Drive placement

[icedragonslair]

Okay so I am still a little hazy on the placement of the parity and cache drives and since I am rebuilding/upgrading the server I am posting the proposed specs below and asking advice to set this up.

 

unRAID 6.1.3 Pro (not using Xen)

AZZA Helios 910

GIGABYTE H57M-USB3 / Intel i3-540

8GB G.SKILL Sniper Series DDR3 1600

EVGA 1050G Supernova PS

2x SUPERMICRO 8-Port Controller Cards

1 x WD40PURX 4TB (PARITY -  On MOBO Controlller?)

1 x WD30PURX 3TB (ARRAY)

1 x WD30EURS 3TB (ARRAY)

3 X WD20EURX 2TB (ARRAY)

3 X WD20EURS 2TB (ARRAY)

2 X WD20EARS 2TB (ARRAY)

1 x EVO 240GB SSD (CACHE)

1 X CRUZER FIT 8GB USB (OS)

3 X iStarUSA BPN-DE350SS Cages

 

Now my questions are:

 

1. Should I place the Parity on the mobo (both Sata 3g) controller and if so, controller 1 (Intel) or 2 (gigabyte)?

 

2. Is it okay to put the cache (only using for addons) on one of the two cards (both Sata 6g) or should that go on the mobo as well and what controller?

 

3. Am I better off, while I am doing this, just to use a mobo that has three pci-e slots and all sata 6g for even more expansion capability down the road as well as being able to use my 4-port card to run the parity and cache drives?

 

Thank for all your help,

 

Ice

[trurl]

I haven't looked up the mobo or controller specs, but ideally, it shouldn't matter if everything is working correctly. SSD could benefit from SATAIII so that might be a consideration. Also

unRAID 6.1.3 Pro (not using Xen)

Good, because unRAID 6 has not had Xen support since some of the early betas.

[icedragonslair]

Thanks for the quick response Trurl. The sata 6g thing is why I am considering a new board and cpu. I am just wondering if the parity drive would benefit as well and if I choose to stay with the one I have would the parity have better performance as well from a sata 6g controller ?

[icedragonslair]

So this is what I am leaning toward. I have ordered a new board and cpu to all for sata 6g upgrade as well as any reasonable future expands. This consists of a Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H, Intel i5-4460 & 16gb ram. I am also going to be separating the SATA2 & 3 drives, I do not know if this will make any difference so it might just be for personal preference?. I have two mv8 (A&B) controllers and a Syba card ©

 

Now for the placement;

 

Controller A:

WD30PURX (1)

WD20EURX (3)

 

Controller B:

WD30EURS (1)

WD20EURS (3)

WD20EARS (2)

 

Controller C:

WD40PURX (PARITY)

 

Now for the cache drive was thinking mobo controller or will it not really matter?

 

Any input is greatly appreciated.