I have an MD1200/IDE unRAID server built for me by Lime Technology several years ago. Works great, but the 5 - 10 year old IDE drives are starting to fail, and finding replacements has become quite challenging (and expensive). My question is whether this server could be converted to use sata drives? The motherboard is an ASUS P5LD2-VM, (which does have 4 sata ports). The Coolermaster case has 12 drives with Icy Dock IDE Removable trays.  Four drives connect to the motherboard IDE connectors, and the remaining 8 via two pci IDE expansion cards. If this transition is possible, what would be the best (and most cost effective) way of proceeding? Could it be done gradually, using both IDE and sata drives initially?

My question is whether this server could be converted to use sata drives? ... Could it be done gradually, using both IDE and sata drives initially?

 

Yes.  I did this with my system a few years back.  Since your motherboard already has 4 SATA ports, you can use them to support a migration strategy that eventually retires your IDE drives.  The strategy takes advantage of the fact that today's SATA drives are considerably larger than your legacy IDE drives.  So chances are all of the data on your 11 IDE data drives will fit on 3 SATA data drives (e.g., 2TB drives).  If not, you can keep a few IDE drives in the system until you decide you want to complete the migration.

 

This discussion assumes you're comfortable with getting inside your unRAID server and reconfiguring the hardware.  It also assumes you're comfortable with using the unRAID Server Management Utility and can perform some basic linux commands.  Consult the unRAID Wiki for additional information on the topics presented in this reply.

 

You'll need a new SATA Mobile Rack for each SATA drive you plan to install in the system.  Here's a link to the Icy Dock SATA Mobile Rack at Newegg.

 

The first drive you will replace is the parity drive (see topic "Replace a single disk with a bigger one" in the wiki). I'd suggest you replace it with a 2TB or 3TB drive.  Just remember that the size of the parity drive sets the maximum size of the data drives you will add to the system later.  Shut down the system, replace the IDE Mobile Rack for your old parity drive with the new SATA Mobile Rack with your new SATA parity drive installed, plug it into one of the SATA controllers on the motherboard, plug in the power cord from the IDE Mobile Rack you removed, and restart the system.  You'll have to assign the new SATA parity drive to the "Parity" slot on the "Devices" tab on the unRAID Server Management Utility (see topic "Assigning devices" in the wiki).  Once you start the array, the system will start a parity sync onto the new parity drive.  When the parity sync is completed, you'll be running a hybrid IDE/SATA system.  Increase in functionality = none.  Total cost = cost of new SATA Mobile Rack + cost of new SATA drive.

 

The next step(s) of the strategy is to install new SATA data drives and migrate the existing data off the IDE drives.  You can do this step at your leisure (e.g., whenever you have a little extra spending money, or you get a good deal on a new SATA drive).  You'll be able to do this step up to 3 times, since your existing motherboard will support installing 3 SATA data drives.  Cost = cost of new SATA Mobile Rack(s) + cost of new SATA drive(s).  Remember for this exercise you can't add a drive that's bigger than your new parity drive.

 

Just like you did for replacing the parity drive, shut down the system, replace the IDE Mobile Rack for one of your old data drives with the new SATA Mobile Rack with your new SATA data drive installed, plug it into one of the SATA controllers on the motherboard, plug in the power cord from the IDE Mobile Rack you removed, and restart the system.  You'll have to assign the new SATA data drive to the same "DiskN" slot on the "Devices" tab on the unRAID Server Management Utility as the data drive you replaced (see topic "Assigning devices" in the wiki).  Once you start the array, the system will reconstruct the contents of the original smaller data disk onto the new data disk.  Increase in functionality = increased disk space, reduced risk of drive failure for IDE drive that was replaced.  Total cost = cost of new SATA Mobile Rack + cost of new SATA drive.

 

You can do this step up to three times to increase the disk space for your array.  When I did this, I also copied all the data from one or two of my other IDE drives to the new drive (using rsync) and retired (physically removed) those data drives as well.  You'll have to use the "Restore" function on the unRAID Server Management Utility "Main" page so unRAID will understand that these drives were removed (see topic "Restore array configuration" in the wiki).  Increase in functionality = increased available drive slots in rack, reduced risk of drive failure for each IDE drive that was replaced.  Total cost = zero.

 

Once you have added three new SATA data drives and want to add more SATA drives, you'll have to make a decision on whether you want to replace the motherboard with one with more SATA ports (and faster expansion buses (e.g., PCI Express)) or continue to use your existing motherboard with add-on SATA ports.  Here's a 4-port PCI Controller that should work with your motherboard.  This is a personal preference that has some cost ramifications (cost of new motherboard + CPU + RAM, versus cost of one or two 4-port PCI Controllers).  I eventually went the motherboard-upgrade route after a couple of years.

 

Hopes this helps you make your decision.

 

Kevin

 

 

Stchas has an excellent response to your original question?  I am going to take a contrary view.  What are you trying to recycle-- the case and power cord?    You are starting with such old hardware that you will quickly work your way into a corner.  Adding four new high capacity SATA drives (2TB or larger) will may solve your capacity problem and perhaps be enough to allow to migrate your data from the old IDE drives (You didn't say how large your present array is).  However, the parity check times (while the IDE drives are in the picture) will probably be unbearably long. And after you have all of your IDE drives replaced, using PCI four port SATA cards will only compound the problem with PCI's limited bandwidth.

 

Personally, I think your question should be:  How do I migrate my data to a new server?

Kevin, thank you for such an outstanding and detailed response - exactly what I was looking for! I ordered the sata Icy Dock racks and new hard drives today. The current system has only 3 TB, so the capacity will be quickly replaced. I may well end up upgrading the motherboard in the future, just as you did.

 

Frank1940, I think your points are well founded. I actually have another, relatively new server that was built by Limetech as well, so the old server isn't something I really "need". I do, however like to tinker, and the case is nice looking [/img]. I hope to keep it around for a couple more years. The parity checks do take 3 times longer than my new server, but it hasn't really bothered me because I run them at night.