Landfill - My SFF unRAID with SAB/SB/PLEX

[maxse]

Also, 5TB drives will be out in fall/winter. That ups the total potential storage space to 30TB.

 

Exactly, and 24TB (soon to be 30TB) is A LOT of storage for such a small form factor server.

 

Agree ... and with the new limits on Plus licenses, this is the perfect case for a Plus system.    Pop in 7 5TB drives and shoehorn two SSDs in for a RAID-1 cache pool, and you'll have 30TB of fault-tolerant storage with write speeds limited only by the Gb network AND the cache will be fault-tolerant, so there's no disadvantage to using it !!

 

I suspect my media server (my original UnRAID ... on a C2SEE board with 24TB of storage) will migrate to EXACTLY that system next year    [When 5TB WD Reds are out]    That only real question is whether I'll use another X7SPA D525 Atom board or one of the new Asus Socket 1150 boards with a Haswell CPU.

 

Wow, interesting. I have never even thought of that. I sort of have buyer's remorse now after getting one of the Supermicro server deals which I still didn't take out of the box lol.

 

Quick question, that setup sounds amazing especially with cache drive pooling that's supposed to come out with unraid, however, your setup seems like I would be able to get 9 drives into this thing?

 

I'm assuming you would need to get some sort of expansion card to support all of those sata drives?

 

Lastly, I would want to have at least 2 eSata connectors on the back for future expansion with possibly those expansion units that hold 4 drives (I currently have one now and it works well).

 

Would this all be possible with that Asus board? Seems like it only supports 6 sata ports and only room for one PCI-E slot

[dirtysanchez]

 

Wow, interesting. I have never even thought of that. I sort of have buyer's remorse now after getting one of the Supermicro server deals which I still didn't take out of the box lol.

 

Quick question, that setup sounds amazing especially with cache drive pooling that's supposed to come out with unraid, however, your setup seems like I would be able to get 9 drives into this thing?

 

I'm assuming you would need to get some sort of expansion card to support all of those sata drives?

 

Lastly, I would want to have at least 2 eSata connectors on the back for future expansion with possibly those expansion units that hold 4 drives (I currently have one now and it works well).

 

Would this all be possible with that Asus board? Seems like it only supports 6 sata ports and only room for one PCI-E slot

 

You should be able to fit 7x 3.5" HHD and 2x 2.5" SSD in that case. You can fit 5x 3.5" drives in the 5-bay hot swap cage.  There is also a "floor plate" in the case which has a variety of mounting holes for drives.  You can fit 2x 3.5" and 1x 2.5" drives directly to the plate. The last 2.5" drive would not have a location to be securely mounted to the case, but there is sufficient room to place that last drive in the case (such as on top of the other 2.5" drive). 

 

Yes, you would need an expansion card to support that many drives as the Asus mobo only has 6 on-board SATA ports. Also, the board does not have any on-board eSATA ports, so the expansion card you use would have to provide them as there is only a single PCI-E slot on that mobo.  I don't know if any of the expansion cards commonly used with unRAID also have external eSATA ports, as I don't use any expansion cards.

[phillipppp]

Just wanted to stop by and let you know I've started my own build based off yours. Started my own post here: Colossus

[dirtysanchez]

Just wanted to stop by and let you know I've started my own build based off yours. Started my own post here: Colossus

 

Congrats!  You'll love it!

[chrisb76]

Hey I am looking for nearly the same build.Which modular psu would you recommend? Would be awesome if I could order it in europe.

 

Thx

 

[MattHirschfelt]

I used the CX430M in my Frankunraid build.

 

garycase will recommend a Silverstone SFX power supply.

[garycase]

Hey I am looking for nearly the same build.Which modular psu would you recommend? Would be awesome if I could order it in europe.

 

Thx

 

I've built several systems using this case -- it's a VERY good choice for an UnRAID "Plus" system.    You'll have a lot more room in the case (= better airflow) if you use an SFX power supply.  The Silverstone ST45SF  or  ST45SF-G  both work very well [the -G is modular; but the non-modular works very well, as there's only one connector you likely won't use (the PCIe aux power).

 

Here's a system I recently built using the ST45SF in the PC-Q25B case:

 

[garycase]

garycase will recommend a Silverstone SFX power supply.

 

:)

 

Psychic ??

 

[garycase]

By the way ... lest you get the wrong impression ... the CX430 works just fine if you're trying to keep the cost as low as possible.  Indeed that's what I used with the first PC-Q25B system I built [i actually bought a better PSU at first, but it wouldn't fit].    However, with the 2nd system I built in that case I used one of the Silverstone ST45SF-G units, and after seeing the difference, I'd never use another ATX supply !!    For the 3rd build, I used the non-modular ST455F (just to see the difference between it and the -G) ... and it's virtually perfect for this build.    There's only one extraneous connector [the PCIe aux power] ... so I simply cut it off        That's the unit I'll use for all future builds with this case.

 

[garycase]

Would be awesome if I could order it in europe.

 

 

I was curious if I could find it at a UK supplier ... so here you go 

 

Item #7 here:

http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/power-supplies/computer-psu-atx-power-supply-unit-microatx-miniitx

 

Item #9 is the modular version.

