[boe]

Hello,


I'm looking at a lot of solutions - thunderbolt 2, LSI, NAS. What it comes down to is my need for a large amount of storage (4TB drives in each bay), excellent redundancy as I won't be backing it up, very good speed, and a nearly silent raid solution. I'm used to just buying dell arrays for work servers as there is no need to worry about noise in a server room. I've built all of my PCs to be nearly silent from a few feet away despite the high end processor and video cards and 8 drives in each.


I would definitely appreciate any experience you care to share as it may greatly reduce my research time on an ideal solution for my needs.

 

[EricN]

What's your budget? $3K, $6K, and $10K will get you very different results

 

[boe]

I'd like to keep it down to 3K at most but for very fast and quiet. I just priced it, for 4K I could build a whole new PC with an i7, fast array (LSI controller) etc. I might take the video card from my current PC if I do that and make it my new main PC.

 

[boe]

I think if I go a little crazy, I could build a great PC for about $5K (provided I take the video card from my current PC). I keep updating/tweaking my parts list. I'm going to wait to see how much the Toshiba 5TB drives are a few months after they are released. If by some miracle they are $300 or less I'll definitely use them in the rig I'm building. I'm also hoping LSI updates their 9280 card as they did the 9260 to the 9271.

 

[Mfusick]

I would look at a silent style case that holds 12 HDDs and start there. Nearly silent limits your selections and it all starts with the case first.


Sourcing or spec out the hardware is easy after you figure that out.


Some questions:

Why RAID 5 versus flexraid ?

Does size matter ?

Why does it have to be silent ?

Can you locate it somewhere a little noise is ok ?


My experience is if you want good performance and good capacity a server is going to make some noise. Not a lot but some.


You'll limit yourself in capacity and add extra cost at a rate of exponents as you become more and more excessive with the noise requirements. When you say nearly silent I think that means under 40db which would not be noticed as a noise source in a consumer home.


You might have to redefine nearly silent.


When I built my flexraid server I used a Norco 4220 chassis. Nice budget chassis IMO but noisy like a jet engine. I replaced the 4 80mm fan wall blade with a 120mm fan wall and I installed silent fans on it that I ran off the motherboard fan controller. I also replaced the two back fans with silent fans and also ran them on the fan controller. I set the target speed at 4 (out of 1-9) and raised the ideal target temp up 4 degrees (still plenty cool) and this has resulted in what I would call "nearly silent" but it's still louder than my SSD only HTPC on my bedroom with fans on setting 1. I used a full chassis on my HTPC so I could control the heat and noise better even though it's SSD only. Size matters and bigger with more airflow usually means cooler and quieter.


I can't tell if you are trying to build a NAS box (which will get hot if small and has 12 drives) or if you are trying to build a real server ?


I think if you choose the case wisely the rest will follow easily. Big full cases designed to be quiet are likely your best option, or you can save some cash by not getting somthing like a silent super micro chassis ($$$!) and doing like I did by retro fitting a cheaper case to be nearly silent.

 

[boe]

I was trying to build either a NAS or a server but got no responses so I'm going to build a server as I know those well.


The server will be in my office which is off of my living room with no doors in between (I live in an apartment). My current PC is barely perceptible from the living room (8 drives, 780 video card and a 6 core processor). I have very good hearing so I can just notice it but my guests can't hear it. I replaced the stock fans in the case, put in an extremely quiet processor cooler and got the quietest version of the 780 on the market. I also dampened the sound of the interior of the case.


I've completed my needs for my current collection and it is about 34 TB.


I'll probably go with the Cosmos II case.


I'll be using my RAID for more than just movie storage so I want it as fast as possible and I need as much space as possible so I won't be mixing disk sizes. Flexraid is interesting but not really an alternative to an LSI raid if you've ever set up servers for the workplace. I'll be needing a 12-13 hard drives which the motherboard won't support natively and the case won't support much more space for 3.5" drives. I'll probably be going with raid 5 or 5.1 depending on space.

 

[DotJun]

I'm using a 3ware 9650 card in a 5.1 setup with capacity for 24 ports. It resides in my living room and is dead silent from a foot away. It's not cheap 😊 PM me if this is of interest to you.

 

[boe]

Thanks the 3ware and lsi are very similar (same company). I'm fine with either and you are right - not cheap at all by the time you add the cables and the battery but very fast compared to most controllers on the market. I currently have a 9260 and a 9271 between my two computers which will probably become backup storage systems for my new main computer with the 40-50TB of storage. I really wish they'd let you adjust the spin up time wait on those dang cards. Waiting for the PC to boot is unpleasant if you are as impatient as I am

 

[boe]

I haven't decided which fans I'll keep or replace in the case but here is my current design with existing hardware on the market. I'm holding on to the hope that the 5TB (air) drives about to be released will be in the $300 range and the 9280-16i will be upgraded to an 9291 in the near future.


This will be my main PC and storage server.


