Seagate 8TB archive drives ..

[superloopy]

... anyone using them in an unRAID system?

 

Just started to 'show' this side of the pond and wondering whether to go for a couple or not, depends on peoples experiences so far?

[garycase]

We're all waiting for someone to try them  :)

... perhaps you'd like to be the "guinea pig" !!

 

... Realistically, they should work fine except perhaps as the parity drive -- and even then the only issue would probably be the write speed.

 

I'd be prepared to either build a RAID-0 array with 2 4TB drives to serve as the parity drive; or buy one of the (pricey) Helium 8TB non-shingled units for the parity drive.

 

I think the key determinant of whether or not the shingled drives make sense in an UnRAID scenario is how you use your array.    If it's primarily a "write once, read many" NAS -- common for those of us who use it as a media repository, where once we've stored our media files they're almost never altered or deleted -- then the shingled Archive drives should be an excellent choice.    If you use the array as a primary storage for a system, where the content is constantly being changed, then I'd stick with PMR-based drives.

 

If I need yet-another UnRAID server at the moment, I'd have no problem using all-SMR drives, just for the capacity I could get in a small system [a mini-ITX Q25B setup could have 40TB of protected storage !!] => but only for a system where the content rarely changes ... e.g. if I was going to replace my primary media server, I'd seriously consider this setup.

 

[superloopy]

So ... everyone's a chicken and running scared. At an advertised £201 i might just pull the trigger once stock levels are available. Shouldnt be too long now.

[garycase]

I wouldn't say "chicken and running scared" ... I'd definitely spring for one if (a) I needed an 8TB drive and (b) it was for a backup archive where I was just going to write the data once.    But I simply don't need any more storage at the moment.

 

As I noted above, the only issue with using them in UnRAID is that to use an 8TB data drive you must have an 8TB parity drive ... and it's not at all clear that these are a good choice for the parity drive.    Wont' hurt to TRY it ... but if your writes are slow with that combination (which seems likely) you may want to setup an 8TB RAID-0 (using a pair of standard 4TB drives) for your parity "drive".

 

 

[superloopy]

I'm running a microserver ... not sure if its possible to use a raid-0 for parity on the platform. Anyone know?

[WeeboTech]

I'm running a microserver ... not sure if its possible to use a raid-0 for parity on the platform. Anyone know?

 

Depends on which version.

For GEN8 they have a raid controller capable of RAID0. I'm not sure how unRAID sees it.

For GEN7 (The dark AMD version) I do not believe there is an embedded raid controller.

 

You can go with an external box and add a controller which does the raid or have an eSATA box do the RAID0.

I planned to go that way at some point but changed my mind. In the meantime there are many eSATA boxes that do RAID0 in hardware cost effectively.  You would then use the eSATA port on the GEN7 Micro server which would externalize parity itself.

 

There are other better more expensive ways using the LSI SAS controllers with SAS ports and a 4 port SAS box.

I've been meaning to experiment with those also. I.E. there's the LSI 9200 8E with 2 mini SAS ports, which could go to 2 4 port SAS boxes providing another 8 drives served by the Microserver.

 

Hardware for Review.

 

LSI SAS 9200-8e Host Bus Adapter

http://www.lsi.com/products/host-bus-adapters/pages/lsi-sas-9200-8e.aspx

 

 

LSI SAS 9207-8e Host Bus Adapter

http://www.lsi.com/products/host-bus-adapters/pages/lsi-sas-9207-8e.aspx

 

 

Sans Digital Tower Raid

http://www.sansdigital.com/towerraid-/index.php

[superloopy]

Thanks for that. It's a G7 (N54L) and i think it can only do software raid so i'd be looking for a cheapo internal raid card to use. Dont really want an external solution cos once 8TB drives are available it would still give me 32TB  even with a raid0 parity of 2x4TB. Its possible that raid0 parity might not even be necessary. Just waiting to 'buy and try'

 

[WeeboTech]

LSI has another card. it's OEM and I had to get it off eBay

LSI SAS 9217-4i4e Host Bus Adapter

http://www.lsi.com/products/host-bus-adapters/pages/lsi-sas-9217-4i4e.aspx

 

That will provide 4 internal ports and a SAS port for external devices.

 

There is also the Areca ARC-1200 which is a 2 port SATA card.

http://www.areca.com.tw/products/pciex1_2p_internal.htm

That's an older card.

The issue with that card is it's x1 gen 1.

It should be enough bandwidth for a RAID0 device, however you will never exceed 256MB/s.

I would expect you would not get speed above 200MB/s-230MB/s, which may suffice.

Many of us here on the forum have used this card specifically for the RAID0 parity support.

 

[garycase]

The Areca 1200 looks just about perfect for creating a parity drive.  It's unfortunate they haven't updated it to Gen 2 (or later) ... but for only 2 drives Gen 1 should be fine.  With parity, the bulk of the delays are going to be seek-related anyway ... and the interface speed has no bearing on that.

 

... have to wonder if Areca has a newer version of that card in the works, however, as many of their other cards now support v2 or v3.  This v2 PCIe x8 card would certainly ensure no bandwidth restrictions (but is twice the cost of a 1200):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816151101

Note that this card will work in an x1 slot IF the slot is open-ended (i.e. the rear of the slot isn't closed) ... which would give you 500MB of bandwidth.  [i don't know if the x1 slot is open-ended -- if not, then unless the x16 slot is available, you couldn't use this card.]