For Tom or current MD1500 http://www.lime-technology.com/wordpress/?page_id=35 owners,

 

I am going to build a system using the specs for the MD-1500 server with some parts I already have on hand.  Essentially I am going to take my second tower and use the CMStacker case and 4 port sata cards I already have (Plus my copy of Unraid Pro) but use the same mobo, 5 into 3 racks and power supply as the MD-1500.  I have some questions however.

 

I have see the back of the AMS racks on newegg and I have the specs for the power supply as well.  How many power splitters are required and what kind?  It appears that there are 3 '4 pin' and 2 sata power connectors on each rack.

 

Is the Esata port on the back of the mobo routed back internally for the 15th drive?  Is any kind of adapter needed? - Seems that they have cables for esata to sata.  Cool. - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812203028

 

Will locking Sata cables work with the 5 into 3 racks?

 

Out of curiosity are you using the stock Intel fan?

 

Any other gotchas or suggestions?

 

Thanks.

You only need to connect 2 power connectors to each rack:

- either 2 SATA power connectors, or

- 2 4-pin connectors, or

- 1 of each

Probably it would work just fine with 1 power connector of either type.

 

You don't need to use the eSATA connector to get to 15 drives (7 on mobo + 8 on 2 PCI cards = 15).

 

Locking cables work and are recommended.

 

Yes, using the stock fan.

 

Another rack to consider is this Supermicro.

Ah yes, one of the sata ports on the MOBO is not with the others. It was hiding behind the expansion slots.  Cool.

 

One more thing,  I am also assuming that the racks will fit in the CM stacker.  I see no reason why they would not though.  The HD rails do not appear to be nonstandard.

 

I looked at the Supermicro but the AMS reviews are better and it's cheaper as well.

 

Thanks Tom.

The AMS (aka, ISTAR) racks have somewhat non-standard mounting holes.  I don't suspect this will be a problem in the Stacker, but something to be aware of.

 

Also with this rack, and all 5-in-3 racks, you must pay special attention to the length of the mounting screws.  If they are too long they will interfere with the leftmost hard drive, or scrape the top of it as you slide it in.

 

(Also please look at your P.M.)

you even have to pay attention to the screws with the 3 in 2 rack (which I have). They come with mounting screws (flat, VERY THIN, head) for mounting the drive. USE THESE.

look here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=896462 (my build)

 

i used the PCI card for extra sata ports, but be warned that when using unRaid with drives connected to the PCI sata ports will slow it down, as when building the parity drive or whenever information needs to be read from all drives, it will be slowed down to the slowest component in your PC, which will be your PCI sata ports (since 4 drives will be sharing the PCI bus).

 

Another option is to use PCIe sata controller cards (don't know if those are supported by unraid or not), which will not cause this bottleneck.  The p5b-vm do has a 4x pcie and a 16x pcie slot available for you to use.