I've been running DrivePool for some time now, and have recently built myself a new main computer for everyday use and gaming, but it's quite power hungry and generates a fair amount of heat. Thus, I've decided to build a separate, dedicated system to run my "server" on, which will include drivepool running over 64-bit windows.
I don't have a major preference on which version of windows to run, and I've go licenses to spare for Windows 7 and Windows 10, are there any real advantages to either for a very basic home server, which shouldn't have to do any real time trans-coding or anything difficult at all, just share the files across the network and be reliable?
As for the Hardware, I'd like it to be as lower power as is physically possible, without running into any significant performance issues. It seems from my use of the software for several years, that even with Network I/O prioritization on, it doesn't use much actual CPU horsepower or memory. So I'm considering one of the ASRock embedded options, but would love some feedback on which would be the minimum necessary to run without cpu issues. I'm leaning towards the J4105, but the N5005 seems like an equally viable option, if possibly overkill for the lack of additional features, if drivepool even needs/supports 4 cores? I'll probably throw a spare 8GB 3200 memory kit in it, which is hugely overkill for these CPUs on speed, but I already have it, and 8GB should be plenty to run the system. Any thoughts on this CPU being enough, or not?
For a SATA controller, as that system would only offer 2xSATA ports, I've found the Ablecon PEX10-SAT which is a 10 port sata host, which uses the ASMedia ASM1062 PCIe sata controller for 2 SATA ports, then a pair of JMicron JMB575 SATA IIII port multipliers to create 10 total SATA ports. Aside from any compatibility issues I'm not aware of, this seems like an ideal option, since drivepool really only writes to 1 drive at a time, and read striping would only be across 2 drives in the system, so I likely won't saturate even a single SATA 3 port with spinning disk drives. I'll have at least one SATA based SSD for the OS and an SSD cache drive for the system running on the integrated controller on the motherboard to give it as much bandwidth as possible. Likely a 960 Evo 512GB or 1TB, or comparable drive, depending on deals on them in the near future. Am I missing any compatibility or other issues in this arrangement?
Drives currently running in Drivepool(for reference)
3x Samsung HD103SI drives 1TB ea, 32mb cache. (Had a 4th for raid 10 at one point, but am down to 3, not bad for 6 year old drives)
1x WD Green 3TB 64mb cache drive, ~3years old, 0 problems to date.
Will be adding 1-2 drives in the near future, hoping to ~double the total drive space available so a pair of 3-4TB drives at most, maybe a pair of 2TB drives depending on $/GB and black friday sales.
If you've managed to read all of this and have ANY useful advice on the set-up, I would absolutely appreciate it!
Question
RobFranklin
Good Day All,
I've been running DrivePool for some time now, and have recently built myself a new main computer for everyday use and gaming, but it's quite power hungry and generates a fair amount of heat. Thus, I've decided to build a separate, dedicated system to run my "server" on, which will include drivepool running over 64-bit windows.
I don't have a major preference on which version of windows to run, and I've go licenses to spare for Windows 7 and Windows 10, are there any real advantages to either for a very basic home server, which shouldn't have to do any real time trans-coding or anything difficult at all, just share the files across the network and be reliable?
As for the Hardware, I'd like it to be as lower power as is physically possible, without running into any significant performance issues. It seems from my use of the software for several years, that even with Network I/O prioritization on, it doesn't use much actual CPU horsepower or memory. So I'm considering one of the ASRock embedded options, but would love some feedback on which would be the minimum necessary to run without cpu issues. I'm leaning towards the J4105, but the N5005 seems like an equally viable option, if possibly overkill for the lack of additional features, if drivepool even needs/supports 4 cores? I'll probably throw a spare 8GB 3200 memory kit in it, which is hugely overkill for these CPUs on speed, but I already have it, and 8GB should be plenty to run the system. Any thoughts on this CPU being enough, or not?
For a SATA controller, as that system would only offer 2xSATA ports, I've found the Ablecon PEX10-SAT which is a 10 port sata host, which uses the ASMedia ASM1062 PCIe sata controller for 2 SATA ports, then a pair of JMicron JMB575 SATA IIII port multipliers to create 10 total SATA ports. Aside from any compatibility issues I'm not aware of, this seems like an ideal option, since drivepool really only writes to 1 drive at a time, and read striping would only be across 2 drives in the system, so I likely won't saturate even a single SATA 3 port with spinning disk drives. I'll have at least one SATA based SSD for the OS and an SSD cache drive for the system running on the integrated controller on the motherboard to give it as much bandwidth as possible. Likely a 960 Evo 512GB or 1TB, or comparable drive, depending on deals on them in the near future. Am I missing any compatibility or other issues in this arrangement?
Drives currently running in Drivepool(for reference)
3x Samsung HD103SI drives 1TB ea, 32mb cache. (Had a 4th for raid 10 at one point, but am down to 3, not bad for 6 year old drives)
1x WD Green 3TB 64mb cache drive, ~3years old, 0 problems to date.
Will be adding 1-2 drives in the near future, hoping to ~double the total drive space available so a pair of 3-4TB drives at most, maybe a pair of 2TB drives depending on $/GB and black friday sales.
If you've managed to read all of this and have ANY useful advice on the set-up, I would absolutely appreciate it!
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