Jump to content

RobbieH

Members
  • Posts

    207
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    12

Reputation Activity

  1. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Ginoliggime in I'm at a loss   
    I did not want to blame Drivepool, I've been using it for years and have been a supporter the entire time, but something's going wrong with my servers and I think it's due to the latest beta. I upgraded a while back based on a recommendation, but now I can't keep my servers up. Don't worry, I'm not upset, I can recover from whatever happens, but this is just getting tiring trying to figure out what's going on.
     
    It all started when one of my WD 5TB Red drives starting throwing SMART errors on "server 1", reported by Scanner. Not long after that, I started getting corruption errors. To make matters worse, the STxxx blah blah 3TB drive I use as a dup drive on a second VM also started failing, and throwing errors. Two problems at once. Joy. So, I pulled both drives from "server 2" and replaced them with 4TB HGST NAS drives. OK, so that one has been stable since. But, I'm still fighting issues on "server 1". I bought a 8TB archive drive, since I was running low on space anyway. It took me SEVERAL days to get all the data to the point I could remove the 'failing' WD 5TB drive. But, finally, after hours and hours of chkdsk /f and chkdsk /r and trying to move data, rinse repeat, I finally got that drive to remove. OK, things look good. I go a couple of days and it seems things are stabilized. Oh, I spoke too soon. Data is corrupting not only on the other 5TB drive, but now also data is corrupting like crazy on the new 8TB drive. I can't do a dang thing, I can't breathe in the general direction of the box even, without having data corruption and everything screwed up. 
     
    I don't know what logs you need, what ANYTHING you need. You know I've supported Drivepool and Scanner. Maybe I'm wrong and it's not the fault. But I can't think of what else it might be. I haven't jacked around with anything that I know of. 
  2. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Christopher (Drashna) in 8TB Archive showing up as 1.3 TB   
    I figured out more... once you have the drive formatted in the VM's IDE controller, you can move it over to the SCSI controller with no issues. Once I did that, I got SMART data for the drive.
  3. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from KiaraEvirm in 8TB Archive showing up as 1.3 TB   
    I'm not sure where else to ask, you all seem to be the type of people that live out on the edge like I do.
     
    I have a Windows 7 VM running in VMWare 6.5. The system currently has two 5TB WD Red drives that I use in a DrivePool for storage. Opening "Computer" shows the two drives as 4.54 TB, all is well.
     
    So, I want to add an 8TB Archive drive. I set up the RDM in VMWare the same exact way I set up the 5TB drives. VMWare sees the drive as a capacity of 7.28 TB. In the Windows 7's VM settings, it also sees the drive there as 7.28 TB, and I have all the settings the same as how I configured the 5TB drives.
     
    BUT
     
    I go into W7 Disk Management and it shows the drive as only being 1307.91 GB. I've tried everything I can think of to get this drive to show as 8TB but nothing.
     
    Oh, and it's that way even when Unallocated. I did set it up as GPT (as are the 5TB drives) but still it's just 1.3TB.
  4. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from KiaraEvirm in Hard Drive Errors - Next Steps   
    Hey Christopher,
     
    I've run into a problem that's showing itself in a way I've never seen before, or maybe it has been so long since I've had a problem I don't remember what to do correctly.
     
    First, I'm on 2.5.2.3103 Beta
     
    I have a hard drive that is reporting it is unable to read 104 sectors. I've deleted the corrupted files and rescanned, nothing is coming up with errors now. I set the readable blocks unchecked, and the unreadable blocks unchecked, and let it rescan. But, it is still reporting 104 unreadable sectors. I thought there was a way to mark these as unusable and go along my way, but I do not seem to be able to get to this point. Is there a way to do this?
  5. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Ginoliggime in Hard Drive Errors - Next Steps   
    Hey Christopher,
     
    I've run into a problem that's showing itself in a way I've never seen before, or maybe it has been so long since I've had a problem I don't remember what to do correctly.
     
    First, I'm on 2.5.2.3103 Beta
     
    I have a hard drive that is reporting it is unable to read 104 sectors. I've deleted the corrupted files and rescanned, nothing is coming up with errors now. I set the readable blocks unchecked, and the unreadable blocks unchecked, and let it rescan. But, it is still reporting 104 unreadable sectors. I thought there was a way to mark these as unusable and go along my way, but I do not seem to be able to get to this point. Is there a way to do this?
  6. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Ginoliggime in 8TB Archive showing up as 1.3 TB   
    I'm not sure where else to ask, you all seem to be the type of people that live out on the edge like I do.
     
    I have a Windows 7 VM running in VMWare 6.5. The system currently has two 5TB WD Red drives that I use in a DrivePool for storage. Opening "Computer" shows the two drives as 4.54 TB, all is well.
     
    So, I want to add an 8TB Archive drive. I set up the RDM in VMWare the same exact way I set up the 5TB drives. VMWare sees the drive as a capacity of 7.28 TB. In the Windows 7's VM settings, it also sees the drive there as 7.28 TB, and I have all the settings the same as how I configured the 5TB drives.
     
