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20TB or Bigger Hard Drive Array - Page 3

post #61 of 80
3/27/12 at 12:52pm
I have a 4 bay windows home server with 8 TB of storage. You could easily buy a 8 port SATA III Raid card and build a 21ish TB RAID 5 array using 8x3TB drives in WHS 2011.

Super easy.
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post #62 of 80
3/28/12 at 10:38am
Thread Starter 
Hi Nexus,
Can you give us more explanation how super easy it is ?
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post #63 of 80
3/28/12 at 10:43am
NORCO RPC-4020
Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3
Intel G620
Antec NEO ECO 620W
4GB DDR3
2x AOC-SASLP-MV8 8-Port SAS card

Add cables and HDDs.

Profit.
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post #64 of 80
3/28/12 at 12:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by iwanrs View Post

Hi Nexus,
Can you give us more explanation how super easy it is ?

Sure.

Mount the drives in your case. Connect the sata cables. Set the drives/sata ports for RAID in the BIOS. Create the raid array in the raid config utility (during post).

Done.

You now have a RAID array of whatever type and size you selected.
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post #65 of 80
3/30/12 at 8:25pm
Thread Starter 
After I search high and low for plug and play 8 bay HDD enclosure USB3.0 Raid, found out:

All 8 bay enclosure in Raid-mode will seperate 8 HDDs into 2 group of 4 HDDs.
Is this correct ?

I want all 8 HDDs (8 x 3TB) merge into one big HDDs (in Raid 5)
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post #66 of 80
3/30/12 at 8:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by iwanrs View Post

After I search high and low for plug and play 8 bay HDD enclosure USB3.0 Raid, found out:

All 8 bay enclosure in Raid-mode will seperate 8 HDDs into 2 group of 4 HDDs.
Is this correct ?

I want all 8 HDDs (8 x 3TB) merge into one big HDDs (in Raid 5)

Build a separate box or add them to an existing computer.
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post #67 of 80
3/31/12 at 5:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by iwanrs View Post

Can you guys talk about "more simple solution" for everage Joe ?
Buy multiple bays enclosure and HDDs, simply plug and play.

I'd go with a Drobo. The others are right...with a budget like that, I think building or buying a real server is the right answer. But you'll need the skillset to manage it.

You could maybe look at the machines with WIndows Home Server on them which gives you probably a little more flexibility long term...but then it's right back to having the skills to manage it...and at that point, you would likely just build a server.
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post #68 of 80
3/31/12 at 7:03am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by iwanrs View Post

There is Drobo S, USB3.0, 5 bays with 5 x Hitachi 4TB 7200RPM HDD, total 20TB at B & H Photo, cost about $2,300.
I will get only 16TB nett after Raid5 configuration.

Is this a good option, $/TB ?

Any better (cheaper) suggestion?

Many Thanks

This is what I consider at first, but the price is a bit at the top end side.
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post #69 of 80
3/31/12 at 8:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tr4nc3f0rm3r View Post

I'd go with a Drobo. The others are right...with a budget like that, I think building or buying a real server is the right answer. But you'll need the skillset to manage it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by iwanrs View Post

This is what I consider at first, but the price is a bit at the top end side.

I think that was kind of his point... Drobo is for people who would rather throw money at something that learn a better way to do it. If you don't want to spend the money, then you need to learn about the alternatives. This thread has been going on for over two weeks, it would take a fraction of that time to figure out how to set up WHS + FlexRAID.
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post #70 of 80
3/31/12 at 3:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zicoz View Post

My current setup:

Main chassis:

oChassis: Norco RPC-4020 (about $300 now but I had it from my previous file server)
oMotherboard: SuperMicro X8ST3-F (about $350)
oPSU: Corsair AX 850 (about $150)
oCPU: Intel Xeon E5506 (about $250)
oMemory: 4GB Corsair (about $50)
oSAS-controller: IBM ServerRaid M1015 x 3 (about $80 a piece)
oAlso the motherboard has 2x4 port sas connectors on it with a LSI 1068e chip.
o1x SFF-8087 to SFF-8088 PCI bracket with 2 ports similar to this. But different brand. (about $50)
oOS Drive: OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD (about $100 but I had it already)
oStorage: Samsung 2TB drives x 20

Total: about $1500 + storage

Expander chassis:

oChassis: Norco RPC-4220 (about $350)
oPSU: Ace Outburst 550W (about $100)
oPower controller: Supermicro Storage On/Off PWR Control Board (about $50)
oSAS expander: Intel RES2SV240 (about $250)
o1x SFF-8087 to SFF-8088 PCI-bracket with one port. (about $30)
oStorage: Samsung 2TB drives x 8

Total: about $780 + storage

The main chassis is connected to expander chassis with a SFF-8088 cable.

Software:

oOS: Windows Home Server 2k11
oDrive pooling: Drive Bender

With this setup I now basically have room for as much storage that 40 HDDs can give me, if I need to expand beyond that I simply build a duplicate of the Expander Chassis and connect that to my Main Server. As of today the Main Server has 1 open SFF-8088 port, but all I need to do is to add another M1015 card and a SFF8087-to-SFF8088 bracket to get another 2 ports on it for a total of 4 Expander Chassis.

If I were building today the only thing I would replace is the motherboard/CPU as these are not current generation hardware. I'd og for either a Sandy Bridge duo, or the New Opteron 3200 that'll be out soon.