1 GIGABYTE GA-G1.SNIPER Z5S LGA1150/ Intel Z87/ DDR3/ 2-Way CrossFireX & 2-Way SLI/ SATA3&USB3.0

1 Intel Core i7-4770 Haswell 3.4GHz LGA 1150 84W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80646I74770

1 Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler

1 Kingston 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model KVR16N11K2/16

1 Enermax Platimax 750W, 12V Multiple Rail, 80 Plus Platinum, Modular ATX Power Supply EPM750AWT

2 ENERMAX Power Supply SATA Cable 4x SATA

LSI MegaRAID SAS 9280-8i

4 3WARE Cable Multi-lane Internal Cable

1 LSI battery

1 Intel EXPI9301CT Desktop Adapter Gigabit CT 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI-Express 1 x RJ45

1 Cooler Master Cosmos II - Ultra Tower Computer Case with Metal Body and Hinged Side Panels

AcoustiPack™ ULTIMATE PC Soundproofing Kit (APU)

13 Seagate or Toshiba 5TB drives

2 Samsung Electronics 840 Pro Series 2.5-Inch 256 GB SATA 6GB/s Solid State Drive MZ-7PD256BW (raid for 500GB - backed up with acronis frequently)

780 GTX video card (taken from my current PC)

3 Noctua 120mm, Anti-Stall Knobs Design,SSO2 Bearing PWM Case Cooling Fan NF-S12A PWM

2 Noctua 140mm Premium Quiet Quality Case Cooling Fan NF-A15 PWM




$7000 plus tax - estimating 13*325 for the 5TB drives

 

[blueiedgod]

I don't think 12 hard drives and silent or near silent go together.

 

[Mfusick]

I have a cosmos II case myself it's right under my Norco 4220. My desktop i7 4770k is inside that. Nice case. Very quiet. Very cool. Very very big !


You can do it in a cosmos II I'd guess and keep the noise down

 

[boe]



Quote:
Originally Posted by blueiedgod  /t/1518088/looking-to-build-or-buy-...st-12-slots-supporting-raid-5-1#post_24379856


I don't think 12 hard drives and silent or near silent go together.

Please let me know how to get 45-50TB of storage for under $5000 that can be nearly silent. You can't hear the hard drives in my current computers from more than a couple of feet away- I have 6-8 spindle drives in each.

 

[blueiedgod]



Quote:
Originally Posted by boe  /t/1518088/looking-to-build-or-buy-...st-12-slots-supporting-raid-5-1#post_24379938


Please let me know how to get 45-50TB of storage for under $5000 that can be nearly silent. You can't hear the hard drives in my current computers from more than a couple of feet away- I have 6-8 spindle drives in each.

Put the server/storage in the basement, or wherever noise is not an issue.


Even if it is quiet when you just built it, it will get noisier with time.


I am in the process of building a 16 drive pool in a Rosewill case. Just the hard drives alone, when powered up create noise. They make more noise when they are being accessed. Add some fans for cooling, a fan for the PSU, a fan for the CPU, and unless you can set them up so that one fan cancels the other fan's noise, and same for the hard drives. Even with rubber mounts, you can still hear them spin up and spin down.


Perhaps people have different definition of quiet. Mine is that if I can tell a difference between something being on and being off completely, it is not quiet.


Perhaps I have sensitive ears. I can hear some APC UPSes cycling charge on and charge off, and I can hear some LED light bulbs (mostly Insignia from Best Buy) in the ceiling fan fixture.

 

[boe]

My apartment has a very small basement, my downstairs neighbor gets offended for some reason when I try to store things there

For me nearly silent means whisper quiet. If I can't tell the difference between something being on or off I'd say it is silent.


16 drives - that is awesome!

 

[A9X-308]



Quote:
Originally Posted by boe  /t/1518088/looking-to-build-or-buy-...-slots-supporting-raid-5-1/0_50#post_24380228


My apartment has a very small basement, my downstairs neighbor gets offended for some reason when I try to store things there

If it was my space, I'd tell the neighbour in no uncertain terms where they can go. I also don't see the need to go to heroic efforts to get it quiet if there will be a wall or floor and some distance to another person's living space. Most PCs, even when noisy (like you would not have sitting next to you in a dedicated theatre) are mainly white noise with the occasional HF 'squeaky' noise of drives seeking, none of which is going to disturb anyone else's quality of life in an adjacent space unless they are contantly examining the dividing wall/floor with a stethoscope.

 

[Mfusick]

It's actually easier to build a hush box out of sound treatments and store a server chassis inside, and it's cheaper. A sheet of MDF is $35. Watch what the guys in the theater building forum do. I saw a guy make a hush box for the blender so his wife didn't wake him up making her smoothies in the morning

 

[Mfusick]



Quote:
Originally Posted by blueiedgod  /t/1518088/looking-to-build-or-buy-...slots-supporting-raid-5-1/0_100#post_24379856


I don't think 12 hard drives and silent or near silent go together.

I have 20 in my Norco 4220 Flexraid server and it's pretty quiet. I also have 10 drives in my Cosmos II including a 9TB raid0 stripe and it's even quieter. A high quality case like the Cosmos II can be pretty quiet with proper set up; the built in fan controller is pretty nice too in that case. $350 PC tower is serious business.

