landS Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 Howdy folks, My server has 7 OLD 4TB 7200 drives (2 parity/5 data) for 20TB of storage. These do not spin down due to my using crashplan (on about 3 Tb worth of the data). I estimate that these consume about 8 watts each. I believe I can reduce the array to 2 disks by moving to 2 20TB disks (1 parity /1 data) which would save 40 watts…. I believe this works out to be 350 kWh over the course of a year. My utility company charges $0.173/kWh (and climbing)… so by moving from 7 4TB drives to 2 20TB drives I’d save a whopping $60/year. Does this math look about right to you folks --- or am I missing something glaring here? A CMR SATA Seagate IronWolf Pro or Exos X20 look to go for $350 new - and $700 is a heck of a lot more than the occasional replacement cost of $70. Beyond saving electric costs - the server is in my bedroom closet & reducing noise would be nice. Also it would be nice to reset the long-int-the-tooth drives. Thanks! Quote Link to comment
ChatNoir Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 5 hours ago, landS said: My utility company charges $0.173/kWh (and climbing)… so by moving from 7 4TB drives to 2 20TB drives I’d save a whopping $60/year. Does this math look about right to you folks --- or am I missing something glaring here? 60$/year is nice but if it costs you 600/800$+, is it financially sound ? 1 Quote Link to comment
landS Posted February 28, 2023 Author Share Posted February 28, 2023 Thanks CharNoir. I mainly wanted a sanity check on the electrical cost savings --- another set of eyes to see if what I’ve stated appears correct. Saving $60/year at a cost of $700 certainly doesn’t make economical sense. Paying $700 now when I could replace an occasional drive for $70 also doesn’t make economical sense. However, a lot of my drives in my main machine are reaching the 10+ year powered-on mark and the backside of the bathtub appears to be coming into play. As such I need to weigh: Cost Savings Reset of the bathtub curve / peace of mind Reduced Noise (this is in my master bedrooms closet) Reduced Heat Quote Link to comment
JonathanM Posted February 28, 2023 Share Posted February 28, 2023 4 hours ago, landS said: Reduced Heat If you run the air conditioning most of the year, you can almost double the savings of any power reduction, because you aren't paying to remove the heat. If you run the furnace in the house more often, then the savings due to power reduction are almost gone, because the electricity to run any computer is converted pretty much entirely to heat. Hot climate = more savings by reducing power. Cold climate = don't bother. Quote Link to comment
landS Posted March 1, 2023 Author Share Posted March 1, 2023 Good point JonathanM. Our AC runs 9 months a year... with a setting of 78*F. I believe it highly likely I'll need to replace 2 of the drives in the next 2 years: $140. Yearly Energy Savings over the next 2 years: $210 (lowered HDD power + 9 months of AC) Likely near term Cost savings: $350. That makes the decision, not a $700 one, but a $350. Mhh... is $350 worth: Reset of the bathtub curve / peace of mind Reduced Noise It very well might be. Quote Link to comment
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