is something I am missing, a setup I have not done yet.

Guardian, you suggested....
Plug one of those new drives into the bottom bay, connect a win7 32 bit or xp 32 bit pc via cat5, run the factory reset cd
I may have to set that up and try it. Now did you mean that I hook up Cat5e cable directly to the MSS without my router in the middle for DHCP?


I thought of what you said about 32-bit. My Gaming rig is my main Home PC, but it's 64Bit. So I grabbed the wife's Laptop with Vista 32Bit, ran the Recovery CD and BINGO!!!... it saw the Server right away and is now rebuilding the server on the new 160GB HDD.
I shall keep y'all posted on my progress.

Thnx guys...

Cheers, eh?

While its too late I will mention it anyway. When your drives are full and you need to remove one but can't because of the lack of space to move the files on the server all you need to do is add another drive externally USB or eSATA which can be done with a USB-SATA Cable, Docking Station or Cable then add it to the storage pool and remove the drive you want to replace. Heck you can shut the server down remove the problem drive and connect it externally and pop the new drive in the open bay then boot the server, add the new drive and remove the problem drive. WHS doesn't care where the drives are located it just needs to see them.

When changing drive locations external to internal or between the actual bays its always best to shut the server down to do the drive swaps. When WHS is done removing drives from the storage pool all you need to do is just physically remove it.

I use the WDTV Media Extenders I have 2 of them and do not need Twonky to running on my servers to access the data. They can access the shares but to do so you need to enter account information User Name and Password to access the shares properly. The only thing Twonky helps out with as I recall is the MediaServer file access. This is of course for the 2nd version of the WDTV Live the unit with the 10/100 network port. The most recent model with the Gigabit port doesn't require Twonky for anything. FYI: I have wireless Logitec K360 keyboards connected to both WDTV units which beats the hell out of scrolling the on screen keyboard with the remote and I control the newer WDTV with my Android Phone.

Hope your recovery goes well for you. If you want to address building a Bootable USB SMI Drive let me know and I will help you expose the SMI Area so you can copy the files and help you create a bootable USB Flash Drive after which you can copy the SMI files to the flash drive and have a working Bootable USB SMI drive for use in the bottom rear USB Port.

_________________
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,

I'll keep your suggestions in mind if I go the way of the Pool. But I believe I'll continue using the Seperate drives outside of the Pool. And because of this... my WDLive TV does not see the shares of the MSS on the LAN. This is where Twonky comes in. I can tell Twonky what folder to share and what type of media is in there, and it'll aggrigate that media. Plus I can pull a drive in and out when ever I want without having to "remove" the drive via the software.

Question... If I wanted to put my HDD's into the pool, will it delete everything to rebuild it into it's pool? Just to say "Here I am, fill me back up"???

I have to say I do use the MSS more like a "real" server as I RDP into it alot more than I thought.
As I run Twonky, Teamspeak and a couple of other small non add-in programs.

I like your idea of the keyboard for your WDLive TV. I have the original model plus the newer WiFi model. The WiFi model is in the bedroom, while the original model in hard wired in the living room. I have been using the small remotes and they seem good enough, but yes it is a pain having to scroll all the time. That keyboard would make it simpler. One thing I found annoying was the AppleTV didn't like the servers programs MSS or Twonky. That was why I went with the WDLive series.

We don't have any 'Droid smart phones or products in the house, only Apple. So I wonder if WD "has an App for that" I should look into that.

So now the MSS is up and running, PP3 is installed. And all is good in the world, ok... in my world.
But after all my research... I am curious to see if I could install other Windows servers on here. I saw Windows Server 2008, Windows Home Server 2011 and now the Windows Storage Server 2012, which I downloaded and tried to install it but I could not continue as it kept telling me that I could not find the partition or location to install to. And I could not find the "Drivers" to load.

And what is all this v3.0 stuff? I tried to follow a couple of links to download the v3.0 but they are all dead. As if I can not get it anymore. Mayhaps there is another guide that works. I found majority of the walkthrough guides where created a while ago when software was new, but time has changed and those links to software are dead, and nobody has updated the guides.

Has anybody successfully install Windows Storage Server 2012 on the MSS?

Cheers.

Soryu...

SoryuDragon,

If you add a drive to your storage pool WHS will reformat the drive so anything on it will be lost. While there is nothing wrong with your approach the storage pool has some advantages like file and folder duplication and in theory you can have up to 32 drives in the pool but some report having difficulty getting the 32n'd Drive added.

