Pimp Your Rig


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Very interesting idea to just build a big box out of pegboard. Did you design it yourself?

 

 

Well this is my rig, originally it was built in this 16 drive server, but the motherboard went, and I found that the power supply is too loud, if some one wants to buy this case off me, make an offer, its just collecting dust now.

 

The OS is not unRAID like my last build but Mint Linux using Webmin and mdadm for raid. + XBMC for HD playback, the setup uses 4 120mm fans at low RMP so it is almost whisper quilt, ( I Have to turn off my ac to hear it)

Local READ/WRITE

 

Network READ/WRITE

 

 

MY new rig. uses 6x1.5 TB + 750 GB hard drive, I am waiting for 2 more 1.5 TB hd that I rma due to the fact they failed my drive testing

 

close up on the drives note the custom power cable I made, also there are 2 rear mount 120 mm fans, and 2 front mount 120 mm fans (not in picture)

-The case is an old speaker box with a 2 blown speakers in it, It can hold 22 Hard drives and only cost me $20 to build (including the speaker box)

 

 

And heres a picture of my external drive cooler, which cost $7 to build

 

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Very interesting idea to just build a big box out of pegboard. Did you design it yourself?

 

 

Well this is my rig, originally it was built in this 16 drive server, but the motherboard went, and I found that the power supply is too loud, if some one wants to buy this case off me, make an offer, its just collecting dust now.

 

The OS is not unRAID like my last build but Mint Linux using Webmin and mdadm for raid. + XBMC for HD playback, the setup uses 4 120mm fans at low RMP so it is almost whisper quilt, ( I Have to turn off my ac to hear it)

Local READ/WRITE

 

Network READ/WRITE

 

 

MY new rig. uses 6x1.5 TB + 750 GB hard drive, I am waiting for 2 more 1.5 TB hd that I rma due to the fact they failed my drive testing

 

close up on the drives note the custom power cable I made, also there are 2 rear mount 120 mm fans, and 2 front mount 120 mm fans (not in picture)

-The case is an old speaker box with a 2 blown speakers in it, It can hold 22 Hard drives and only cost me $20 to build (including the speaker box)

 

 

And heres a picture of my external drive cooler, which cost $7 to build

 

Yes, Though it was not very hard, Since I took this picture it is now upto 12 hard drives (11x1.5 TB + 750 GB), I setup a mini radio station that broad cast on 87.50 fm, with remote control for android phone (XBMC) so i can select what music(and video) is playing, I now have all my torrents running off this box, and it has all my classic games on it (NES, SNES, N64, + others), I have removed the AMD II 6000+ processor, and placed a semprom in it instead clocked at 2.2 GHz, my current power consumption is at 180 watts active, 95 watts with the drives spun down. The only real disadvantage I have with this over my unRAID setup is the fact that I cant mix drives anymore. Which is not really a problem since I sold off most of my smaller 250-500 GB HD, and I took all my 1 TB and setup a array on my person PC.

And for anyone wondering it takes 22 hours for me to grow my array when adding a disk, and I can still use my network storage during that time, rebuilding (due to lost disk) I do not know yet.

 

With the new 3 TB disk being under $150 on sale its just a matter of time until I upgrade again.

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I only have one word to comment on this set up, Awesome! Man you can never have too much data. I take it you don not run these guys 24/7?

 

Thank you, a lot of time and effort has gone into them, and the whole set-up.

 

Only one runs 24/7, the other three are powered as needed for data access or backup schedules.

 

 

 

Do you need another Supermicro 933? I have one complete... just in case you wanted to add a 5th!

 

Did you replace all the stock fans? If not that must be one loud rack!

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I only have one word to comment on this set up, Awesome! Man you can never have too much data. I take it you don not run these guys 24/7?

 

Thank you, a lot of time and effort has gone into them, and the whole set-up.

 

Only one runs 24/7, the other three are powered as needed for data access or backup schedules.

 

 

 

Do you need another Supermicro 933? I have one complete... just in case you wanted to add a 5th!

 

Did you replace all the stock fans? If not that must be one loud rack!

 

 

With 112TB I think I am done for now, and I have no room in my rack.  But I will PM you just in case I can not pass up the offer.

I have a storage problem.

 

I replaced the stock fans with 4wire fans, and have them as slow as possible but thermally controlled.

The rack with the rac-sense environmental monitoring can tell the house to turn on the ac for the room, and set

it to cool the specific zone the rack is in if needed on those hot Florida summer days.

 

cc.

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The trap I fell into on controlling the environment in the zone for where the servers are, is that I forgot that in the winter the house is heated by forced air.  If your servers are in their own zone with nothing else okay, but beware an error of omsiion like the one I made.  I ended up installing a small two part AC system, for just the room (actually a very large closet) that all my servers are located in and just keeping it at 72 degrees F.

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The trap I fell into on controlling the environment in the zone for where the servers are, is that I forgot that in the winter the house is heated by forced air.  If your servers are in their own zone with nothing else okay, but beware an error of omsiion like the one I made.  I ended up installing a small two part AC system, for just the room (actually a very large closet) that all my servers are located in and just keeping it at 72 degrees F.

 

No I already thought of that, our house system is split and supports heat in other zones while cooling where the computers are.  Also as it is Florida and the lower portion we have not run the heat in over five years.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

174unraiddisks1.png

5333591019_f59e064e06.jpg

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Case: Fractal Array R2 Mini-ITX Computer Case

Mobo: ZOTAC H55ITX-C-E Mini ITX Intel Motherboard

Processor: Intel Core i3-560 3.33GHz LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor

HDD(s): 6x WD20EARS

PSU: Diablotek PHD Series PHD350 350W Power Supply

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory

 

Constructed: Feb, 2011

 

Yes it is probably OP for just being a file server, but I figure the parts will be good for something like a HTPC when I end up needing more space and upgrade the server in a year.

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I like the small sleek footprint, is it quiet?

 

It's relatively quite since it is full of HDDs, but yeah it comes with rubber washers for mounting the disks so it's pretty nice. The only issue was actually getting the case since I wasn't able to find it in the USA. I believe I found it from a Canadian eStore.

 

It definitely makes for a great server if you do not have a lot of room and you want a lot of storage.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Back in 2008  http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=1311.0 I posted my first attempt to create a headless caseless minimalist server. I thought that I’d post today’s version to show how it evolved. The cool thing is that I can swap any drive, sata cable , or interface board in less than two minutes, the motherboard in less than five. Runs cool and silent too (disk15 reports 30 degrees high, always has)  :)

 

IMG_2568.JPG

 

IMG_2569.JPG

 

Status.jpg

 

 

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Novel!

 

How loud does it get?

 

Do the drives vibrate?

 

Does it get dusty?

 

Why is drive 15 at 58 degrees?

 

It's almost silent, the fans are connected through a speed controller and rotate quite slowly. I should post a movie. The drives don't vibrate. Even though the house has an electrostatic precipitator it does get dusty but it sits next to my air compressor and gets a blow out annually. Disk 15 has always reported 30 degrees high, its actually at 28 degrees (just about ambient).

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Love it but would never work in my house.  Kids, animals, wife, me ;) - someone would touch the wrong thing and kablam!

 

A few pieces of cardboard/wood/plastic on the sides and front of the rack, and it would keep the kids, animals, and wife from accidentally touching the drives, etc.  Would be very easy to make wife/pet/kid-proof and still look very presentable.  Much tougher to keep you out...  ;)

 

Got to admire the air-flow across the drives.  ;D ;D ;D

 

Joe L.

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