I would consider going with the new 1.5 TB drives recently released.  Buy.com sells them for 199 and newegg for 189, but both currently out of stock.    They seem to have about the same GB/$ ratio as the 1TB drives, with the 1.5TB being a slightly better deal.  Something to think about with the limited physical server space.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337

http://www.buy.com/prod/seagate-1-5tb-barracuda-sata-7200rpm-3-5-32mb-cache-internal-hard/q/loc/101/208921110.html

 

 

In an unraid or raid environment, that cost effectiveness ratio gets worse because you are using a 1.5TB parity rather than a less expensive 1TB or smaller drive.

 

Regardless, you will still get maximum space by using the largest drives.

 

 

Bill

e. If the drives are accessed sequentially for parity checks, I still should be able to stagger them for faster checks, doing it this way:

 

mobo-PM1-PM2-mobo-PM1-PM2-mobo-PM1-PM2-mobo-PM1-PM2-mobo-PM1-PM2-mobo-JMB = 17 drives. Right?

 

 

That's my theory.

It's worked for me in the past with IDE drives on the same cables.

I stole that idea from you. 

 

As for the drives, removing my 4 500GB IDEs and replacing them with 2 1.5TB drives (and moving the existing parity drive) gives me the same storage as before, plus more room to grow. It's better than simply replacing 4 500GB IDEs with 4 500GB SATAs, and will cost about the same.

I tested my istar 4x 3x5.25 hard drive cage, I went straight from the MB to the cage, and the drives showed up in all 4 slots, now I gotta install my adaptec card. And test all it's ports.

Here's what I thought I'd order, barring any warnings to the contrary here.

5. CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C4DHX - $107

 

I've had a lot of good luck with Corsair RAM in the past - never a failed stick.

RAM selected works at 2.1V. ABIT AB9 Pro is quite picky with RAM. Suggest you just get one of the their value models running at lower volts instead of gaming/performance memory.

 

As for video card, I use an ATI RageXL which I got from geeks.com. My internet connection's slow right now and I keeps timing out so I couldn't find the product page.

Is this the card you're talking about at geeks.com?

 

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=ATI-RAGEXL-8M&cat=VCD

 

And if performance RAM is a problem for the board, how about this deal from Frys online:

 

http://shop4.frys.com/product/5622671

 

It's $35 for 4GB of RAM.

 

Both good choices... go fer it !!!

 

I'm going to start clicking on some order buttons now. I'm sure I'll be back with a few more questions sometime next week. 

 

The 1.5TB drives are back in at Newegg, with free shipping.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337

I have the Abit mobo, RAM, CPU, 1.5TB drives, and drive cage for this build. I'm waiting for the port multipliers.

 

Probably tomorrow or the next day, I'll be able to start migrating the drives to this new configuration. Since I haven't done this before, I'd appreciate any cautions/gotchas you guys might have.

 

Here's my current plan of action (since I can't get the old mobo to boot at all now - good thing I made this move):

 

1. Replace key components with new: mobo, CPU, RAM, PMs.

2. Set AB9 to boot from USB in BIOS.

 

The AB9 has only 2 IDE ports on the mobo. I have 4 IDE drives in the array. Here's what I plan to do to migrate the data:

 

1. Attach 1.5TB drives as parity and drive 1.

2. Attach all the other existing UnRAID SATA data drives, staggering on mobo-PM1-PM2, etc.

3. Attach IDE data drives (the first 2).

4. Boot UnRAID.

5. Move data from IDE drives to new 1.5TB drive.

6. Remove IDE drives with copied files and replace with the other 2 IDE data drives.

7. Move data from these 2 drives to SATA drives and remove them.

8. Add the old SATA 500GB parity drive and recycle it as a data drive.

 

What I'm fuzzy on is the process of booting up initially and moving the data on the IDEs. Any cautions there, or can I just boot the array and copy? I know I'll have to format the new drives and assign them to parity and drive 1, but can I do a copy from the IDEs to the new 1.5TB SATA drive without the array doing a parity check? After all, I'm going to be transferring files from 2 more drives, plus recycling the old parity drive before a parity check will even be useful.

