Need more drive space

[PaDadof2]

I am currently using an HP ML10v2 Server and have filled it up with drives.  I need more space and I'm not sure how to do it.  I was thinking of getting something like a mediasonic h82-su3s2, but read that they are slow.  I'm not sure how to proceed.  I'd be ok spending some money on a new server, but I'm not sure what's better than what I have.  I'm Ok with refurbished/used gear.  I've never built my own computer, but believe i could if that would be the best option.  I guess I'm looking for some direction to take

[trurl]

44 minutes ago, PaDadof2 said:

mediasonic h82-su3s2, but read that they are slow

That one will be a serious bottleneck for parity checks or rebuilds since all disks are sharing a single eSATA port (and you don't even want to consider using it from the USB port).

 

How large are your current disks? Simplest solution to get more capacity might be to just upsize your disks starting with parity.

[whipdancer]

^^^^

What @trurl said.  Are larger disks not an option?

[PaDadof2]

22 hours ago, whipdancer said:

^^^^

What @trurl said.  Are larger disks not an option?

Larger disks could be an option, but I have all  8tb drives now as well as random disks that I have replaced, 1 tb to 5 tb drives.  I'd really like to be able to utilize those other disks. 

[trurl]

27 minutes ago, PaDadof2 said:

random disks that I have replaced, 1 tb to 5 tb drives.  I'd really like to be able to utilize those other disks. 

Use them for other things.

 

I don't recommend using "random disks" in the array just because you have them. Especially smaller ones that don't give much capacity.

 

Each additional disk is an additional point of failure. Smaller disks don't perform as well as larger disks due to density.

 

And just any old disk shouldn't be used anyway. Every bit of every disk must be reliably read in order to reliably rebuild every bit of a missing or failed disk. So if you have some "random disk" that may not be trustworthy, it could compromise your array.

[trurl]

Do you have a good backup plan? You absolutely must have another copy of anything important and irreplaceable. Parity is not a substitute for backups.

 

Maybe those other disks could be part of your backup plan. I have smaller disks I no longer use in the array and use them to make offsite backups.

[PaDadof2]

On 8/25/2020 at 1:42 PM, trurl said:

Do you have a good backup plan? You absolutely must have another copy of anything important and irreplaceable. Parity is not a substitute for backups.

 

Maybe those other disks could be part of your backup plan. I have smaller disks I no longer use in the array and use them to make offsite backups.

I have backups in the cloud and on site for anything super important.  I'm going to need to upgrade my server at some point, as I'm only able to transcode 2-3 stream, so that's part of this discussion as well.  Maybe looking for something more powerful that could be expanded easily at some point.  

[whipdancer]

Generally speaking (there are exceptions of course)
For more space: larger hard drives

Video streams: GPU > iGPU > CPU

VM's: CPU + RAM

Depending on what I want to do, those are the general guidelines I follow. 

Since my CPU & RAM are in decent shape, I started focusing on 12TB or larger drives. In my 16 drive system, all but 4 are now 8TB, and I just upgraded my 2 parity drives to 12TB.  I'm actively trying to get my drive count down as well (I just retired 2 drives which brought me down to 16 drives). 

I need more transcoding, so a quality GPU is my next acquisition.
 

Edited August 31, 2020 by whipdancer
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