File Server Build. Advice Needed

DiscreteMeat said:
By the way, I'm interested in knowing what components you decided to go with for your build.
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CASE: Cooler Master Centurion 590
CPU: Intel C2D E6600
MOBO: Asus P5KPL-CM
RAM: 4GB Corsair TWIN2X4096-6400C5
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-650TX 650W
NIC: Intel EXPI9400PT
SATA CARD: SuperMicro AOC-Saslp-MV8
HDD: 6x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB (4 to start, then will migrate my existing 2 to the WHS box, then pick up some more when needed)
HDD CAGE: 4 in 3 Device Module for CM 590 (Will probably migrate to 4in3 hotswap cages after a while. These are cheap, and the exact same ones that come with the 590 case unlike the ones that are on the egg. They have individual rubber grommets for each hard drive. Thanks to Danny Bui for linking them on another thread!)


Those the primary guts for now, got some quiet fans and filters coming as well though. Now I just need to figure out how to make this all look pretty. :p
 
please tell me you already had the E6600 and mobo on hand...
 
May I ask why you hope it to be the case that he already had the the E6600 and mobo on hand?
 
Had the mobo from a previous project. E6600 I picked up from someone off the [H] forums. Am I missing something? Or is it just the fact that an E6600 is pretty much overkill for this project? lol
 
DiscreteMeat said:
May I ask why you hope it to be the case that he already had the the E6600 and mobo on hand?
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l337zax said:
Had the mobo from a previous project. E6600 I picked up from someone off the [H] forums. Am I missing something? Or is it just the fact that an E6600 is pretty much overkill for this project? lol
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Oh. Nah I thought you paid actual price for those parts thats why.
 
On the subject of making cables all pretty and such, anyone know of a good method to make custom SATA power cables? Possibly 4 connectors per cable? (1 cable per 4in3 cage) I saw some of them online, but I don't want a fricking 24" cable to hook up 4 drives that are all mounted within 5 inches of each other.

I did a little looking online and found a couple of items that may or may not do the trick.
http://jab-tech.com/ConnectorZ-90-Degree-Pass-thru-SATA-Connector-Black-pr-3157.html

Get a 4 pin molex to sata cable, probably 8 inches or so, then snap on 3 of those connectors to make a custom 4 sata power connector cable? Don't know if they're worth a crap, figured I'd ask here in case anyone has had experience with those connector ends or has some other insight on other methods that I might be missing.

I checked Seagate's site and it doesn't look like they use the 3.3V line (orange cable) on any of their drives, so a 4 pin molex I'd assume should work fine?
 
Twice the cost for 2TB drive vs 1.5TB drive makes cost per gig unattractive (can buy two 1.5TB drives for the same price as one 2TB drive). But that's not what I was asking. I'm not asking about size. I'm unsure of what kind of drives I should use in my file server, WD green drives @5400 rpm or faster performing 7200 rpm drives (the type of drives l337zax used).
 
I see there's a shellshocker deal on the 1.5TB green drives but its not looking like these are the kind of drives one should use in a file server that remains on 24/7. I know newegg reviews are to be taken with a grain of salt, but how true is this? Should I avoid these green drives for a file server build?
 
Let me ask you guys this, would the file server perform better if I were to put the WHS OS on a 7200 rpm drive like the 640 or 1TB Blue or Black and use those 1.5TB Green drives (or any size green, 750MB, 1TB, etc.) for all the other disks in the system?
 
DiscreteMeat said:
I see there's a shellshocker deal on the 1.5TB green drives but its not looking like these are the kind of drives one should use in a file server that remains on 24/7. I know newegg reviews are to be taken with a grain of salt, but how true is this? Should I avoid these green drives for a file server build?
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I haven't heard of any widespread failures that was related to early QC issues of the Green drives. Personally, I'd get them.

DiscreteMeat said:
Let me ask you guys this, would the file server perform better if I were to put the WHS OS on a 7200 rpm drive like the 640 or 1TB Blue or Black and use those 1.5TB Green drives (or any size green, 750MB, 1TB, etc.) for all the other disks in the system?
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Use the largest but still fast drive as your OS drive as A) the larger size means a lesser chance of you replacing the drive when you need more storage and B) it'll still give the OS a bit more responsiveness. So probably the 1TB Black drives are your best bet IMO. Use the rest, regardless of Green, Blue, or Black as storage.
 