 

[Mfusick]



Quote:
Originally Posted by boe  /t/1518088/looking-to-build-or-buy-...slots-supporting-raid-5-1/0_100#post_24379938


Please let me know how to get 45-50TB of storage for under $5000 that can be nearly silent. You can't hear the hard drives in my current computers from more than a couple of feet away- I have 6-8 spindle drives in each.

20 of the 3TB Seagate 7200.14 > 4TB @ 5900rpm IMO. $99 each and faster. Use two drives for parity and you get 18 data drives in Flexraid. You could sub the 7200.14 for the Hitachi 7k4000 or HGST NAS or Toshiba 3TB which are all cheaper too and still 7200rpm. That's 50 TB. Also only $2000.


Flexraid over hardware raid. I flashed the IBM M1015 to a pure HBA sata card using the LSI firmware in IT mode. I also bought some Dell cards Andy Steb flashed for me. I used 2 of them (2 SAS8087 ports each) to populate 4 rows of my Norco case. The top row I reserved for the 4 mobo ports. That got me 20 hard drive bays populated and still had mobo sata ports left for SSD and optical. The cards cost me $69 each. No raid pain either.


I can add or remove full or empty drives anytime without data loss. Drives readable in any system.


I upgraded my server 3 times easily without data loss. I replaced every part twice or more in the last two years.


I first built and all in one machine with a 2600k i7 in the CosmosII before doing it right. Learn from my mistakes

. It will save you from building a server 24 bay hot swap case after doing the cosmos 2 thing.

 

[Mfusick]



Quote:
Originally Posted by boe  /t/1518088/looking-to-build-or-buy-...slots-supporting-raid-5-1/0_100#post_24379152


I haven't decided which fans I'll keep or replace in the case but here is my current design with existing hardware on the market. I'm holding on to the hope that the 5TB (air) drives about to be released will be in the $300 range and the 9280-16i will be upgraded to an 9291 in the near future.


This will be my main PC and storage server.


1 GIGABYTE GA-G1.SNIPER Z5S LGA1150/ Intel Z87/ DDR3/ 2-Way CrossFireX & 2-Way SLI/ SATA3&USB3.0

1 Intel Core i7-4770 Haswell 3.4GHz LGA 1150 84W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80646I74770

1 Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler

1 Kingston 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model KVR16N11K2/16

1 Enermax Platimax 750W, 12V Multiple Rail, 80 Plus Platinum, Modular ATX Power Supply EPM750AWT

2 ENERMAX Power Supply SATA Cable 4x SATA

LSI MegaRAID SAS 9280-8i

4 3WARE Cable Multi-lane Internal Cable

1 LSI battery

1 Intel EXPI9301CT Desktop Adapter Gigabit CT 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI-Express 1 x RJ45

1 Cooler Master Cosmos II - Ultra Tower Computer Case with Metal Body and Hinged Side Panels

AcoustiPack™ ULTIMATE PC Soundproofing Kit (APU)

13 Seagate STBD4000400 4TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive – (Raid 5.1) Backed up along with docs on the SSD with freefilesync to older 2 computers.

2 Samsung Electronics 840 Pro Series 2.5-Inch 256 GB SATA 6GB/s Solid State Drive MZ-7PD256BW (raid for 500GB - backed up with acronis frequently)

780 GTX video card (taken from my current PC)


$4700 plus tax.

If it was me I'd go for an Asrock Extreme 6 because I like it and it has dual intel LAN and 10 sata ports, plus plenty of PCI lanes for sata cards.


I'd go with a Norco4224. 24 bay hot swap chassis, and fill it with 24 hdds @ 7200rpm and 3 TB.


And I'd upgrade to faster ram. 1600mhz is so 2011 these days

. 2400mhz is like $5 more.


I'd get a smaller better PSU (550 or 650 watts is enough)

 

[boe]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick  /t/1518088/looking-to-build-or-buy-...st-12-slots-supporting-raid-5-1#post_24382076


If it was me I'd go for an Asrock Extreme 6 because I like it and it has dual intel LAN and 10 sata ports, plus plenty of PCI lanes for sata cards.


I'd go with a Norco4224. 24 bay hot swap chassis, and fill it with 24 hdds @ 7200rpm and 3 TB.


And I'd upgrade to faster ram. 1600mhz is so 2011 these days

. 2400mhz is like $5 more.


I'd get a smaller better PSU (550 or 650 watts is enough)

Thanks when I did the PSU calculation between the drives, the 780GTX graphics card and the processor, 750 was recommended. I realize it probably own needs that at peak times such as boot up but I'm going to play it safe. I'm concerned I couldn't make the Norco quiet enough but I'll look at it again. I'll be honest I'm not nuts about the asrock motherboards although I might put one in a htpc.


I think him screaming over the 4224 is what is scaring me a bit as I'm not sure how much I could do to silence it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ixfto_1Nl8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RfQfDH11_I


Did you go with the 3 120mm fan blade or the original 4 80mm?



To be clear, I do not have a closet, I do not have a basement, or an attic, I do not have a guest bedroom, I do not have a panic room, I do not have a solarium where I can store it. I have a relatively small apartment and most rooms are connected with open walls (no doors) other than my bedroom and bathroom.