MicroServer N36L/N40L/N54L - 6 Drive Edition


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Assuming you flash the BIOS, the eSATA port will run at the same speed as the other SATA ports.

 

I wouldn't use an SSD, I'd use a 2.5" 5400rpm drive if you want to save power.

A quick look at a WD Scorpio Blue:

 

Power Dissipation

Read/Write 2.50 Watts

Idle   0.85 Watts

Standby 0.25 Watts

Sleep 0.10 Watts

 

As for using a Plus license to get the cache drive, you could mount a drive outside the array without it being a cache drive. I detailed that earlier in the thread.

 

The Power connection for a 2.5" SATA drive is the same as it is for a 3.5".

 

You don't need to disable the cache to send data. Or disable parity. Just write stuff to the array. Don't assign parity initially if you want to speed up writes when filling drives, then assign parity later.

 

Also, the UK offer has been extended (again) to October 31st: http://www8.hp.com/uk/en/campaign/proliantmicroserver/offer.html

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Thanks very much Neil for your reply. Funnily enough the credit card company rang an hour ago to say that my amazon orders have been blocked for security reasons so I took your advice and went for a scorpio 5400rmp and cancelled my kingston ssd.  :D

 

Mounting the scorpio outside the raid and waiting on a plus licence until I get more harddrives/try it out would be perfect. I noticed you mentioned that before alright but you didnt go into any detail. Would this be difficult to do?

 

Sorry to brign this up again but would I need to buy an additional power cable for scorpio (if i esata it to keep 2x future storage bays free)? Should i order 15CM Molex 4 Pins Male to Female SATA Power Cable?

 

Delighted they extended the offer for another month at least. I was worried I had missed out there last week, such an amazing deal.  :)

 

Cheers for the advice

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Mounting the scorpio outside the raid and waiting on a plus licence until I get more harddrives/try it out would be perfect. I noticed you mentioned that before alright but you didnt go into any detail. Would this be difficult to do?

 

Sorry to brign this up again but would I need to buy an additional power cable for scorpio (if i esata it to keep 2x future storage bays free)? Should i order 15CM Molex 4 Pins Male to Female SATA Power Cable?

 

Literally everything you need to know is in that post: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=11585.msg144444#msg144444

 

Now, if what I posted is "all Greek" to you, you've got two options:

 

1) If you're a techie, like me (NERDS!) read up a bit on telnet, Putty and the Linux command line.

 

2) If you're not a techie (NERD!) you'll need to find a friendly one to help out.

 

Typing commands when you're not sure what you're doing can lead to data loss, so do be careful if you're a n00b!

 

The nature of unRAID means that if you're doing something besides booting it up as a plain vanilla server and adding the odd package via unMENU, you need to "get your hands dirty".

 

You probably need something like this for your SATA power: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Molex-to-2-SATA-Internal-Power-Splitter-Cable/dp/B0002GRUV4

 

3uhcL.jpg

 

The microserver has a spare Molex connection, so you connect that to this.

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Ah I do remember reading that thread now, I think I just discounted it since you went back to your previous setup.

I actually enjoy working with linux - i have a little experience with it but I am certainly not proficient by any stretch. I am looking forward to improving my skills and knowledge from these forums and unraid.

 

That post you linked helped me alot. When you said you made the usb drive a [cache] this was for the OS sake and unRaid wont see it as part of its raid setup? i understand when you say it's not a cache drive technically.

 

I have a much clearer picture in my head now how the unRaid os works and how I would go about running the programs/scripts i might need to manually from the usb.

 

Thank you for the link to the molex-sata, I ordered one just now with 1 sata port on the end instead.

 

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That post you linked helped me alot. When you said you made the usb drive a [cache] this was for the OS sake and unRaid wont see it as part of its raid setup? i understand when you say it's not a cache drive technically.

 

Correct. You can do that for USB or SATA drives. If you have a free unRAID license, this lets you mount a drive so you can do stuff like SAB/nzbget/Transmission on a non-array drive.

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Guys,

 

I sold my "big" server but can't stay away from Unraid...its just too good of a solution for me. 

 

I'd like to pick up one of these HPs, but I'm not sure if I should go with the N36L or the new N40L.  It seems like the only difference is that the N40L has a newer processor, operating at 1.5ghz vs. 1.3ghz. 

 

I wonder if the extra processor power is really worth it...not sure how much extra power it draws.  I'll only be using this to stream video and music as well as for backup of my main computer.

 

Would love to hear any opinions.

 

Thanks,

Jim

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If you're in the UK (or Australia), get the 1.3GHz version for almost 1/2 price with the rebate. If you're not in the UK or Oz, take a look at the pricing of both and make your decision. I don't think the CPU bump will make much difference in the power consumption. It's pretty low on this machine.

 

If you're not running anything CPU intensive like transcoding or multiple add-ons or SABnzbd (when it's doing a par repair), you may not notice a difference with the new CPU.