    BUT
     
    I go into W7 Disk Management and it shows the drive as only being 1307.91 GB. I've tried everything I can think of to get this drive to show as 8TB but nothing.
     
    Oh, and it's that way even when Unallocated. I did set it up as GPT (as are the 5TB drives) but still it's just 1.3TB.
  7. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Ginoliggime in Sharing rights issue   
    I've been thinking hard about this one, but can't come up with a solution.
    After moving from WHS2011 to WSE2012, of course I've moved into domain rights. I have three XBOX 360s that are used solely for extender purposes. Before the move, everything was working great. After the move, the 360s can't play back media that is shared on the WSE2012 server. The master HTPC is on the domain, and can play back movies from the server. The XBOX can play back media that's on the HTPC, but when I try to play back media from the server, I get the typical "Application error". Any ideas? I can be more specific or post logs or something if necessary.
  8. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Ginoliggime in Client restore off of WSE2012 doesn't work   
    I'm at a loss here. The problem with me is I like to find the root cause of my issues. I know I could probably boot off my W7 disk and do a repair, but I want to know why my restore isn't working on its own. I've done this from WHS 1 and 2 with no issues before, don't know what is wrong this time.
     
    Scenario:
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64, i3 processor, SSD boot drive.
    Machine has been acting funny as if something were wrong with the drive, so I took it out, erased it, ran a full surface test, etc. Did not find any issues, but it's not the first time I've seen an SSD be finicky. 
     
    Create recovery thumb drive from WSE 2012. Boot from thumb drive, run full recovery, recovery succeeds every time. Reboot, and I get "Missing bootldr". 
     
    I did my searches as best I could on Google, but I can't find anyone with a similar issue. Since a lot of us here run WSE or WHS, I was hoping someone had some experience with this. I don't want to run recovery until I know what happened.
  9. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Christopher (Drashna) in Newbie Question   
    Be very careful, do not consider DrivePool a backup solution. If you delete files or if you have files get corrupted on the primary drive, they will be the same on the pool drive. A backup will save you in the event you accidentally delete or corrupt files, DrivePool will not. 
     
    This is not a knock at DP or RAID solutions, it's just the truth. I am a huge DP fan, but please do not consider it to be a backup solution.
  10. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from gringott in The Largest Stablebit Drivepool In The World!!   
    I'd put it this way, if you don't know why you need multiple NICs, then you probably don't need them.
  11. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Christopher (Drashna) in Newbie cannonball into the server pool deep end, send lifeguard asap   
    I use Emby on my local/wired devices and Plex on my tablets, phones, and when remote.
     
    One of the things I like about Plex is the ability to "Sync". What this does is pre-transcode the file, then place the file locally on my tablet. I have a 64GB MicroSD card in my tablet, and if I select low quality, I can get a BUNCH of movies and TV shows on the tablet. And, great thing is, on a 7" tablet, the low setting looks perfect. 
     
    You can install both Plex and Emby server applications on your server with no issues.
  12. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Christopher (Drashna) in Building new server from scratch!   
    As Chris said, I use the USB port in the middle of my motherboard for the boot drive for ESXi. I use a 16gb drive, which is kind of overkill, but it was on the HCL. 
  13. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Christopher (Drashna) in The Largest Stablebit Drivepool In The World!!   
    I'd put it this way, if you don't know why you need multiple NICs, then you probably don't need them.
  14. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Christopher (Drashna) in The Largest Stablebit Drivepool In The World!!   
    Funny, all this time I had mine on 4GB because I thought that was the limit. I guess it was for WHS v1.
     
    I have 6 NICs in my server, and currently 5 of them are in use. The 6th one will be soon, and another one (at least) within the next few months. Pretty easy with a 4 port NIC.
     
    To go over these:
    pfSense Firewall - one port for internet side and one for home side
    Windows Server Essentials - One port for the home network, one for video surveillance cameras
    Windows 7 - One port for home network
     
    All "machines" in VMWare.
     
    Soon I'll be spinning off a DMZ with a dedicated web server and some other junk, I need to hook up the management port for the motherboard, and I want to separate out the management port for VMWare. So that's 3 more NICs.
  15. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Christopher (Drashna) in Best Practices for Hard Drives?   
    Use Western Digital's application WDIDLE3 to set the head park to "never".
    NOTE, you are flashing the drive, and there's always a chance of something going wrong. Make sure you have backups.
     
    http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=113
     
    I had some drives that Scanner was warning me about the heat on. Then I started getting warnings about other drives in the pool. Turns out the two original drives I was getting the warnings on were failing, and for whatever reason just before they died they started making my other drives overheat. I'd take it as a warning sign if you have a drive with a high load count overheating.
  16. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from gringott in The Largest Stablebit Drivepool In The World!!   
    That stuff was a lot of money for me back then. I had a couple of grand in my Atari ST, then there was the cost of the hard drives and Adaptec 4000 (close to a grand total), my first USR modem set me back $699 because I didn't order it on the sysop deal, and so on... and back then our household income was just over $18,000 per year. And that was for the system that ran the BBS, never mind the other equipment in the room.
     
