HDDs for DrivePool

[essential]

I'm assembling a computer this weekend.  I was originally going to build 2 computers, 1 home machine, and 1 server.  Budget restraints have brought me down to just one machine, and I'm going to run DrivePool and have the pool be a share for several devices in the house.

 

I currently have:

 

4TB Seagate NAS Drive (ST4000VN000, never used)

2TB WD Green (2 years old)

1TB WD Green (5 years old)

1TB WD Green (5 years old)

 

All the drives are still working with no errors, but I was going take out the two 1TB drives and add another 4TB drive since they are at the 5 year mark.  I was never able to use the 4TB seagate because my old machine wouldn't recognize the drive so I can't speak on it's reliability.  Are there any drives that work better with DrivePool?

 

I'm going to be duplicating most things, but reliability is important.  I've looked in to enterprise drives but some reviews say they aren't desktop drives and shouldn't be used as such.  This isn't technically a NAS even though other devices will be accessing the pool.  The machine will be on 24x7.

 

Should I go cheap with a green drive, a nas drive, or enterprise drive?

 

Thanks.

[Ryo]

is this card able to truly support 10 drives?

 

highpoint rocketraid 620 pci express 2.0 x1 sata 3 6.0 gb/s controller card

found it on newegg

[Ryo]

also liking the highpoint rocketraid 644LS

[Ryo]

also like LSI 00301 (9207-8i) its an 8 port sas controller that would use a sas to sata 3 break out cable. im liking this best if u guys agree. gonna run 6 onboard ports and the 8 lsi card ports. (only need 7) because my case houses 1 dvd and 12 HDD. but this is best idea for cost I believe. but again I welcome your feedback and once I get my os loaded im going to run drivepool and scanner on this build. thanks again.

[Christopher (Drashna)]

is this card able to truly support 10 drives?

 

highpoint rocketraid 620 pci express 2.0 x1 sata 3 6.0 gb/s controller card

 

found it on newegg

 

With port multiplication, yes, it should be able to.

also liking the highpoint rocketraid 644LS

Also a nice card, but this is for an external connection. Would be nice with a JBOD expander box, though.

 

also like LSI 00301 (9207-8i) its an 8 port sas controller that would use a sas to sata 3 break out cable. im liking this best if u guys agree. gonna run 6 onboard ports and the 8 lsi card ports. (only need 7) because my case houses 1 dvd and 12 HDD. but this is best idea for cost I believe. but again I welcome your feedback and once I get my os loaded im going to run drivepool and scanner on this build. thanks again.

I have three LSI SAS 9240-81 cards (well, IBM ServeRAID m1015 cards, cross-flashed). 

To be honest, this is probably the best solution. LSI chipsets are enterprise grade (from what I've seen) and will work very well. 

And I've had some weird stability issues with the Highpoint cards, because I wasn't using RAID or NAS cards, while I have not seen the same on the LSI cards.

 

LSI cards are going to run you a bit more money, but are definitely worth it, IMO. 

[Ryo]

getting my 1 TB 2.5 inch WD red for the os this week and may build my pool soon after. with a 1 TB WD black and 1 TB WD green

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Glad to hear it!

 

Oh, and incase it's important, here is a guide to "seed" the pool, if you already have data on those disks that isn't pooled:

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q4142489

[Ryo]

how important is a feeder disk with a ssd?

how large do u recommend for a  ssd feeder disk? I'm thinking 120-128gb

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Depends on the system setup.

 

Just keep in mind, the max speed for gigabit networking is 125MB/s, not counting any overhead or other systems connecting.

Also, most drives are goign to get between 80-100MB/s for read speeds, and a bit lower for writes. So, chances are, if you're writing over the network, a SSD/feeder disk is not that important for you. 

But if this is local, then it may definitely make a difference, as a lot of SSDs can hit 400MB/s or higher.

 

As for how large? That depends on what you're going to be doing. Since you'll basically be limiting the file size to the size of the feeder disks, you'll want larger SSDs.

120GB is the smallest I'd go with, honestly. And considering the price for SSDs has been getting lower and lower, a couple of 240GB's may be a good idea.

 

Also, if you're using duplication, then you'll want two SSD/feeder drives, for the most part. 

