I would definitely re-build the OS, as perfomance of a new clean machine is so much better than an old one.
I installed a hardware RAID Controller and added 2 extra SATA disks into an ML110 G2 to create a RAID-1 store that is fail-safe. ( Today I would use the Promise TX2300 at about $70 ).
I only put the Operating System on to the original single disk.
I only put Data on to the RAID drive.
There are 4 advantages to this:
1. The hardware RAID drive starts the moment the power is on and is virtually independent of the rest of the computer. It has excellent RAID Array Manager software.
2. You could move the RAID disks and Controller card to another computer in minutes
3. The Windows Swap File and the Data are on 2 separate drives, so the overall system performance is improved.
4. You can rebuild and upgrade the Operating System or re-format the original single disk without disturbing your Data.
I keep working Data on my workstation and I have a backup utility to copy complete files and folders over to the RAID-1 drive on the server as they change.
- Belt & Braces - LOCKS ( Lots of Copies Keep Safe )
This way I am storing personal Data and family photographs going back to 1984.
Not a very expensive solution and it is very very effective.
I'd already upgraded the machine's memory (3GB). It's running some business software and an install of SQL 2005 Express. The LAN is gigabit. The server is only touched by a few clients and will service no more than 10 clients for the foreseeable future.
I'd been considering moving everything to SCSI disks in this machine. Do you think that the data throughput would be just as good if we offload the data files to another array in the way that you've described?
