Actually for SBS Essentials a RAID 1 will do just fine. There's not a lot of I/O going on with Essentials. It's just running AD, SQL Express, and File Storage. Maybe a RAID 1 of 2X1TB drives. Should be much cheaper than a RAID 10 of 4 500GB drives. Probably only need 8GB of RAM too.

For SBS Standard, I'd go RAID 5 or 10 (10 preferred). That has a lot of things going on with SQL, Exchange, SharePoint, AD, and File Storage. Given how cheap SSDs are now. I'd probably do a double RAID 1 instead of a single RAID 10. RAID 1 of 128GB Crucial M4s (OS+Database) and RAID 1 of 1TB WD RE4 (File Storage, Imported Items). That'd be so fast.

Sandeep Luthra | LTMedical.net
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