WHS server full, how to expand

[toony]

Hey here is my dilemma,

My server is physically full, 10 bays, 9 drives and 1 bluray. Done that's it.

All the drives are min 1TB and 1.5TB, I am not going to swap out for 2 TB as they are too expensive.

So here are my options as i see them...

1. Get a much bigger case
2. Esata box, plugged to the back of the server, I hear they are quite expensive
3. NAS box on a second network not attached to my primary to save bandwidth, not sure if it's cheaper than an Esata box and can you add networked drives to the WHS pool?
4. Delete files... not going to happen.

Any thoughts would be great.

Cheers

[Chriscic]

Just buy some external usb drive enclosures. I have several. I like the ones you can store two drives in. Works like a charm.

[SWKerr]

eSATA Hard drive encloser. Know someone with one of these. They like it. 5- Bays and comes with a card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817332017

Any eSATA card and External enclosure would work.

[toony]

I think I am going to stick with sata.
The enclosure looks good, they don't have to be on raid do they? can they not just be hard drives? I assume they are using a port replicator to get 5 drives into 1 sata slot, or is eSata setup differently than internal sata ports?

Perhaps I should get another case take out a cover as well on my server and screw them together to make one large case

[mtyme]

If you aren't already using them, you could pick up some hotswappable 5 in 3 backplanes. Basically fits 5 drives in 3 5 1/4 slots.

[Skirge01]

I'm with mtyme: Check out the 5-in-3's. I have 2 of them in my server case and they're awesome. Not only do you get to fit a lot of drives--hot swappable--into a small space, but you can also see how active each drive is. So, if your clients are running slow due to high disk IO, you'll know it.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by toony

Hey here is my dilemma,

My server is physically full, 10 bays, 9 drives and 1 bluray. Done that's it.

All the drives are min 1TB and 1.5TB, I am not going to swap out for 2 TB as they are too expensive.

So here are my options as i see them...

1. Get a much bigger case

That's what I'd do, if you've already filled up a 10-bay case, I'd look at something like the Norco 4220.

2. Esata box, plugged to the back of the server, I hear they are quite expensive

That's what I found, about the cost of another PC or NAS.

3. NAS box on a second network not attached to my primary to save bandwidth, not sure if it's cheaper than an Esata box and can you add networked drives to the WHS pool?

No point putting it on a second network. Might be about the same cost as eSATA or SAS, no you can't put it in the pool (at least I don't think you can).

I personally would avoid USB drives, too flaky.

[SWKerr]

If you OK running a bunch of cords between boxes then something like this would work.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817332010

The enclosure looks good, they don't have to be on raid do they

AMS DS-2350S Aluminum Black eSATA 5 bay SATA Enclosure???
The guy I know that has this is running WHS server which does not support Raid so I would have to say that running without raid would be your only choice.

[inlvnv]

Originally Posted by toony

Hey here is my dilemma,

My server is physically full, 10 bays, 9 drives and 1 bluray. Done that's it.

All the drives are min 1TB and 1.5TB, I am not going to swap out for 2 TB as they are too expensive.

So here are my options as i see them...

1. Get a much bigger case
2. Esata box, plugged to the back of the server, I hear they are quite expensive
3. NAS box on a second network not attached to my primary to save bandwidth, not sure if it's cheaper than an Esata box and can you add networked drives to the WHS pool?
4. Delete files... not going to happen.

Any thoughts would be great.

Cheers

Do you have duplication turned on for videos folder?

I'm in a similar situation. I have a 12 bay case with 14 drives in it, 2 are sitting loose on the case floor. All drives are full mostly due to video folder being duplicated. Thought of getting the Norco 4220 and more drives for the last 4 or 5 months but instead, decided to turn off videos folder duplication and save backup copies of the videos to non-pooled, unused drives. Those backup drives are then disconnected and removed from the case.

So instead of 14 drives, I will be down to 6 pooled drives with room to expand in my current case; and at the same time, still have backups in case of server crash. Looks like I'll also be saving some money on electricity.

It's another option for you if you do have duplication turned on.

[toony]

no video duplication is off. I have two unmanaged drives for parity backup, I'm using Flex Raid. The 3rd unmanaged drive is for torrents, newsgroups and ripping.

The others are just filling up fast.

My only concern with the Norco is the sound... but I can change the fans to ultra quiet ones if I find them too loud. Though I think this is the answer.

How many drives can a psu power? mine is 1000w.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by toony

My only concern with the Norco is the sound... but I can change the fans to ultra quiet ones if I find them too loud. Though I think this is the answer.

You're not going to keep a machine with 10+ drives quiet. Not if you want the drives to survive long.

[SWKerr]

I have a DVR share and a DVR2 share. Only DVR2 has duplication. DVR2 is set as a Video Directory while DVR is the Recording directory. Occasionally I manually move anything out of DVR to to DVR2 that I might miss. Restart the service.

In my case I have a lot of kids stuff I don't care about or new or late night shows that I keep only the most current versions of.

I don't keep movies or music duplicated because I have a backup of those outside the pool. In fact the only thing I have duplicated and backed up is my pictures and home movies because those can never be replaced. I keep a USB of those at the office as well in case I have a fire.

There is no sense backing up useless crap.

[mr_lore]

I feel your pain, I am on my way to less than 500GB free on my WHS and thats after adding 1.5TB to my Sage Server to offset some DVR storage, damn blu rays...


Anyhow, looking in this direction for the future plus some new 2TB drives:

20 bay hotswap 4U case:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811219021

[toony]

Originally Posted by stanger89

You're not going to keep a machine with 10+ drives quiet. Not if you want the drives to survive long.

The case has 6 external fans, all ultra quiet... the drives stay at about 45 degrees

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by stanger89

You're not going to keep a machine with 10+ drives quiet. Not if you want the drives to survive long.

I have 13 drives in my--admittedly large--case and, even with 10 of them packed very tightly in 5in3 hot swap bays and 3 more at the rear of the case, the server is extremely quiet.

Also, heat being the death knell for hard drives is debatable. I believe it was Google which did a very large study on their own drives and released their findings, essentially stating that they could find no correlation between drive failure and temperature.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

Also, heat being the death knell for hard drives is debatable. I believe it was Google which did a very large study on their own drives and released their findings, essentially stating that they could find no correlation between drive failure and temperature.

Well here's what I know, when I rebuilt my server, I put most of the drives in 3-in-2 cages with fans, but newegg didn't have enough cages for all my drives so I left a few drives out of cages. I can't remember the exact time span, but I lost two drives in that configuration, and both of them were ones no in fan-cooled drive cages. The ones that were in the cages are still fine. I've since added another cage for those drives and they too have been fine.