Windows Home Server (original) - can you upgrade the hardware without OS reinstall?

[Stoneburner]

I've been using WHS for a couple of years now on a Athlon 4850e with 2gb of ddr2. I want to upgrade with some newer parts, specifically a phenom 2 x4. Can you simply upgrade the hardware and let the OS figure it out?

I have not been able to find an answer by searching online. I'm also wondering if I should just upgrade to WHS 2011 since I'm not crazy about drive extender.

Any advice would be welcome.

 

[ViRGE]

WHSv1 is based on Server 2003, so it's a Win5.x OS (like XP). With XP replacing the CPU and the RAM was a piece of cake, but replacing the motherboard was almost always a disaster.

Your post doesn't make it clear if you'd be doing a mobo replacement or not. As long as you're not doing a mobo replacement you should be fine, but if this requires a new mobo I would strongly advise against trying it.

Also, you should totally upgrade to WHS2011. If you aren't aware, WHSv1 has been EOL'd and technically isn't receiving further security updates. Server 2003 components get updated since the OS is technically Server 2003 with some extra software added on, but the WHS components are no longer updated; and due to that it's not at all clear whether WHSv1 is safe to have on a network anymore. Plus WHS2011 is $50, so in the long run it's a cheap upgrade. It has 3 more years of support.

 

[Stoneburner]

Thanks. I was going to do a motherboard replacement.

I'm not sure what to do about my current data though. I have four 1tb hitachi drives that have served me well over the last 3 years. I had to add a 2tb hitachi drive as well. So I have 5 drives in my current WHS server.

I was thinking of getting four new 3tb drives in raid 10 or raid 6 instead IF i'm going to switch to WHS 2011. I guess i will set up raid 6 or raid 10 and then just add the five old drives as extra drives.

If you know, is there any benefit to setting up the OS install on an SSD? I have a spare one laying around.

 

[ViRGE]

If you know, is there any benefit to setting up the OS install on an SSD? I have a spare one laying around.

Although your server won't be an end-user machine, I'd still argue that yes, it's beneficial. If nothing else it ensures the OS isn't on the same drive as a data partition (one of WHS's performance pitfalls), and by having an SSD it will keep the OS snappy. I was in a similar situation and put my WS2012E install on a 128GB SSD, which has worked out rather nicely.