 

How many steps am I missing here (and how many mistakes am I making)? Any suggestions for BIOS settings I should make up front - ACHI, timings, voltages tweaks, etc.?

Easiest plan by far, while you are adding and removing drives, is to just forget parity until you are finished.  Just leave the parity drive unassigned.  Everything will be faster.

 

Where available, AHCI is best.

How many steps am I missing here (and how many mistakes am I making)? Any suggestions for BIOS settings I should make up front - ACHI, timings, voltages tweaks, etc.?

 

The only thing I had to do for stabiliy was a change in uGURU. I manually set the memory to 266Mhz instead of 272MHz.

Other then that Just disabling hardware that I was not using.

 

As for your procedure, it sounds solid.

 

I might take a slightly slower approach and only work with the two 1.5TB drives and the PATA drives first.

 

I.E. Install the large drives, Do not assign the parity drive yet. Let unRAID format the data drive.

When it looks good.

 

Install the P-ATA drives, migrate the data with rsync -avP.

I do it twice per directory (or drive) just in case. The second time will finish in a split second if the first time was 100% successful.

Shutdown, Install second set of drives.

do rsync procedure again.

 

Then install the rest of the drives.

This way the major copying is done without having to deal with other drives and cables in the way.

Nor wait for them to spin up and be detected.

 

When all is installed, set and done, Assign the parity drive, then start a parity check.

 

 

rsync -avP is a Linux command that I have to execute from the UnRAID command line? Sorry, I have zero experience with Linux, so I'm not at all sure what exactly to do to transfer data using this command. Could you be a little more specific? If it's too much info for a Linux idiot like me to understand, can I just do it from Windows Explorer, knowing it will take a lot longer that way?

 

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Very helpful.

 

Forgot to ask if there's anything special I have to do when I reinsert the old parity drive to make the system see it as a blank data drive?

I have zero experience with Linux, so I'm not at all sure what exactly to do to transfer data using this command.

 

rsync is a way of synchronizing local and remote directories

 

rsync -avP (source directory) (remote directory) 

 

It might be better for you to use the mc command via telnet from the command line, It's more intuituve.

Or use windows explorer as you mention.

 

 

As far as old parity drive as data drive, I'm not sure if there is any procedure, perhaps someone else with this experience can chime in.

 

I installed all the parts for this build today and things have gone fairly well. The mobo, CPU, Kingston ValueRAM and video card all worked fine. I do have a couple of issues:

 

1. The Sil3132 (internal SATA and external eSATA) ports recognize the Addonics port multipliers, but the JMicron ports don't.

2. During boot, the mobo speaker starts wailing (sounds a little like those European police sirens, definitely not distinct beeps). It quits when it gets to some reference to the floppy (which is disabled in BIOS).

3. I get numerous error messages during boot (softreset failed, error=-5, hard reset failed) when the SATA ports are accessed, but all the drives are there when it finishes booting. I'm pretty sure the wailing started before I even installed the port multipliers.

4. When I start to transfer data from the IDE drives, the wheee/whaaa wailing starts up again until the copy finishes (using Windows Explorer).

 

I'm getting about 23.5MB/sec transferring the files from the old IDE drives (one at a time), using Explorer. I did change the CPU speed from 272 to 266 in BIOS, and I switched the onboard SATA to AHCI. I tried it with AHCI and IDE to see if that might affect the wailing, but no go.

 

I pulled the damn mobo speaker until I can figure this out. I kept expecting French gendarmes to burst through my door. It doesn't seem to be causing any problems for the transfer and no blue smoke after a couple of hours of copying (famous last words?).

 

After the machine boots, FF is indicated on the mobo LCD. Under "POST Code Definitions" in the manual, it says FF indicates this is a "Boot attempt (INT 19h)." Not sure what that means. Any ideas?

