Consumer SATA Drives and Windows 7 Pro 64bit in HP Server?

[JRA]

Hi all,

 

From a previous thread, I've (pretty much) settled on a home server; something in an HP ML350 G8 tower.

 

However, as title says, I'm wondering about running consumer drives in it. Will they 'just work' would you reckon? Do you know even? (that'd be handy!) two RAID1 arrays; two Intel SSDs for OS and two WD blacks for storage.

 

Same story with Windows 7 - will it and do ya, as above?

 

It'll be mainly for testing out database software, though if it's great/necessary it might be re-purposed for a friend/client who'll run a small dentist practice with it. That ALSO runs database software; think SIMS with about 4 clients. Actually that's a long story, but it'll be 'on standby for re-installation and swift re-deployment' so must be capable of that.

 

So, any ideas and opinions and anything and everything? Thanks for any answers and merry Christmas to all!

[synaesthesia]

They will indeed work. You likely won't be hammering them with hundreds of simultaneous users nor expect them to last forever or have them running 24/7. And W7 should work as long as the drivers are available - I suspect you'll be able to use 2008 R2 drivers without much issue.

[Cazale]

I think you might find it runs the fans at 100% constantly if you use non-HP drives as they won't report back thermal data (so it will be constantly very noisy!).

 

BTW, you should be able to get a free version of Server 2012/2016 from dreamspark if you have a volume licensing account (or an academic e-mail address), as long as it's not used in a production environment.

Edited December 8, 2016 by Cazale

[synaesthesia]

You can turn off thermal throttling etc in the bios on all machines, that'll be a non issue. Don't think I've *ever* bought HP drives or Dell specific drives.

[JRA]

That was all very very good to know thanks both.

[ITGURU]

I think you might find it runs the fans at 100% constantly if you use non-HP drives as they won't report back thermal data (so it will be constantly very noisy!).

 

BTW, you should be able to get a free version of Server 2012/2016 from dreamspark if you have a volume licensing account (or an academic e-mail address), as long as it's not used in a production environment.

How do you sign up, get the copy through Dreamspark?

[Cazale]

Oh, they renamed it "Imagine" (rubbish name); https://imagine.microsoft.com/en-us/institutions/faq