 

[chrisb76]

Wow that sounds great! Thx for the quick answer. So I will have a look into silverstone non modular. What about the noise,  is it louder than the cx430? What Do you think?

Cheers

 

 

[dirtysanchez]

FWIW, I used the CX430 in the build, but will probably pull it out and use the Silverstone that Gary recommends when I have the time to mess with it (for better airflow if nothing else).

 

The server just hums along working great.  The CX430 works fine, it's just a bit cramped in there with that full size ATX PSU.

[garycase]

Wow that sounds great! Thx for the quick answer. So I will have a look into silverstone non modular. What about the noise,  is it louder than the cx430? What Do you think?

Cheers

 

It's very quiet.  I've had two PC-Q25B's side-by-side (while I was finishing up a build) ... one with a 430CX, one with the Silverstone ... and there was virtually no difference.

 

[chrisb76]

Awesome! Thank you all.

So I will order the non modular one and will have a look if I really need to cut the unused cable.

[garycase]

Awesome! Thank you all.

So I will order the non modular one and will have a look if I really need to cut the unused cable.

 

You don't "really need" to cut the cable ... there's plenty of room to simply wrap it up and leave it there.  Since it's a cable I'll clearly NEVER use in that system [i can't imagine installing a video card that needs a PCIe aux power connector -- or even installing a video card PERIOD], I simply cut it (carefully, using wire snips).   

[chrisb76]

Allright that shouldnt be too hard.

Sorry for hijacking this Thread...

One last question: i am looking for a board that supports wol with unraid and / or a boot scheduler in the bios (e.g. start every day at 5).

Is the often used asus P8H77-I supports those function in unraid?

 

Cheers

 

 

[dirtysanchez]

I can confirm that it does in fact support WOL, I have used it and it works fine. As for boot scheduling via BIOS I don't remember off the top of my head. I believe it does, but can't say for 100% sure until I have a chance to look.

[garycase]

The SuperMicro Atom (X7SPA-H-D525) also supports WOL. 

 

It's a notably lower-power board than the Asus ... it's what I use in my system and I'm very pleased with it.  However, I've built several of these with the Asus board as well, and if you plan to use any add-ons, or even think you may want to, it's a better choice, as it will give you far more "horsepower", at a modest "cost" in power terms (12-15 extra watts at idle).

 

I also don't know if it has a power-on scheduler in the BIOS ... but I doubt it.  However, all you need to do is create a scheduled task on whatever system will need to use the server that executes a single-line command to send a WOL packet 

[chrisb76]

It is done!

 

Thanks to all of you! I just assembled my first Unraid-Server and with all the good compenents it was very easy!

Thank you Sanchez for your build as my buildplan and thx garycase for the powersupply advice, there is so much "air" in the tower right now! :-)

 

How did you connect the 2nd case fan to the motherboard? I connected the big one in the front to the fan controller on the board,

but the one on the top of the case just to the power cable --> So it is not controlled and terrible loud!

 

What temps do you have in BIOS, my CPU is at 36° C and the fan at 1590 rpm? Is that ok?

Right now I am preclearing and very happy. Thx again! Next installing addons, configuring and ordering the Unraid Pro is upcoming...

 

Chris

[dirtysanchez]

Congrats, I'm sure you'll love the server, it's a great little build.

 

Regarding the fan connections, see here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=24786.msg232231#msg232231

 

Your temps look fine, as long as your drives are under 40 you are good to go. Between 40 and 45 I would try to find a way to cool them better, but it's not the end of the world. Over 45 and I'd start to worry.

[dirtysanchez]

Also, both of my fans are not "controlled" from the motherboard and run at full RPM 24/7, and they are far from what I would call loud. Granted I replaced the stock case fans with Noctua fans, but even the stock case fans, while audible, were far from loud. Of course loud is a subjective term, so what is loud to you may not be loud to me.

[garycase]

I've built about a half dozen systems with that case and have never connected the fans to anything except the PSU connections => and I agree with dirtysanchez that they are far from "loud" ... in fact I'd call them very quiet.    You may simply have a defective fan ... I'd replace it (a Noctua would indeed be very quiet).

 

[chrisb76]

Hm strange... I would call it very loud and it bothers me, even if the server is in the hallway...

Maybe I really have to switch em... But even so I would prever a controlled fan :-)

I will give it a try to connect the top one to the mobo and the front one to the psu!

[garycase]

... even if the server is in the hallway...

 

There's almost certainly something wrong with the fan.    My backup server is on a shelf perhaps 6' from my ears when I'm sitting at my desk, and I can't hear it at all unless I very consciously listen for it.

 

[dirtysanchez]

... even if the server is in the hallway...

 

There's almost certainly something wrong with the fan.    My backup server is on a shelf perhaps 6' from my ears when I'm sitting at my desk, and I can't hear it at all unless I very consciously listen for it.

 

Agreed. Something must be wrong with the fan. Even when I had the stock fans in mine you really had to consciously listen for it to hear it from more than a few feet away. You certainly couldn't hear it from another room.