The reason is, if you have realtime duplication enabled (default, and recommended), then it will write to both disks in parallel. Having only one SSD and having duplication enabled, means that you may very likely lose the benefit of the SSD Optimizer balancer.

[Ryo]

hey drashna have you heard of www.moviescapital.com  ? are they legit

may be a better option than trying to convert my dvd collection...not bad pricing 39.95  per year..

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Nope, definitely not legit:

https://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/moviescapital.com?utm_source=addon&utm_content=rw-viewsc

Or it would appear so. I mean, they *could* be, but ..... 

 

As for ripping your DVD collection, there are plenty of utilities to do so, such as "MakeMKV".  I've used DVD-Fab a lot in the past, and have been very happy with it.

 

However, "MyMovies" has the option to rip DVDs as well. The link may be out of date, but:

http://wiki.mymovies.dk/Cataloging%20and%20Watching%20using%20Built-In%20Ripper.ashx

[Ryo]

my new motherboard must be micro atx but if I wanna run a raid card with JBOD and then run expander cards to hit say 24 hdd bay how many pci 3.0 x16 slots are recommended. keep in mind im planning onboard video for this build. with a xeon 1275 socket 1150, any advice is welcome.

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Just one slot, really.

 

Get an LSI card (such as the IBM ServeRAID M1015, and "cross flash" it, or spend the money on a retail card), and get a RAID Expander card.  That will get you all the ports you need. And the PCI Express 2.0 x8 card should have more than enough bandwidth for the drives.

(to clarify, the 2.0 x8 connection should get you 4GB/s speed, which is good for ~30 HDDs at 120MB/s, in theory)

 

RAID Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118112

RAID Expander: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816117207

(it looks like the expander uses a x4 slot physically, but only for electricity)

 

Mind you, this isn't cheap, but you would be able to connect 24 drives this way. And rather simply. 

[Ryo]

saw a similar card that's 8 port but pci express 3.0

also LSI

[Christopher (Drashna)]

As I said, a PCI-Express 2.0 card with 8 lanes shoudl be good for up to about 30 HDDs. So if the 3.0 card is cheaper, then definitely. Otherwise, save yourself some money and get the 2.0 card instead. 

[Ryo]

are the Samsung 850 pro series capable of 24/7 operation model MZ-7KE128BW OR THE MZ-7KE256BW

My red drive may be to slow for os use the server hangs while data is transferred to it and even though I don't plan on a lot going there I want the option.

 

also if I create a drivepool now can I fix it if I reload windows on the ssd later

I wont be putting any part of the ssd to the pool

the pool will be created with my wd 1 tb black and my 1 tb green for now and when I get the ssd ill add the 1 tb red

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Yes, those drives should be good for 24/7 operation. In fact, just about any SSD is anymore. I'm using an OCZ Vertex 4 for about 2 years of power on time now (heavily, ~30TBs in Writes), and it's only at about 7% wear. That's with the page file, and hibernate file on it, and used often. And lots installed to it (and ... 4-5 bare metal restores to it). So it's been well used.

 

And considering the speed (it really makes a difference, IMO) and the low power usage, SSDs are great for the system disk. In fact, I highly recommend it for every system.

 

As for the Pool, there should be absolutely no problem with this. Once the system is reinstalled, and DrivePool has been reinstalled, it will immediately see the pooled drives and recreate the pool. 

[Ryo]

how r the intel 730 series with 5 yr warrenty and 70gb per day versus the Samsung 10 year warranty at 40gb per day?

[Ryo]

I got the drivepool and scanner installed and running the 30 day trial. is it ok that I removed drive letters from the 2 drives in my pool and only have the (pool) drive letter?

forme its the A drive...

 

props guys both products rock. cant wait to add some of the 6 TB drives

[Ryo]

hey drashna  have you ever used the wd red 1TB 2.5 inch drive as a single os drive? seems really slow compared to my 3.5 inch wd black. if im transferring files to it it almost freezes the os while doing file transfer. and now WD told me not to use reds in my pc wich would suck cause I really want that 6 TB monster..

im definitely considering an intel 730 ssd at 240gb but still want reds for the pool.

 

What do u think I should do?