While I do like the MSS form factor I think its best to run the OS it was designed for especially if you like how the LED's function which are controlled by software written by HP for WHS v1 and the specific model as each has a different motherboard. If you do not mind dysfunctional LED's then maybe you will do ok with changing the OS but the EX47x does have its limitations. You may want to consider building a unit for your specific needs if you want to run another OS.

If you search the forums you will find which OS's others have installed on their EX47x's and other MSS Servers as well as their experiences with the OS of Choice. It may help you better determine if this is right for you or not. While I mentioned the LED's above the other thing to look at is controlling the fans to keep things cool.

The HP 3.x software is nice looking and does things your current v1.x does not but it also adds additional load to your server. There are 3rd party apps which are known to work with WHS v1 that you can run on your EX47x that actually provide similar functions but do it much better. I am referring to the media streaming functions. I never really liked the 3.x media functions as I found them to be limited. While the Media Collector and Converter are nice they can put a heavy load on the server basically rendering it useless until the tasks have been completed. If there is not much to collect and convert its probably not all that bad but its a load I found I did not like on my EX470 even with its ADD3800 processor and 2GB RAM.

As for the keyboard on the WDLive units I encourage it. WD Recommends the Microsoft ARC keyboard but the keyboard I mentioned is very inexpensive and the batteries last quite along time. I liked the keyboard so much I have purchased like 5 of them, I use 3 here and gave 2 a gifts and I can tell you my son and GF enjoy them too.

_________________
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

Well, I'm glad we were able to help in some way, hope all is going well for ya. But I was just thinking as I was playing with my DIY WHS 2011. The way you are using the system would lend itself very well to WHS 2011. I am finding myself doing just what you are because it doesn't have the pooling setup, so I just set (1) 2tb drive for video and (1) 2 tb drive for music and (1) 2tb drive I partitioned in half and set 1tb for apps and 1 tb for photos.
The neat thing about WHS 2011 is you can use the 3 and 4 tb drives, so if you think you will get to the point where the 2tb limit will not work for you in that server, ya might want to grab a copy of whs 2011 before they are gone. Could you imagine your server with (4) 4tb red drives, now that would be hot
Goodluck and at least we are having fun

P.S. The SMART program is a must have in my book: http://dojonorthsoftware.net/Downloads.html
Because it's all about the drives, it's better to know before one dies then after.
There are versions for all the server versions and a version that installs on the clients as well.

_________________
[X510 CPU/RAM/All 2 TB Red's] [X510 CPU/Sync'ed Backup/All 2 TB Hitachi's]
[X510 /2 in box]
[X710 LIAN LI DIY W2016E] Stablebit Drivepool [EX-503 LIAN LI 5-bay USB3 External]
Fear the Cloud

The only thing I had to do with the ServerSMART software was extend the frequency of the drive polling as it has an effect on the hardware with the drives or controller time out. This could very well my hardware sensitivity something I need to look at more but need to do this when I am off from work. There is also a PCI setting in the BIOS which has an effect on the controller something not easily done with the EX47x which does not present the issue as I recall. Too many damn servers to keep track of on and offsite.

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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

Make this short, easy and sweet! I have a WHS EX475, all drives are raw, wiped out, there is no OS no recovery partition nothing, not a single this on this drive (I stress this part cause you know someone will say " why don't you do a recovery") well I can't! All I have is the unit, connection software and recovery disk! That's is it! Now question is:
1) can I recreate a recovery partition copy over the image from DVD, and do a recovery from there? Remember no OS!

2) can I take the main HDD out of the WHS and hook it up to my desktop (amd prossecer) install the OS server and put it back into the WHS and have it work?

1) No, to use the whs v1 you have to do the install from a client, remotely. It's the way it was designed.
2) Yes if you use WHS 2011 or win2012E or win2012ER2, but since you have video, you can load them on the server with a usb-cdrom and not have to use another pc to start.
2) No if you use whs v1
Good Luck

_________________
[X510 CPU/RAM/All 2 TB Red's] [X510 CPU/Sync'ed Backup/All 2 TB Hitachi's]
[X510 /2 in box]
[X710 LIAN LI DIY W2016E] Stablebit Drivepool [EX-503 LIAN LI 5-bay USB3 External]
Fear the Cloud