Suggestions needed for Storage Upgrade

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EvilAlchemist

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Jan 11, 2008
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I am needing to upgrade my storage server because I have ran out of space.
My setup has worked great for 2+ years, but i want to replace before failure.

Current Specs:
  • Processor : 2 x Intel Xeon 5504 (2.0Ghz x 8 Cores)
  • Motherboard: SUPERMICRO MBD-X8DAL-i-O
  • Power Supply: Corsair 520w PSU
  • OS : Windows Server 2008 R2
  • Raid Card: Dell Perc 5/i (HeatSink Mod + Ram @ 512MB)
  • Hard Drives: Raid 5 running 6 x Western Digital 640GB AAKS (TLER Enabled)
  • Hard Drives: 2 x 640Gb AAKS for OS + Temp files not on raid card
Photos from work log of current setup: http://www.evilalchemist.com/images/FoldingFarm/CPUBoxen/E5504/

Two Issues I am wanting to address:

1) Power Consumption - I have been unable to determine if this Raid card can sprin down the drives when not in use. They are using a lot of power for 1/2 the day when everyone is asleep. If the card does not support this type of feature, would going to WHS 2 and using simple SATA controlers be a better option to gain this feature.

2) More Space - Since I am out of space, I would like to get somewhere around 10TB of space. The drives are only holding media that is being streamed to threee HTPC in the residence. The OS has a sepereate drive and there is a second drive for downloads / temp files.

I have not shopped for drives in a while so i really need to be pointed in the right dirrection on how to proceed and what drives and if needed controllers to purchase.
 
You could get some of the WD green drive and use a WHS. However some people have reported stuttuering when streaming HD due to the demigrator sevice on WHS.

Im not sure if the Perc5/i supports the Power Management Features.

To support Power Management Features you will need drives that have the enterprise firmware.
I know the newer WD20EADS can be flashed with the enterprise firmware which essentially makes them RE4's.
 
Some Western Digital hard drives do not start up if set for staggered spin up.
 
@OP

Going by what you have posted so far, it would appear you have 2 3.5" bays left, which isn't enough to do a robust data migration. So, here's a plan (it will involve spending money on prep).

1. Remove your optical drive. Buy a USB 5.25" external bay off eBay, and slap the optical drive into that.

2. Buy an IcyDock 5-in-3 drive caddy. Fit it in your 3x5.25" drive bays. Place your two OS/temp data drives in the IcyDock. You now have 3 extra 3.5" bays, and 4 ports free on your motherboard's SATA controller.

3. Your RAID 5 is 3.2TB in size, so to do the migration, you'll need three 2TB hard drives. If you're happy running 7200RPM drives, I recommend the 2TB Hitachis. If you want to save a few dollars on electricity, the 2TB Samsung F3EGs come highly recommended. Configure these drives as RAID 5 on the on-board SATA controller, and move your data to them.

4. Break your PERC array, then replace the drives with larger units. Again I recommend either the Hitachis or the Samsungs, for the least amount of hassle (based on what I've read).

5. Move your data back from the temporary RAID 5 to the PERC. Remember that the PERC can use 8 drives, so buy at least 4 (three plus hot spare) and move your data to it, then if you wish you can break your temporary RAID 5 and add the drives from it to the PERC. Check if the PERC supports enlargement of RAID 5 arrays. Or you can simply keep it as it is and use it for extra storage.

Hope this helps.
 
nitrobass24 said:
To support Power Management Features you will need drives that have the enterprise firmware.I know the newer WD20EADS can be flashed with the enterprise firmware which essentially makes them RE4's.
Click to expand...

parityOCP said:
I recommend the 2TB Hitachis. If you want to save a few dollars on electricity, the 2TB Samsung F3EGs come highly recommended.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the great suggestion.

I think i have enough local storages over the network (to two other systems), I can move the data to rebuid the array.

I am trying to confim which drives (consumer or enterprise) can support some power Management features on my raid card.

Do the Hitachis or the Samsungs have any issues in RAID ?

Since I am pulling HD content from the drives, so read speed is important.

GeorgeHR said:
Some Western Digital hard drives do not start up if set for staggered spin up.
Click to expand...

I have read the same thing. At the moment, I don't have that enabled so all drives spinup at boot, but the PSU seems to handle that fine with my current setup.
Staggered spinup not a huge deal for me, just spindown when idle to save some watts.
 
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