Hi all !

 

After a couple of years having an unraid server ( 7+1  *  1,5TB and 500GB cache) I decided to move in a better configuration.

I had to change the case so I bought a Rebel12 and skip my cages cause they couldn't manage well in my hot (in summer) climate to simple ones (4 in 3) with 12cm fan

 

I also switched my ...no name 600W PSU to a CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX V2 850W.

Still have the 1,5TB Seagates and also 6 more 2 TB WD (Green ones)

No changes at mobo (Abit AB9Pro), cpu and RAM

Also have two Pcie sata x2 controllers and one 4x sata controller at the PCI slot

Thats a total of 13 sata on pcie bus and 4 more on the pci

 

1) Dont have yet a clear thought about what Sata x8 Controller to buy

I figured out (correct me if I am wrong) that the BR-10i versions dont support 3TB disks (firmware not available)

Seems that that the AOC MV8 PCie version to be the only way but not so clear if it really works with 3TB drives so far (on supported unraid versions)

Also AOC is quite expensive compared to the BR-10i - almost double price

Is there anyone succesfully running 3TB drives and in what adapter and unraid version ? - or whats your suggestion....

 

 

2) Tried to upgrade from 4.4.2 to 4.7

Copied the files as instructed but still says 4.4.2 !!! -  but it works !!!

I am thinking of erasing the usb drive and make a clean install of the last version (5 beta xxx) and rearrange my disks the same order as now

I have a valid system running and and only one user configuration

Will this work or I will loose all my data ?

 

3) In my final configuration thinking of 20+1 drives +1 cache (pci controller)

In case I need to add one more drive -i am thinking adding it int the pci controller  - will there be a significant speed loss ?

Except i guess the case i transfer data between that particular disk and the cache disk (same pci controller)

 

Thank you in advance

Eco

1)

correct. BR-10i is not and most likely never will be 3TB compatible.

I am running 3TB drives on the saslp-mv8 and on m1015' both on newer beta's

the current supported version (4.7) will never support 3TB drives. it is beta only at this point.

 

2)

cant help you

 

3)

A PCI bus (not PCIe or PCIx) can only support on modern sata hard drive at full speed. once you start adding more drives they will start getting slower.

most consumer motherboards only have one bus for all of the PCI slots combined.

Wait, am I reading this right?  You had heat problems with 4-in-3 cages and you think running without cages will reduce your heat?  Or you had other cages and you're switching to 4-in-3's?  The latter makes sense, but I couldn't quite make out your second sentence.

 

As for #2, I haven't done it myself but I've read several posts about starting anew.  Might try searching around a bit and I'd bet you'd find good instructions.

1) AOC MV8 PCie supports 3TB drives but many report serious problems with this card and the latest beta. This will eventually be sorted out but no one knows how long it will take.

 

2) Try to do the upgrade 4.7 again. Run check disk on your flash drive in a PC. Make sure your following the instructions exactly. If this still does not work then do a clean install of version 4.7. Once 4.7 is working, you can upgrade to the beta if desired.

 

3) Any more than a single drive on all of the PCI slots will cause significant performance issues. Parity builds, parity checks, data disk rebuilds, failed disk simulation, and any concurrent access to more than a single drive on PCI will be affected. Parity checks will take several days with the configuration that you suggest. I strongly suggest that only a single drive is used across all PCI slots.

Thank you all for your replies

 

1) I am conviced - going to buy the AOC controller so in the future have support for 3TB drives

By the way - Anyone using the AOC SASLP MV8 on a Abit ab9pro mobo (on the pcie x16 slot)

 

2) I am going to try to upgrade to 4.7 using your instructions and then to the latest 5 - I will try the clean install of 4.7

 

3) I understand that PCI bus can hold 1 disk. In my case will have 1 disk of the array. The second disk will be the cache disk

So when doing the parity only one disk will be active (the array disk). The only case that 2 disks on the PCI will be active doing something will be the case lets say copying files from the cache disk to the disk on the array which is also on pci bus.

I have to mention that in my configuration I have shares like disk1,disk2, disk xxx.

 

About the heating issue:

First of all i was wrong - I was using 3 in 2 cages likes these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SNT-SAC2131B-3-x-3-5in-HDD-2-x-5-25in-Bay-Backplane-/330596742458?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf919f53a

 

My unraid server is outside the house (but protected) and when in the summer most of the day (and for 2-3 months) the temperature is 30-35 Celcius (sometimes more) I was experiencing at least 45C sometimes more than 50C

The fans on these cages are small and dont anticipate much heat.

 

I have better results using these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cooler-Master-STB-3T4-E3-GP-3-5in-HDD-Module-Converter-/330548443876?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf638fae4

 

Well, the fans arent the best you can have but its easy to replace them with better ones

When my server is totaly ready i will post some shots and also some screenshots showing temperature

 

Thank you

Eco

 

 

 

3) I understand that PCI bus can hold 1 disk. In my case will have 1 disk of the array. The second disk will be the cache disk

So when doing the parity only one disk will be active (the array disk). The only case that 2 disks on the PCI will be active doing something will be the case lets say copying files from the cache disk to the disk on the array which is also on pci bus.

 

The PCI bus can hold more than one, but it is bandwidth limited (I think that's what you were getting at).

 

If you have the cache and parity on the PCI bus then both drives will be in use whenever the mover script copies files from the cache to the array, even if the array drives are not on the PCI bus, since the parity disk must be read and then written for each time that a block of data is written to the array.  This means that the mover may run slowly, but if you run it late at night (the default setting) then that may not be a problem.

Thank you,

 

now its clear to me about the PCI issue

 

Hmmm so that raises the questions what is faster for the mover script and parity check for the following scenarios

 

1) Cache + Parity on PCI

Mover: two PCI drives + one PCIe drive

Parity check: one PCI drive + all PCIe drives

 

2) Cache + one Data drive on PCI

Mover1: one PCI drive + two PCIe drives (happens n-1/n of the time n=array-size)

Mover2: two PCI drive + one PCIe drive (happens only 1/n of the time)

Parity check: Only PCIe drives

 

Seems like #2 avoids using PCI as much as possible to include avoiding hitting two drives on the PCI bus.  The only question is, are parity checks faster when all drives in the array are on PCIe or is there something gained if the parity drive is on PCI and is the only PCI drive being accessed.

 

I'd put parity on a MB port. Put cache and one data disk on the PCI. If you fill the PCI data disk (so that it is only read from) then you should avoid the performance issue.