hdkhang

I'm still putting together my server, but using the same board and have 2 of the m1015 installed (going to hold onto the third card for another server since a simple 2 port card combined with the 6 onboard will cover my needs). For me, I don't have this problem, but I am also not sure what version my cards are flashed to as it was pre-flashed by an ebay seller to IT mode. I'm not at home so can't check either. My cards are in the two x8 slots. In any case, I don't think the problem is with the motherboard, could just be the firmware version of the m1015 cards themselves.

Very nice read. I like what you did with the drive cages (mounting them in reverse). I too have been dealing with those crappy coolermaster 4in3 drive cages and each time I have to swap a drive... it takes forever, and I have to leave the server lying on the floor open like that until the swap is done. I was considering the 5in3 approach to hotswap drives and found the pricing to be offputting. If I was going to spend that kind of money, I could go the Norco route. I did find those drive cages from moddiy, but by that time I had already convinced myself that I was going to get a server rack and grab two Norcos and not have to worry about finnicky details. So even though I spent way more than I would have had I gone with those expensive 5in3 drive cages, I am happier (it was the principle of it all). I think I might have to borrow aspects of your build for when I put together a small server for my cousin. Thanks for posting.

https://www.myamericanshopper.com/how-it-works.html or http://www.priceusa.com.au/index.html Thanks for the links... any personal experiences to speak of? Yes, I have had dealings with both. Priceusa offers a very personal service, with excellent communication. I would certainly recommend them for anyone in Oz - but the do ship to other countries too. Myamericanshopper is much less personal, but do give a good service. One benefit, for me, being in a country where many government offices are prone to corruption (including customs) is that the goods are shipped by DHL with the option of paying all handling charges and taxes at the point of ordering. Thanks for the details. I think I'll give priceusa a go.

https://www.myamericanshopper.com/how-it-works.html or http://www.priceusa.com.au/index.html Thanks for the links... any personal experiences to speak of? Turns out my sister and brother in law have set themselves up with a shipito account. I might wait to see how their experiences go before deciding.

Oh noes! SuperBiiz no longer ships to Australia on new accounts This is not going to be fun... looks like I'll have to investigate forwarding options.

If only I had a use for another high wattage PSU that wasn't going into this machine, then I'd get the Silverstone, test it in the Supermicro board, if it worked, then great, but if it didn't then at least the Silverstone doesn't go to waste. As it stands though, the plan is to consolidate servers so I've no case for saving the money on the Silverstone I'm planning two 4RU servers initially to go into the rack so the $50 saving for each PSU is a $100 saving overall which can go towards more drives I guess. Anyways, saving money went out the door a while back when I opted for a nicer rack so what's an extra $100 in the grand scheme of things. All these hardware compatibility issues regarding unRAID 5 is giving me plenty of time to think things through though, and for now despite the fact I've only used 1 of the 2 Pro licenses I've purchased. I think I will test out the competition and see how that goes... if I end up going with another product, no big deal, the years of trouble free operation my first unRAID server has provided me has more than been made up for. I should be able to migrate all the data on my current unRAID server into approx 8 x 3TB drives so I could in theory run both servers in parallel until I've made up my mind. Makes me wonder if limetech should perhaps consider making upgrades to major unRAID versions a paid option. I guess only they can know how it would impact their customer base. I mean MS/Apple etc. charge for upgrades to new versions of their software, so it's possible many hear would be open to that idea... anyways I'm getting way off topic.

So is the Seasonic - the fan doesn't run below 25% load. I have the X650, and I've only ever heard the fan on power up, never during use. Crap, I meant to say that the Seasonic is silent at low loads due to the fan not spinning up... which for unRAID would be most of the time. The Silverstone does not claim that. Sorry I mixed up the brands.

Considering grabbing the new Supermicro board and an Ivy Bridge Xeon chip. What PSU did you have problems with? Atm, I'm considering these three gold rated PSUs: Seasonic X-760, Corsair AX-750 and the Silverstone ST75F-G-E. The first 2 are known quantities, but they are $225 and $215 respectively. The Silverstone rates just as well according to Johnny Guru but is only $175 and has the added benefit of their Air Penetrator fans and a magnetic dust filter for easy cleaning. The price difference is not huge in the grand scheme of things, but well you can grab a 850W silverstone model for $189. The Silverstone is silent whilst the machine idles (in my case it would be most of the time) so it probably wins in the noise department provided the rest of the system does not make audible noise.

