pras1011 Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 I have the server (as shown in signature). I want to change it to the following: Fractal Design R5 case 7 x Seagate Archive 8TB drives DATA 1 x Seagate Archive 8TB drives PARITY 1 x Supermicro SAS2LP Everything else stays the same. The reason why I want to do this is to have a smaller case, less hdds and use less power. The SAS2LP can only handle 8 drives and I plan to sell the other one. If I decide I need more drives, is the Intel sata ports on this mobo ok? Is there anything else I need to watch out for on the downsize? Quote Link to comment
danioj Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 I have the server (as shown in signature). I want to change it from the to the following: Fractal Design R5 case 7 x Seagate Archive 8TB drives DATA 1 x Seagate Archive 8TB drives PARITY 1 x Supermicro SAS2LP Everything else stays the same. The reason why I want to do this is to have a smaller case, less hdd and use less power. The SAS2LP can only handle 8 drives but and I plan to sell the other one. If I decide I need more drives, is the Intel sata ports on this mobo ok? Is there anything else I need to watch out for on the downsize? I am not convinced that this is a downsize at all. I am refreshing my Main Server with an R5 and (based on my other thread which you have been active in) I am going to use Seagate 8TB drives too. I can fit 14 (13 Data + 1 Parity) 3.5 " drives in my R5 plus 1 x 2.5" SSD for Cache and 1 x 2.5" SSD for Apps/VM. I don't want to use an expansion card until I really NEED to so I have bought a Supermicro X10SL7-F board which has 14 Sata ports on it as well as everything anyone else would want from a server board IMHO. See my build thread here for more info and considerations: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=37567.0 Any input you have positive or negative I will appreciate. Quote Link to comment
pras1011 Posted April 25, 2015 Author Share Posted April 25, 2015 Its a downsize in terms of power consumption and the physical size of the casing but not in terms of data size! Quote Link to comment
danioj Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 Its a downsize in terms of power consumption and the physical size of the casing but not in terms of data size! Ah! Clearer now! Ta! If you don't check out anything else in my thread check out this: http://www.caselabs-store.com/hdd-cage-assy-standard/ The expansion HDD Cage I chose for the R5 for 4 additional drives. Being able to mount this on the 120mm fan holes on the bottom of the case next to the existing drive cages and have space for 4 more 3.5” drives is awesome. I saw some Caddy’s which were ok but non of this quality. Shame about having to get it shipped from US for me living in AUS but I feel it was worth i without a doubt. Quote Link to comment
pras1011 Posted April 25, 2015 Author Share Posted April 25, 2015 That's a good find. And then for the extra drives I will use the Intel ports and not a second sas2lp. Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 The Caselabs drive cage is indeed a very nice unit -- I've used it a couple times and recommended it to quite a few folks on this forum. I don't know anyone who's not happy about it ... although some don't like the fact it's not a hot-swap cage. I think the new configuration will be a very nice improvement => the R5 is remarkably quiet (MUCH more so than a Norco); and as you know can hold plenty of drives, especially when you're using 8TB units. Daniel => Just curious if you'd done any "skirting" in the R5 to modify the airflow like you did in the Silverstone case. I wouldn't think it's needed, since the fans blow directly over the drive cages and the Caselabs cage has its own fan; but I know you've looked very carefully into ways to maximize the airflow for your drives, so was just wondering if you did anything similar on this case. pras1011 => If you haven't followed the thread I'm referring to for this, have a look here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31967.msg365137#msg365137 Quote Link to comment
pras1011 Posted April 25, 2015 Author Share Posted April 25, 2015 In the norco xcase case my hitachis run at 50c+ when running a parity check. But the seagates run much cooler! Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 In the norco xcase case my hitachis run at 50c+ when running a parity check. But the seagates run much cooler! I think you'll find the temps will be much better all around in the R5. Quote Link to comment
pras1011 Posted April 25, 2015 Author Share Posted April 25, 2015 I have the r3 for my gaming pc and it's great. Now all I have to do is get the transition right from one case to the other. Think think think. Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 I have the r3 for my gaming pc and it's great. You'll find that all of the Fractal cases are very well made, and superbly insulated. My favorite for a desktop case is the Define Mini. For a case that holds more drives the R5 is tough to beat. Quote Link to comment
