Spider99

Looks similar to the LSI card - there are a lot of manufacturer branded cards around that use the main controller of the lsi but may or may not take the bios from the LSI if thats what you were thinking
 
Check the hardware forums to see if anybody has already done it.
 
For 20 quid extra i went with a true LSI as i wanted it to just work initially as had trouble with other cards - not lsi based

I would stay well clear of the SYBA card they are awful cards - tried a couple 8 port and 4 port - windows/linux etc could not see them
 
i would add a little more and get the LSI card from china for £55 (take a couple of weeks to arrive) and buy two good quality SAS cables and run all your 8 bays of the the LSI
 
As its an HBA it will present all 8 drives to the os - out of the box

i think you may be missing the obvious that IcyBox must have a port mulitpier in their box to present the disks to the host machine - or you have to raid them to present one "disk" to the host - doubt its that though
 
But there is another basic way you could set this up
 
get a sas hba like the LSI 9211-8i - run the cables to the existing box you have the disks in and power them from the old psu or get power extension cables as well - so your old pc box is just an enclosure
 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-LSI-Internal-SAS-SATA-9211-8i-6Gbps-8-Ports-HBA-PCI-E-RAID-Controller-Card- i got 2 of these and they are new cards
 
plus a couple of long forward breakout cables and you are sorted with the benefit of more bandwidth etc

close but i would format in the latest version of windows you have or the windows dp box first
 
reading and formatting on another os might be fine but windows may or may not like it - why take the risk with your data - especially after waiting hours for a copy to finish to find - oops!

exactly that - you have two copies of each file on different disks - in windows explorer you see only one copy - no magic sauce just a merge of the files structure to hide the duplicate entries for all disk in the pool
 
if you have a ssd cache drive setup - the file is copied to the cache from you client machine as it does so a copy is being created on one of the archive drives at the same time or very shortly afterwards depending on the speed of the archive drive - first copy will then be copied to another archive drive at some point later depending on your balancer settings. If no ssd cache then an archive drive is chosen for the landing zone - rest is the same.
 
you have four disks i would make one pool - turn on duplication 2x or more and copy over a large sample directory and see for yourself
 
rather than dup everything you could do it at the folder level as well - i.e. only duplicate folders you care about or x4 those you cannot loose - max is number of disk you have in the pool obviously
 
Oh i would also remove the drive letters from your pool disks (mount them to a directory instead) makes for a cleaner interface - you can still access them directly but it prevents an accidental mistake
 
DP takes the next available drive letter when created so in my case E: - not tried to change this but its emulating a real disk so changing the drive letter should be fine - did you try in disk management?

Hi
 
Have a read of this http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q4142489
 
dp does not wipe drives - your data will remain - you "just" move it in to the poolpart directory on each disk
 
DP will then present it as one set of data
 
Might be time to think how you should setup your backup strategy

interesting are you saying you can convert ext4 disks to ntfs and keep your data intact?????
 
i have used disks that have been formatted under linux - using my QNAP - so very old drivers to do this - and they are read by win 10 pro with no problem
 
However i would still re format them under windows when you can as its not officially supported and windows may have extra options etc on the ntfs that the linux drive may not support etc etc
 
any system of data storage thats the only "copy" of your data is not a backup - whether its a raid array / drivepool (no matter how many copies you have)/ snap raid/unraid etc - they all are ultimately for redundancy - i.e. they have a level of resilience that gives you time to replace drives/other hardware and still give you access to data. Backup is a minimum of a second copy to be safe two or more copies and one of those off site in another building - cloud is another option but still have your own off stie copy to be safe etc.
 
Some say i will not backup up this section of data because i can re create it - say your movie collection - that's fine until you come to do it!!!
 
Your using dp so some or all of your data is important to you so you need to judge how important and then sort your backup

Hi @asdaHP
 
I went with 2012 RE2 because of lots of issues with raid cards under Win 10 and wanted something else to try - 2016 is a tad to shinny and new - and usually that means some issue with it being MS - and had six weeks of faffing around did not fancy anymore
 
Also if you look on ebay you can find Essentials 2012 for as low as £20 for the lic number - i got my first one at £80 and downloaded the technet preview version and installed and activated no problem
 
First impression is its stable and finds most things out of the gate with working drivers - what i dont like is the interface (part Win 8) and the way it forces you to the dashboard and makes finding some tools kind of difficult - i.e. several clicks to find computer management - to get to disk management - to map a drive. could be i have not found it in the dashboard but.....
 
Overall its a server version of windows and it will do what i need once i get used to the interface or change it so its more Win7 ish rather than win 8
 
If you do go Win 2016 - comeback and start a thread so we can see if you find it any better - not looked in detail but i did not see a huge feature set change?
 
