[ainarssems]

Might depend what software you're running on the hp microserver

I am currently running Windows 7 as OS on Dell and will probably run it on HP as well, mostly for ease of setup. From software I run local file sharing, internet file sharing, FTP, VPN, Plex, CCTV... Will probably need to upgrade CPU and RAM to 8GB to run CCTV on HP

I've just setup a Microserver Gen8 at home, from what I can work out from my smart meter its consuming about 85watts of power running 4 HDDs, a single SSD in the ODD bay and upgraded to 16GB Ram.

That's interesting, from my research on the net before buying others have reported about 33W power consumption in idle. I measured mine to be 30W in idle with 1 HDD, maybe it's the Red HDD's consuming more power?

Well, firstly I wouldn't bother with RAID 5 even if it was an option. RAID 5 pretty much became useless several years ago once drive capacities began exceeding 2TB:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/why-rai...rking-in-2009/

That's something to consider and I was not aware off.

So, it depends on how mission-critical your system is.

It's not critical, more of pain in the ass if not working. Dell have served me well couple of years, only one HDD failed once, just bough a new one and swapped without powering down so no downtime.

Also, how are you calculating the power consumption comparisons?

Measured with one of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2909576441...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Seems accurate enough as it reads 18W lightbulb as 17.2W and 2200 W kettle as 2250W. Interesting fact on TV as well, without Eco mode it takes 110W, in maximum power saving mode only 58W, was not expecting that big of a difference.

How much would you be looking to sell the Poweredge for? And does it come with dual PSUs and rack rails?

I was hoping to get at least 100 notes for ti, hard to judge the price, they are all over the price on e-bay depending on configuration. I think it did not have rails, need to check but does have 2x750W PSU's

Just replaced the desktop HDD with a 4TB WD Black due to running short of space! Elsawin takes up a shed load....

I only have 250GB SSD on Desktop, ElsaWin is running on server as well and just a small 30MB client installed on desktop and laptops to run it from server. I can even run it remotely if I VPN in the home network.

I think I might try ESXi on USB and use all for HDD's in 1+0 then