pras1011 Posted April 26, 2015 Author Share Posted April 26, 2015 Anything else to think about? Is there a smaller case that will handle 10 hdds? Quote Link to comment
danioj Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 The Silverstone DS380 has 8 x 3.5" hot swap bats plus 3 x 2.5" internal bays. If you are going to use a few 2.5's or SSD's for say cache or apps then this would work! Very good case (with a bit of airflow control - documented below). https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31967.msg365137#msg365137 Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 Agree with the DS380 for up to 8 3.5" drives. The Fractal Design Mini can hold 9 [6 internal bays plus a 3-in-2 cage for the 5.25" slots] ... and could likely hold 1 or 2 more between the power supply and the drive cage => possibly even a 4-drive CaseLabs bracket if you used an SFX power supply [Don't have one here I can measure, so I can't say for sure]. But it's hard to beat the R4 or R5 for a case that will easily handle 14 drives, plus a few SSDs on bracket mounts. Quote Link to comment
pras1011 Posted April 26, 2015 Author Share Posted April 26, 2015 Actually I had better stick to the r4/5 just in case 4k films kicks off. I will need tons more space then! Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 I'd tend to agree with the R4/5 choice. The DS380 is a very nice case, but with 8 8TB drives you'd "only" have 56TB of protected space => that's not bad by any means, but it's only 1/3rd more than the 42TB you already have, so it's not really all that significant of an improvement. Going with an R5 you can easily fit 14 drives ... which would be 104TB of protected storage using 8TB drives. THAT is a significant improvement in capacity => and in a case that's much quieter than your Norco; will keep the drives running cool; and is a BIG improvement in the "looks" of the server Quote Link to comment
HellDiverUK Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 The DS380's drive cages seem poorly ventilated to me... Quote Link to comment
trurl Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 The DS380's drive cages seem poorly ventilated to me... Click the link danioj provided Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 Agree => Daniel added some skirting to improve the DS380 airflow that he documented very well in the thread he referenced above. With that simple modification the case works VERY well Quote Link to comment
pras1011 Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 I am unclear as to which mini sas to 4 sata cables I need. Any one have any ideas? Like for example this one on eBay 251009403680. But reading the description, this may not work. Quote Link to comment
HellDiverUK Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Forward breakout if you're connecting a SFF8087 card to SATA drives directly. Reverse breakout if you're connecting a motherboard to a SFF8087 backplane. Quote Link to comment
pras1011 Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 There are too many on to eBay to tell which is which. Is there a way to tell by looking at the pictures? Quote Link to comment
HellDiverUK Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 There are too many on to eBay to tell which is which. Is there a way to tell by looking at the pictures? No. If the eBay seller isn't saying exactly what it is, then move on. Forward and reverse breakouts are not interchangeable, they're wired differently, but look identical. I got mine (genuine LSI ones) off Amazon for reasonable prices. Quote Link to comment
pras1011 Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 Problem is that these cables are expensive. Any guesses if these are correct: 251635623062 It says max 3.0gbps. Surely it should be 6gbps? Quote Link to comment
Chris Pollard Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 I bought cheap reverse breakout cables from ebay.... they didn't work. (They didn't work forward or reverse so god knows what they were). Ended up buying them from scan instead. Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Agree - buy from a reputable supplier who specifies exactly what the cables are. ... It doesn't really matter if they're 3Gb/s or 6GB/s => either is faster than any of your drives will be able to sustain. The only transfers that occur at "interface speed" are those that are from the drive's buffer, which is a TINY percentage of the actual transfer activity. The other case where it would make a difference is if you're connecting an SSD to this interface => in the case a 3Gb/s connection would indeed be a small bottleneck (but not likely cause any notable delays). Quote Link to comment
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