T

Hmm ok will add to my ever growing list of things to look at in detail

Couple of new toys to play with
 
 
 
will be combined as one and sell the bits i dont need which should make it a neutral purchase

A quick update
 
the P410 and SAS expander are talking to each other and 2012 R2 Essentials see the P410 on install which is nice
 
Have updated to the latest driver though as windows could not auto find a recent driver - no issues
 
The disks i have connected do not show up in windows and you do not get a bios screen for the P410 (apart from a boot rom screen that goes by so fast you cant read it)
 
However loading the HP ProLiant Array Configuration Utility for Windows 64-bit allows you to configure the disks - initial test is to set each disk as a raid0 on its own and then create a logical drive - they then appear in windows and as an added bonus they are not wiped it appears - need a bit more testing to confirm this.
 
As added bonus have got a new un used R2 Essentials Lic for £20 this time

The enclosure i have uses a JMicron controller and i have used it mainly with WD drives - green and blue - all worked fine no drop outs
 
i think a 20 - 24 hr backup run of large files has tested it more than once and no issues
 
so maybe lucky with good controller
 
but have never had an issue with usb - pen drives, external "toasters" or enclosures that i can remember 

Hi
 
Proud owner  of a shinny new Essential Server
 
Its along time since i played with Windows server - some things are the same but a lot has changed so....
 
Any recommendations on what to read/watch on how to set it up and use some of the features etc
 
There appears to be a lot of info but where to start with a good guide etc?
 
Thanks
T

IIRC Thunderbolt III is 40gbps and Thunderbolt II is 20gbps - but only really a DAS option and for people who have MAC's - not that many devices in the non mac world with the capability and its expensive - i got it with my NUC but as yet have not needed to use it
 
Usb 3 is 5gbps and 3.1 is 10gbps
 
Sata Express is talked about and i have connectors for it on my m/b - i see its 8 and 16gbps which would move the bottle neck along a bit - but i think that spec has been out since 2009 - and its not main stream yet
 
Maybe Samsung will win with nvme drives everywhere - the new 960 Pro drives look interesting 3500 MB/s Read and 2100 MB/s write - makes my 950 Pro 2500 MB/s and 1500 MB/s - look slow -

Actually go to the top of a very tall tower and throw the RR cards as far as you can 
 
They crashed the server and now i can only boot if the rr drivers decide to load and then they forget half the disks!!
 
This is after running for two days copying data with no issues at all
 
Maybe windows updated itself and did something -actually dont care anymore had enough hassle with them
 
Anyway my new HP 410 arrives tomorrow hopefully with a sas expander so the RR are being rma'd or being sold on ebay
 
Avoid if you can!

Well at last i can throw my 2p to this discussion  about racks
 
New Rack (27U) - obvious work in progress 
 
 
Boris and my Nas - Boris fits nicely in the bottom of the rack below the bottom switch taking up a smidge under 10U - NAS will sit on a shelf along with a few other things
 
 
 
I will post the spec etc when i have it done - with a few more pics i guess - will be nice to get the room tidy as well!!!!

ok thanks
 
have 4 256 if i go to 4x dup or more likely two pools at dup x2

yes build your own and get exactly what you want
 
They are building to a price point and want to ship large volumes 
 
If you were in the uk i could have given you one of my old ones - HAF 912 or Haf-x - great cases loads of fans and 10/13 drives respectively without getting to creative

Thanks again
 
Well after a lot of digging around in ebay's darkest depth Russia, Lavtia, Spain ... you can find some real bargains in Germany!
 
So i was basically looking for cards that were compatible (same make and generation - trying to keep things simple) with Win 10 and thats my mistake when i started this search - although a very few new cards do have Win 10 drivers the vast majority dont - what i had forgotten was that the majority of these cards are only used in servers and as 2016 is all shiny and bushy tailed the majority of the big players have not bothered to produce Win 10 drivers waiting for 2016 to come out or are not going to both as the cards are EOL.
 
So...
 
I decided to set my sights lower to Win 7/2012R2/2012 Essentials and see what i could find - and as you would expect the field is bigger although the choices are not huge as our Sys Admin chums tend to be a bit conservative in there choices - and the second hand/ refurb market is lively but ultimately limiting in variety. The usual suspects come up - Lsi, Hp, Adaptec etc
 
I settled on HP kit partly because i have used it in the past and partly i found HP parts really cheap in Germany. Before i get to that ( it going to be a long post ) all the cards i was interested in, HBA or Exp were cheap in the USA mainly and  the import charges ebay/HMRC apply made what looked a bargain a joke - also these sellers who mark down their product price then stick it to you on the "postage" deserve a special place in hell!
 
