Well, everything has arrived now. As of this evening spec will be:
N40L
4GB
2 x 3TB WD Reds
1 x OCZ Vertex 2 60GB
Zotac GT610 1GB
Will do for the time being, certainly a step up from the 2TB Time Capsule and HTPC it's replacing.
Started doing the Ubuntu install last night, flashed the BIOS with the modded version to get SATA 3GBPs on all ports and set everything up with the RAID mirroring.
Got into the installer to find the drives presented as 2 x 3TB and the SSD. Bummer. HP's RAID implementation is a bit of a farce, so sacked off the "array" as it's only there by name until you get into the OS and install the driver. Will be using md on Ubuntu to mirror the data storage volumes I think...
Was umming and arring about a hardware RAID card with mini-SAS but really don't think the setup warrants the hassle with 2 drives and the way I'm going to be using it!
Tonight will finish building SabNZBdPlus, Sickbeard, CouchPotato and finally XBMC once the GPU is installed. Then get the data migrated across and do the last few bits and pieces. Oh and setup the console emulation stuff to be accessed via XBMC. Love being able to rock old SNES games from the remote control/360 pad.
Oh need to find some way of mounting the internal MCE remote as well, might lose 2 of the front USB ports and go straight off the header. Or if I can be bothered solder a USB A male plug on the end of the head and plug in to the internal USB socket.
Nice to have options though, incredibly cool little boxes.