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HDDs for DrivePool


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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.

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Question fot u guys... I reloaded my server beast...wich now has 1 ssd for os 3 1 TB HDD and 2 6TB drives for a total of 5 HDD in the pool at a 15TB total... when I reloaded all my data to the pool (260gb) it got evenly split between the 2 6 TB drives and nothing loaded to the 3 1 TB drives. is this normal?

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Question fot u guys... I reloaded my server beast...wich now has 1 ssd for os 3 1 TB HDD and 2 6TB drives for a total of 5 HDD in the pool at a 15TB total... when I reloaded all my data to the pool (260gb) it got evenly split between the 2 6 TB drives and nothing loaded to the 3 1 TB drives. is this normal?

Completely.

 

Sorry for the unexpected behavior though.

By default, DrivePool writes to the disk(s) with the most available free space. This is measured as an absolute rather than a percentage. 

This means that your larger disks will be filled first. Once they get mostly filled (so that they have the same amount of free space as the smaller disks), then it will start to use the other disks as well.

 

However, the "Disk Space Equalizer" balancer plugin can change this behavior. It has an option to equalize by percentage. This may be more of what you were expecting.

https://stablebit.com/DrivePool/Plugins

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hey guys I was looking at the raid card drashna recommended for 235 that was sata 6gb/s and also found a 12gb /s card for 259 that is sff-8643 to sata ... my ? is would this work with my current red drives and then I no its ready for future drives at 12gb/s speeds ....



its the LSI 9341 Megaraid sas 9341-8i (LSI00407)

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Well, as long as you get the "fanout cables" (this: CBL‐SFF8643‐SATASB‐10M), then you should be fine.

 

But let me say again, spinning HDDs are not going to need that 12gbps speed, as they're not fast enough to even come close to saturating it. But if you plan on using SSDs, then it's not a bad idea. :)

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Hey guys I found a external enclosure im looking at for backup purposes... its made by mediasonic model (HF2-SU3S2) its a 4 bay external usb 3.0 and Esata enclosure...

 

my ? is will this be a good idea as a backup for my drivepool ? it says it supports 4 by 4TB HDD...just curious what u guys think of it and if there I a chance it woul go beyond 4TB HDDs?



I found it on Newegg for 99.99

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Personally, I would recommend against the MediaSonic boxes.... 

Both Alex and I have had issues with these boxes, as have a few customers. 

 

 

Also, Newegg indicates that it only supports up to 4TB drives. Though, you are right, it's website indicates that it supports up to 6TB drives.

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Roy, how much data do you plan to have backed up how exactly? If you're going to have a Pool of 30TB, no connected backup device I know of will be able to cope. What OS are you running again?

:D

You mean other than an SAS expander case. Right? :P

Those can hold a lot of disks. :)

 

 

As for an enclosure, I'd recommend IcyDock or something else.

Like, really anything else. 

I've had a friend use this brand:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0VN-0003-00065

It seems to be very stable, from that I could tell.

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Use WDIDLE3 to disable the head parking on the device. Let me know if you need the links, I wasn't sure if you have seen my other posts regarding this issue or not.

 

I wouldn't worry about the black, IIRC they don't have this issue as high performance takes priority over energy savings. Did you get the warning from Stablebit Scanner? If so, you can look at the SMART status on your black and get the load cycle count.

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my WD Green just gave me a load cycle count warning of 305079.... should I remov the drive soon? or run till it dies? and do I have to worry about my wd black?

If you're seeing any other issues (performance issues or other SMART warnings), then yes.

Otherwise, it's up to you. Either way, you should check the warranty status on the drive, just in case.

 

But the WD Black should be fine. The Green's are super aggressive about parking, and cause the rapid LCC increase (among other issues), the Black's don't have this issue.

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I have a question tat I hope isn to odd... I may be building a gaming rig for a friend. and im debating SSD or 1TB WD raptor 10,000 Sata 6gb/s HDD for the os. he wants to load a lot of games and im afraid a 512 ssd is to small..any thoughts.


 


im looking at an I7-4790K unlocked


16GB Gskill tridents (8GB x 2)


GTX -970 graphics with 4GB ddr5 Video ram


MSI Z97 atx Gaming motherboard


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It really depends on his usage.

 

I would DEFINITELY recommend a SSD for the system disk. The speed boost you get out of the system makes it all but necessary anymore.

 

As for SSD vs HDD for the games... if he plays one or two games exclusively for a while, and then occasionally plays other games... 

In this case, I would say get the SSD for the games. Install the new and commonly played ones to the SSD and the older games or not as much played to a fast HDD. This way, you get the best of both. 

 

 

Additionally, a 10k RPM drive may not be necessary. A SSHD (hybrid) drive may work just as well here. 

Or even a regular drive. I personally use a Seagate 1TB drive for my games and none are on my system. They load fairly fast, and I get 60fps on most ... FPS'.... And my system is designed to be lower powered (workstation more than gaming PC). 

 

Also, another thing to look at is the CPU. Unless you're playing a lot of high end games that ... actually take advantage of the CPU (most really don't unfortunately), then a Pentium or a Core i3 CPU will serve you well (I'm living that example actually). Save the money on a CPU that's going to idle most of the time during a game (unless you manually set it to handle physX), and spend it on getting ... well both a SSD and a nice, fast HDD. 

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That raptor is like what, $200? You could consider http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148696

960GB SSD from Crucial. No clue whether it is a good/reliable SSD really, would need some research but at less than $100 extra, I would definately consider going there. If budget is a thing, perhaps switch to an i3-4370. Saves about $180 for the larger SSD and a quiet cooling solution?

 

I'm not sure, but I am guessing that the gaming experience will not differ much, if at all, between the i3 and the i7 for most games (but in some cases it does, e.g. http://techbuyersguru.com/haswellgaming.php). An i5 might be a decent compromise. Personally, I would worry about cooling and, especially, the noise that it will cause.

 

Anyway, 500 GB will store quite a few games and you could always add another later.

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