Danny Bui said:
Use the largest but still fast drive as your OS drive as A) the larger size means a lesser chance of you replacing the drive when you need more storage
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Using the OS drive for storage is generally discouraged, I'm not sure if this is WHS standard practice or not, but I'd rather keep my OS installation completely separate. In which case doing what you suggest wastes a lot of storage.

I'd use the smallest drive for the OS. Performance of the OS drive is pretty irrelevant in a file server.
 
With WHS it was originally suggested that the largest drive be the OS drive, this was for two reasons - 1) it put 'tombstones' there, 2) the largest drive was likely the newest and least likely ever needed to be upgraded. They've since released Powerpacks that rejiggered the tombstone issues around.

But I still agree with making the largest drive the OS drive with one exception - if you are using a large enough SSD, like 128mb, to run WHS for low power consumption.

As for the WD Green drives - look at my sig for a link to my thread on power usage of drives, look in particular at the idle watts. The Greens are probably the best overall out now.

I think that most of us that run larger WHS arrays all come around to feel that performance is fine with 5400rpm/green drives and that the bigger long-term issues is overall power consumption. So we lean toward maximum terabytes per watt instead of maximum terabytes per dollar. Money is still an issue to most of us, but run a WHS box 24/7 with a dozen drives in it for a while and some wise spending up front can reduce the power bill in a real way.
 
Well I ended up going for the shellshocker deal. $99 for a 1.5TB Green seems to be an excellent way to get started, so I bought 3 of them. Two woulda been enough but I Newegg let me return the two 750 Green drives I got last week without a restocking fee, so I thought what the heck, Grab em now while they're on sale.

I'm still unsure after reading the last few posts if I should also get a smaller, faster drive to use for the WHS OS. You guys seem to disagree with each other.
 
So ya, not real happy with the CMStore that I bought the spare cages from.

Took them a long time to process the order, so naturally it took a long time to get here. That part I can live with.

The part that pisses me off is they sent me what looks to be two used cages. The fans are different on both cages, there is markings on them like they have been pushed in and out of the case multiple times, and the thing that really irks me is the fact that they only included 8 screws... that's enough to mount 2 hard drives.

http://cmstore.coolermaster-usa.com/product_info.php?cPath=18_25&products_id=167
 
@l337zax - I wonder if they shipped you these instead (the refurbished ones). Sucks in any case.
 
I still haven't got a case. Kind of taking my time but I did grab WHS on sale the other day at the Egg. I was looking around and noticed THIS CASE. It has a different type of 5.25 to 3.5 drive converter adapter and one is included with the case. So it looks like it will hold 6 HDDs right off the bat. I duno, I actually think the one I linked to above might actually be a better server case than the CM Centurion 590 RC or am I missing something?
 
DiscreteMeat said:
I still haven't got a case. Kind of taking my time but I did grab WHS on sale the other day at the Egg. I was looking around and noticed THIS CASE. It has a different type of 5.25 to 3.5 drive converter adapter and one is included with the case. So it looks like it will hold 6 HDDs right off the bat. I duno, I actually think the one I linked to above might actually be a better server case than the CM Centurion 590 RC or am I missing something?
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Yeah you're missing something: With two 4in3 adapters, the RC-590 can hold up to 12 drives. The case you linked with a single 4in3 adapter plus two of those inefficient use of space single 3.5" to 5.25" adapter can only hold 11 drives. So while the case you chose holds more drives right off the bat, in the long term, the RC-590 is cheaper and can hold more drives.

Do note that while you could use a 3in2 bay adapter alongside the 4in3 bay adapter with the case you chose to get 12 hard drives, the RC-590 would still be cheaper and slightly quieter since a 3in2 bay adapter uses a 80mm fan. The cheapest 3in2 adapter I can think of costs around $25. So thats roughly $85 for that case you chose + 3in2 adapter + 4in3 adapter with a bit more noise versus $70 for the RC-590 plus two 4in3 adapters with a bit less noise.

So yeah, think long-term man.
 
Danny Bui said:
Yeah you're missing something: With two 4in3 adapters, the RC-590 can hold up to 12 drives. The case you linked with a single 4in3 adapter plus two of those inefficient use of space single 3.5" to 5.25" adapter can only hold 11 drives. So while the case you chose holds more drives right off the bat, in the long term, the RC-590 is cheaper and can hold more drives.