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Ok guys, just got my server, never had a server before so this is all new to me, I've put in 2x2TB WD EARX drives (with the stock 250GB HDD as the third drive), put unRAID 4.7 on a USB stick which I've put on the internal USB port. I'm not sure how to update the BIOS for the server though...not having much luck in my hunt so far either so any help appreciated... :(

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I bought the 160GB version, it was really cheap here in Sweden. I'm running preclear on two samsung harddrives, one F2 1.5TB and one F4 2TB. The F2 took 25 hours to complete.

 

Pre-read time 5:40:31 (73MB/s)

Zeroing time 5:22:48 (77MB/s)

Post-Read time 14:06:12 (29MB/s)

 

My F4 has been running for 35 hours now, and is Post-reading at 21MB/s according to unmenu - if I telnet in to the server it tells me that its running at 60-85MB/s. Why is it so slow, it should only take about 24-26 hours, right? Running the latest (modded) bios from here: http://www.avforums.com/forums/networking-nas/1521657-hp-n36l-microserver-updated-ahci-bios-support.html - Preclear script is latest version.

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I have my microserver up and running about a week now and I am very happy with it. I found this guide very useful and would of been lost without it -and the links from it.

I got 3x 2tb WD greens for storage and also the WD 500gb Scorpio Neil recommended for the 'cache' download drive. I havent tinkered with that yet but the OS is reading it fine. I am gonna try sabnzbd from unmenu on it and use the code a few pages back to mount and unmount it as needs be.

Its so cool that you can transfer onto the flash remotely. I delayed moving the server earlier on account of not knowing about this ;D

 

I got TP Powerlines for streaming and they are working great, I got one connected to an ole xbox on an older tv and a HTPC in the main room- both running xbmc.

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I have my microserver up and running about a week now and I am very happy with it. I found this guide very useful and would of been lost without it -and the links from it.

I got 3x 2tb WD greens for storage and also the WD 500gb Scorpio Neil recommended for the 'cache' download drive. I havent tinkered with that yet but the OS is reading it fine. I am gonna try sabnzbd from unmenu on it and use the code a few pages back to mount and unmount it as needs be.

Its so cool that you can transfer onto the flash remotely. I delayed moving the server earlier on account of not knowing about this ;D

 

I got TP Powerlines for streaming and they are working great, I got one connected to an ole xbox on an older tv and a HTPC in the main room- both running xbmc.

 

Nice to hear from another N36L owner, im getting one more drive tomorrow and some ram to really get going with my server build. Did you preclear you're drives. How long did it take you for?

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Yes I precleared each drive, it does take a long time (over 24hours in total for 3x2tb-which I did together, then the 500gb scorpio and the 250gb that came with it afterwards).

It takes alot less to add them to the array afterwards and format them.

I put 2gb of ECC ram into it too, I found it hard trying to unplug some of them cables from the motherboard at the beginning without doing some damage with my clumsy hands ;D

 

 

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Hi,

Has anyone "joined" a couple of these yet? If not how would you go about this? By joining i mean two machines & un

RAID seeing them as one larger array.

Cheers.

Tim.

 

You're better off adding an ESATA card with port multiplier support (if it works with unRAID) and adding an external enclosure.

Or stuffing more drives in one case. I've easily put 6 in mine. With a case mod, you can have 7x 3.5" and probably 1x 2.5".

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Great news for UK peeps!

 

The £100 cashback offer is now available on the N40L! I think the main differences are a CPU bump from 1.3GHz (dual core) to 1.5GHz and a RAM bump from 1GB to 2GB (I hear that's a single 2GB DIMM).

 

http://www.serversplus.com/pdfs/PA0058.pdf

 

Available at ebuyer for £250: http://www.ebuyer.com/281915-hp-proliant-turion-ii-n40l-microserver-658553-421 = £150 after cashback.

 

Authorised HP dealers only. Make sure you get the model with the right part number or the deal won't be honoured.

 

I think I'm going to wait to see if that price goes down a little from other suppliers. Someone had the N36L for £89 after cashback recently, which is ridiculous.

 

Specs of the model on offer:

 

HP Part number: 658553-421

 

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/sm/WF06b/15351-15351-4237916-4237917-4237917-4248009-5163346.html

 

Processor: AMD Turion™ II Model Neo N40L

Number of processors: 1

Memory, standard: 2 GB

Processor core available: 2

Memory slots: 2 DIMM slots

Memory type: PC3-10600E UDIMMs DDR3

Expansion slots: 2

Network controller: (1) 1GbE NC107i 1 Port

Storage controller: Integrated 4 port SATA RAID

Power supply type: (1) 150 W

Management software: N/A

Processor cache: 2 MB L2

Optical drive type: None ship standard

Form factor (fully configured): Ultra Micro Tower

Warranty - year(s) (parts/labor/onsite): 1/0/0

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The USA want's come rebates just like those guys across the pond. Sheesh...

no sheet.. flipping w***ers..

No need to be quite so rude...  (or does that mean something more polite in the US than in the UK?)

 

Anyway, it is comparatively rare that we get rebates in the UK compared to, say, the US where they seem to be a very frequent occurrence with some retailers.  I refer to the many posts on this forum that highlight such offers.

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