November 6, 201015 yr Author Ok. I have taken everything you guys have said on board. So here is my final list of bits: Xcase RM420 £360 XCASE ASUS M4A89GTD £106 SCAN AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor Core AM3 2.9ghz processor £60 SCAN Hypertec 2GB DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333) Single Channel Desktop Memory X 2 £50 SCAN Corsair 650w PSU £68 SCAN Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 SATA expansion card x 1 £86 SCAN CBL-SFF8087-06M - 3Ware - multi lane SFF8087 to SFF8087 cable 0.6 metres, single cable X 2 £44 SCAN 3Ware PTP-SFF8087 cable 50cm **reversed** £16 XCASE San Disk Cruzer Micro 2GB USB drive £6 EBAY Lycom Internal Motherboard header £3 SCAN unRAID Pro Server license £75 LIME Comes to approximately £900. Can anyone tweak this for me? How much power will a server like this consume? Thanks for being very patient!
November 6, 201015 yr I have the ASUS M4A89GTD Pro USB running with parity, 4 drives and a cache and it is fine so far. Waiting on my supermicro card but if someone else is running 2 then hopefully mine will too. Haven't tested the USB3 as don't have much need for it, does have an eSATA port on the back too. I think it is under the level 1 tested thread that I started although I don't know if that is all that is needed to get level 1 testing as I can't find out from someone at the moment. I know this board has solid caps too. Josh
November 6, 201015 yr Just a note: I agree with what the other guys say about Mobo having probably to be changed during the next 1-2 years but if your mobo supports UEFI and SATA 3 there is a chance you might just not need to upgrade... PS: Just to help anyone looking for norco-like racks in europe, here is another site: http://cybershop.ri-vier.nl/19-inch-rack-mount-4u-rack-mount-case-c-1_3_7.html
November 6, 201015 yr Is there such a creature out there? SATA III I've seen, and in fact the board he picked supports it, but I'm not aware of any UEFI boards out there at this point. I was just watching a video where Sweclockers had gotten a hold of a UEFI board to test, and it certainly implied that there weren't any out there right now: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/bios-efi-uefi-firmware,11582.html
November 6, 201015 yr Is there such a creature out there? SATA III I've seen, and in fact the board he picked supports it, but I'm not aware of any UEFI boards out there at this point. I was just watching a video where Sweclockers had gotten a hold of a UEFI board to test, and it certainly implied that there weren't any out there right now: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/bios-efi-uefi-firmware,11582.html Well, to tell you the truth, I dont believe SATA III is that necessary, I am OK with mySATA I mobo, I guess there are other bottlenecks.. And, yes, I dont think any mobo is shipping with UEFI. But, for example, I have an ASUS P5Q deluxe mobo (that i use in my pc) which is more than a year old (probably close to 2) and there is a flash UEFI available for download in the asus site.
November 6, 201015 yr I think for most of us, SATA 3 speeds are a pipedream. Current drives, except for SSDs, don't even saturate SATA I.
November 7, 201015 yr Author I have a few more questions: 1) How noisy will the server be as I will be leaving it in the media room? 2) What 2Tb HDD is recommended these days? 3) Does a jumper come with the WD20EARS HDD?
November 7, 201015 yr I have a few more questions: 1) How noisy will the server be as I will be leaving it in the media room? Depends on the fans, the number of fans, the type and size of the fans, the speed of the fans, the turbulence of the air through the fans, the disks, the number of disks, and the case they are mounted in. In other words, it could be VERY LOUD or inaudible, or somewhere in between. Highly likely it will NOT be inaudible. 2) What 2Tb HDD is recommended these days?Personally I like the 7200 RPM Hitachi or 7200 RPM Seagates. I've not used any of the "advanced format" drives, but almost any 2TB model will work with reduced performance. (You can use a "jumper" with the EARS drives to restore the performance to that of other 5400 RPM drives. All 5400 RPM drives will have a write performance about 1/3 less than using 7200 RPM drives, but often use less power... you get to choose which you prefer.) 3) Does a jumper come with the WD20EARS HDD? No. You'll need to get them from an old circuit board or purchase them elsewhere.
November 7, 201015 yr Author I have 8 x 2TB Hitachi 7K2000 already. Are these any good for Unraid? Do I need to do any with these before I put them in the server?