[dbailey75]

hey drashna  have you ever used the wd red 1TB 2.5 inch drive as a single os drive? seems really slow compared to my 3.5 inch wd black. if im transferring files to it it almost freezes the os while doing file transfer. and now WD told me not to use reds in my pc wich would suck cause I really want that 6 TB monster..

im definitely considering an intel 730 ssd at 240gb but still want reds for the pool.

 

What do u think I should do?

yeah, I would not recommend any red drive as an OS drive,  the slowish spindle speed will be noticed, go SSD or stay with the wd black 7.2k RPM, put the red in your storage pool.

 

I hear you on the 6tb, I've got my eye on the HGST 6TB NAS drive, I'm liking these as they are 7.2K vs all the other NAS drives which are in the 5k range.  I will say,  you do get more heat from the HGST. but that's the price you pay for speed. 

[Ryo]

speed was great with black as os drive but wanted a 2.5 inch os drive so ill have more room for the 6 tb monsters

if I go with either a black or ssd can I use red in pc for data pool ? or will it b sluggish ?

[Christopher (Drashna)]

How do you mean?

Reliability, performance, etc?

 

For the most part, if you use a SSD for the system disk at all, you should ABSOLUTELY have a backup drive. 

SSDs, when they fail, tend to do so quietly and without warning. Even the good quality ones.

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Should have refreshed before posting ....

I got the drivepool and scanner installed and running the 30 day trial. is it ok that I removed drive letters from the 2 drives in my pool and only have the (pool) drive letter?

forme its the A drive...

 

props guys both products rock. cant wait to add some of the 6 TB drives

Absolutely fine. DrivePool doesn't use the letter at all, so this doesn't matter.

 

But for convenience, I would recommend mounting to a folder path:

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q4822624

This way, you can run chkdsk by using the mount folder, or you can access the contents without re-assigning a letter.

 

hey drashna  have you ever used the wd red 1TB 2.5 inch drive as a single os drive? seems really slow compared to my 3.5 inch wd black. if im transferring files to it it almost freezes the os while doing file transfer. and now WD told me not to use reds in my pc wich would suck cause I really want that 6 TB monster..

im definitely considering an intel 730 ssd at 240gb but still want reds for the pool.

 

What do u think I should do?

No. I avoiding using "spinners" for system disks. The speed difference between a "spinner" and an SSD is just too great.  I use SSDs for the system drive, and then HDDs for data/storage/etc. 

 

That includes my server, and my desktop, and HTPC and NVR (Network Video Recorder, powered by BlueIris).

 

As for the freezing .... that's not good. Though it may be an issue with how the "NASWare" works on the Reds, and why WD said what they did. Rather, don't use them as the system drive, but use them for data and storage.

 

speed was great with black as os drive but wanted a 2.5 inch os drive so ill have more room for the 6 tb monsters

if I go with either a black or ssd can I use red in pc for data pool ? or will it b sluggish ?

Reds should be fantastic for speed. I use a bunch of the 4TB reds in my file server and get ~90MB/s from them. 

 

But yeah, a WD Black or SSD would be best for the OS.

[dbailey75]

speed was great with black as os drive but wanted a 2.5 inch os drive so ill have more room for the 6 tb monsters

if I go with either a black or ssd can I use red in pc for data pool ? or will it b sluggish ?

Red in the pool is just fine, I just think as an OS drive, there's a lot going on, with reads/writes, page files, what ever, but when use as a pooled drive, the activity is limited, I have the same 2.5" red in my pool,  I also have a couple of the older 1TB WD Blues which are 5200RPM I believe,  you can tell the speed difference with file transfers are hitting the blues, as these drives also have other limiting factors like 8mb cache, etc.  Here's interesting article reviewing the latest NAS drives,  http://www.anandtech.com/show/8265/wd-red-pro-review-4-tb-drives-for-nas-systems-benchmarked/4.  take the results with a grain of salt. the HGST's were not tested but it's mostly likely because they are the newest NAS drives on the market.    Good information none the less.  

 

(assuming you live in the US) Oh, it's the holiday shopping season, go get yourself an SSD,  240GB's are running $50 and up. I've even seen the older intel 530 240gb, which is what i'm using for an OS drive in my WHS 2011,  for $70ish. 

[Ryo]

Im liking the crucial M500 240gb ssd currently on newegg for 79.99

is that a solid ssd?