Massive Storage Solution(s) -- The search for a fast/expandable/HUGE storage solution

[SpiffyRex]

Oh, ok. My setup is a compilation of 12 IDE/SATA drives of different sizes, speeds, and brands. Running on an old P4 3GHz CPU, 2GB ram, Ubuntu 8.04 OS. I'm using it for the very same purpose as you but found out, as a big bonus, that I can also protect my recording drive.
I was looking at unRAID but didn't want to dedicate my server to just one thing (NAS with RAID), my mp3s are going there too so want to run an mp3 streamer. Also unRAID has very limited hardware support, my old 3ware RAID card is not supported. After spending hours figuring out how to add things to unRAID, use a swap partition, and recompile the 3ware driver under slackware just decided to try something else. Wish I would had found that post before I installed FlexRAID in my server, it took me a while to figure it out on my own Life is so busy that this is the only forum I have time to read often.

[stanger89]

Cool, yeah, right now I've got 8, 250GB drives on my 3ware controller, and a number of misc other drives.

I really way to rebuild the array, heck the whole server, a mere two 1TB drives would replace all the storage in the server. Problem is, to build an expandable RAID-5 array would be quite expensive as it would require a 8+ port RAID card, plus would end up like my current array running everything all the time.

So the idea of FlexRAID is growing on me, I could "get by" with just buying 3, TB drives and they'd probably rarely be running.

[SpiffyRex]

Cool, yeah, right now I've got 8, 250GB drives on my 3ware controller, and a number of misc other drives.

Funny, that's exactly my old configuration.

So the idea of FlexRAID is growing on me, I could "get by" with just buying 3, TB drives and they'd probably rarely be running.

Right now the sweet spot is in 750GB drives going for $100 vs 1TB drives for $180. Also you have a lot more flexibility b/s now we are not talking about parity drives but parity directories which as always has to be the biggest in the array. The beauty is that you can move the parity directory to a new drive (and modify the configuration files) to avoid having to recalculate parity from scratch. Oh, and you can also use USB drives as array members...

[thestig]

My configuration: AMD A64 X2 3800+, 2 GB RAM, 6 SATA drives from 500GB to 1TB sizes, running on XP.
Don't know if FlexRAID spins down the drives itself so I just configured the power properties in XP to spin down the drives after 30 minutes of inactivity.

[jerryt]

Hello Massive Storage Persons!!

I had a ARC-1220 Areca raids card installed on Vista Ultimate with SageTV and one SageClient on another computer and one HD-100. SageTv/Client/HD-100 was working fine until the installation of the raids card. Everything (other computers and other programs) can access the files on the Areca raids partition and read and write fine except Sage. Sage can see all the files but as soon as you try to play a file sage loses connection with the partition. This loss of connect can only be fixed by reinstalling SageTV. But breaks again when accessing any files on the partition. Sage Support saids the problem is with the controller card. (the drives are set to spin down, so maybe sage can't wait for access, when accessing this partition by the network, there is a few second delay as the drives spin up?)

I will be setting this up again fresh with a ARC-1230 card. Previously I set up the drives as "LBA64" and converted to a "GPT" disk showing as one partition (raids 6 between the drives and controller).

My options for greater then 2TB partition are; In the Raids controller "For Windows" (supports XP, but does not show as an option under Vista) or "LBA64" (supported by Vista, Sage?), then options are convert to "GPT" disk and Convert to Dynamic Disk.

The two options I have not tried are "For Windows" as an option on windows XP and converting the disk to "Dynamic Disk" under Vista.

Any opinions if either may fix my problem with Sage connecting to the partition?

Thanks

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by SpiffyRex

Right now the sweet spot is in 750GB drives going for $100 vs 1TB drives for $180.

Maybe today, but you'll just have to replace 750's that much sooner since they're smaller, and you'll need more of them.

[SpiffyRex]

Hello Massive Storage Persons!!

Hey, I have been putting a few pounds lately but no need to call me that.

Everything (other computers and other programs) can access the files on the Areca raids partition and read and write fine except Sage.

Well, I'm not familiar with the Areca cards but when I was testing unRAID I did made it spin down the drives. When Sage wanted to access a file it will spin it back and play it after a very short wait. Maybe the delay is too long in your case? I assume you are not putting the recording drive in your RAID server and just using it for storage and playback.

This loss of connect can only be fixed by reinstalling SageTV.

I really don't see why you have to reinstall Sage. Maybe stop/restart. Or reboot your Sage server to make sure. Your Sage configuration should not be affected by the RAID server/network latency.

Any opinions if either may fix my problem with Sage connecting to the partition?

Can you give us more info about your Sage server hardware/software, your RAID server and your network? How many seconds it takes to spin up the drives? Can you time how long it takes for the server to retrieve a file from a dormant drive? Mine was about 7 seconds and Sage had no trouble with that.

