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Prepare HP ProLiant DL360 G7 8-Port for UNRAID or FREENAS installation

Prepare HP ProLiant DL360 G7 8-Port for UNRAID or FREENAS installation

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skelet155
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08-12-2025, 07:37 AM
#1
I stumbled upon an older HP ProLiant DL360 G7 with eight ports while browsing. Right now I’m using Windows 10 Pro, but I had to swap one of the storage bays for the operating system. The machine comes with two 3.46 GHz Intel Xeon processors and 64 GB of RAM. It includes a single Smart Array P410i 512MB RAID card. I’ve searched extensively without success regarding Unraid or FreeNAS installations on this setup. I currently have four 2 TB drives and plan to add more, so I’m aiming to move the OS drive out of the swap slot. I intend to run at least one Windows 10 VM—perhaps for a camera server and another for Plex if it doesn’t start properly. This system is primarily for media speed; I use a 16 TB WD NAS for long-term storage and backups. I’m considering both options but need guidance. Regarding the drives: do I configure each individually with RAID, or should I consolidate them into one large drive labeled “Raid 0”? Also, should I use the internal USB2 port or the SD card slot? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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skelet155
08-12-2025, 07:37 AM #1

I stumbled upon an older HP ProLiant DL360 G7 with eight ports while browsing. Right now I’m using Windows 10 Pro, but I had to swap one of the storage bays for the operating system. The machine comes with two 3.46 GHz Intel Xeon processors and 64 GB of RAM. It includes a single Smart Array P410i 512MB RAID card. I’ve searched extensively without success regarding Unraid or FreeNAS installations on this setup. I currently have four 2 TB drives and plan to add more, so I’m aiming to move the OS drive out of the swap slot. I intend to run at least one Windows 10 VM—perhaps for a camera server and another for Plex if it doesn’t start properly. This system is primarily for media speed; I use a 16 TB WD NAS for long-term storage and backups. I’m considering both options but need guidance. Regarding the drives: do I configure each individually with RAID, or should I consolidate them into one large drive labeled “Raid 0”? Also, should I use the internal USB2 port or the SD card slot? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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CharalPT
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08-12-2025, 07:37 AM
#2
Consider Proxmox instead of Freenas or Unraid since neither supports hardware RAID well. For VMs, use the RAID card to handle RAID setup. Arrays can be created and expanded either through Linux tools or via the BIOS menu. You can install the operating system on the primary array or a USB drive (place it on the main array).
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CharalPT
08-12-2025, 07:37 AM #2

Consider Proxmox instead of Freenas or Unraid since neither supports hardware RAID well. For VMs, use the RAID card to handle RAID setup. Arrays can be created and expanded either through Linux tools or via the BIOS menu. You can install the operating system on the primary array or a USB drive (place it on the main array).

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armada3
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08-12-2025, 07:37 AM
#3
Beyond that, I'm uncertain about HP's reason for including both an SD card and a USB port, but it seems likely at least one of them is designed to boot, possibly both. Their guidelines imply they're both meant to function as bootable devices.
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armada3
08-12-2025, 07:37 AM #3

Beyond that, I'm uncertain about HP's reason for including both an SD card and a USB port, but it seems likely at least one of them is designed to boot, possibly both. Their guidelines imply they're both meant to function as bootable devices.

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iDoNotEvenLift
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08-12-2025, 07:37 AM
#4
I notice everyone is concerned about the raid 0 choice. I own a 16 TB NAS in a raid 5 that this server uses for nightly backups. Let's avoid worrying about losing data. I can always re-download everything whenever needed.
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iDoNotEvenLift
08-12-2025, 07:37 AM #4

I notice everyone is concerned about the raid 0 choice. I own a 16 TB NAS in a raid 5 that this server uses for nightly backups. Let's avoid worrying about losing data. I can always re-download everything whenever needed.

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