Another review has been posted: http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4842/western_digital_red_series_review_a_low_cost_validated_nas_specific_hdd/index13.html They seem to really like it. Especially the price... which unfortunately for those in Australia, do not get to benefit from.

Ok now we are seriously splitting hairs. Again my original point was that perhaps WD would replace the "green" line with the "red" line and retire the current "green" line. I'm referring to their labels, not whether or not they are considered green in terms of their functionality or feature set. In any case, I won't post further. It's sometimes wiser (and less frustrating) to just shut up! I understood quite well what you meant in your post regarding WD and green drives. I think with SSD prices dropping, WD only really needs their REDs and BLACKs... roulette anyone? Oh and also their Raptors. Wouldn't SSD prices dropping lead to them only needing the Red drives? What need is there for spinning disks these days besides massive storage? For the price of a 300GB raptor you can get a 240GB SSD for around the same price if you keep your eyes open and the SSD will smoke it in every aspect. For many people that would be fine. But there are those that won't be served by removal of the black or raptor drives. Black drives are for those that need massive storage at reasonable prices. e.g $189 for 2TB black vs. $189 for possibly a 240GB SSD. When you need 8 of those SSDs to make up the capacity vs. needing many of the Blacks to make up for the sequential read/write speed (but you still have more storage) it comes down to individual work loads. e.g. editing of videos may be somewhat faster on SSDs, but they are fast enough on large arrays of spinning drives and when it comes to uncompressed video, 240GB doesn't get you very far. As for the raptors, they are more specialised, but $349 for a 1TB drive will buy you maybe a 512GB SSD in a years time (or even less). You do lose half the capacity, and for many like myself, I don't put data on arrays that aren't mirrored/parity protected so I'd have to buy 2 in RAID1 at the very least. That would be a very costly proposition with SSDs right now. Then there is the issue of SSD longevity, which for the typical scenarios is a non issue over the average lifespan of a computer. But those that demand performance tend to also demand more of their hardware. e.g. if the drives were for a large OLTP database then I'd go raptors over the SSDs for the data drives. If the workload was mostly reads, then SSDs would make more sense. The raptors will be the first to go. The Blue drives, I don't really see staying around much longer either... so they go next. The greens will go before the REDs as I think we will get to a point where $10 with a better warranty and lower power usage and promised better longevity will sell itself. Once SSDs can take over the Blacks like they do with the Raptors, then only the REDs will remain. A lot can change in a short time, so much of what I write might turn out to be completely wrong.

Ok now we are seriously splitting hairs. Again my original point was that perhaps WD would replace the "green" line with the "red" line and retire the current "green" line. I'm referring to their labels, not whether or not they are considered green in terms of their functionality or feature set. In any case, I won't post further. It's sometimes wiser (and less frustrating) to just shut up! I understood quite well what you meant in your post regarding WD and green drives. I think with SSD prices dropping, WD only really needs their REDs and BLACKs... roulette anyone? Oh and also their Raptors.

Especially the bit about load balancing and improved longevity and apparently dead silent seek. 25% premium here in Australia makes me lean more towards the Greens right now. For every 4 reds I could have 5 greens so if I apply the WDIDLE fix, I should be reasonably OK for the near future, or at least until the RED drives come down in price. Which hopefully will be soon as a $10 premium in the US sounds perfectly reasonable (for me it sounds like a no brainer at that price). The thing is, why does WD even bother with the Greens then? All situations in which the GREEN drives are used in would be more suitably covered with RED drives.

An online store I usually purchase hardware from has put the WD RED drives up. Pricing is dear enough that I'd have to consider whether it is actually worth the extra year of warranty and other benefits. 3TB RED - $219 3TB GREEN - $175 A 25% premium is no longer a no-brainer decision.

Just found this review: http://www.storagereview.com/western_digital_red_nas_hard_drive_review_wd30efrx

Just saw that this morning and thought to check limetech forums to see if anyone here had already bitten the bullet. As for me, I just went and bought 5 x 3TB greens yesterday If only I waited a bit, I might have been game enough to give them a go. Not to worry... always next time. Given that most people use Greens in NAS or NAS like scenarios (i.e. as datastores) is there really much use for having Green drives anymore if the RED can do everything and more? I wonder if anyone would be able to extract the secret firmware from the Red drives and port them over to the Greens.