Welcome to the forums...

1.) It would definately be faster to install the drive in the server but you need to do the copy by hand I believe (I don't have a 485 so someone please correct me if I'm wrong). You would need to remote into the server via Remote Desktop to accomplish it. If you have the time, I would just let the server copy it over the network.

2.) The best practice (per Microsoft) is to use your "largest" drive as the system drive. This gives the server a large "Landing Zone" for when you copy data to the server as the size of your landing zone limits the amount you can copy at any one time. Meaning, if you had a 60Gb and a 500Gb drive in the server and the 60Gb is the system drive, you would only be able to copy 40Gb of data to the server. You would then need to wait for the balancing to finish before you could copy anymore data. The OS takes up 20Gb of the system drive and the rest ends up as the landing zone. The landing zone will also be reduced by the pc backups.

3.) It all depends on what the add-in uses for memory. The more you load, the more memory/cpu is used depending on the add-in.

4.) Yes, you will need to use  32bit machine to do the initial setup. Once PP1 is installed you can connect the 64bit machine.

5.) I only use my server for storage (downloading done on anotner machine) so i can't comment. Maybe someone the uses torrents can answer this.

Hope this helps....

"everything will be ok in the end. if it's not ok, it's not the end" - unknown

(2) Since WHS no longer uses a "landing zone" that is not a factor in the decision process. And even then the key was that the free space on the System Drivee needed to be greater that the largest files you would be transferring. Today it is a waste to put your largest drive in the System Drive position UNLESS you know that (1) you will be installing that size drive in ALL your MSS slots in the near future and (2) you will NOT need to add an expansion chassis to meet your needs in the future.

(3) MOST Add-Ins really do not take much memory. I have an excessive number as well as a couple applications running on the WHS Desktop and I see only 1.1 GB of memory used. Obviously there are going to be exceptions that use a lot but you can go to the Remote Desktop, start up the Task Manager and look at the amount of memory being used. More important is to avoid the Add-Ins that seem to be problematic to the largest number of folks -- and the only one I know of in that category is the McAfee one that comes with the MSS.

(4) You have an EX485, not an EX470. I believe you already have the updates necessary to go set up the MSS with an x64 client.

For the BEST TECHNICAL advice on the HP MSS I continue to recommend the Media Smart Blog linked at the lower right of the home page here.

...JohnBick

Mouse Buttons: I do not see this behavior on any client (or mouse, trackball, pad, etc.) that I have ever worked with using Advanced Admin. Did you select the "Show Desktop" before "minimizing" the console? What are you using for a mouse? Does it require any special drivers that may not be in the MSS/WHS? You may want to uninstall the Advanced Admin Console Add-In, restart the server and reinstall it.

Password: I don't know how long ago you originally installed the WHS software on the MSS but you would have entered a password. It's easy to forget if you do it right and have the userid/password in MSS match the one on the client as you never enter it again (unless you change the password).

...JohnBick