November 7, 201015 yr I have a few more questions: 1) How noisy will the server be as I will be leaving it in the media room? 2) What 2Tb HDD is recommended these days? 3) Does a jumper come with the WD20EARS HDD? I'm using 2 2TB Western Digital drives (EARS advanced format), and it is running fine. I've jumpered pin 7-8. You indeed have to purchase some jumpers.
November 7, 201015 yr I have a single Hitachi in my array (as my parity drive) it runs a little hotter, but would make a fine unRAID drive for you. To minimize noise you need to pay special attention to cooling. I recommend something like: Cooler Master 4 in 3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817993002 Kingwin 4 in 3 with backplane http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817990013 More info here http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=7751.0 I use an earlier version of the Cooler Master and I plug my fans into my motherboard. I have never used the Kingwin, but it has the potential to be very quiet because of the 120mm fan. I also own several Icy Docks, they have very robust construction and function well, the cooling is not as good as the Cooler Master and they generate more noise. There is simply no way to make a Norco (x-case) quiet enough for the living room unless it is not fully populated.
November 7, 201015 yr Author I am getting this: http://www.xcase.co.uk/X-Case-RM-420-Hotswap-4u-p/case-rm420.htm But the Hitachi 7K2000 run extremely hot. In the summer they were at 45C! Apparently the Xcase uses better cooling than the previous version. Would it be cheaper to use 5 reverse breakout cables to connect to the motherboard SATA connectors than using 2 SATA expansion cards (cost about £150 for 2 SATA cards)?
November 7, 201015 yr You only need one reverse breakout cable. The reverse breakout cable is SAS at one end, and four SATA connectors at the other.
November 7, 201015 yr Author With one reverse breakout cable I will plug the sas end into the case backplane and plug one of four sata connectors onto the motherboard. This will leave 3 of 4 sata connectors on the reverse breakout cable redundant. Now with four other reverse breakout cables I do the same thing. Therefore you won't need 2 expensive sata expansion cards. Is this correct?
November 7, 201015 yr No. The reverse breakout cable aggregates four SATA connections into one SAS connection. You plug all four SATA connectors into four SATA ports on the motherboard, and then the SAS connector into the SAS backplane. Each SAS connector accounts for four SATA devices. The Supermicro SAS card has two SAS ports. You will need two SAS cables (per card). Each SAS cable plugs into an SAS port on the backplane, and each SAS port accounts for four drives. So two Supermicro cards = 16 drives Four SATA connectors = 4 drives Total: 20 drives, which is exactly what your case can support. So, one more time, in order to fully populate your 20 drive SAS case, you need four SAS-SAS cables, and one SATA-SAS reverse breakout cable, and of course the two Supermicro cards.
November 7, 201015 yr Author So therefore each connection on the sata expansion card can a accept 4 sata devices. Therefore 8 per card. Then why does the motherboard not have this? Strange but then I am a beginner!
November 7, 201015 yr SAS is typically seen only in commercial server environments. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense for most consumers. Many people don't even use all of their SATA ports. Why would they spend extra to get a connector that needs a special cable that also costs extra? We're in the strange borderland between consumer gear and commercial. That's why some of us are buying commercial rackmount server chassis, and others consumer mid-tower chassis. Some of us buy hot swappable backplanes, and others don't. Some buy expensive server motherboards, and others buy cheap consumer boards. The beauty of unRAID is that it largely allows you to build to your own desires and specifications.
December 19, 201015 yr Author Do I need to make a note of which bay each hdd goes into on the Xcase RM420 (Norco 4220)? Am I right in saying that once a HDD is in a certain bay, it should not be move to another bay?
December 19, 201015 yr Yes, because each bay corresponds to a particular port on the SAS backplane, which will correspond to a port on the SAS controller. Put them in an order that makes sense to you, and if you can, label the drives so you know where they go.
December 19, 201015 yr Do I need to make a note of which bay each hdd goes into on the Xcase RM420 (Norco 4220)? Am I right in saying that once a HDD is in a certain bay, it should not be move to another bay? You can move them, but if you do you'll need to use the "Devices" page on the management interface to assign the disk to its correct logical slot in the array. Joe L.
December 19, 201015 yr Author So its best if I take a print screen of the devices screen once the drives have been assigned.
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