Christopher (Drashna)

So far I have:
 
Supermicro X10SLH-F-O
Xeon E3-1276v3
16GB Crucial UDIMM (Another 16GB will be here on Friday)
LSI SAS 9207-8i
120GB OCZ Vertex3 SSD for OS
2x 5TB Toshiba (PH3500U-1|72)
 
I'll use that to upgrade my existing setup.
 
If my boss buys my existing server, I'll pick up a Norco 4224, and probably 4x 8TB Seagate Archive Drives
 

"And glad to hear that you got the airflow fixed and the drives running cooler! "
 
Biggest thing was that I had the cover off, and it made a HUGE difference when I put it back on.  Makes sense though, with the cover on, the air is forced through the front where the drives are.  I also closed the vents on the bays where I didn't have drives.
 
If I upgrade this, or rebuild using a 4224 I will be getting the 120mm fan wall.

My CURRENT setup:
 
Norco RPC-4220
Supermicro X7SPA-H-D525 Mobo
D525 (1.80Ghz) CPU
4GB Mushkin SO-DIMM DDR3 1333
Corsair TX650 PSU
LSI SAS 9201-16i
60GB OCZ Vertex2 SSD for OS
5x 3TB Barracuda XT (ST3300651AS)
6x 3TB WD Red (WD30EFRX-68A)
1x 2TB Landing Drive for Torrents
 
I'll either be upgrading to building a new server in the next two weeks...  Can't wait!
 

Thanks.
Yes, after 10 years with watercooling cases (some were dual Xeon), I am now only doing air cooled stuff and even if its more challenging regarding temperatures, its way cheaper...
A good controled air flow with positive air pressure can cool a lot of setup, with near to zero maintenance.
 
Now that I use DrivePool, I would be able to keep the same case and if I need more data room, only change 4TB drives as price drop with 8TB, one by one...
72TB in a small mid tower with all HD under 35°C 

Sorry, I have "only" 4 SSDs 
I was just curious if dual link would increase single SSD read/write but it doesn't.

Some picts of my quick but functional SAS expander mounting 
 
A very efficient 350W TFX PSU :
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
SAS mount   :
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
Mounted in the case.
The setup isn't complete yet (but working). When completed it would have 1x 240GB SSD + 3x240Gb caching SSDs, 6x4TB  + 3x5TB HDs : virtualy 39TB with SSD write caching x3.
On this picture I was testing dual link between the M1115 and Intel SAS expander :
 
 

 
 
 
 
Single link :
      I need some more work on cable management... But cooling is now perfectly tunned with SpeedFan that controls 5 case fans. HDs are between 29°C and 34°C and both SAS card's CPU below 45°C (thanks to a case fan puching air between both SAS cards).

Small update : I did replace the original heatsink with a bigger and 100% copper one.
I did fixed it with Arctic Sylver Thermal Adhesive, so it's permanent but much more efficient than thermal paste in this case.
Then I did bended the heatsink pins one by one.
The result is an impressive 20°C temp drop from 45-50°C to 27-30°C.
 
I plan to do the same for the top M1115.
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

I'm a long time FlexRAID user, and while the protection appeared to be there the reality is that it never really worked for me.
 
I will have a pool with 14 drives (10x 3TB, 2x 4TB and 2x 5TB drives).  The majority of my data is media (about 18TB) and not practical to duplicate it all.  I have another 2-3TB of personal files, work files, pics etc that I would like to duplicate.
I will also be running the Scanner software.  I understand that if I want to be fully protected I'd need to spend a ton of money on Enterprise drives, hardware RAID, etc, etc, etc.  I'm looking for settings/configuration (for both Drivepool and Scanner) that will offer me good protection/prevention.
 
I hooked up some old drives to my existing FlexRAID server and installed Drivepool and Scanner to play with it.  I need to play with Drivepool a bit more to understand how it works... I had one drive with data on it, and it added the free space to the pool, and there was a drive with just the data on it that remained.  I moved the data, but it didn't remove the now empty drive.  It scanned the drives, and one was a complete mess (but still worked), so it warned me it was going to die.  Another has always had heat issues, and it gave me a warning about the temp.  That's great, and as long as I have 5TB free it should copy files off the drive to minimize the risk of data loss.
 
Any suggestions for actual setup/configuration?  Tips for a newb?
 
Thanks!
 
 

As I read it, you have 48TB capacity and 21TB of data. I would duplicate all as I assume you do not make backups and do want to be at least somewhat protected. Duplication <> backup but at least you are likely not to lose anything in case of a single HDD failure. It will leave about 6TB free (although, due to duplication it would only be about 3TB net).
 
I would consider adding one or two (or four) 8TB Seagate Archive HDDs. They are cheap per TB and read like crazy. There is a write-performance penalty but, frankly, I do not see that affecting your system as it would hit only when you have a lot of writes and I assume most of your data is actually static. It will leave you with a lot of room to move data to from current HDDs that start to fail.
 
The is a File Placement add-in that helps you to ensure that media files that belong to each other or not scattered over many HDDs (you could get it to have groups of files to be written to two HDDs only) but I do not use it and can not actually help with that.
 
I am usnure what you mean exactly by "I had one drive with data on it, and it added the free space to the pool, and there was a drive with just the data on it that remained.  I moved the data, but it didn't remove the now empty drive."

So, basically no difference.  Do you have multiple SSDs?  If so, ... well, to properly test... you'd need 7+ that can run at about 500MB/s (for the sequential).  6 and change to saturate one connection, and then a seventh or more to exceed.  If you have that many and can test them all at the same time (running a surface scan or chkdsk or a full format), that would be the real test.  (otherwise, it's closer to 30+ HDDS).

