Need WSE2012 Build Advice

[jimmycrank]

I know people are loving the linux boxes right now, but I want to give WSE2012 a shot to store my media (pictures, videos, music, backups, etc). I'm building a new box and plan to start off with 2 WD 2TB enterprise drives for the simple raid array (will add more later).

1) Is it best practice / do I need to dedicate another drive solely for the operating system?
2) What should use to support the OS? I have a 300gb raptor (WD3000GLFS) and a 1TB WD Black (WD1001FALS) laying about. I'd rather use the raptor as I'd probably simply waste the 1TB space.

Other specs:
Asus P8H77-I mb
8GB DDR3 1866 ram
i3-3220 processor

Thoughts?

 

[hotcrandel]

1.) Its not necessarily either, but in general its a lot less pain to fix your server or regain access to your data if something flatlines. If the OS disks dies, your data disk should still be intact. Plug it into another computer or stick it in an external and you're back with access to your data.

2.) what disk should you use? any of those would be fine for your "OS disk". small SSD (time to upgrade the one in your main rig?) is also great, and snazzy fast.

My opinion about what you're doing;

consider using a single 2TB disk as your data drive, and put the second in an external enclosure for backup, assuming you don't have backup.
You can't really "add" more disks later to a R1, you have to break it apart, rebuild the array in a different configuration and then reload your data.

As you want to add more storage, consider buying and installing the next disk with an identical disk in an external enclosure.

RAID sucks and it adds complexity, and for what you're doing it serves no purpose.
Backup your data in two spots and keep it stupid simple.

 

[Zedicus]

i agree, but i would say that having the second drive in an external enclosure is my least favorite way of backup. unless you you NEED it to be portable either put the drive in the server or put it in another computer and do backups to it.

also if you want a low cost low power good bang for buck rig you could look at an AMD APU. and or an AMD ECS AM3+ rig because they support ECC ram, then as you expand you could move easily to a VM host with out needing to change the hardware.

and i would not just blanket say RAID sucks. RAID has its purpose, and is great when you NEED it.

 

[jimmycrank]

would a small SSD make a huge difference on the OS drive versus a platter drive? understand that these are faster, and I like the one I have on my main rig, but does it make much of a performance gain on a storage/backup server?

 

[Dalfo002]

You really shouldn't see too much of a difference with putting your OS on an SSD for the storage server since ideally you should not need to boot up very often, the idea is to do it for longevity purposes or if you end up adding some extra services to the box. In my case i grabbed a couple of practically 'antique' SSDs from ebay (early generation 64GB) for fairly cheap, and not knowing whether to trust them or not i converted both to dynamic disks and set them up as a mirror using the built in disk manager in windows (much like you would set up a mirrored rpool in solaris and its derivatives). I run a couple of dedicated game servers which store their data on the SSDs and those can have a noticeable difference in write speed, but only when running their auto-saves which don't appear to affect game performance whatsoever anyway. I just like the idea of no moving parts, makes me feel as if there is less to break, even if it is just a fantasy.

You likely don't want to put your bulk storage on the same disk as the OS, should you fill it up you will likely have problems. ECC RAM also comes highly recommended, as I believe Zedicus stated earlier.