# Silent NAS build



## RogueRage

Added/Updated HTPC specs and link to original post above.


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## RogueRage

I am happy to say that I have no issues with streaming HD media wirelessly. HTPC is on first floor, NAS and Routers are on 2nd, other hardware on third. I can stream ISO's over the wi-fi network seamlessly upto 30-35GB with no buffering or artifacts. I did experience some buffering using straight BD backup ISO flles of (40-50GB)... Depending on the movie there are buffering every 20-30mins for about 15 secs over wi-fi. But at that level you are already pushing the limits of the wi-fi bandwidth over the distance and/or obstructions to and from the router. In any case, keeping ISO files that large will just eat up your HD space. I compressed the ISO files from 40-50GB to 7-8GB. The sustained quality of the image and sound for 1080p is astounding using the following tools. I have tested quite a few of them.

I have tested DVDNEXTCOPY, leawo, DVDRANGER along with the others listed below.

One key decision to choosing your media player and software is to figure out what format(s) to save the backup files or your preference. Then match up what software best works to produce the best results or vice versa. I wanted to use ISO files as my format for backup video media files along with XBMC as my media player for my home network. Remember, everyone will have a different taste or take, so in retrospect its just best to try and figure out what works best for your wants after you have some basis to build on.

The following software combo gave the best results over all I have tested.
DVDFAB for cloning Disc to Disc
AnyDVD HD backup from disc to HD
Virtual Clone Drive
BD-Rebuilder twith ImageBurn to create Movie only to ISO

Other applications that will be needed to install in conjunction with BD-Rebuilder *FFSHOW, HAALI, AVISYNTH* . I will try not to take away too much from what others posted in many other forums. BD-rebuilder will work well with certain versions of FFSHOW, HAALI, AVISYNTH due to the constant updates, so be sure you are downloading the compatible respective versions.

The entire process takes about 2-2.5 hours per BD backup from placing a DVD/BD in the drive to creating the final 7-8GB ISO backup file.


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## stubass

looks really good, nice job







..off topic, you should ask the mods to move this to the "Servers" section


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## TheEddie

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RogueRage*
> 
> I am happy to say that I have no issues with streaming HD media wirelessly. HTPC is on first floor, NAS and Routers are on 2nd, other hardware on third. I can stream ISO's over the wi-fi network seamlessly upto 30-35GB with no buffering or artifacts. I did experience some buffering using straight BD backup ISO flles of (40-50GB)... Depending on the movie there are buffering every 20-30mins for about 15 secs over wi-fi. But at that level you are already pushing the limits of the wi-fi bandwidth over the distance and/or obstructions to and from the router. In any case, keeping ISO files that large will just eat up your HD space. I compressed the ISO files from 40-50GB to 7-8GB. The sustained quality of the image and sound for 1080p is astounding using the following tools. I have tested quite a few of them.
> I have tested DVDNEXTCOPY, leawo, DVDRANGER along with the others listed below.
> One key decision to choosing your media player and software is to figure out what format(s) to save the backup files or your preference. Then match up what software best works to produce the best results or vice versa. I wanted to use ISO files as my format for backup video media files along with XBMC as my media player for my home network. Remember, everyone will have a different taste or take, so in retrospect its just best to try and figure out what works best for your wants after you have some basis to build on.
> The following software combo gave the best results over all I have tested.
> DVDFAB for cloning Disc to Disc
> AnyDVD HD backup from disc to HD
> Virtual Clone Drive
> BD-Rebuilder twith ImageBurn to create Movie only to ISO
> Other applications that will be needed to install in conjunction with BD-Rebuilder *FFSHOW, HAALI, AVISYNTH* . I will try not to take away too much from what others posted in many other forums. BD-rebuilder will work well with certain versions of FFSHOW, HAALI, AVISYNTH due to the constant updates, so be sure you are downloading the compatible respective versions.
> The entire process takes about 2-2.5 hours per BD backup from placing a DVD/BD in the drive to creating the final 7-8GB ISO backup file.


What are you using for a wireless setup? Router/client adapters?