You can find all builds here:
http://dl.covecube.com/CloudDriveWindows/beta/download/
 
However, these should be relatively stable:
http://dl.covecube.com/CloudDriveWindows/beta/download/StableBit.CloudDrive_1.0.0.395_x64_BETA.exe
http://dl.covecube.com/CloudDriveWindows/beta/download/StableBit.CloudDrive_1.0.0.395_x86_BETA.exe

my 2 WD red 6 TB and my 1TB 2.5 inch have been running strong 24/7 since I rebuilt my xeon

The cache size is the target size that should be used. 
 
The upload cache may exceed this, and fill the drive.
 
We do plan on putting a max cap on this in future versions. 

The benefit to me with server OS is the stability and automation.  It's very easy to setup for automatic computer backups, and the use of storage space is a breeze.  The only reason I didn't stay with WHS 2011 was because after finally getting everything installed, the OS started corrupting my system files and registry.  Not sure what caused it, probably a Windows Update or something, but I was essentially locked out of modifying anything.  Whenever I would try to access the registry, it would give me an error saying the registry was in read-only mode because I was connected remotely.  Of course the first thing I then tried was connect a monitor/keyboard/mouse directly to the server, and it STILL gave me that error.  I couldn't perform any administrative jobs either, like system restore, to try and fix the problem.  The only solution was a complete reformat and reinstall, which I was unable to do because of the current condition of my drive/folder structures.  This was before I got DrivePool.  If I formatted my OS drive, I would lose what Microsoft called "Tombstones" that stores the location of the files.  Lose those files, and you're basically SOL on getting your files off any of the pool drives.  My ultimate solution was to go for Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials, which according to Wikipedia (link) was the next upgrade after WHS 2011.  I've had to reinstall it twice because of my misunderstanding of how the system works, but now that it's running it's great.
 
Something else you might consider, though I have no experience with, is something like FreeNAS.  From what I understand, it'll do what you're looking for.  The OS can be installed on a tiny little USB drive, and then all your drives are pooled.  You access the interface for configuring through a built in website, and then access the storage pool through a standard Explorer linked network share.  The downside I think is that there is no built in backup solutions.  The only reason I didn't go this route is because I'm not good with Linux.  But my new understanding is that you don't even SEE Linux.  The OS installs and sets everything up automatically.  The only downside you might experience would be drivers for your controller (which is also the problem you CURRENTLY have).  If you're still in the experimentation phase of locking down an OS, I'd at least recommend giving it a try.  I for one would love to know how you get on with it if you do, since it sounds a LOT easier to set and have running.

yes, please! We bought a licence from you immediately after release and are waiting for Google Drive (for work) support since then.
(and for Amazon Cloud Drive Unlimited arriving in Europe - but as it's not that reliable that's maybe not the best solution).
 
In fact Google gives you >5TB even with one user     ... pssst. 

Hi you could just buy yourself some rackmount bars off eBay go to your local hardware shop and get them to cut some 22mm mdf to your custome sizes screw the bars on there you go I built mine like that cost me about £30 I needed a case at a specific size for where I wanted it stored.

I have installed W7 64 Pro and have not had a single crash! I looked in the event viewer and I am still getting some errors relating to the 3ware driver BUT it has not crashed and it has been 3 days now. Does this mean that I could maybe build my server around W7 and not have any problems? What do you think?

Bissquitt,
It's a custom built rack out of 3/4 plywood and audio equipment Raxxess rails. If you want the specs I could look for them but it was made to house my APC UPS being the deepest and enough room below for cables and a less deep top shelf to help with airflow. Additionally I mounted caster wheels to roll it in and out of my office closet.

I had the same issue with BT Sync.  That's why I love Stablebit...can duplicate across vdisks.

I had issues when I last used BitTorrent Sync (When it was in beta) and ended up losing some files and was also looking for a way to use a friend as backup. We settled on AllwaySync, which works very well and does not impact our files at all. It does cost a little, but it is well worth it in my opinion.

okay well thats grate news ill see if i can buy it next month.

Please, definitely do check, and let me know what you find.
 
Also, a good way to max out the bus speed... use StableBit Scanner's Burst test option (right click on a drive).  This runs the drive a higher speed than the disk is capable, but maxes out the bus.  It's great for testing for connectivity issues, but doing this on multiple drives may be a good way to test the controller link.
 
 
And Expander Cards make for excellent cable management. 

http://www.lsi.com/products/storagecomponents/Pages/LSISAS9201-16i.aspx
 
Driver version: 2.0.60.2
Firmware version: 16.00.00.00
BIOS Version: 08.00.00.00_68.51.34.17_09000000
 
Using specific method: ScsiPassThrough48

 
Using specific method: AtaPassThrough

Thanks a lot : it instantly worked 
For now I am still testing SSD pluggin on unduplicated files. I am waiting for a third 240gb SSD to arrived (Sandisk PRO, not the slowest SSD  ...) to start testing with x3 duplication.
From what I can see for now, it would work very well!

The controller should handling 64 drives, or it was 256. It depends on the controller firmware, really. And I'm not sure.
http://www.avagotech.com/products/server-storage/raid-controllers/megaraid-sas-9240-8i#specifications
http://www.avagotech.com/products/server-storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9211-8i#specifications
 
And you can chain Expander cards, IIRC. 
 
The 34-36 limit is for the number of drives you can scan at the same time, assuming 120MB/s throughput. This is based on the PCI Express 2.0 8 lane (8x) connection.  This would be an issue for RAID arrays, but because DrivePool isn't going to be using every drive at the same time, it shouldn't be an issue for your Pool.
 
 
 
And I'm very sorry to hear that you're feeling sick. I hope you feel well soon!