 

 

Forgot to mention that the iStar SATA 5-in-3 drive enclosure works well. I like it better than the AMS units I have, for which I had to mount each hard drive individually in a metal sheath. You just push the drives into the iStar and a spring in the back holds them snugly. It's cheaper than the AMS units were, too.

 

I really need some ideas on that mobo error sound.

 

Just a long shot (you would probably get better answers from the Abit support site, or someone with an Abit tech manual with beep codes and those LED codes).

 

Try resetting the CMOS, by jumper or button, check the manual.  You will have to make all your BIOS setting changes again, but that should restore all default settings for memory and CPU and other timings.

Just a shot in the dark, but you might check in the MB Bios & see what the CPU overheat alarm is set at. It might be set too low. Temperature that is.

 

I know a ways back that a lot of Abit boards I received had that problem.

1. The Sil3132 (internal SATA and external eSATA) ports recognize the Addonics port multipliers, but the JMicron ports don't.

2. During boot, the mobo speaker starts wailing (sounds a little like those European police sirens, definitely not distinct beeps). It quits when it gets to some reference to the floppy (which is disabled in BIOS).

 

1. With my test on the AMS venus enclosure it worked with both, but there's no guarantee. It was a different SIL chipset designed to do allot more with internal raid levels.

 

2. The error warnings with the speaker are certainly alarming. (no pun intended). This is something to contact abit about. If possble record the sound so it can be presented

 

I think FF at the end of the boot process is normal.

the wah-wah speaker sound MIGHT be related to a CPU fan with faulty sensor or one that spins down too low for the bios' threshold...

 

 

I can't find the CPU temperature threshold settings in the BIOS. I must be overlooking something simple. Help.

 

The Addonics PM card's instruction manual says it works with the Sil3132 contoller - no mention of the JMicron. Do you guys know if the Sil3132 ports (SATA and eSATA) share the same bandwidth, or are they independent?

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

The Addonics PM card's instruction manual says it works with the Sil3132 contoller - no mention of the JMicron. Do you guys know if the Sil3132 ports (SATA and eSATA) share the same bandwidth, or are they independent?

I assume so,  as they are detected at the same time. Usually when you buy a sil3132 it has 2 ports for one PCIe slot.

FWIW, I tried the MASSCOOL PCIe 1X SIL3132 from newegg and it's working on my server. It's cheap on newegg too!

I was referring to fan speed threshold, not CPU temp.... are you running a "stock" heatsink/fan?  Some aftermarket units spin down to below 900 rpm which is problamatic on some MB's, notably my AB9pro.... some BIOS' allow setting this to as low as 600 rpm, many don't...

 

 

I'm using a stock HSF with an Intel E6400 CPU.

 

I was concerned about using both Sil3132 ports, if they share the same bandwidth. If the staggering of drives concept works, though, it could still work out OK. With the 2 PMs on the Sil ports, I could stagger them like this:

 

PM1-mobo-PM2-mobo-PM1-mobo-PM2-mobo-PM1-mobo-PM2-mobo-PM1-JMB1-MP2-JMB2 = 16 drives. I'm still thinnking of using one of the IDEs as a cache drive. Unless it's transferring, it probably doesn't affect the array. I can put parity on one of the JMicron ports.

 

About the AMS Venus, Weebotech - I have two of these cages in this system. How did you test it in PM mode with the JMicron ports?

 

 

Edit: I think you're talking about a different cage than the ones I have installed - ones with built-in RAID capabilities, right?

 

 

 

Edit: I think you're talking about a different cage than the ones I have installed - ones with built-in RAID capabilities, right?

 

I am.

It's a separate external eSATA/USB device which also uses a Silicon Image chip downstream from the incoming eSATA port.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817332018

 

As far as staggering, Choose a few drives, test them unstaggered, then staggered to see if it has any effect.