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## RogueRage

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *stubass*
> 
> looks really good, nice job
> 
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> 
> ..off topic, you should ask the mods to move this to the "Servers" section


Thanks!

Hehehe... yeah I should move it over to the Servers section. Not sure what I was thinking, I was actually updating a few forums with my latest build late at night and must have not realized where I was. I guess I could always delete the thread and repost.


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## stubass

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RogueRage*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *stubass*
> 
> looks really good, nice job
> 
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> 
> 
> ..off topic, you should ask the mods to move this to the "Servers" section
> 
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> Thanks!
> 
> Hehehe... yeah I should move it over to the Servers section. Not sure what I was thinking, I was actually updating a few forums with my latest build late at night and must have not realized where I was. I guess I could always delete the thread and repost.
Click to expand...

nah too much trouble to repost it yourself









easy just to request that it moved to servers where i think your build will get more attention.. the mods will gladly move it for you and it will be no fuss, exactly the same, just in a different section


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## RogueRage

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TheEddie*
> 
> What are you using for a wireless setup? Router/client adapters?


I recently got Fios like literally in the last week. That said, I got the same wireless results using COX prior to Fios.

With COX I had:
MODEM:...........I bought Motorola Modem -SURFBoard Model SB6121 --called cox and had it configured, since it was compatible with their systems.
ROUTER..........I use the D-Link DGL-4500 Extreme-N Selectable Dual-Band Gaming Router to connect to the modem

With Fios I have:
MODEM............Supplied Verizon Fios Modem with built-in router and wi-fi
ROUTER..........I still use the D-Link DGL-4500 Extreme-N Selectable Dual-Band Gaming Router to connect to the Fios modem

Only my Dlink router is connected to the Verizon Modem.

All my PCs/laptops are using the default client for wi-fi or network cards built-in to the respective Mobo's. I am not using any external PC-Card adapters or any additional separate third party internal network cards.

The NAS is connected to the Dlink modem directly, as well as, my Main Full tower PC. All other hardware are connected wirelessly to the Dlink router (wireless network printer, TV, laptops, other devices). However, I still have the available option to connect to the Fios wi-fi if needed.


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## RogueRage

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *stubass*
> 
> nah too much trouble to repost it yourself
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> easy just to request that it moved to servers where i think your build will get more attention.. the mods will gladly move it for you and it will be no fuss, exactly the same, just in a different section


Hahaha true.

I just sent a message asking for it to be moved to the server section as well as my HTPC build to the HTPC section. ;p

I must have been sleeping...lol


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## RogueRage

Now that I have got the HTPC, NAS, and Full Tower Build pretty much completed. Now its onto the next project?...

Backup Raid5 Server for NAS and my other shared machines. I think I will have to do some quick research to take advantage of Thanksgiving Day/Cyber Monday sales. If anyone has any suggestions please do not hesitate to throw it my way. I will be mainly focusing on whats new out on the market within reason of course.

Please feel free to comment on any component of choice. Case, CPU, PSU, Mobo, RAM, etc, etc.


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## RogueRage

I found my first potential backup Server Mobo for consideration.

ASUS C60M1-I AMD Fusion APU C-60 (1.0GHz, dual core) AMD Hudson M1 Mini ITX Motherboard/CPU Combo


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## RogueRage

Preparing a line up purchase for my back up server but I am torn between the options below. Anyone has any recommendations that would lean towards one below or maybe a third option?

Adaptec RAID 6805 2271200-R 6Gb/s SATA/SAS 8 internal ports w/ 512MB cache memory Controller Card, Kit

Adaptec RAID 51245 2268100-R SATA/SAS 16-port (12 internal,4 external) w/ 512MB cache memory Controller Card, Single

Note: This is not a wishful thinking list like some posts, so I really appreciate feedback any may have.


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## RogueRage

After some research and switching back and forth between options. Below is my first draft for considerations into my low power/ energy efficient backup server build. There were a few trade-offs I had to consider. Not the most cost effective but it should be a stable enough rig for my needs. I am still researching a few other options hoping some deals pop-up once Black Friday/Cyber Monday rolls around.

