garycase Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 You're most welcome. Glad all is working well now -- that's a VERY nice setup ... I'm sure you'll be very happy with it once you've got it all configured. Quote Link to comment
wheel Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 Honestly, I was just happy to see the Preclear still running when I woke up this morning... Speaking of Preclear, with all of this power under the hood, could I safely (or at least efficiently) Preclear more than 3 drives simultaneously? That had always been my personal limit, but then again, that was my limit based on posts here and a 2010 system build... Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 With that CPU and 16GB you should easily be able to pre-clear more than 3 drives at a time. Hard to say just how many ... I'd start another one; see if all looks well; start another one if so; check again; etc. (although I wouldn't do more than 6 at once) ..FYI, I've never done more than 4 at a time -- but my UnRAID box doesn't have that much "horsepower" nor does it have 16GB Quote Link to comment
wheel Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 Yeah, I have *A LOT* of old 2TBs (replaced by 3s and 4s in other boxes) that may or may not be on their last legs; volume testing will definitely be helpful. I'll shoot for 5 at a time experimentally - it's just preclearing and the data is redundant now, so what could go wrong, right? Blue skies ahead! So damn nice to have free slots for preclearing again... Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 ... so what could go wrong, right? Never a good question :) Even if you tried too many, the only thing that would happen is the pre-clears would fail, and you'd have to restart them (I think they'd freeze due to inadequate resources). But 5 at a time is certainly safe with that system (probably even more). Quote Link to comment
Traxxus Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I'm going to try taking the board out of the box and starting it on the bag it came in, and will post updates. You shouldn't do this. The outside of those antistatic bags tend to be conductive, that's how they protect components inside the bag. Putting the components on top of the bag serves no purpose, it will not protect anything, and could damage something. They are good for shipping or storing, not as a work surface. Much better to just put it on the cardboard box it came in, or on wood. Quote Link to comment
Jomp Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Now we just need pics Quote Link to comment
wheel Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 Photos coming, post-Preclear; but DAMN this thing is quiet. I'm seriously tempted to go ahead and buy a couple more of these cases with Newegg's crazy sale right now (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352020)... $80/ea! My two full size towers (loud beasts loaded with four hotswap cages each) may eventually be replaced by something like this... Is there something like the R4, noise-wise, that's built to hold 20 drives no problem? Or at least 18 (14 MOBO plus a 4x extension card, assuming there are no higher-capacity MOBOs out there)? Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 ... DAMN this thing is quiet. Sounds like you agree with what I told you a long time ago :) Look at the Fractal R4 or R5 ... they're amazingly quiet (it's difficult to even tell if they're on without looking at them) ... Is there something like the R4, noise-wise, that's built to hold 20 drives no problem? Or at least 18 (14 MOBO plus a 4x extension card, assuming there are no higher-capacity MOBOs out there)? I'm not aware of anything that quiet that will hold 20 drives. The R4 easily holds 15 drives (the 8 internal bays, a 3-in-2 cage for the 5.25" bays; and the 4-drive extra cage you're already aware of) PLUS 2 SSDs (on the back of the motherboard tray). I suppose a custom bracket could be built to hold 2 or 3 additional drives a couple inches above the power supply to get to a total of 18 drives plus 2 SSDs, but that would definitely be the limit for that case. Note also that using a 3-in-2 cage in the 5.25" bays MAY slightly increase the noise level, since these cages tend to have smaller (and slightly noisier) fans than the other fans in the case. ... I'm seriously tempted to go ahead and buy a couple more of these cases with Newegg's crazy sale right now (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352020)... $80/ea! That IS an amazingly good price for an R4 ... $80 shipped !! I may have to order one myself BTW, this is going in the "other" direction in terms of drive capacity, but if you're ever looking for a quiet case for a new desktop build, the Define Mini is just as quiet, and is a nicer size for a desktop system. Quote Link to comment
Whatever Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Is there something like the R4, noise-wise, that's built to hold 20 drives no problem? Or at least 18 (14 MOBO plus a 4x extension card, assuming there are no higher-capacity MOBOs out there)? You can check this one out: http://www.nanoxia-world.com/product/1/83/Deep+Silence+6+Rev.+B I believe you can add another 3-drive internal cage (it was possible in the former revision). Quote Link to comment
Copephobia Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 I was looking into building my own server, and I think this thread has solved my search for parts. Would the e3-1276v3 be worth it over the e3-1271v3? They are about the same price, but is the built in GPU and 4W higher TDP worth it? Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 I was looking into building my own server, and I think this thread has solved my search for parts. Would the e3-1276v3 be worth it over the e3-1271v3? They are about the same price, but is the built in GPU and 4W higher TDP worth it? Probably not. You don't need the onchip video for UnRAID, since the motherboard has IPMI. The exception may be if you plan to use a VM that you want to pass the GPU through to so you can take advantage of the GPU's "Quick Sync" features that can significantly speed up video encoding/decoding by using the GPU. Personally, given the very modest price differential, I'd probably buy the 1276 "just in case". It won't use any more power if the GPU's not active; and it actually has a VERY minor (1.2%) performance benefit over the 1271 [PassMark 10360 vs 10239]. Quote Link to comment
