I need to know can I install an alternate OS on the Lacie NAS Pro 20tb.
Background: After my HP Mediasmart EX487 died I was looking for another server to replace it with. I bought a Lacie 5big Office+ With Windows Storage Server 2008r2 Essentials on it. The reason I picked this one was because it had a vga port and an esata port on it. Machines like the Western Digital Sentinel didn't have those ports.
The first unit (brand new) was DOA. The second one (refurbished warranty replacement) came with the wrong software installed (whs 2011 instead of WSS2008R2E - in retrospect, I probably should have kept that one). The third unit (also a refurbished warranty replacement) wouldn't load the software without creating an usb key. None of the keys I bought would work so I finally convinced Lacie to send me one of theirs. Worked for about 7 months and then suffered an internal fire (the sata port was actually melted and charred) and took out the system drive (fortunately, all I lost were the nightly client backups, all my saved data was on two other drives I had installed in the machine which were ok).
So, in the mean time, Lacie has discontinued the 5Big Office+ (they did this in April 2014 without any notice or fanfare). As a consequence they had nothing to send me in return and would not repair the unit. They would never come out and admit that fact until i pressed them for an answer. I still am month eight of a three year warranty. Went around with them for almost two weeks trying to resolve this.
I finally caved and let them send me this NAS box as I was getting nowhere really. Hey at least it has five 4TB drives in it. They told me it was the best they could offer me. A day later they came out with a 30tb unit, Should have held out for one more day. Ha.
So now I have a computer that offers no remote web access, no single instance storage, no media sharing, and I can't just pop out a drive to read my files incase of fire or floods or locust attack other pestilence.
Query 1: This Lacie NAS Pro has real decent specs for a little sit in the corner and do it's job computer, an Intel dual core Atom processor, 4Gb DDR3 RAM (expandable, but would void warranty), dual Intel Gb network interfaces and five 4Tb hard drives. Does anyone know if I can install WHS2011 or even Windows Server Essentials 2012 on this box, ditching the NAS OS entirely? I realize this will invalidate any warranty that may be left. But then again Lacie's warranty seems to be useless junk anyway. How would you suggest to do this if it is possible?
Query 2: If this is not possible, would there be any way to utilize this nas as DIRECT storage for ANOTHER Windows Server machine?
Query 3: If this is not possible, Should I pull the hard drives, build another box around them, and then Ebay the now diskless Lacie box, or just Ebay the whole shebang and use the proceeds to build/buy my own server?
And if anyone wants to make a reasonable offer on a still in the box Lacie NAS PRO 20Tb machine, the aluminum cube with the big blue eyeball could be yours! And I also have three extra power supplies for this machine. 
Jared Finkenbinder
Visibility Architect
Design328.com
970-344-7298