CASE******$109.00 Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl w/ USB 3.0 ATX Mid Tower Silent PC Computer Case
RAID*******$549.00 Adaptec RAID 6805 2271200-R 6Gb/s SATA/SAS 8 internal ports w/ 512MB cache memory
MOBO*****$184.99 ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel
RAM*******$84.99 G.SKILL Sniper Series 16GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage
CPU******************* Undecided
HD*********$149.99 8x Western Digital WD Green WD30EZRX 3TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"
SSD****************** Undecided


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## stubass

mobo you could pretty much half the price and get a no thrills 1155 board
cpu - i3 - lower end i5's
SSD a 60GB intel or 64GB samsung 830 will be nice for speed and reliability

love the RAID card, Adaptec are great cards

8GB of RAM is all you should need if you you want to use ZFS, RAID Z such as freeNAS.. lf you go this route you can replace the RAID card with a SATA card if you need more ports as linux software RAID is just awesome and eliminates the need for expensive RAID cards..
Quote:


> Hardware RAID tends to be expensive and clunky. I recognize quite a few advantages in ZFS on Solaris/FreeBSD, and Linux MD RAID:
> 
> Performance. In many cases they are as fast as hardware RAID, and sometimes faster because the OS is aware of the RAID layout and can optimize I/O patterns for it. Indeed, even the most compute intensive RAID5 or 6 parity calculations take negligible CPU time on a modern processor. For a concrete example, Linux 2.6.32 on a Phenom II X4 945 3.0GHz computes RAID6 parity at close to 8 GB/s on a single core (check dmesg: "raid6: using algorithm sse2x4 (7976 MB/s)"). So achieving a throughput of 500 MB/s on a Linux MD raid6 array requires spending less than 1.5% CPU time computing parity. Now regarding the optimized I/O patterns, here is an interesting anecdote: one of the steps that Youtube took in its early days to scale their infrastructure up was to switch from hardware RAID to software RAID on their database server. They noticed a 20-30% increase in I/O throughput. Watch Seattle Conference on Scalability: YouTube Scalability @ 34'50".
> Scalability. ZFS and Linux MD RAID allow building arrays across multiple disk controllers, or multiple SAN devices, alleviating throughput bottlenecks that can arise on PCIe links, or GbE links. Whereas hardware RAID is restricted to a single controller, with no room for expansion.
> Reliability. No hardware RAID = one less hardware component that can fail.
> Ease of recoverability. The data can be recovered by putting the disks in any server. There is no reliance on a particular model of RAID controller.
> Flexibility. It is possible to create arrays on any disk on any type of controller in the system, or to move disks from one controller to another.
> Ease of administration. There is only one software interface to learn: zpool(1M) or mdadm(8). No need to install proprietary vendor tools, or to reboot into BIOSes to manage arrays.
> Cost. Obviously cheaper since there is no hardware RAID controller to buy


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## RogueRage

I really really appreciate your input Stubass...

Yeah the Mobo I selected, costs over twice to some of my other options I was looking at. I will take a second a look based on the valued information you provided. I was also considering ZFS on Solaris based on a youtube video I looked at. It is one of the best options when it comes to RAID in figuring out if you have a bad or corrupted file in one of the drives to not serve that file on request. Instead, grab the uncorrupted one from another drive and redistribute that file. At least that was my take from the ZFS youtube video. Sucks I do not know Solaris so it might be somewhat of a learning curve for me. I also love the root security level of Solaris.

I am glad you said 8GB of RAM, I was banging my head on some other reviews/postings. I was actually thinking about a full 16GB set after reviewing some posts by others where they mentioned that for ZFS you should have at least 1GB of RAM / 1TB of HD space. That did not make much sense to me, but it had me thinking when I saw it reposted a few times in various forums and reviews and no one else challenged the postings. This was one of the reasons I went with the current ITX Mobo since it supported more than 8GB RAM. I may still get the 16GB of RAM but iff the cost difference is only a few bucks over the holiday sales.