[SpiffyRex]

I had a ARC-1220 Areca raids card installed on Vista Ultimate with SageTV

Ups, I just came back from happy hour and kinda missed that part. Even if the RAID card and Sage are in the same system I wouldn't use the RAID filesystem for recording... I don't even like to put the RAID array with Sage in the same box. Get some extra drive(s) for recording and run an script to automatically sync them every day.

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by SpiffyRex

Hey, I have been putting a few pounds lately but no need to call me that.

Aspect ratio is off on my end, everything tall and thin, looks short and wide.

Originally Posted by SpiffyRex

Well, I'm not familiar with the Areca cards but when I was testing unRAID I did made it spin down the drives. When Sage wanted to access a file it will spin it back and play it after a very short wait. Maybe the delay is too long in your case? I assume you are not putting the recording drive in your RAID server and just using it for storage and playback.

Well, I am attempting to use the raids array as my recording drive. It is formated with 64K clusters and has a read speed of 350Megsec. The delay to spin up the drives is less then 7 seconds, more like 3 or 4.

Originally Posted by SpiffyRex

I really don't see why you have to reinstall Sage. Maybe stop/restart. Or reboot your Sage server to make sure. Your Sage configuration should not be affected by the RAID server/network latency.

Lately I have been able to disable or remove the Raids Controller and Sage will work.

Originally Posted by SpiffyRex

Can you give us more info about your Sage server hardware/software, your RAID server and your network? How many seconds it takes to spin up the drives? Can you time how long it takes for the server to retrieve a file from a dormant drive? Mine was about 7 seconds and Sage had no trouble with that.

GA-X48-DQ6 with E6600, Vista Ultimate SP0 and SageTV, Areca raids controller PCIe x8 with 8ea 750 GB seagate drives in raids 6, the 4.2TB GPT partition was formated with 64k clusters. Motherboard has two gigabyte lan devices, I am only using one. Spin up has a delay but certainly not 7 seconds. Areca support is suggests I try a partition no greater then 2TB. Sage Support suggests it is a network problem or a raids controller problem. Both supports say their product is not the problem.

Originally Posted by SpiffyRex

Ups, I just came back from happy hour and kinda missed that part. Even if the RAID card and Sage are in the same system I wouldn't use the RAID filesystem for recording... I don't even like to put the RAID array with Sage in the same box. Get some extra drive(s) for recording and run an script to automatically sync them every day.

This is exactly the feedback I need. Problem is while this separate drive may work for recordings, I currently can not play from the array.

I am expecting a ARC-1230 soon and I will attempt to get past this problem again. Thanks for your suggestions.

[jerryt]

Replaced the raids card with a new Areca ARC-1230 and problem continues;
SageTV (server) connect to the local raids array and plays fine.
Media Extender connects and plays file from raids array just fine.
SageClient disconnects anytime raids array is enabled in device manager of server.

Command Prompt of; "netstat -a > c:\openports.txt" shows the following ports disconnecting when raids array is enabled;

Areca raids disabled in device manager, port status in Client with SageClient working fine.

Active Connections
Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP 192.168.0.141:49208 192.168.0.1:http ESTABLISHED
TCP 192.168.0.141:49209 192.168.0.1:http ESTABLISHED
TCP 192.168.0.141:49216 LibraryRm-PC:42024 ESTABLISHED
TCP 192.168.0.141:49217 LibraryRm-PC:42024 ESTABLISHED



After enabling Areca raids card, port status in Client computer with losted connection (SageClient has lost connection...)

Active Connections
Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP 192.168.0.141:49208 192.168.0.1:http CLOSE_WAIT
TCP 192.168.0.141:49209 192.168.0.1:http CLOSE_WAIT
TCP 192.168.0.141:49230 LibraryRm-PC:42024 ESTABLISHED
TCP 192.168.0.141:49231 LibraryRm-PC:42024 ESTABLISHED

[jerryt]

Let me try and map this out;

SERVER
Has SageTV software and Areca arc-1230
Everything works fine on this computer.

ROUTER
DGL-4100 Dlink
192.168.0.1 default IP address

HD-100 SAGE MEDIA EXTENDER
Network device which uses lan to access SageTV on server, and can access files on the arc-1230.
working fine

CLIENT COMPUTER (Device which has the problem)
Uses SageClient software and connect to SageTV on server by lan.
Works fine as long as arc-1230 is disabled on Server in device manager. Appears to connect to 192.168.0.1 (Router?) when it is working. As soon as arc-1230 card is enabled (again arc-1230 is located on server, only connected to client computer by the router), SageClient displays "Can not connect message" and Netstat show 192.168.0.1 CLOSE_WAIT

Something is happening when the arc-1230 card is enabled which causes the router to go from ESTABLISHED to CLOSE_WAIT

[tmiranda]

I have a 9 drive setup and am struggling with a power supply issue. Things were running fine until I removed two older 160GB drives and replaced them with 2 500GB drives. The power supply must have been "on the edge" because now it will not spin up all the drives.

