ThinkTank -File Server Build

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BlackDragon1971

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 24, 2012
Messages
177
This is the First time I have started a Worklog... Hope I get it right!
I have read the Hard Forums for a few years. but this is my first Work log. This will be a slow project right now I am just testing the hardware. I am still planning and designing the case in AutoCAD 2010. I have Plans for a homemade HTPC case. Possibly with a 10" USB Touchscreen, as they are very expensive I am not sure. I want it to fit under my Pioneer 5.1 Home Theatre Receiver, so it will be about the same size. Height will depend on the amount of Hard Disks I plan on stuffing into it.
I don't have the shop setup that I did a few years ago at my old house. I had the benefit of a garage then. I think I will design the case and have it cut, predrilled ( can do tapping myself), and Bent to shape by a local supplier. I've seen the Metal Supermarket website and they have a local store and do inhouse bending drilling and Waterjet...ect. I think I may go that route.
It has been fitted together already and is running. Currently on DATA Migration tonight, moving stuff off The Router's External HDD to ThinkTank. I have a few Pics that I took when assembling the Hardware. It is in a Temp chassis right now, my generic 19" 4U Rackmount case. So hear goes...



Hope this works for Image hosting...(first time I've tried it)

Specifications:
ThinkTank
Intel E8500 3.16 Ghz Core 2 Dou
Intel DQ45EK Motherboard
Kingston 4 GB DDR2 667 Mhz Value Ram (2x 2 GB Modules)
Corsair CS750M 750 Watt Modular Power Supply
Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB Solid State Drive -OS Drive
3x 3 TB Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm ST3000DM001 Hard Drives
Generic 19" 4U Rackmount case - temporary housing

Well Engineered Homemade 5 bay 3.5" HDD Rack -thin gauge Aluminum
Vantec Stealth 120 MM Fan Intake
Unknown model Coolermaster Socket 775 HSF

-BlackDragon
 
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Some of the other shots now that I have learned the basic of doing images...lol

The Intel Motherboard...just the Basics...but the basics are nice for what it will do eventually..


The Intel DQ45EK with the E8500 3.16 Ghz Core 2 Dou and Ram installed


My HDD Rack that I made for the 19" 4U case


OS Drive


3x 3TB Seagate Barracuda's on the right for storage



It Lives...


And Kicking Tires...
 
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If it was in a smaller case I would have Posted the Thread in the SFF Build Log...I may get told it has to go there.

BlackDragon
 
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Just a question...
What do you recommend for Image Hosting?
I noticed on the Bottom, when I click on a Picture, some questionable images that are slightly distasteful. Is that Normal? Testosterone supplements and quasi Adult content...not happy with that. If I can find a better Image Hoster that is Free and easy to use...that would be Awesome...Why can't it be ads for Angry Birds...less annoying!
 




This is a Well Engineered, Homemade 5 Bay Hard Disk Rack I made circa 2007. It was laid out on 1/4" Graph paper to the half (.5) mm Aluminum was purchased at Home Depot at the time. I cut it out with a Dremel Advantage with FlexShaft. and a Dewalt 3/8" Hand Drill.. bending was using a 1x4", T- Square, C Clamps and a Rubber Mallet.. The Air Gap between drives is 5mm ... if I was to do it again I would go with 8mm as an Air Gap for better airflow. Lessons learned.
It sits loosely in the 19" 4U Rackmount case, and I may keep it that way, instead of making Bracketry. Every now and then I have a need to take it out of the case and use it externally, so I am not hanging hard disks in mid air off what ever computer I need to attach it to
 
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So at about 8:30pm last night I started moving the 440 GB of Data off the Network Drive attached to a D Link DIR-835 Router (uses SharePort). It took about 14 hours, got to above 99% Completion and BSOD'd. The Vantec Stealth 120mm was going like crazy, loud for a quiet fan. I figure it was an overheating problem.
I'm going to run some Benchmarking tests if I get the time. Maybe a Burn In test, to make sure the BSOD problem was not CPU or Memory related. I don't believe it is. This seems fairly stable for a hardware setup. It has had a lot of uptime when I have been running it. Which is one of the things I wanted to check out.
Earlier last week, I tried setting up the RAID Option BIOS (ICH10R based). It limits size to a 2.2TB hard drive. Larger than that size and it only sees the remaining capacity Above the 2.2 TB limit. Big Raid Arrays are out for this board. I will go individual drives and Share them to the Local Network. I lose Fault Tolerance, but I keep the full capacity of the total drives.
The Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB was a pull from my Lenovo x61 Tablet ( my portable CAD Station , KARMA ) and seems to give a nice fast boot time to the project, will lower Power Consumption, and will help as the OS Drive with quicker File Execution...at least that's the Theory.