The site i found in Germany is https://www.servershop24.de/ They have some absolute bargains covering a broad range of manufacturers and types of tech which i have spent a fail bit of yesterday and today wading through to chose my  card/exp and a few other bits and pieces  - they are on ebay if you want to use that to buy stuff.
 
In the end i have 
 
HP P410 with 512meg cache - £47
HP 24 Bay PCI-E SAS Expander Card 468406-B21 - £33
And some SAS cables - £20
 
  only 60% what i paid for one new RR!  
 
On there way to me
 
Also lined up are
HP ProLiant DL380 G6 2x Xeon X5650 Six-Core 2.66 GHz, 16 GB RAM, 292 GB SAS - 16 HDD bays - £375 - comes with two P410   - if you add up the bits making this server you are saving £150 -£200 on a build you own server with same spec - could not find a better deal anywhere - i'm sure there are but not in Europe that i could find
a battery pack for P410 - £28 
 
I will probably get some more cards once i have checked the quality of what i get and more Ram/HDD for the G6
 
My day gets better i just made a cheeky offer for a Windows 2012 Essential licence and it was accepted - £80 another bargain (tempered with is it too good to be true?) 
 
T

To close this out for anybody in the future
 
1. RR HBA 2720SGL cards do not work together in Win 10 Pro 64bit - I tried the Raid and Quick bios's both had same result - crashing within 15 minutes with 4 or more drives using Burn In Test 8.1
2. However if you flash the cards using the 2720_c2 Bios the cards behave in Win 10 Pro - do not fail the Burn In Test using Ver 2720c.v10 of the bios, Ver 1.0.0.0 of the miniport drivers and Ver 2.5.2.4 of the Management Program from HPT.
3. However ( ) you need to configure the cards separately - preferably in another machine - to upload the bios and then use the management programme to amend you settings in the configuration screens - or use the CLI program to do the same thing - actually quicker. Do each card one at a time and remove before putting the other one in. Once both are configured - make sure exactly the same config changes as they are going to work as one card from now on.
4. However ( yes again!). Once both are back in your target machine - connect your drives and boot up - you will see nothing in POST as the cards have it appears no raid functionality once paired. In windows you will now find the management prog - will not connect to the cards and nor will the CLI - although that lets you login - then ignores any commands you type!!!!!! So you have no way or changing anything short of pulling the cards and putting them in another machine - see above.
 
I have a support call with HPT - being very dim and slow - but i think the have finally go the point its there software not windows thats the problem. If i get a resolution i will update this thread
 
Couple of final things - in theory up to four of these cards can work together - verified for what its worth with HPT prior to wasting over a month faffing around.
Even though you cannot monitor the cards they do work as one under windows and Scanner(3122 Beta) sees them as one controller with 16 disks and DP (727 Beta)is ok as well- so - at least the cards do perform - sorry function
 
Only time will tell if they continue to do so and maybe HPT will come through with a fix - yeah and the orange Tango muffin - respects women!

Cool

first of all, thanks for this great piece of software you made! 
 
i would like to request one slight and one maybe more harder to accomplish change to the clouddrive UI:
 
1.) I would like to have the 'upload enabled' button which is currently hidden in "Drive Options -> Performance -> I/O performance..." right on the main display. 
 
reason: currently I am copying media files to the clouddrive volumes having the uploading completely disabled, then I am letting mediaelch and plex index the files - and when thats done, the uploading gets enabled. this way, the otherwise pretty expensive media scan (i.e. grabbing media properties and frame shots from the movies etc) can run from the locally stored files and would not take hours to complete by downloading the required parts from the cloud again (and again..)).
 
it would be awesome to get that "enable/disable" button right on the main UI so that I can directly see if its currently enabled or not - forgetting to disable uploading before sending hundreds of media files to the clouddrive volume usually ends up in serveral hours of media scan time and it seems I am not able to remember to disable uploading all the time. as the button-functionaility is already built into the UI (but hidden in another window) I think it could be somewhat easily made more accessible?
 
 
 
2.) I would like to have more than just one volume displayed in the overview - it would be really great to see whats going on with the drives (are they uploading /downloading ? are there any issues etc?) without the need to click that damn arrow button (and sometimes clicking it once too often and hitting the "add new drive screen"). as this probably needs some more work to the underlying code this change request only goes to the "nice to have" feature list - but its worth mentioning it anyway I think
 
 
 
(check the attached made-up screenshot to see what I would like the UI to look like:)

   
 
thanks for your time!
 

hmm ok another MS feature that is a chocolate tea pot then! 

Well, Emby support DLNA, so you can watch it that way.   
 
Though as for too much tech, my family disagrees.

Thanks