Help...I Think I Made A BIG Mistake!

[CDLehner]

I think I may be the first guy ever who’s looking to go smaller…lol. When I first started ripping video, and found that I needed a dedicated server…I did what I imagine a lot of beginners at the time did; I got me one of them cool-looking, HP MediaSmart servers, and just marveled at having 4 drives worth of storage available…lol.

 

Well…as my storage needs grew…as did my ambitions…not to mention the fact that half of storage was being chewed up by WHSs back-up duplication…I decided to build by first unRAID box. This being my first build of any kind, I was absolutely going to wade-in slowly, and modestly (re: cheap…lol). I bought an ARK 4U-500, but good parts, with the idea that I could always move them up to something bigger when and if the need arose.

 

Well…in the beginning, I had some drive trouble…and I got sick and tired of breaking into the case every time I needed to do any maintenance; plus, now that the build was done, and it was just a matter of adding ever-shrinking priced hard drives…I was convinced that I was going to rip the WORLD…lol. Out when the old ARK, and my modest needs…and in came a Norco 20-bay’er and an upgrade to a Pro key.

 

Well…now a shift in my approach to ripping and streaming, and I’m convinced I grew too much, too fast. Rather than rip the WORLD, more and more these days, I try to stream from the Net what I can…and rip the rest, or what I need in absolute best PQ/AQ for the HT.

 

OK, OK…get to the damn questions already…lol. As I look to shrink back, I’m wondering:

 

A) What kind of market/going price can I expect if I wanted to sell-off my Norco 4220? I might just step back to the ARK, which I was never able to move on (fleec)eBay, in which case I would probably keep all the parts and just look to sell the 4220 case and Pro key (more on that in a minute); or I might go to a 2U, 6-8-drive hot-swappable box…in which case, I’d…at the very least…also move the case with the PSU.

 

I ask about the market/price, because as I said…when I was trying to sell the ARK case…after I’d already built the Norco…I had NO interest whatsoever on eBay. However, I see people sell their old cases/builds here…and this is obviously a bigger target audience…but I wonder, even here, do these boxes really move or am I likely stuck…you know, unless I practically give it away?

 

B) Can keys even be sold and transferred? What if I’m trying to port my data over to the new build? Can I sell a Pro, re-buy a Plus…and keep data intact; or am I stuck with the Pro key? I’ll ask, but...if the data is somehow tied to a particular key...I’m almost positive there’s nothing L-T can do to "reduce" the key size? Like I said, I’m probably the first guy in history to try and go smaller anyway.

 

Thanks,

CD

 

[Rajahal]

Assuming your Norco 4220 is in good working order (no broken bays, broken backplanes, etc.) then I believe you should be able to sell it for $200-300, depending on if you cover shipping or not.  Keep in mind that shipping it will be very expensive, probably close to $100.  Where in the world do you live?  If you are lucky, you may be able to find a local buyer.

 

While you can sell license keys, I don't think it is worth it.  They keys aren't that expensive, and as far as I know there's no way to change the name that shows up on the 'devices' page.  So if someone bought your key, they would see your name every time they looked at that page.

[KYThrill]

I think I may be the first guy ever who’s looking to go smaller…lol. When I first started ripping video, and found that I needed a dedicated server…I did what I imagine a lot of beginners at the time did; I got me one of them cool-looking, HP MediaSmart servers, and just marveled at having 4 drives worth of storage available…lol.

 

Well…as my storage needs grew…as did my ambitions…not to mention the fact that half of storage was being chewed up by WHSs back-up duplication…I decided to build by first unRAID box. This being my first build of any kind, I was absolutely going to wade-in slowly, and modestly (re: cheap…lol). I bought an ARK 4U-500, but good parts, with the idea that I could always move them up to something bigger when and if the need arose.

 

Well…in the beginning, I had some drive trouble…and I got sick and tired of breaking into the case every time I needed to do any maintenance; plus, now that the build was done, and it was just a matter of adding ever-shrinking priced hard drives…I was convinced that I was going to rip the WORLD…lol. Out when the old ARK, and my modest needs…and in came a Norco 20-bay’er and an upgrade to a Pro key.

 

Well…now a shift in my approach to ripping and streaming, and I’m convinced I grew too much, too fast. Rather than rip the WORLD, more and more these days, I try to stream from the Net what I can…and rip the rest, or what I need in absolute best PQ/AQ for the HT.

 

OK, OK…get to the damn questions already…lol. As I look to shrink back, I’m wondering:

 

A) What kind of market/going price can I expect if I wanted to sell-off my Norco 4220? I might just step back to the ARK, which I was never able to move on (fleec)eBay, in which case I would probably keep all the parts and just look to sell the 4220 case and Pro key (more on that in a minute); or I might go to a 2U, 6-8-drive hot-swappable box…in which case, I’d…at the very least…also move the case with the PSU.

 

I ask about the market/price, because as I said…when I was trying to sell the ARK case…after I’d already built the Norco…I had NO interest whatsoever on eBay. However, I see people sell their old cases/builds here…and this is obviously a bigger target audience…but I wonder, even here, do these boxes really move or am I likely stuck…you know, unless I practically give it away?