When it comes to Storage backup, I don't like things like RAID or ZFS unless it's a Raid1-like setup. If you lose 2 drives in a Raid5 you likely lose all your data, if you lose one drive in a storagepool you only lose the data on that drive and nothing else. My solution is to have a 1-1 backup offsite for which I use my old drives.

Just curious, what is the power consumption of your 2 units when idle?
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post #71 of 80
3/31/12 at 6:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by N3W813 View Post

Just curious, what is the power consumption of your 2 units when idle?

Something to consider on his build. On his drive access, all his hdds will spin at the same time. With the same h/w build running unRaid or FlexRaid, only the HDD being accessed will be spinning and this will have an impact both on drive life expectancy and power consumption.
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post #72 of 80
3/31/12 at 6:41pm
I have spent the last three years playing with a number of different solutions: Drobo, QNAP, Thecus, Synology, WHS, and linux boxes. The build your own solutions are fun and the cheapest solution out there (no doubt). Depending on what you want to do, the build your own solutions have some headaches.

Drobo is by far and away the absolute worst solution on the planet! The interface stinks (have to load proprietary drivers and software). If the computer re-boots don't expect an instant log on or even recognition of the system all the time. I have two Drobo Pros and one of the original 4 bay boxes (with the NAS add on). The Drobos don't even update well from their own site. And the last and most important thing...they are one of the most expensive solutions out there! The speeds are also some of the worst (actually the worst).

Thecus, QNAP, and Synology all have amazing solutions. I love them all. Synology is the cheapest and has a nice interface (with a lot of built in wizards if your not comfortable with setting up a NAS). QNAP has a great interface but is a bit more expensive. Thecus is very similar to QNAP, but the interface is a little more cumbersome. I would say that the Synology support is awesome...actually able to speak to a real person! I have the 2411 box with 3 tb drives and the add on 12 bay box. It's about 60+TB. Enough storage for a little while. I also love the additional apps that it comes with...audio station, Itunes server, and photostation. all very good. QNAP and Thecus provide the same features.

WHS is a pretty damn good solution as well...had fun build some, but I didn't like the off site log on as much as the synology, qnap, or thecus. It's very functional, but uploading bulk photos and files is a bit more of a pain in the ass.

The majority of the cost in these will be the hard drives!
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post #73 of 80
3/31/12 at 6:47pm
BTW synology has a new 8 bay solution that accepts 4tb drives. It's based on the atom processor. QNAP has similar options, but twice the cost. The DS1812 box also allows the use of add on drive bays (up to 10 through two dx510 boxes)
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post #74 of 80
4/1/12 at 10:08pm
Thread Starter 
I am humble asking for HELP:

I have 10 units of Seagate Barracuda 3TB HDDs, model ST3000DM00.

Can someone help me build a 10 bays HDD enclosure base on Raid (in whatever best Raid mode).
What I need is all 10 units of HDD must merge into ONE HDD, not devided into several groups.
Connection USB3.0 or Ethernet (NAS).
Please PM me.

Thanks
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post #75 of 80
4/2/12 at 8:44am
try the synology 2411+ is is 12 bays to start and expand to 24 additional bays.
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post #76 of 80
4/2/12 at 8:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by space2001 View Post

try the synology 2411+ is is 12 bays to start and expand to 24 additional bays.

And way, way overpriced.

Find a case that holds 12+ disks, using 5.25 -> 3.5 converters if needed
Intel g620
Any 1155 motherboard of your choice, H61 should do fine
SASLP2
2x2GB of RAM
Your OS of choice, Win or Linux
FlexRaid


Profit.
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post #77 of 80
4/2/12 at 9:31am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lars99 View Post

And way, way overpriced.

Find a case that holds 12+ disks, using 5.25 -> 3.5 converters if needed
Intel g620
Any 1155 motherboard of your choice, H61 should do fine
SASLP2
2x2GB of RAM
Your OS of choice, Win or Linux
FlexRaid


Profit.

Will you help to build one for me, Lars ?
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post #78 of 80
4/2/12 at 9:39am
Thread Starter 
I found this: ARECA 5040 but $1,000 heavy.
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post #79 of 80
4/2/12 at 1:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by iwanrs View Post

Will you help to build one for me, Lars ?

I believe that's what I and others have been doing.
You don't need a hard drive array. You pay significantly more for what you can build yourself. Minus the cost of drives, you can do the entire thing under 400$.


Find a case that can hold at least 10 drives. There are plenty of them out there. This is mostly personal preference but ones to consider are the Antec 1200, or the NZXT Whisper.

Now find a motherboard. Something like this would work.

Now find a CPU. This one works great.

Now add a power supply. Here's a decent one.

Add some RAM. Here's some decent 8GBs for a good price.

Depending on how many total hard drives you want, you may need to convert 5.25 bays into 3.5 for hard drives. There are many choices if you want hot swap or not, but this is nice and cheap for non hot-swap.

Since you want at least 8 hard drives, you'll need to cover additional SATA slots. Buy one of these as well as the corresponding breakout cable.

Install it all and put Windows 7 or Windows 2011 Home Server on it for simplicity.
Install FlexRaid and pool all the hard drives together. Assign one or two hard drives as parity drives then enjoy your setup.
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post #80 of 80
4/2/12 at 1:24pm
My server was $320 without hard drives and Windows. The motherboard can support up to 16 hard drives with 3 additional sata cards.
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