So yeah, think long-term man.
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Well, I guess I can see your point. But to be realistic, once I get to where I need 11 or 12 drives, wouldn't it be time to start thinking about a different case that's actually designed for server builds? I mean if the only reason to choose the 590 over the 600 is because it can hold one more drive with the use of 4in3 bay adapters, then I think it becomes more of a personal choice at that point. If I were really thinking long term, then the Norco 4220 would be the more appropriate choice, no?

In other words, is the CM 600 really a bad choice for a home files server just because it holds one less HDD than the CM 590 when excluding the use of a 3in2 bay adapter? And if the CM 590 is a "10" for a file server, wouldn't the 600 be at least a "9" in that category? And did you read the features of the 600?

Cable Management System
The cable management for Gladiator 600 is able to support the cables whilst being routed through the chassis from device A to B, the motherboard tray includes cable access openings which cables can routed in or out from the chassis, also to prevent causing damage for cables/components.

Superior Airflow Performance
Front and top mount 140 mm fans and side ventilation for the best airflow performance, Gladiator 600 also supports total of five 120 mm fans or four 140 mm fans plus one 120 mm fan.

User Friendly
Front I/O panel for easy access with front fan blue LED switch.
Cable management and CPU cooler retaining hole design for quick cable routing and installation.
PSU can be set up bottom fan facing up or down.
 
First off, I was a bit off with the amount of drives: The case you chose can only hold 10 drives using the included single 3.25" to 5/25" bay adapter + the 4in3 bay adapter. Thought the case you linked to had two of those adapters. Turns out there's only one. So that means that for a total of $60, you get 10 drive bays with that case versus $70 for 12 drives with the RC-590.

DiscreteMeat said:
Well, I guess I can see your point. But to be realistic, once I get to where I need 11 or 12 drives, wouldn't it be time to start thinking about a different case that's actually designed for server builds? I mean if the only reason to choose the 590 over the 600 is because it can hold one more drive with the use of 4in3 bay adapters, then I think it becomes more of a personal choice at that point. If I were really thinking long term, then the Norco 4220 would be the more appropriate choice, no?
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Not necessarily. Many people with 10 to 12 drive setup still go for the consumer grade cases to use for their servers since they do want to cut down on costs. If you look through The [H]ard Forum Storage Showoff Thread - Post your 10TB+ systems, many of those people are still using consumer grade cases for their servers. There's a possibility that you may not be able to afford a Norco rebuild so that extra $10 for another two bays is well worth the money IMO.

Fair point on the Norco 4220 case though. However for the short-term, why really limit yourself with 10 drive solution when a 12 drive solution is only $10 more? Better safe than sorry IMO.

DiscreteMeat said:
In other words, is the CM 600 really a bad choice for a home files server just because it holds one less HDD than the CM 590 when excluding the use of a 3in2 bay adapter? And if the CM 590 is a "10" for a file server, wouldn't the 600 be at least a "9" in that category?
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Didn't say it was a bad choice per se. Just not an optimal choice for the money. I'd rate the CM 600 as an "8" at most since only 8 of the 10 drives it can hold are actively cooled. The RC-590 would have 12 actively cooled hard drives.

DiscreteMeat said:
And did you read the features of the 600?
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I don't ever read the features list of most cases since most of the time it's just marketing BS or stuff that I've seen in virtually every other case features' lists out there. After reading what you posted, my opinion hasn't changed a bit: still the same shit I've seen for other cases. Besides, if you look at the pictures for the 600 and RC-590, the designs are virtually the same. Same cooling layout, same PSU layout, similar front panel, etc. Minor differences here and there but nothing really worth noting besides the lesser amoutn of drives.

Look, cases are usually a personal choice kind of thing. If you really like the RC-600's look and don't mind the loss of two drives, go for it. Personally, I'd rather spend the extra $10 for the RC-590 for those two extra drive bays and active cooling on all 12 drives. More peace of mind IMO.
 
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Got my build up and running tonight. Will be adding more hard drives to it soon. Going to let it burn in a while first to make sure the stability is there.

Got a crappy cell phone pic of it when I got done wiring it up for now. I replaced all the fans with Scythe SY1225SL12L 120mm. This case is amazingly quiet with those fans. Only noise I can really hear is the sound of the hard drives.

Now I need to figure a way to hide the extra SATA power connectors from the PSU. Since I made customer power cables, there are no need for the ones from the PSU.


And yes, I like zip ties!


zax_whs-box.jpg


zax_whs-console.jpg
 
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