On Thu, 2 May 2013, Olwe Bottorff wrote:

> I just got a used server on Ebay (Dell PowerEdge 2950 II Server Dual Quad Core
> 2.33GHz SAS SATA - PERC 5i - 16GB)* and am pretty much a total beginner. The hard
> drives are only 80gb, but there's 6 in a PERC RAID. Q: I'm just wanting to
> experiment, so, is there a way to yank five of them and just use one hard drive? I'd
> probably want to upgrade to more space eventually, too. Also, what version of Linux
> would be a good match? They mention RedHat, but could I just use Ubuntu Server as
> well?
> 
> Thanks,
> LB
> Grand Marais, MN
> 
> *http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-2950-II-Server-Dual-Quad-Core-2-33GHz-SAS-SA
> TA-PERC-5i-16GB-/111055721692?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:3160

Olwe,

Yes you can use Redhat/CentOS or Ubuntu.  If you're a total beginner it won't 
matter too much. (Who is "they"?)
Here's the Ubuntu "Certification" information.  You'll find something that 
doesn't work with it though. <grin>  And you'll figure it out with help and move 
on.  http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/hardware/200712-180/

IF you decide to do Ubuntu ....
Install Ubuntu Precise (12.04 LTS) first and if that works well you can do other 
things with it.  For that matter, leave one of the partitions unused at about 
20GB and install RedHat/CentOS on that one.  Create /home and swap and use the 
same partitions in both installs. (just throwing things out there).

You COULD yank the drives. But I would recommend you leave two in there and 
create a RAID 1 with the hardware RAID so you get used to using that utility.
You'll want to know how it works before you add more drives (if you ever 
actually do. :-)

Gerry



-- 
Gerry Skerbitz
gsker at skerbitz.org
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