Windows 10 Technical Preview Build 9879 is only on there temporarily to check out it's features for using this particular hardware and the Application I am putting it to. For now I plan a Peer to Peer Network...easy for mom to use and my daughter. So a desktop workstation with Shares and Permissions will work best for now.

I have a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate (non OEM) that I plan on using as the final OS for the project. Barring that, getting a copy of Server 2008 or 2012 might be neat to explore. I have a copy of Windows Home Server 2011 x64...but it is OEM and I already used it on other hardware...so that is out. I might explore my inner Yarr!, Matey for this project, but unlikely. I find as I am getting older, although I still use some, I try to avoid Pirated software.

BlackDragon
 
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Alright, dinner digested...

Rolling around some thoughts in my head right now... Concept & Design Review

Time to focus on the HTPC case I want to build. I have a few preliminary ,blocking out spatially, drawings on graph paper. I took measurements of components that I will be using ( l x w x h of a ATX PSU or a hard drive for example). For a Yule present, I will be getting a Lian Li mATX PC V351 Motherboard Tray. That will ease some Fabrication issues. I want the option of expanding to a mATX motherboard in the future. I want to keep this small, yet should my need to add expansion cards arise...I can go to a mATX board if needed. I won't be locked into a Mini ITX small case format.

I was considering something like the nMEDIAPC HTPC 7000B Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case or the SILVERSTONE Grandia Series GD05B-USB3.0. But I really haven't done a scratch built case or at least a case I have designed from scratch and had the parts made by Out Sourcing. A problems is the cases I liked, lack in enough 3.5" hard drive bays. I want Customization and the ability to change the Front Bezel of ThinkTank. I don't believe Watercooling will give me any benefit in this build. Doing so I will have to allot spatial requirements for the components. If anything I may allow space for a All In One Water cooler. I like my Corsair H100 (it will fit a Socket 775 and above), but it is non PWM... and it is doing just fine where it is in BlackDragon Mk IV ( Main Computer). I don't need anything more than the onboard video of the Intel DQ45EK motherboard ( GMA 4500 ), as it is not the purpose of the build. The expansion slot is a PCIe ver 2.0 x1 slot. I may explore future expandability for a RAID card compatible for it. So I will need 4x 3.5" hard disk bays for what the Motherboard can support now; and say, 4 more internal 3.5" bays for future expansion. I need to design for 8 hard disk bays. I have no Plans for 5.25" Optical bays, this saving can go towards the extra 3.5" bays.

A Lian Li mATX PC V351 Motherboard Tray is 266mm in depth (pulling numbers from a website) a 3.5" HDD is about 103 mm wide= 369 mm. A realistic case depth measurement will be 16" depth ( 407 mm); turning the hard drives at 90 deg to the Motherboard tray. This should allow a 25mm Front Intake Fan, and case structure/ bracketry to fit hard disk cages & rest stops for the Removable mobo tray, ect. the Front Bezel may take additional Depth. Case Width will be at least 270 mm for the mobo tray + PSU and Mounting + any additional spatial requirements for cooling and air flow, Hard drive layout, ect. Height will be over the 151 mm required for the Motherboard tray or PSU, whichever is higher. I more than likely will not be able to cram 8x 3.5" hard disks into the vertical dimension of 150 mm(height of the Pioneer HTP Home Theatre Receiver) I had conceptualized it being close in dimension to. There are 2 design considerations that will effect overall Depth and Height. 1. Is to Place the hard disks in front of the Motherboard tray( at 90 deg to save overall depth) this is a traditional layout. 2 is I could trade off overall Depth and increase overall Height by making two vertically layered compartments; tucking the HDD bay under the Motherboard area. In that method, I would like to keep the Power Supply at the same level as the Motherboard tray... it would be a shorter cable run for the PSU 24 pin (20+4) and 8 pin AUX wires. I want to keep in the Vertical Height range of 1.25x 150mm (Pioneer Height) to 1.5x the Height; if I use that method of design. 187.5 mm to 225 mm > 7-1/4" to 8-7/8" Vertical Dim.> 9" Max...hopefully

- This Design Conceptualization I have laid out, gives me a rectangular prism to work with in AutoCAD. I can at least start blocking out the design in Model Space.
- Some fresh coffee will have to be started before I start up AutoCAD 2010 on BlackDragon Mk IV ...that is the next step

