[BGY11]

The WD utility doesn't run on WHS (or at least it didn't when the drives first started coming out). Given that WHS storage pool drives only have one partition, I don't see why you couldn't use the jumper method to have the drive realign sectors automatically.

I don't have much experience with Hitachi drives, so I can't comment on their reliability.

 

[BGY11]

Good to hear the EARS drives will indeed work now. I'm in the process of setting up a WHS server for another family member, and will probably toss one of those drives in it.

I'm not too sure on the RAID or port multiplier questions, so I'll let someone else chime in with that.