16TB NAS (mini?)

1. I swaw that a few days ago... it looks awesome. Check out the actual site for more details and he did a full video log.

2. Performance wise it is local read/ write NOT network read/ write (he physically doesn't have the port count to sustain 266MB/s. Given the number of drives that are in it, it is comparitively slow. On a slow/ cheap $150 dedicated raid controller, the local reads writes on that array would be 3-4x faster.

3. That being said, it looks really cool.
 
That is much slower for local reads and writes than a 5 year old pc (or a bottom of the line 2010 machine) connected to the same drives connected to the motherboard ports and running linux with linux software raid.
 
pjkenned said:
2. Performance wise it is local read/ write NOT network read/ write (he physically doesn't have the port count to sustain 266MB/s. Given the number of drives that are in it, it is comparitively slow. On a slow/ cheap $150 dedicated raid controller, the local reads writes on that array would be 3-4x faster.
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The card he used is $250 and i'd like to know where you can find a 8port sata / 2 port sas card thatll perform 3-4 times better :)

Or perhaps im just not understanding your statement.
 
88MB /s writes is horribly slow for raid 5 or 6. Also 266MB/s reads is also very slow for 8 of todays hard drives in raid 5 or 6.

I get over 300MB/s+ reads and 200+ MB/s writes on 6 three year old 750GB drives on a 4+ year old athlon X2 system using motheboard ports.
 
kennypowers said:
The card he used is $250 and i'd like to know where you can find a 8port sata / 2 port sas card thatll perform 3-4 times better :)

Or perhaps im just not understanding your statement.
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Well the HighPoint RocketRAID 2680 RAID card used in that setup is a software based RAID controller. Thus why it's an 8 Port/2port SAS card for $250. Most hardware based RAID controllers with that much ports costs around $430 to $700.

So yeah you can find 8 Port SATA/ 2 Port SAS that'll perform significantly faster (3-4x better)
 
kennypowers said:
The card he used is $250 and i'd like to know where you can find a 8port sata / 2 port sas card thatll perform 3-4 times better :)

Or perhaps im just not understanding your statement.
Click to expand...

Well... here's my $120 Perc 5/i benchmark result with 8x Seagate 7200.11 1.5TB drives Maybe that isn't fair since it also came with a BBU for $120?

A few bucks more would get you into the Adaptec 3085 range (got mine for $153 shipped) which does raid 6, and can surpass the 300MB/s range.

And I actually got my favorite Areca 1680LP for $178... and that thing screams.

New I got an Adaptec 5805 for like $400 (maybe a bit less but not over $400) about a year ago... but that's an IOP348 dual core card.

I won't touch Highpoint cards though, simply because I'm not a fan of their management software, and I wouldn't trust data to them. Newegg is a sponsor of that rig, and they run lots of Highpoint specials, but few on other raid cards so I totally get that part of the component selection.

Finally... and this may sound dumb, but I can write at 100MB/s over GigE to a single Hitachi drive.
 
He picked the Highpoint for it's size, it's 3.12" x 2.64" with minSAS connectors. That's pretty small.

I been wanting to do something like this. I had 2 drives fail in my norco 4020 raid6 and think it's time to downsize to a NAS box, but a my 4bay Readynas just isn't cutting it. Might be time to do something custom from protocase, maybe something that will hold 6 x 5.25" bays (2 x Supermicro 5in3), a miniITX board and a regular ATX PSU. But these Quanmax 3.5" boards are so tempting.

That dudes custom case is super sweet.
 
I saw this a while back over at Bit Tech, Pretty cool little machine, as far as read/writes go, meh, I dont move enough data to need anything too fast.
 
Also only the write speed could possibly hold you back on a single gigabit nic.
 
1x Realtek RTL8110SC 10/100/1000 NIC = good chance he won't be able to do 88MB/s over gigabit LAN. Lot of storage, small form factor, small pipe :-(
 
I'd be concerned about heat and vibration. He only has 1 fan in the back and I didn't see an intake in the front for positive airflow.
 
For heat, he cut slots in the bottom of the whole unit. As for vibration he did not design for that at all.
 
i would be concerned about disk cooling
 
ROCKETR said:
I have to hand it to him for being crafty and creative.
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Agreed that is a beautiful case. I'd love to have it. However when I think of it the noise would probably be too much for an htpc. I would rather have the backend with all the drives in a different room and the frontend have 1 laptop drive or a SSD.
 
For all that much work, he should have just left it sealed, then cooled mineral oil and submersed it in that. Have a separate, out of sight system to cool the oil..... one day if hit the lotto Ill make some bad ass stuff.....one day.....:p
 
I'm pretty sure that oil and hard disk drives shouldn't bei mixed, also the drives are "green" so there is no need for such extreme cooling practices. Also you won't be able to sell the stuff later when theres oil on it.

I kinda like the case and appreciate his work, but performance sucks and systems like the one Blue Fox mentioned seems like a better deal to me if you want it small.
 
There is an oil thats basically electrically inert. they use it to keep those high power transformers ( I think transformers, maybe large capacitators, oh well, not the point) I thought it was mineral oil, a special kind that you could get from DOW or Dupont, but at an outrageous price.


And as far as resale...... I cant remember EVER selling a piece of used pc equipment. Usually it either dies or gets passed on down as I dont tend to upgrade components as much as I just build a new system from scratch when the mood strikes.

Im sure resale is the last thing on most modders mind.
 
Mineral oil is electrically non conductive. However I worry if any gets inside the hard drive. The viscosity will most likely destroy the drive.
 
Interesting point. I would think that a hard drive motor would be of the high RPM low torque type so I would imagine the viscosity of mineral oil versus air would be a factor. I realize theres "holes" in a drive housing, but wonder if you could seal them up as your heat would be using the mineral oil as the energy dispersion medium rather than air. Hmm, would be an interesting study.


EDIT ; Also, not only would the oil affect the rotating platters but the mechanical arm with the read/write heads. Interesting discussion, IMHO
 
I do not see the drive spinning at 5400 RPM or greater without additional load on the motor. Also the heads are not designed for this. I am betting that the heads /arm will be either damaged or ripped off the drive at the first seek.
 
jay2472000 said:
Decided to make another post instead of an edit. If you look here.. http://www.multimedia-pcs.com/computer-cooled-with-mineral-oil/ the guy has a fan in there with the mineral oil. According to him the fans turned over and circulated the mineral oil, so I am willing to bet that a HD motor could spin up the platters. I may actually try submersing a hard drive soon and seeing how it affects it.
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It is somewhat telling in the linked article that the hard drive was not immersed in the mineral oil.

I don't think it would work or at least not for very long.
 
Well, if my local Wal Mart stocks mineral oil, Ill let you guys know by the end of the week or so if it works or not. Im thinking that its not thick enough to do any damage, even if inside the HD. The mechanisms for that arm are pretty solid. the ioonly concern I have is the read/write thing on the end that actually looks at the disk may be damaged. Near as I can tell its a very thin piece of metal with a little dimple on the end. I have a few older HD laying around so Ill just submerge the drive only, in a small container and do some tests. I figure I will test temps as best as possible, the data transfer rate, etc. And Ill also run some drive stress software on it and see if it kills it.


DOH!!!!!!!! http://forums.bit-tech.net/showpost.php?p=1866014&postcount=26 so its kind of possible, but a lot of trouble. You cant submerse it and let the oil get inside, I stand corrected.
 
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