Installing Ubuntu and downloading the Raid plugin is another option I was looking at for the soft raid. Interesting, but I always thought going the separate raid controller route was best. I guess softraid has come a long way from the old days.
 








Thanks again for the tips!
Much Respect.


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## RogueRage

Between Newegg and Amazon there were a lot of great deals this past weekend to help me shop for my next server build. I was able to take advantage of a couple sales, but missed a few as well pertaining to my build

The Fractal Design XL Black Pearl full tower was on sale for $109 from Newegg
The Fractal Design R4 was on Amazon for $99.
Seagate 3TB 7200rpm HD (prices fluctuated between $109, $99 and $89 over the weekend) from Amazon.
Kingwin 550W PSU Platinum certified went for $112

I ended up buying the Adaptec RAID 51245 2268100-R SATA/SAS 16-port (12 internal,4 external) w/ 512MB cache memory Controller Card, Kit for just over $700. I had just missed out on a $75 discount--- oh well. The raid controller will support eleven 3TB drives and an SSD for cache (not sure yet about setting up the cache).

I purchased another ASUS ITX MOBO (P8Z77-I LGA 1155 Intel Z7) since it has been working so nicely in my HTPC with no issues thus far. Plus, I have some other ideas for this board. The RAM I purchased is not the best but it will do just fine... MEM 8Gx2|GSKILL F3-1866C10D-16GAB R ($39.00 for the set if my memory serves me right.)

For the CPU I chose the 35W (Intel Core i3-2120T Dual-Core Processor 2.6 GHz 3 MB Cache LGA 1155) for $123.00.

============

I had to be a little creative in obtaining the eleven 3TB drive since Amazon was limiting 1 drive per customer (per Amazon account). I tried shipping to another address, as well as, using a different credit card but it did not work. Instead, I reached out to some of my buddies and asked them to purchase a drive for me as a gift. This way if any HDD is defective I can still return or RMA it without the original receipt.

The Kingwin 550W PSU will be enough to support 12 hard drives, as long as, I have a 6-drive by 2-daisy-chain setup. The Seagate drive uses 8w at peak, however idle and normal operation usage ranges from 2-5w respectively according to their website specifications. So, I should be good. On the PSU 54w max supported per chain.

I will try to post a log of the build once all the items are in.


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## RogueRage

I finally received some items to kick off my server build sometime this weekend. I only received 6 drives so far... 3 more are incoming, however 2 other HDD orders got cancelled. I was able to take advantage of an ongoing sale on Newegg for Raid controllers... 20% off regular price provided the discount does not exceed $75.00.

Here are a couple pics of the components I received over the last few days in my home office. As well as, a size comparison pic between the Fractal Design XL Black Pearl and Cooler Master HAF X cases. I am also expecting delivery of the R4 from Amazon in the near future.

In the background are 3 Dell 30" screens, a KEF sound system hooked up to a receiver not in image.


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## stubass

nice look forward to hearing about how well this performs, it will be a nice NAS.. also nice set up you have as well


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## RogueRage

Thanks Stubass!

I will try to get something up once I have everything posting. It is a pleasure to work remotely from this office. Only downside is VPN sessions on client side are slow. My only gripe in this office is having all the exposed wire connections at the back not hidden in the wall or in some sort of false cavity.


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## reezin14

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *stubass*
> 
> nice look forward to hearing about how well this performs, it will be a nice NAS.


My sentiments also,love to see server/nas build logs.


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## RogueRage

Thanks Guys, sure thing.


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## RogueRage

Finally,

I have started my build... attached are some images of the build as I am installing components along with some steps of the install. Some of these steps may be a bit overdone but I took a couple extra shots for those that may want a bit more information. I hope it helps.

The Fractal Design XL Black Pearl is well built and versatile as a server and is a lot better looking than a rack server, plus it has some nicer features.
1) It has sound dampening material all over the case to help minimize sound.
2) It holds 16-18 3.5 HDD with a little modification which is more than a 15 disk rack system.
3) Built in fan controller.
4) Multiple fan cooling options in addition to water cooling options.
5) Built in dust filters.
6) Easier to move around.