BlackDragon
 
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Just farting around with AutoCAD 2010...
I learned in a DOS enviorment...Windows 95 just was coming out...for a time reference...so I am a little rusty and there are more Bells and Whistles. Like the Push/ Pull command in 3D Modeling. I am just mocking up things. Starting with the Back Plate. I am thinking of doing something similar to my Old Chieftec Dragon Server case, where the PSU is mounted to a separate Plate; which in turn will mount to the Back Plate. I am just thinking about Materials, Fabrication Process necessary to execute what I design, and Clearances and Positioning for Layout. For example, if I mounted the PSU directly to the Back Plate, I could mount the PSU about 5-6mm closer to the 2 edges. I will have to modify How I want to design the folds of the Sheet stock that will attach to the Back Plate too. the Folds on most tower case sides are 7/16" (11.11 mm)... That should be a good size to allow either Riveting or Case Screws. I like 10-24 Allen head screws for fixing case parts and panels.
If I use 5052 Aluminum, I believe I can get it in the .08 gauge (5/64"or 2mm) that should allow enough to Thread with a Tap, where I don't need a through hole.

It's not much....I spend a lot of time brainstorming. I have to wait on the Lian Li motherboard tray to arrive, so I can measure the cut hole and bolt hole placement for it.



BlackDragon
 
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BlackDragon1971 said:
The expansion slot is a PCIe ver 2.0 x1 slot. I may explore future expandability for a RAID card compatible for it. So I will need 4x 3.5" hard disk bays for what the Motherboard can support now; and say, 4 more internal 3.5" bays for future expansion. I need to design for 8 hard disk bays. I have no Plans for 5.25" Optical bays, this saving can go towards the extra 3.5" bays.
Click to expand...

Hold up: So your HTPC is also acting as a file server as well?
 
Dangman...
Pardon, I had not followed this Thread in a while. Um, It is not an HTPC per say. I ended up figuring out that my legit copy of Windows Home Server 2011 acted like a Retail copy of say Windows 7 Ult. That it could be transferred to other hardware builds... Handy that happening.
- What I have done is load WHS 2011 (x64 Server 2008 R2 based OS) onto the build. Currently it is in an Antec Sonata II, that I restored from 3 used cases bought at a local used PC shop ( watch for Bloody Knuckles on the build- but awesome 2000 era case for small builds)
- ThinkTank is about to be Decommisioned in the near future. with 3 TB drives, I do not have enough Density and would like to switch to 6TB models down the road. Currently I am at 2 Gaming Rigs / Main PCs + 1 Lenovo x61 Tablet (conv. pen enabled laptop) and a CAD Station = 4 PCs... for personal use... there are 3 others in the house too, lol.... with the addition of ThinkTank the House File Server
- As you can see Admin 'ing backups alone can get intensive.
- ThinkTank runs Windows Home Server 2011 (Server 2008 R2 base) x64. What it does is provide what the project name alludes to. It performs an automated computer BackUp of Clients & Server; Informs on a Clients Health; and does FileServer Duties (Folder Shares); has dedicated Folders for media too ( Music, Video, Photos, ect) So Client - side, when set up, All media players are pointed to the appropriate network Folder.. Use a Gigabit connection, or at least a quality Wireless N.... and I stream media to the local network
- I have plans in the works for the CAD Workstation I just built in the other Antec Sonata II case I was able to restore from the 3 used ones.... It runs an Ivy Bridge i5 on an ASUS B75-M (with TPM Module added)... one of my Corsair Dominator DDR3 1333 sticks is dead...so 1x 2GB stick of 1333 for now to get it running. What I want to do is Migrate ThinkTank onto a VM Ware instance & throw in my Syba SATA II PCI RAID card... which works well for me in the past... I know there is better.
I have modified the Hard drive rack seen earlier with a Ball Peen hammer and some old Conner 1 gig hard drives... think they won't mind. Shortened the overall length to fit as a 5 bay 5 1/4" bay HDD Rack... give me 9 hard drive capability in a sub Mid Tower. just have to figure how to keep the top ones running cool & will need to switch over the PSU from ThinkTank (Corsiar CS750M -Gold Rated modular)...or BlackDragon ( 1000W OCZ EliteStream PCP&C based). I have for now 1x 2TB Seagate to Handle the OS and such... 4x 1TB Seagate Barracuda ES to put in.
-Later I can migrate hardware & data from ThinkTank
Hope that answers the question... Frankenputer essentially in mid build
 
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