neilt0

In the real world, bearing in mind that the motherboard, RAM, CPU flash drive etc. all use power, my N36L hits 150W when booting with this config: 8GB of RAM (the extra DIMM uses a watt or two) Adaptec 1430SA PCI-E HBA 2x 3.5" 7200rpm drives 3x 3.5" 5400rpm drives 1x 3.5" 5900rpm drive 1x 2.5" 5400rpm drive 1x 2.5" 4200rpm drive I plan on removing the 2.5" drives and replacing some of the smaller (1.5TB) 3.5" drives with larger 3.5" drives (4TB).

How do you have them attached? I was thinking of using the SANS DIGITAL external eSATA/USB units to attach more drives along with SIL3132 controllers that do PMP. I have an Adaptec 1430SA in mine and the extra drives (apart from the 6x 3.5") are: 2x 2.5" (internal) 1x 3.5" (external eSATA with its own PSU) With all these drives attached (6x 3.5" + 2x 2.5"), the Microserver PSU is maxed out. Note that you can apparently use a port multiplier on the eSATA port: http://homeservershow.com/forums/index.php?/topic/4727-successfully-enabled-port-multiplier-on-esata/

I think someone on http://hardforum.com tried maxing out the drives further and there's a limit -- something like 12 drives. It's somewhere in this thread: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1555868 I've had 9 drives attached to mine.

Pretty much any 5.25" mesh thingy from a tower should fit. I use one from my Sharkoon case and I think people have used the mesh bay cover from an Antec 1200.

If you want to use 6 drives, you don't need an additional controller. There are 6 SATA connections on the Microserver (one is eSATA).

4TB drives work.

There is interest!

I already worked out how to throttle the CPU to 800MHz, so if it's a few % better CPU, it won't make much of a difference to me. If it's more than 10%, I'm in!

I'm running an N36, not N40, so someone else should run the test.

Does this improved the speed of the OS? I'd like to see some benchmarks, if possible? Cheers, Neil.

Bad link. I updated to RC10 and it's much faster. 92MB/sec parity checks, 29MB/sec array writes. 60MB/sec cache writes. I had to remove rtorrent, but Transmission is working better for me anyhoo.

Nice to see another MicroServer owner! In case you hadn't seen all the discussion on forums.overclockers.com.au , there are some sets of RAM that work in the MicroServer until you either reboot or power off and re-power (I can't remember which). I suggest you do a few (5-10) cycles of soft rebooting and hard power cycling and each time check that the BIOS sees all 16GB. As you're only booting in to the BIOS, it shouldn't take long. There are reports that Patriot RAM works, and I think one or two other types, but most 8GB DIMMs do not work -- the HP Microserver doesn't officially support 16GB. Cheers, Neil.

Interesting! My route is to put larger drives, rather than more drives in mine. I have my second server as the recipient of lotsa drives. Someone (I think on HARD-OCP) mentioned there is a hard limit on the number of drives, which might be 12? After that, the BIOS stops seeing more drives, but I don't know if Linux/unRAID will see more, ignoring the BIOS.

What I recommend is to put a cache drive and an array drive in the top ODD bay (with an X-Swing or similar). Both should be 5400rpm, ideally. That way, if your cache drive is thrashing, that array drive is probably going to be spun down and if the array is being parity checked, the cache drive could be spun down or not in much use. I actually have two 5400rpm array drives in there, with the mesh grill in front of them and they do not get hotter than the other 4 drives in the hotswap slots. My drives will get close to 40 degrees, but I (and Google in their long-term mass testing) don't consider that to be a problem.

Lid off can be hotter than lid on because you are messing up the airflow.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=11585.msg153232#msg153232 To see where to put the 2.5" drives, see the first post in this thread.

More than 1 bay, less than 2. For 2 drives. I'm sure it means more than 12 drives per 12 bays, but I dunno how many. This gives an idea, and I think I've seen photos of these in a standard case, so try a bit of googling of the x-swing and the other device like it (mentioned in this thread) Be aware both devices may have been discontinued. Also, be aware they obviously don't have any cooling. Personally, I wouldn't use them in a 12-bay case, I'd use something else.

It does take up more space than 1 bay, but less than two. It fits in the Microserver with a few mm to spare -- are you looking to put it in a different case? If so, you may find dimensions of the mount on the manufacturer's site.

If you are as annoyed by the brightness of the blue "Health" LED as I am, you will appreciate this little "mod" by someone on OCAU: In essence, you can unclip the plastic thing shown here and tuck the LED behind the metal so it's less like a flashlight:

You will only be able to use 6 drives with the Microserver's own 6 SATA ports. I added a SATA HBA PCI-E card and have 2x 2.5" drives below the ODD bay. One is for cache, and it's a 5400rpm WD drive. For the larger NZBs, I use a category to point to do a directory and unpack to an array drive.

It will fit. There are even photos in this thread. There were photos and/or discussion of the Nexus DoubleTwin in this thread about a year ago. Everything you need to know is in this thread. You just have to read it.

Many of us use a Nexus Doubletwin (or similar) to fit 6x 3.5" drives in the Microserver. See posts in this thread for examples.

The real test is a parity check, which is why I recommend only one array drive in there. I would worry at temps over 45 for long periods, but in theory you can run up to the max the mfr specifies and Facebook and Google run their drives hot.

Should do.

It's probably the cable, as I told you in the other thread. Try another one and if it doesn't work, I'd contact HP and see if the port is dead (highly unlikely). I have a grill in mine (from my Sharkoon case). I suggest putting a cache drive and an array drive in there (not two array drives). The reason for that is when you do a parity check, the cache drive is not checked, so only one of the drives will heat up. If you hammer the cache drive with a usenet and/or client like I do, the other drive there, if it's in the array, will probably be spun down. My drives in that top part (5400rpm) don't get too hot. I wouldn't put 7200rpm drives in there. My older 7200rpm drives (in the 4-bay area) get to 45 degrees during a parity check, but none of my drives ever go above that.