wheel Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share Posted February 4, 2015 So I'm not even 100% set up with this box yet (pictures coming, I promise!), but I'm loving the noise factor so much that I'm seriously considering moving at least one if not both of my old multi-cage multi-fan towers into these cases. HOWEVER, these other two are archive towers in the basest sense. Writes will be rare; once stuff is on there, it's staying. No plans on any applications of any kind. This means those systems could be the opposite of a beast, so long as they're unraid-sufficient. How "cheap" could I go on a motherboard and still retain 14 SATA slots (with or without an add-on card)? Same question for RAM and CPU; seems like I'd keep pretty much everything else the same. With those cases still at $80 each at Newegg, even if I don't pull the trigger on one or both of these "anti-beast builds" for awhile, I kind of want to grab a case or two now if I know I'll be filling them in at some point later... Any thoughts on a slimmed-down version of this build are greatly appreciated! Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 ... I'm loving the noise factor so much that I'm seriously considering moving at least one if not both of my old multi-cage multi-fan towers into these cases. I'm not surprised You may recall I said this: ... they're amazingly quiet (it's difficult to even tell if they're on without looking at them) As for an inexpensive motherboard with 14 SATA slots for a pure NAS UnRAID ... just about any board that has 6 slots and an available PCIe x8 slot (which likely means an x16 slot) will work fine. I'd get a Haswell Socket 1150 board [This would work well: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157512 ] and just use an inexpensive CPU ... perhaps a Pentium G3220 [ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116950 ]. Then just add an 8-port SATA card and you've got your 14-slot UnRAID system. 4GB is enough RAM for a basic NAS, but I'd install 8GB just to have a bit of extra headroom: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233144 Note that the Z97 chipset and a Haswell CPU are also VERY power efficient ... this system would likely idle well below 30 watts (depending on how much power the 8-port SATA card draws). Quote Link to comment
wheel Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 I might be missing something completely obvious here, but is there a trick to installing 3.5" HDDs in the 5.25" bays at the top of the case? Do I need to order some sort of extra internal harness, or turn them 90 degrees (though couldn't figure out the plugs that way)? Apologies for what may be a very stupid question, but figured I'd ask. Also, I'm going through several "aged" disks that have worked well in past Unraid boxes (and a handful that were on the verge of dying, I think); my current plan is to just Preclear each twice before adding them to a new array. Should I be doing anything more intensive, or if Preclear's enough, should I be looking for any unusual warning signs beyond the normal "allocated" numbers at the end? Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 You can buy a 3.5 -> 5.25" adapters for the drives; or you can buy a 3-in-2 cage that lets you mount 3 drives in the 2 5.25" bays. http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Mounting-Bracket-Adapter-Metal/dp/B0094D8UGU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816215243 Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 ... I'm going through several "aged" disks that have worked well in past Unraid boxes (and a handful that were on the verge of dying, I think); my current plan is to just Preclear each twice before adding them to a new array. Should I be doing anything more intensive, or if Preclear's enough, should I be looking for any unusual warning signs beyond the normal "allocated" numbers at the end? A couple pre-clear cycles is plenty to give them a thorough workout. You might also have a look at the SMART reports to see if there are any worrisome values [i.e. a very large number of reallocated sectors; pending reallocations (there shouldn't be any after your pre-clears, as any pendings should have been reallocated); or drives that are running at very high temperatures] Quote Link to comment
wheel Posted February 17, 2015 Author Share Posted February 17, 2015 This is kind of funky. Filled the tower with disks, Precleared, started array - no problem. Moved a few files to try it out after parity calisthenics. No problem. Got in a 6tb from a sale that I'll be using as a primary disk. Turned off, installed, booted. 6TB there, 2TB missing. Powered down, went back to check cabling. Everything seemed secure, so dis/reconnected the missing drive. Booted, saw 2tb was still gone, gave up on it as failed disk (also did this for a 4TB that Precleared fine, but wouldn't show up a couple of boots later). Started preclearing 6tb. I go into web GUI to start up the array, and notice a 4TB is missing. I go back to the monitor to check my disk /sk*'s, and now the 2tb I gave up on... Is showing up again? So I'm running a Preclear on the 6tb and the wonky 2tb. When those are done, I'm dis/reconnecting everything until I can completely rule out wiring. ...which may not take long. 6tb's in the top tray (least headroom), so maybe it's just an echo, but for lack of a closer descriptor, it sounds like it's "farting" every two or three minutes. I have a feeling I'll be RMA'ing this one before week's end. BUT THEN, once I get this Preclear / ghost drive mess sorted, I'll take photos for the thread. Haven't forgotten! Quote Link to comment
Copephobia Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Since I basically took wheel's build (made by garycase), his pictures will suffice But I thought I'd put down my overall experience: Build: - Fractal R5 Case - Supermicro MBD-X10SL7-F-O Mobo - Corsair RM650 PSU - Crucial 16gb (2x8gb) Sever Memory - Xeon E3-1241v3 - Samsung 850 EVO SSD - 6x HGST Deskstar NAS H3IKNAS40003272SN 4TB drives The build went pretty smoothly, I added in a Bitfenix Spectre Pro 140mm fan to the front, since I had one lying around. The fans were a bit louder than I was expecting, but I'm not concerned at all. The noise reduction material is fantastic. Unfortunately for me, I forgot to get more cables for the PSU (only came with two SATA power cables). Because of that, My SSD had to go from behind the motherboard to one of the drive bays. I plan on getting two more drives, so I'll get my SSD back behind the motherboard soon enough. Precleared all the drives just once, no reallocated sectors or dead drives! It took about 43 hours for each drive, and I did 3 at a time. Then it was a simple matter of getting the array up and running. Now I have to copy about 14TB worth of data over to it. Other notes: The iKVM provided by the motherboard is so very useful. It allows me to remotely control the server even though I'm 10 feet away from it on the treadmill. Technology Quote Link to comment
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