7 of the 9 drives are PATA so I'm looking for a power supply that has enough watts AND enough 4 pin molex connectors to run my NAS. Any suggestions?

[gjvrieze]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

I have a 9 drive setup and am struggling with a power supply issue. Things were running fine until I removed two older 160GB drives and replaced them with 2 500GB drives. The power supply must have been "on the edge" because now it will not spin up all the drives.

7 of the 9 drives are PATA so I'm looking for a power supply that has enough watts AND enough 4 pin molex connectors to run my NAS. Any suggestions?

PC Power and Cooling is the only(IMO) way to go for PSUs for file servers that you do not want to loose data!!

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by gjvrieze

PC Power and Cooling is the only(IMO) way to go for PSUs for file servers that you do not want to loose data!!

Very nice stuff on that site, thanks. I bought the 750 Watt "Silencer" model, it has 8 Molex connectors and 6 SATA connectors, plus the other usual connectors. At $169 it was not cheap, but still a better option than splicing together a bunch of molex connectors. Hopefully 750 Watts will be enough to make my NAS happy.

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by jerryt

Let me try and map this out;

SERVER
Has SageTV software and Areca arc-1230
Everything works fine on this computer.

ROUTER
DGL-4100 Dlink
192.168.0.1 default IP address

HD-100 SAGE MEDIA EXTENDER
Network device which uses lan to access SageTV on server, and can access files on the arc-1230.
working fine

CLIENT COMPUTER (Device which has the problem)
Uses SageClient software and connect to SageTV on server by lan.
Works fine as long as arc-1230 is disabled on Server in device manager. Appears to connect to 192.168.0.1 (Router?) when it is working. As soon as arc-1230 card is enabled (again arc-1230 is located on server, only connected to client computer by the router), SageClient displays "Can not connect message" and Netstat show 192.168.0.1 CLOSE_WAIT

Something is happening when the arc-1230 card is enabled which causes the router to go from ESTABLISHED to CLOSE_WAIT

Resolved this issue. Rebuilt array (Non LBA64) < 2TB and Sage Server, Client, and Media Extender all playing nice. (A theory is that there may have been a file on the array which was using port 42024, a virus?)

[SpiffyRex]

Good to hear it's working. Just curious, you build a RAID5 that allows you to spin down the drives? I only seen that in MAID and software RAIDs. Haven't seen too many MAID array cards for the consumer market...

[Taddeusz]

I just bought the hardware (sans drives for now) for a 4 drive NAS system. Kind of shopping around for software. My plan was originally to use FreeNAS. As I don't have much experience with this type of thing I thought I try and get some input before the hardware arrives. Here is what I bought:

Intel Celeron 430 35W CPU
MSI 945GCM7-F (has 4 SATA and gigabit ethernet)
1GB DDR2 667
2GB CF card
direct insert CF to IDE adapter

The other hardware such as a case and power supply I already have. I'm obviously planning on using software RAID. Starting off all I have is a 500GB and 300GB drive that I was planning on using in JBOD mode or as separate drives/shares. Later on when I can afford the drives I'll be setting up 4 750GB drives in RAID 5 for 2.2GB of storage.

As I said I was planning on using FreeNAS installed to the CF card. But the CF card has enough storage that I could probably do practically anything with it.

Wondering what other people are using for their own DIY NAS's?

[SpiffyRex]

Wondering what other people are using for their own DIY NAS's?

To me the choice was between unRAID and FlexRAID. The ability of using disks of various sizes and spin down unused drives is a must and both do it well. Decided to go with FlexRAID b/s I can use it in Linux or XP.

[Taddeusz]

I decided just to give FreeNAS a try. FlexRAID seems neat but I'd rather have a full pre-made solution. UnRAID seems ok but stinks because you have to pay $70 just to be able to use more than 3 drives. Not that I will right away but my plan is to eventually use 4 750GB drives.

FreeNAS just fit the bill. I got most of the hardware Wed and was waiting on the CF card which arrived last night. I got it all configured and put my 300GB drive in there and started transferring data to it. It's working quite nicely so far.

I can't wait to be able to afford the drives.

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by SpiffyRex

Good to hear it's working. Just curious, you build a RAID5 that allows you to spin down the drives? I only seen that in MAID and software RAIDs. Haven't seen too many MAID array cards for the consumer market...

The Areca 12XX and Highpoint 3XXX series cards support MAID. I can comfirm that it works well on the Areca cards. I like that the drives are at 28c whenever I check the SMART monitoring, I have another raids 10 setup with a SIL 3132 card and the drives run continuous at 48c.