 

B) Can keys even be sold and transferred? What if I’m trying to port my data over to the new build? Can I sell a Pro, re-buy a Plus…and keep data intact; or am I stuck with the Pro key? I’ll ask, but...if the data is somehow tied to a particular key...I’m almost positive there’s nothing L-T can do to "reduce" the key size? Like I said, I’m probably the first guy in history to try and go smaller anyway.

 

Thanks,

CD

 

 

Well, you will probably have no better luck selling your Norco on E-Bay than you did your ARK.  A 4220 isn't an item an individual needs everyday.  Not a single one sold on E-Bay in the past 90 days.  And most businesses don't buy used.  I think you are just going to have to post in a lot of different forums (and Craigslist) and then wait until someone is interested.  And then agree on a price.  That will be what it is worth.  But considering you can often get a new one for $300 shipped, used, I doubt you would ever get more than $150 shipped for it, and if you want to move it rather quickly, you will probably have to price it much lower than that.  Then when you consider that you will have to box (hopefully you have the original box) and ship it insured, that will eat handily into whatever you sell it for.

 

As far as I know, data isn't tied to a key.  But why wouldn't you just take your pro-key to your new system?  Why re-buy a plus key?  You aren't going to be able to sell your pro-key at full price.  You would be lucky to get half or less.  If I buy a key from Lime and the flash drive dies a few months down the road, I can get my key restored onto a new drive.  If I buy yours and it dies, I'm just SOL.

 

Lime could probably change your license to a plus if you wanted them too, but I wouldn't expect a refund from them if you made that request.  And if it isn't money you're trying to get out of the process, why not keep the pro key?

[Joe L.]

The data is not tied to the key.  you can use the same key you currently have and just assign fewer slots than its max capability.    The .key file IS tied to your flash drive, and encoded with your name and flash drive ID.

 

SO other than migrating to a smaller case, you should have no problems. 

 

Make a post in the "Good Deals" forum, mention which part of the country/world you're located in and you might just find someone who is looking for a bargain on a Norco case.

[Kode]

If you live in the UK it will cost you about £10-£15 to send the case with parcel2go, so don't worry about including postage in a price, they can even pick it up from you.  I don't know about other countries.

[CDLehner]

Thanks for the replies guys; about what I was expecting. Makes sense to just hold onto the key; plus, you never know when I might change my mind again and want to big. Like Netflix starts charging $20 a month for its streaming...lol.

 

As for the 4220, sounds like I need to approach it like a house; keep using it and just put it out on the market...and when and if it sells...that's when I get to start shopping for a replacement.

 

CD

[queeg]

I've never seen a Norco in person.  Is it possible to strip it down and sell the drive cages?

[Rajahal]

Sounds like a reasonable approach to me.  Again, post it in the 'Good Deals' forum and you may get lucky.

 

Also, assuming your sig is correct, you should update to the latest stable version of unRAID (4.5.6) so that you don't get bitten by the 'unformatted' bug.

 

queeg: While I believe it is possible, I'm not sure that the drive cages would be usable in any other case.  If I remember correctly, they aren't contained in blocks of 4 or 5 like most drive cages.  I believe the entire case is basically a grid of 20 bays.  I may be wrong though - I'll take a look at mine when I get home, and maybe post some pics for you.  I would be VERY interested to see what you come up with after cannibalizing a 4220  

 

Edit: I was wrong.  Here's a pic of the interior of the drive bays:

 

 

Here's a nice close up of a single bay divider:

 

 

And here's the backside that shows all the backplanes (with the fan plate removed):

 

 

(these are all just pics I found online, not of my case)

 

You can see that they are basically horizontal trays of 4 bays each stacked on top of eachother (five total stacks to total 20 bays).  I think you could easily cut it up to make a few groups of smaller bays, but I don't see any way to do it without losing at least some of the bays to the cuts.  I hereby challenge you to prove me wrong

 

[kingpin]

you still have not said where you are located. i would like to have another norco in my collection, but i am in wisconsin. if you are in texas it would be rather costly to ship. if you are in the midwest i could probably pick it up (i drive truck locally in the midwest)

 

pm me if you are interested in getting rid of it and at what cost.

 

kingpin

[queeg]

Here's some pictures that show that the backplanes are strips of 4 sata drives layered.  Like 5 1U stacked.

 

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1119818

[Rajahal]

Those are pics of a 4020.  I think the 4220 is a bit different (at least it looks quite a bit different).

[CDLehner]

For the record, I'm in MD...but I don't expect shipping to be as costly as you might expect. I ship through UPS, using my work's account, and then I just reimburse them. The rate always ends up much better than if I just walked in off the street. I wouldn't expect it to be any more than $50, tops.

 

CD

[queeg]

Those are pics of a 4020.  I think the 4220 is a bit different (at least it looks quite a bit different).

 

My mistake.  Your pictures still show them as 5 stacked 1U's.

[kingpin]

For the record, I'm in MD...but I don't expect shipping to be as costly as you might expect. I ship through UPS, using my work's account, and then I just reimburse them. The rate always ends up much better than if I just walked in off the street. I wouldn't expect it to be any more than $50, tops.

 

CD

 

i know its been about a year, but did you ever end up selling your 4220?

[mbryanr]

Easier to catch him on the avsforum

 

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/member.php?u=7624517