======================================================

*The build:*
The Fractal Design Case only comes with one 140mm fan at the front of the case but it has room for two 140mm fans. I removed the 140mm fan from the back panel and added it to the open slot at the front of the case.



*Adding the Fan:*
Open the sound dampening front door to the left.
Next push and release the filter door for it to pop open. The fan bays will now be viewable.
Squeeze the two tabs at the left of the fan bays while pulling firmly.
Swing the bays to the right to open.
To add the fan simply apply pressure to push into open slot until clips locks it in.



*An additional 120mm fan slot is hidden inside the 5.25 drive bays:*
I will be removing this fan slot so I can add a Vantec 3.5 HDD enclosure. This will occupy two 3.5 bays as a result but add a gain of 3 more 3.5 HDD mounts. Adding a second Vantec enclosure will give a total of 16 HDD 3.5 mounts possible for this case.


*In some instances it is much easier to install the CPU, RAM, CPU cooler outside the case. This holds true for this installation...*

*Installation of the CPU (Intel) on Mobo (Intel):*
Pop open the CPU Lock lever on the Mobo and then lift the lever upwards to open latch.
Before installing the CPU into the Mobo, be sure to align the small triangles of the CPU to the one on the Mobo. Be sure to remove the safety CPU cover on Mobo before relocking CPU latch.






*Installation of RAM:*
Align RAM to RAM slots on Mobo and push firmly until latch locks


Standoff for ITX Mobo installed in case as well as the Input/Output shield.


*CPU Cooler installation:*
I had an unused 212 EVO CPU cooler lying around from a previous build. Here are some close-up shots of a dry-fit 1155 setup of the CPU retention plate.





Retention plate installed.


Before adding thermal paste and installing the CPU cooler it was best to dry-fit the cpu cooler to determine which position is best or if there will be any obstructions with the addition of the daughter board on the Mobo.

The image below shows there were just enough clearance over the daughter board. It was also the best position with no obstructions. The fan attachment can easily be removed from the CPU cooler for RAM accessibility. Note in order to attach the CPU cooler to the retention plate you will need to remove the Fan attachments.



I had some leftover alcohol and thermal paste from my previous builds. Even though the components are new I still wiped the CPU and the CPU cooler base clean to get rid of any fingerprint body oils.


*Application of the thermal paste on CPU:*
I did not use the blob or the line method. While either of those methods may be sufficient for installation, I have a personal preference of spreading a thin even layer of thermal paste across the CPU.


All is left is to install the CPU cooler, then attach the CPU cooler bracket to the retention plate securing the cooler in position.


ITX Mobo installed in Case.


*Installation of semi-modular CPU:*



*Installation of SSD into 3.5 enclosure:*
Here is where Fractal Design fell short. After attaching the 2.5 mounting plate to the SSD, I needed to mount the SSD into the Fractal Design 3.5 mounting tray. It took me 15mins to install the SSD to the tray because the mounting holes were misaligned which made it difficult to catch the small mounting screw. The tight work area did not help much. In addition only one screw on either side of the SSD mount are aligned. Maybe this was defective in just my case. I hope no-one else experience the same difficulty. Next, mount the SSD into any open 5.25 bay slot.





*Installation of the Vantech HDD enclosure:*
Simply slide enclosure into any two 5.25 open bay slots and secure with supplied screws. I like this enclosure because it included an 80mm fan, filter and it blended well with the rest of the case.


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## RogueRage

I will continue to post the rest tomorrow or the day after as I move along with the rest of the installation.


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## RogueRage

Well the build is finally complete.... sort-of. I am waiting on one more drive to be added to the array. At the moment, the array is rebuilding as Raid 0. I did a quick Raid 6 setup just to see how much Drive space I will be losing. Each drive has about 2.7TB of usable space. With Raid 0 that leaves me about 24TB of usable space and just over 19TB with Raid 6. I have not tested out read/write speeds yet. For the moment I am just making sure all the drives and components are working without failure over the next two weeks before I hook the system up to the network.

