Hot-plugging non-array drive

[Ryand833]

Hello,

 

We will soon be building a new unRAID server to use at work as our new backup solution.

 

Part of this plan is to use two (or more) SATA drives as "off-site" drives that we will keep copies of the backups on.  Ideally we would like to use a hot-swappable drive drawer for this.

 

As an example, we are looking at the DRW115SATBK from StarTech (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817604005).

 

These drives will not be part of the unRAID array, they will just be separately-mounted (using unMENU) drives that we'll do manual copies to.

 

Now, the big question.... is this possible?  I've done some research into SATA hot-plugging and I'm not very confident that this can be done on unRAID but I wanted to ask here first before throwing out the idea.  First, here's the hardware selection.

 

Case: Aerocool VS-9

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811196039

 

Power supply: Corsair TX650 V2

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

 

Motherboard: Supermicro MBD-C2SEA

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182161

 

Processor: Intel Celeron E3400 2.5GHz

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116348

 

RAM: Kingston 2 GB DDR3 1333

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134812

 

Hard Drives: Western Digital 2 TB WD20EARS x 5

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136514

3 of these drives will be part of the array, 2 will be for the off-site copies.

 

Hot Swap Drive Bay: StarTech Drive Bay

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817604005

 

Hot Swap Spare Tray: StarTech Spare Tray

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817998008

 

 

Here's the process that we'd like to do:

1) Our automatic backup to the unRAID array will take place every night, starting at 10:00 PM, should finish by morning (we'll be doing rsync backups, so the incrementals should be done very quickly).

2) The next day, we will bring in one of these drives that is seated in the StarTech removable tray.  The drive will be inserted into the StarTech drive drawer.

3) We will then mount the drive in unRAID (not as part of the array, just as a normal drive).

4) The copy will then be done manually

5) We would then un-mount the drive

6) Drive would be physically removed from the StarTech drawer and taken home.

 

Now, based on the research I've done, the Supermicro board we've selected has an ICH10 south bridge chipset, and doesn't (natively?) support SATA hot-plugging, unless you're using Windows Vista and enable AHCI on the sata controller.  I don't even really know 100% what that means, but yeah.  Apparently boards with an ICH10R south bridge have better native hot-pluggable support.

 

I guess I'm just looking for a "Yeah, I'm doing that, it works" or a "No, that's not possible, here's why..."

[technojunkie]

I have been successful in hot plugging non-array drives on my Supermicro X7SLA-H. I don't know off the top of my head what controller it uses. I My case I have plugged drives into an external dock that connects via esata cable to the motherboard and performed reading/preclearing. So as long as you hardware works well enough with slackware to enable hotplug you should be ok.

[Ryand833]

I have been successful in hot plugging non-array drives on my Supermicro X7SLA-H. I don't know off the top of my head what controller it uses. I My case I have plugged drives into an external dock that connects via esata cable to the motherboard and performed reading/preclearing. So as long as you hardware works well enough with slackware to enable hotplug you should be ok.

 

Great, thanks for the info! I looked up that board, and it has the ICH7R south bridge -- It seems to me that generally the ICH?R chipsets are the ones with better hotplug support, but I haven't really found any info to back this up on *nix systems, so I'm not too sure.

 

For anyone curious, here's the newegg page with motherboard specs on the X7SLA-H-O: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182205

 

Has anyone had any luck with hot-plugging SATA (or eSATA) on a board with an ICH10 south bridge?