Should media/storage server run 24/7 or just turn it on when needed.

E

Elpee

Weaksauce
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Just built a media/ storage server with 30+ drives. I'm really not so sure if I should let it run 24/7. I (and my family members) usually access to the server on weekends to enjoy movies, TV shows, pictures, ... As for weekdays, just once in awhile because we have no time after work.
Beside the power consumption, I've heard all hdds those experience many times of start (reboots), they are dramatically damaged. But I was also told a hard drive runs 24/7 should shorten its lifespan. It happens popularly to every mechanical device. :mad:
It's hard for me to choose the best way now. Any inputs would be much appreciated.
 
*shrug* I run mine 24/7 but it's also more than just a media server.

does duties as an incoming ssh server (so I can get at my desktop from the outside in a secure manor), a minecraft server, personal webserver (internal only) and very occasional VM box. So... yeah.

course power's also rather cheap around here so take that as you will.
 
I leave my HTPC running 24/7 and it has 12 hard drives in it. Its been going that way for almost 2 years now without any issues or failures.
 
Elpee said:
Just built a media/ storage server with 30+ drives. I'm really not so sure if I should let it run 24/7. I (and my family members) usually access to the server on weekends to enjoy movies, TV shows, pictures, ... As for weekdays, just once in awhile because we have no time after work.
Beside the power consumption, I've heard all hdds those experience many times of start (reboots), they are dramatically damaged. But I was also told a hard drive runs 24/7 should shorten its lifespan. It happens popularly to every mechanical device. :mad:
It's hard for me to choose the best way now. Any inputs would be much appreciated.
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In theory, one of the biggest killers of drives and electronics (outside of mechanical issues such as vibration/shock) would be thermal expansion/contraction, which is not going to occur in any significant amount if the drives are left on 24/7 (but does occur if they're powered down/back up frequently). There's not really any statistical evidence I've seen to back this up (drive manufacturers don't like releasing that kind of thing), but the theory seems fairly sound. Even if you subscribe to the idea that drives have a set lifespan (which they don't individually; only in averages over very large sample sizes), the expected lifespan is easily measured in years while powered on. Extending that from, say, 4-5 years to 8-9 years by powering the drives down for 12 hours a day buys you rather little. Very few people hang on to drives that long, especially in a storage server. 5 years from now, I should think that either we'll have price parity for flash/mechanical storage, or you'd be replacing those mechanical drives with much larger ones.

If the power consumption is not an issue for you, I'd honestly say just leave them on all the time.
 
Blkout said:
I leave my HTPC running 24/7 and it has 12 hard drives in it. Its been going that way for almost 2 years now without any issues or failures.
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Yes, I also have my HTPC running 24/7 for ripping movies, TV shows, torrent, and other chore stuff. That's why I'm not so sure if I should let another one (media/ storage server) run 24/7. Arg...g...g... :confused:
 
24/7, tis one of the main reasons you dedicate one particular computer to this task so you can choose parts that are light on power usage since you'll be running it all the time. That said, it's all pennies in the end. Use the one that's on 24/7 for downloading and all your server apps. Have the HTPC set to sleep. Ripping should be done on the computer with the strongest components, which would be your desktop, not your HTPC.
 
Don't worry about it being on 24/7. Just being powered on is not going to wear out the drives. Perhaps if the drives were being hammered by heavy load, but not for light use.
All mechanical devices will wear out for one reason or another eventually. Think about your car engine running at idle. It's using up some gas, but it doesn't do the engine any harm. In fact, it's probably better than constantly starting and stopping the engine every time you want to use it.

I think the only considerations for leaving the system on 24/7 need to be the power consumption and noise.
I would just do your best to run a low power system. For example, consider consolidating your current 30+ drives into fewer, larger drives.
 
Since I'm not needing to access my NAS constantly, I keep it off when not in use. Only to keep the temps down as it warms up my room even more. I keep my desktop running nearly all day, but I do shut it down at night when I go to sleep for the noise/heat. My HTPC which is also in my room runs 24/7 however.

When I get to the point to where the HTPC will be recording directly to the NAS, I will then leave it on 24/7. Until then, I only turn if on when I need a file and/or need to back something up.
 
Valaire said:
24/7, tis one of the main reasons you dedicate one particular computer to this task so you can choose parts that are light on power usage since you'll be running it all the time. That said, it's all pennies in the end. Use the one that's on 24/7 for downloading and all your server apps. Have the HTPC set to sleep. Ripping should be done on the computer with the strongest components, which would be your desktop, not your HTPC.
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With Intel i7 CPU, I combined every thing into one HTPC to save space, money,...Sorry, I had no choice.

Concentric said:
....I think the only considerations for leaving the system on 24/7 need to be the power consumption and noise.
I would just do your best to run a low power system. For example, consider consolidating your current 30+ drives into fewer, larger drives.
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Thanks. I may take out some 2TB blank drives, keep all 4TB ones and let it run 24/7. Looks like this is the best way till now? Damn, if I also count the fans of CPU and PSU, my server has now 15 fans (12cm and 14cm). I can hear it when I'm 6 ft away. Crazy...
 