    But like I said, look where it got me. I'm paid well, I work for a large, stable company, and I walk from my bedroom to my office to go to work - no commute, no dressing up, nada.
  17. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from gringott in The Largest Stablebit Drivepool In The World!!   
    My wife didn't like me buying all that gear either. But the experience I gained in all my tinkering is what led to the IT job I have now.
  18. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Christopher (Drashna) in The Largest Stablebit Drivepool In The World!!   
    Part of the reason I got the Intel server board.
  19. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Christopher (Drashna) in Time to build a proper server   
    At first I only used an AMD 610e in my server (45w TDP quad core, it was a good choice at the time). I was running Windows Home Server v1 (and later upgraded to 2011) to perform some server tasks, back up workstations, etc.
     
    Then, I discovered BlueIris surveillance software. OK, the 610e is still keeping up at this point...
     
    Then I added Subsonic, Sickbeard, etc. Still keeping up, but really starting to max out the system
     
    Then, I discovered I could do things with my TV recordings such as pre-transcode and commercial removal using MCE Buddy.
     
    And then I found Plex (I was still on Media Browser 2 at this time). Cool, I can watch my shows on the road!
     
    And lately I upgraded to Emby, and I have started playing with Rokus and Amazon Fire TVs, and doing more tablet based stuff. As you can guess, my little 610e is now completely pegged and I'm nowhere near the necessary horsepower required to do all this. So, I bought a server grade motherboard, ECC RAM, Xeon 1246v3 processor, new case, and I repurposed my Green drives and switched out to WD Red drives (longer warranty, no load cycle issues).
     
    Point is, Christopher's recommendation of a board you can upgrade is valid. Those of us that have been down this road can attest to many dollars spent retiring substandard hardware, and many hours spent reinstalling or recovering from failures. Start with a low power CPU if you don't plan on doing a bunch of processor intensive stuff. BUT, get a board you can upgrade to a Xeon later so that you don't have to reinvest time or money on the system. 
     
    At first you'll kind of tinker around and use it as a server, but a lot of people start realizing what they can do with a system that is on 24/7 and doesn't affect performance at the workstation level, and start adding on, just as I did.
  20. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Christopher (Drashna) in The Largest Stablebit Drivepool In The World!!   
    Quite honestly, all of it was a way to learn more about my love for computers, and to tinker. I went to college to major in chemistry, and ended up with an IT job. I'm still in IT to this day. 
  21. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Christopher (Drashna) in Upgrading? to Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials   
    The user interface is much improved in R2. That said, how honestly do you touch your server, and how much does the interface really matter? That's part of why I'm not on R2, other than I don't have a key for R2.
  22. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Christopher (Drashna) in Thinking of purchasing..   
    You nailed that one, Storage Spaces is awful.
     
    I have ignored some alerts from Scanner in the past, since I know I'm all duplicated. What happened? I lost the drives not much later. It does its job for sure.
  23. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Christopher (Drashna) in Thinking of purchasing..   
    To follow up on what DaveyBoy said, that's the beauty of Drivepool. If you don't want to back up everything, as Christopher said you can just duplicate the folders you want. This is ultimately what brought me to Drivepool over other solutions.
  24. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Christopher (Drashna) in Just built my first ever true storage server   
    I believe my wife thinks we are running a data center sometimes. I've made a lot of changes recently and everything is a mess, but I have it on my list of things to do to clean up the closet this weekend. When I do, I'll get some pictures and put them up. 
  25. Like
    RobbieH got a reaction from Christopher (Drashna) in Just built my first ever true storage server   
    For what it's worth, I run BI on the same "server" as the rest of my stuff. But, what I've done is set up ESXi, and BI is on a separate VM, and each of my VMs have a dedicated NIC. I've only given it two cores and 4GB of RAM, and works just fine at about 50% utilization under full load. Also, it stores to a separate pair of drives than the rest of my machines. This way, no matter what BI does, it never affects the rest of my system. This will keep you from needing to have a separate system just for BI. I'm sure it work just fine under HyperV if you wanted to go that way.
     
    My BI implementation utilizes 7 3MP cameras and two 1.2MP cameras. The 7 3MP are hardwired using PoE, the two 1.2's are wifi, all configured for direct to disk. All cameras come into a different switch on a different IP range, and as I said a separate dedicated NIC. The other VMs I have truly have no clue that the BI machine is even there. The same server is running WSE2012, so it backs up my workstations on the local LAN NIC, and it is also my IIS server for a few websites.
     
    I just checked power consumption on my server - 77 watts. 6 hard drives, Xeon E3-1246v3, Intel server motherboard, etc. I am using a Seasonic gold plus power supply, that may help a little bit.
×
×
  • Create New...