The raid card looks pretty sweet with all the night-rider lights running, as well as, green airport style runway lights readouts. It looks just like what you would see on a runway from the cockpit of an airplane. Did not buy the card for that reason but it looks cool though. The cabling is a bit messy for now but all of that will be cleaned up. I also plan on custom making my own 6x molex SATA cables once the connectors are delivered.

One question I do have.... and maybe someone can educate me on the subject. I have been reading conflicting information about adding an SSD cache to the Raid. There is the added benefit of performance however you are more susceptible to data loss in the case of a power failure and not hooked up to a backup battery system. If anyone has any information to guide me on the subject it would be well received no matter how small.

This will be a Raid 6 setup once I am done.





Much Respect.


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## stubass

cam up look nice







please dont use RAID 0 in a NAS as you dont have any redundancy and a drive dies on you boom you data is gone unless you have a back up. sacrifice the space and use RAID 6 for the extra protection with parity space equivalent to the volume of 2 drives but distributed over all drives, this will keep you data safe with up to 2 drives failing. i dont think SSD caching is needed IMO for a RAID array. good build love it


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## RogueRage

Oh hell ya -- The raid 0 is just to test out the drives that all is working well and being recognized. It will be a raid 6 once I am done. Thanks Stubass for the info on the SSD, I was wondering about that. One thing I will have to add is a fan on the heatsink side of the raid card. It is a bit hot to the touch upto 4secs any longer and you will be smelling burnt flesh. I will be adding another fan just for the raid card heatsink.


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## tycoonbob

Very interested in seeing some Raid 0 numbers though!

As far as an SSD in cache...such as the LSI CacheCade (which uses software to manage it all)...what it does is it keeps a COPY of the most frequently accessed files on the SSD. They are still on the Raid array, but for performance the most common stuff is on the SSD.

I have a 24-bay storage server (link in sig) and am working on getting 8 drives to start up my Raid 60 array. Once I have that going, I will be adding either a 256GB or a 512GB SSD as a cache drive. Should really improve performance!


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## RogueRage

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tycoonbob*
> 
> Very interested in seeing some Raid 0 numbers though!


Yeah I will post some stats for Raid 0 and my final setup for Raid 6 once all is done.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tycoonbob*
> 
> As far as an SSD in cache...such as the LSI CacheCade (which uses software to manage it all)...what it does is it keeps a COPY of the most frequently accessed files on the SSD. They are still on the Raid array, but for performance the most common stuff is on the SSD.


Ahhh, that makes sense about the SSD.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tycoonbob*
> 
> I have a 24-bay storage server (link in sig) and am working on getting 8 drives to start up my Raid 60 array. Once I have that going, I will be adding either a 256GB or a 512GB SSD as a cache drive. Should really improve performance!


Damn! hahah thats a crazy setup you are planning. I would be very much interested in seeing that put together.


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## RogueRage

Well the build is up and running for a couple weeks now without any major issues. Random 4000k read/writes was horrible. Everything else was pretty good for both raid 6 and raid 0. I was only getting about 30MB/s for 4000k in Raid 6 random read/writes using crystaldisk. For raid 0 I got about 120MB/s-- thats pretty horrible in my book. That said, during actual backup and data sync I was receiving 120MB/s transfer rate for Raid6. I will have to check what I can tweak to get better results but at the same its not too bad.

On the power side I am really happy with this green server build. At boot up it is about 130-140 watts but this quickly settles down to 112-116 watts during load. I am quite pleased with that result.

I modified the original PSU SATA cables such that there are 6-7 Sata connectors on each of the original SATA power cable. Originally there were just 4 connectors so I added one more between each 6 inch gap on the original cable. This allowed me just enough "give" to insert and extract the SATA connector to and from the HD.

This final server build consists of twelve 3TB Seagate Drives in Raid 6.


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## RogueRage

1 year review: NAS and my wireless backup server in raid 6 are running without any issues or hiccups since last year. Both systems works seamlessly with my HTPC.


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