I'm confused, is the HTPC also your desktop? If not, why do you have an i7 in there? If so, then that's fine, but ideally once you have some money you'll want to expand into having at least a separate NAS/HTPC if not an HTPC and also a NAS.

15 fans on at all times, furthermore while watching TV on it as an HTPC, would drive me nuts. :)
 
I run my HTPC/NAS 24/7 but my software and Windows allows the drives to spin down. Since it's a RAID 4 type configuration, the only drive that spins up is the one needed for access so overall power consumption is very low; I think I'm at ~20 watts powered on doing nothing and maybe 10 more watts running a hard drive or two.
 
Elpee said:
With Intel i7 CPU, I combined every thing into one HTPC to save space, money,...Sorry, I had no choice.


Thanks. I may take out some 2TB blank drives, keep all 4TB ones and let it run 24/7. Looks like this is the best way till now? Damn, if I also count the fans of CPU and PSU, my server has now 15 fans (12cm and 14cm). I can hear it when I'm 6 ft away. Crazy...
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If you have your computer set up properly, your drives will power down when they are not being used.

I think I have an I5, 10 hard drives, and 2 fans in mine. About 80w most of the time. And most of the time my hard drives are powered down.

I think you have too many fans.
 
Hard drives hate being power cycled. Keep it on 24/7. Whenever my main server has to be shut down I get at least one drive failure. I have it on a big UPS. 100AH lead acid batteries are cheaper than hard drives. ;) Going to be adding 200AH work of batteries once my basement renos are done.
 
GeorgeHR said:
If you have your computer set up properly, your drives will power down when they are not being used.

I think I have an I5, 10 hard drives, and 2 fans in mine. About 80w most of the time. And most of the time my hard drives are powered down.

I think you have too many fans.
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Thanks for the info.
Last month I had to buy a new Lilan D8000 case and moved all my hard drives from Norco 4220 to new box. Why? The fans of Norco were too noisy, then I changed power supply of fans from 12V to 7V. As a result, the Norco box was quiet enough but 2 hard drives died at the same time after a few months. You know why I need more fans now. I don't like that my server has 15 fans, but, once again, I have no choice.
Ok, back to the topic. To cut power consumption but still let my server runs 24/7, any way can I set my fans off when hard drives spin down? :D
Thanks.
 
Elpee said:
Thanks for the info.
Last month I had to buy a new Lilan D8000 case and moved all my hard drives from Norco 4220 to new box. Why? The fans of Norco were too noisy, then I changed power supply of fans from 12V to 7V. As a result, the Norco box was quiet enough but 2 hard drives died at the same time after a few months. You know why I need more fans now. I don't like that my server has 15 fans, but, once again, I have no choice.
Ok, back to the topic. To cut power consumption but still let my server runs 24/7, any way can I set my fans off when hard drives spin down? :D
Thanks.
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Well you could do 1 or 2 things.

1. You could have the fans setup to a temperature controller. Probably the easiest thing to do. Then they'll only be on when they are needed, regardless if the hard drives are on or not.

2. Probably much, much harder. Look for the power source on the hard drives controller board. See which connection/solder point gets power when they drive is in use and which one doesn't. Would probably be a lot of work and I'm not even sure it's possible. Plus you could damage the hdd.
 
My supermicro fans seem to spin up/down every now and then. I wonder if the mobo has a thermal sensor on it that controls them. To get enough ports for all the fans I used a splitter and plugged into one port and the psu power. I think the mobo port sends pwm to all fans through the splitter then they all are equally speed. If I unplug the mobo connector they just go to full speed. (and that is LOUD!)

Idealy servers should be in a rack in a closed room because they are loud by nature. My server "room" is not really built yet so it's just a rack in the basement, and I can hear the equipment throughout most of the house. Sounds like a mini data centre in here. :p
 
I kept my server in the garage. Never heard it, unless the fans were on 100% which only happened during boot.
 
Thanks for the inputs.
First, I'm using HD Tune Pro and I saw it also detects HDD temp. Any way if every time it finds a HDD (doesn't matter one or many HDDs) getting high temp, say over 50 degree, it fires an alert and triggers fans to start running? I wish I could do that way.
Second, yes, I just thought I would bring my server to garage because mostly I use remote desktop to manage the server.
 
You could set something up with arduino. You can use the dallas temp sensors and code it so if the temp goes above a certain theshold it flips a relay to turn the fans on. Have maybe one fan that's always on but only on 5v. Also do not spin down HDDs, that's almost as bad as turning down the whole system.

The little extra power you use is much cheaper than replacing drives that fail prematurely. Even if they are under warranty, you still have to pay for shipping.

I've been thinking of actually setting up something like this in all my systems actually. Would also be neat to be able to use the pwm to speed the fans up/down. The motherboards usually don't do as good of a job than if you could actually place a probe somewhere and fully fine tune it.
 
Instead of powering down then up, how about putting the drives to sleep after long periods (30 minutes or so) of being idle? Is that just as harsh?
 
If you only use it on week-ends then I would fire it up friday night and down sunday night.

1 power cycle a week is nothing.
 
I only turn on my HTPC when I want to use it. However, the last time I turned it on was back in January.
 
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