"What do you mean they have a different number of channels?  All PERC 6 cards have two channels (so does the SAS 6/iR for that matter)." This one claims 8 channels. Maybe a typo - "However, the RAID controller is also perfectly capable of managing a RAID array whose disks are spread across both channels." OK. I believe the current configuration setup like that. "If you feel comfortable with a non-redundant RAID 0 for your OS, then there is nothing technically wrong with running the configuration you describe (single-disk RAID 0 and 5-disk RAID 5 or 6)." In order to maximize storage within the current hardware I would image the system drive for backup. We're also considering the H700 controller and 3TB drives, but my boss is likely to balk at the term "unsupported." "Not sure if there is anything specific here you are wondering about, but you should avoid cheap consumer/desktop drives, as they are unsuitable for use on an enterprise-class RAID controller.  Your drives should be enterprise/RAID class drives, and preferably, should be certified for use on the PERC (Dell branded enterprise-class drives) and can be SATA or SAS (NL-SAS)." I understand. I just wanted to shop around to see if I could save money over the Dell drives. Andy
We have a NF500 storage server that we're getting ready to rebuild. Currently it's running Windows 2003 R2 x86 Storage Server. Is there any reason I can't update to Windows Server 2008 x64? We use it strictly as a storage server with 6TB of drives now, but would also like to have the option of increasing available space. Thanks,Andy
PowerVault NF500 upgrade options