Media storage advice? (1 Viewer)

[milhouse]

I've had lots of drives fail - some didn't work out of the box. Some just quit after like 2 years. In October I had a 500GB fail, sent it back for a replacement, and a couple of weeks later had a second 500GB fail. I am starting to think I need to put my server somewhere else, because this seems abnormally high.

The hardware raid cards are reasonably priced for a few ports, but if you are looking for lots of ports, you get into the 800+ range. Plus, with hardware RAID if the card fails you must replace it with a similar card. I prefer software RAID. 1) it's cheaper, 2) performance doesn't matter for media storage, since it's generally write once, and 3) when something breaks I can move the entire array to any windows computer - not tied to hardware.

I like Smoke's idea though - I've always liked the Drobo. A little pricey but very flexible. Fill it up, replace the drives with a bigger drive (one at a time). Very nice.

 

[keith2045]

I have never personally had a drive fail (i've seen lots fail at work though). But when you add more drives it adds more heat which can use them to fail. I would suggest setting up a raid 5 just in case, unless you can accept loosing some data and restoring it via DVDs, which i was not. I currently have a hardware and software raid setup (4 1TB drives using software raid, and 3 750GB drives using hardware raid) and have not seen any performance issues. I also have a gigabit card but cat 5 cable and also havent really seen much performance. The only thing i have noticed is when i fast forward or rewind the picture doesnt update that much (i'm not sure if that is network related or not).

I would also suggest using a linux distro to manage your server instead of windows. It is free and i think has better performance. If you dont feel comfortable using linux then windows is probably best. I use Openfiler for my file server, it has a web based interface which makes it very easy.

 

[cheeseman]

Ok, so after a bit more research I think i've settled on a few options, if anyone could tell me if this is good/stable enough to build and depend on as a movie/music media storage server, that would be great:

I think I am going to go with a software based RAID, and read a few articles on WinXP Professional being capable, is this a bad option? I would like to use the media storage system as a daily use PC and do not have much experience with Linux or UnRaid (if i'm correct in those 2 other choices), and figured, since I understand WinXP the most, to use it.

After review of the cases, I was stuck between the one Milhouse posted:
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Stacker 810 RC-810-KWN1-GP Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases
and this one:
Customer Reviews Of LIAN LI PC-A77B Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
It only has a few reviews on newegg, but they are all 4/5 eggs, and I've never had a bad Lian-Li case, the quality is usually pretty good, but it is a bit more expensive. Any advice on which I should go for, any advantages?

I was thinking of putting a few 3x5 brackets in them, such as in Milhouse's Media Server Thread:
Newegg.com - SUPERMICRO CSE-M35T-1B Black 5 Bay Hot-Swapable SATA HDD Enclosure - Server Accessories

And finally for drives, I was thinking of getting either these
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (bare drive) - Internal Hard Drives
-read that this one had some firmware issues, that seem to be cleared up, but i'm still worried about it
and this one:
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

So thats what I got so far, still need a motherboard, any ideas on that and RAM - Already have a 650W PSU, but may get a more powerful one if necessary.

One last thing, this is directed mostly at milhouse, I was confused when you said you use software raid, and taht after you set the array up, you cannot add capacity afterward? I'm a little confused on that...

EDIT, just read abit on OCE, and it makes a little more sense, so let me get this right...If I set an array up, add data to it, then want to add another hdd, I'd have to erase the array, rebuild it, and then add the data back on? Hm, if i'm getting it right, that seems like it would be difficult and time consuming to re-rip all my movies back to these drives after wanting to add more space/HDD. Does this mean I'm stuck using hardware raid or linux, as milhouse stated? Fun Stuff!

Thanks for all the help!

 

[milhouse]

cheeseman

Addressing your questions out of order, since that's how I work...

1) OCE is needed to EXPAND an array when adding drives one at a time. A few options you have:
-As you state, you could break the array, rebuild with one more drive, and rebuild.
-You could use Linux software RAID. I didn't use this options because a) if I have to admin it, I want something I have a reasoinable shot at fixing, and I don't know Linux, and b) if it's Windows it can also serve as my TV Server.
-You could shell out for hardware-based RAID supporting OCE
-(what I do) Buy new drives 5 at a time and add a whole new array. Since the drives are bigger each time I do this, I COULD move all the files off the old array onto the new, then pull the old old drives if I needed the physical space.


2) The 5-in-3 drive cages are nice - I love them. But they are also quite pricey. The 5-in-3 I used are $110. But you can get a 4-in-3 for $22 made specifically for the Stacker case. (There may be other, cheaper 5-in3s available now?)
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER STB-3T4-E3-GP 4-in-3 Device Module Hardisk Cage - HDD Accessories


3) There are HACKS that give XP the ability to do RAID-5. Haven't tried them, since I have access Server 2k3. At your own risk, though I've seen plenty of people on the net get it to work without trouble.


