OS at time of building: unRAID 4.7 Plus

CPU: 1.8 GHz Intel Core2Duo

Motherboard: Asus P5LP-LE

RAM: 2 GB

Case: Fractal Design Core 3000

Drive Cage(s): N/A

Power Supply: Cooler Master Pro M700

SATA Expansion Card(s): StarTech 4 Port PCI SATA RAID Controller Adapter Card

USB Flash Drive: Kingston 2GB

Fans: All stock fans from Fractal Design

 

Parity Drive: 2TB SAMSUNG HD204UI

Data Drives: 1.5TB SAMSUNG HD154UI (3), 2TB SAMSUNG HD204UI (1)

Cache Drive: None yet

Total Drive Capacity: 8 Drives

 

Primary Use: media streaming to Boxee Box and Xtreamer Pro, Backup Center for Pictures

Add Ons Used: preclear, unMenu, Sabnzbd, iSTAT.

Future Plans: Add 1 more data drives and Cache Drive, and maybe maybe upgrade to Pro version so i can add 2 extra drives(2 because there is no place for more in the case)

 

If i have some time i will take some pictures from the inside.

 

 

 

Nice case!

 

You might want to read the thread on issues with the Samsung F4 drives, it depends on the firmware version:

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=9339.0

 

you will probably find that the PCI SATA expansion card limits the speed of doing parity checks (and drive rebuilds), multi-port cards that are based on PCI Express can be a lot faster.

 

Regards,

 

Stephen

Nice case!

 

You might want to read the thread on issues with the Samsung F4 drives, it depends on the firmware version:

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=9339.0

 

you will probably find that the PCI SATA expansion card limits the speed of doing parity checks (and drive rebuilds), multi-port cards that are based on PCI Express can be a lot faster.

 

Regards,

 

Stephen

 

Hi Stephen,

 

Thank you for your comment, the server is up and running without any problems, drives has been cleared without any errors. They are in the array and the parity has been build without any probs.

 

Speeds are still enough for me, streaming to boxee box (1 gbit network) without any probs, and copy files to the server also working without any problems.

The problem with the Samsung F4 bug is that you won't find out that there's a problem until it's too late; it tells you your data is written, when in fact, it isn't. There's nothing to prompt you or to tip you off that there's a problem either. This is what the other thread was discussing in great detail, and what is so worrying about the problem.

 

So long as you update the F4 drive's FW to the new one so that the bug has been fixed, you won't have any issues. People recommend upgrading the FW to the Japanese one as it will change the FW revision number so that you know the update worked. Upgrading the FW using the USA version will leave you wondering whether or not it actually did anything as the number will remain the same.

 

Anyway, best of luck.

The problem with the Samsung F4 bug is that you won't find out that there's a problem until it's too late; it tells you your data is written, when in fact, it isn't. There's nothing to prompt you or to tip you off that there's a problem either. This is what the other thread was discussing in great detail, and what is so worrying about the problem.

 

So long as you update the F4 drive's FW to the new one so that the bug has been fixed, you won't have any issues. People recommend upgrading the FW to the Japanese one as it will change the FW revision number so that you know the update worked. Upgrading the FW using the USA version will leave you wondering whether or not it actually did anything as the number will remain the same.

 

Anyway, best of luck.

 

Thank you for your response.

 

I have checked my firmware :

 

Parity Drive 2TB            Firmware Revision:  1AQ10001

1st Data Drive 1.5 TB    Firmware Revision:  1AG01118

2nd Data Drive 1.5 TB  Firmware Revision:  1AG01118

3rd Data Drive 1.5 TB    Firmware Revision:  1AG01118

4th Data Drive 2 TB      Firmware Revision:  1AQ10001

 

 

Are these correct ?

 

And if not how can i update them and where can i get the correct firmware.

 

Thank you.

I have just added a WD 1TB cache drive

 

Does anybody know what i have todo with my firmware ? Do i have to update them ?

I don't have any Samsung F4s, so I'm not knowledgeable about them.  The best I can tell you is to pour over this thread.

I don't have any Samsung F4s, so I'm not knowledgeable about them.  The best I can tell you is to pour over this thread.

 

I've got a couple Samsung F4s, and while I haven't added them to my unRAID server yet (probably by the weekend, transferring some files over at the moment), I did do my homework on them.

 

OP: Regardless of what your F4's Firmware is, you should be upgrading it. As I mentioned previously, if you upgrade the FW with the current US one, you'll be clueless as to whether or not the FW was actually installed as it will be the same FW number as you've posted on the F4s. This is because Samsung did not bother adding a revision to the FW update for the USA version, which they really should have. This is why people have suggested upgrading the FW of the driving with the Japanese version, because it DOES change the FW version and it DOES fix the bug.

 

I have updated the FW on both of my Samsung F4s with the Japanese version and both have been working just fine in my Windows box since then. When I get the data off of them and transferred to my unRAID server, I'll be popping them into my unRAID server as well.

 

Anyway, here's what the OP needs to do:

 

1) Backup the data on the F4 drive(s) in case something goes terribly wrong during the FW upgrade.

2) Create a Dos-Boot USB flash drive and include this file on it:

 

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/faqView.do?b2b_bbs_msg_id=387&page=1&faqType=QI&faqKeyword

 

3) Power down the computer and unplug all the hard drives except the one you'll be flashing. If you'll be flashing more than one F4, flash each one at a time, leaving the other one(s) unplugged.

4) Pop in the USB drive and turn on the computer, change your Bios settings to boot off USB

5) Follow the instructions on the above link (essentially, type in the .exe at the prompt) and let the program do its magic.

 

If all is successful, your FW on the F4 drive should change from what it is now to a higher number. The bug is now no longer an issue and it is now safe to use the drive(s) in unRAID.

 

Hope this helps.

Thank you for explaining howto upgrade the FW.

 

I will upgrade it when i got the time. Data on the drives are not important atm.