4) The Lian-Li looks like a very nice case. And you don't have to move the power switch like I did. I have the power button INSIDE the case. I would think any drive cages should fit. I went with the hardware I did primarily because I found a review that specifically said my 4 drive cages would fit in my cage. I'd go with the Lian Li today, I think, and gamble that the cages would fit.

I see the Lian-Li also supports 2 power supplies. A nice feature when you are expecting to load up with a ton of drives.


5) Using this thing as an everyday PC - I just want to make sure you understand just how BIG and LOUD these things are once you've got the extra 4 fans from the drive cages. May not be a comfortable work environment.


6) Motherboard - I'd still recommend the one I used. A bit pricey, but had two PCI-X slots to fit the SATA controller cards. Make sure you PLAN AHEAD and that you'll actually be able to have enough ports to support all the HDDs you may eventually have. I have 2x8-port PCI-X cards, and still need 4 of the 6 ports of the motherboard. Leaving 2 extra in case a pair go bad. I haven't shopped around much lately, though. Plan the SATA cards first, and find a motherboard to support is my advice.

Good luck!

 

[-=DeNMaN=-]

What i have is the Drobo unit.. i think it's one of hte best things i've ever bought for the media center.. and i just share hte medai content across the network as well..

Data Robotics, Inc.

i have the 4 bay V2.. and have it partitioned as a 16TB drive.. Currently i have 3 x 1TB and a 1.5TB... just have to upgrade the drives as i need it..

it's not loud and uses less power then having another Computer to just be a file server

 

[zicoz]

I've looked at the Drobo quite a few times, but some stuff buggs me.

- They brag about the "hotswap" capabilities for growing the "raid" (I know it's not raid but for the lack of a better term I'll use it in ""), but how does this work if your D-Unit is filled to the brim of both disks and data? I can't just pull a disk out and insert another can I? What happens to the data that was on that disk then? Is all the data in the "raid" unavailable untill it's rebuilt? How long does it take?

- Speed What speeds are you getting from the thing. FireWire claims what? 400MB/S, but I have never seen these speeds from a FW- unit. And the same goes for USBs 60MB/s.

Then offcourse there is the price. $1300 is a bit too steep for something that holds 8 disks and can't be expanded by adding a raid-card.

Personally I'm using Nexenta Core with ZFS atm, easy to set up (Zpool create Mediapool raidZ disk 1-8) and expand (zpool add Mediapool RaidZ disk 9-15) Mine is currently Currently running two RaidZs in a pool, one with 8x 1TB disks and one I belive have 6x1TB disks.

Across my G-bit network I'm getting stable 60MB/s transfer speeds, and I've seen it burst as high as 78-80 MB/s

The only problem is the price on raid-cards that have more than 4 SATA ports and support from Solaris.

 

[whaase]

I went through all this a couple weeks back trying to decide how I wanted to set up my server.

First thing you need to do is figure out how much you can afford to spend. Sounds easy enough, but if your like me, I think big and get dissapointed when I can't afford it lol there was no way I could justify dropping $1500 on a GOOD raid card with lots of expantion.

I went for a software raid 5 w/4*1TB drives. I also went with Ubuntu Server (linux) using mdadmin and Webmin to do all my setup. I actually do own Server 2003, but I couldn't find a lot of info on recovery from a OS crash, or just general info on it. I also didn't know what kind of read/write speeds I'd get. I tried freeNAS, I liked the concept, but I had issues with the software itself.

With linux, and a software raid 5 I'm getting approx 50MB/sec up and down consistantly on a true gigabit network (cat6). The limiting factor is Vista. Its horrible for network transfers while media is playing. I managed to find a couple of registry hacks that took it from 10MB/sec max to 50 while media is going.

That's my rambling for the day lol

 

[mzemina]

@whaase - What issues did you have with Freenas?

 

[erisan500]

I'm using unRAID for my media storage.

Greetings

 

[whaase]

@whaase - What issues did you have with Freenas?

Let me say this first, I'm not done playing with it lol

I had set it up, setup my samba shares, ftp etc. I setup ftp to transfer all my existing media to it. (Copying within Windows is horrible) I let it go all night. Next morning I went to a mapped share I had done and it told me it didn't exist? So I logged into the nas machine via web and my Samba was turned off!? I turned it back on and was then able to see the shares again. 2 minutes later they were gone again. This time the web interface would not let me in. It wouldn't accept my password. I went down to the machine and got into a shell. Entered a few commands to retreive my password to see if I was loosing it (going nuts lol) and I indeed had the right password. At that point I figured I just couldn't trust it enough.

I wiped it and installed Ubuntu Server and never looked back. Fortunatly, I've used linux for 12 or so years so I am pretty comfortable with it and know how to fix it if something goes wrong.

Here is a good detailed setup for a raid in ubuntu with Webmin

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30573/77/

I use Windows Server for all our work stuff (only because I have too lol) I personally like linux better. Ubuntu has really made linux "easier" for new users. Apt-get is the best tool