# Lian Li EX-50 or EX-503 / ESATA or USB 3.0



## asg

I need a new backup solution.

Like the idea of having a matching enclosure for my case.

I will be using Seagate Barracuda 7200 1TB drives. I already have them. They came out of another machine.

It looks like the EX-50 is availible and I can use the ESATA connection,

or should I wait for the EX-503 to come out and use the USB 3.0?

Is there a noticable difference in speed between ESATA or USB 3.0?

Or will it not matter with the drives I have?


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## OutOfBalanceOX

eSATA is just SATA with a different connector, so youll probably see the best speeds from the eSATA because there wont be any interface conversion


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## ethirty

Quote:


Originally Posted by *asg* 
Is there a noticable difference in speed between ESATA or USB 3.0?

Or will it not matter with the drives I have?


I would stick with esata










source


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## asg

Do I need to install the ESATA PCIe card that comes with the EX-50 to be able to use the RAID feature? Or will I be able to use the RAID features using the ESATA connection on my ASUS Ramapage III E motherboard?


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## asg

I got My EX-50 and installed my 5 1TB drives out of my old computer.










































I was able to set up the hardware RAID 5 by changing the switches on the back of the unit.

I ended up plugging the eSATA cable into the eSATA port on the back of the motherboard, instead of using the PCIe card. Since I have my video cards plugged into slots 1 & 3, the system would not boot, if I used slot 4 for the extra SATA controller.

I have not loaded any of the software, but was able to format the drive and assign a drive letter through disk management.

THe manual that comes with the enclosure is very sparce. There are green and red lights on the front, but not sure what they meen.

Green shows the drive, 4 of them are solid and one is blinking (not sure why).

Red shows drive activity, 4 of them blink when they are writing/reading and the one is sold (same drive as the one with the blinking green.)

Any ideas?


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## asg

I guess you need to install the RAID software manager.

Once I installed it, it shows 4 disks active and one as a spare (the blinking one).

This is definately faster than my old USB and NAS hard drives.

It looks great sitting next to its big brother PC-A77F.


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## haloguy628

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *asg;10409486*
> I got My EX-50 and installed my 5 1TB drives out of my old computer.
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> I was able to set up the hardware RAID 5 by changing the switches on the back of the unit.
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> I ended up plugging the eSATA cable into the eSATA port on the back of the motherboard, instead of using the PCIe card. Since I have my video cards plugged into slots 1 & 3, the system would not boot, if I used slot 4 for the extra SATA controller.
> 
> I have not loaded any of the software, but was able to format the drive and assign a drive letter through disk management.
> 
> THe manual that comes with the enclosure is very sparce. There are green and red lights on the front, but not sure what they meen.
> 
> Green shows the drive, 4 of them are solid and one is blinking (not sure why).
> 
> Red shows drive activity, 4 of them blink when they are writing/reading and the one is sold (same drive as the one with the blinking green.)
> 
> Any ideas?


Sorry to dig up this old thread.

...but I am searching high & low for the Lian-Li EX-50 and can't find it anywhere. Can you tell me where you got yours? I am looking for back up solution for my server and this would fit the bill.

Thanks in advance.


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## asg

Not sure if I got it from frozencpu.com or performance-pcs.com

Frozen is out of stock at the moment, but performace shows they have it.


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## haloguy628

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *asg;11860953*
> Not sure if I got it from frozencpu.com or performance-pcs.com
> 
> Frozen is out of stock at the moment, but performace shows they have it.


Thank you! I actually shop at PPCS a lot as they have wide selection of Lian-Li products, but this time I was not getting any hits on search so I did not think of them. Usually they are in the first 5 results.

Thanks again.

PS: I red couple of your threads, and see that you use RE-4 HDs. Word of caution, do not do any hot swaps as it will cause your array to degrade and possibly crash altogether. I just lost 5TB of data because of it.

What happens is that as soon as you either hot connect or disconnect a drive on an array, you will have HDs on the other channels drop off. It's usually only one or two HDs and then they reconnect and the array will start to rebuild. In my case I lost three and the Raid-6 was toast. I recovered some data but majority was corrupted. WD is stonewalling but if you search you will find lots of discontent. So just FYI.


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## asg

Thanks for the info. I never do hot swaps, always shut the system down to replace drives.


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## meemorize

Hello,
sorry about resurrecting this old-ish thread again but there seem to be virtually no reviews/user feedback on this unit at all on the web.

I have been searching for a raid enclosure like this one but all the ones I have tried so far (Drobo FS (NAS), Sans Digital TR8MBP (eSata) have had fans so loud I could barely sit next to them let alone sleep in the same room as the raid box.

Could you give me some feedback on the fan noise coming from this unit? Lian-Li lists it at 22DBA which would be very quiet but what is your personal experience from the case?

Many thanks in advance.


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## haloguy628

I got one for my server backup. Works great and you can not hear the fan at all (unless you stick your ear right against the grate)

I am getting another one as I believe this eSATA is being replaced by the USB 3.0.


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## asg

I have been very happy with mine. It sits on my desk next to my computer and it is almost silent. I have had no issues with it. I just wish I put larger drives in it, its almost full.


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## meemorize

Thank you both very much for your feedback.

I have pre-ordered one of these EX-50B enclosures which is set to be in stock again around the 14th of March 2011 in New Zealand.

Sounds like this might be the one raid box I have been looking for all this time, silent and of adequate size.

I'm planning of filling this box with 4 or 5 WD Black 2TB drives, I'm sure those in a Raid5 will give me around ~6GB storage + redundancy if I'm not mistaken&#8230; maybe I will even use 5 drives right away, we'll see.

Thanks again!


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## asg

I have 4 of the 1 tb drives in RAID 5 and I have 2.8 TB of space. I am using the 5th as a spare.


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## haloguy628

3.63 TB with 5 WD Green 1TB drives in Raid-5. Very fast transfer speeds 100 - 110 Mb/s.


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## toyasboy

Hi Guys, I wondered if the EX-50 works under win7 64bits?
Seems to be the case with the EX-503 but don't know when it will be available on the market in New Zealand!
Thanks


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## haloguy628

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *toyasboy;12439741*
> Hi Guys, I wondered if the EX-50 works under win7 64bits?
> Seems to be the case with the EX-503 but don't know when it will be available on the market in New Zealand!
> Thanks


Yes, it works under Win-7 x64 Ultimate, Pro, and Home Premium. It also works under Server 2008 R2.


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## Bonta

To you guys who own EX-50 and/or EX-503, does your unit and power adaptor make annoying high pitch buzzing/whistling when its turned on, especially with hard drives in it?


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## haloguy628

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Bonta;12818839*
> To you guys who own EX-50 and/or EX-503, does your unit and power adaptor make annoying high pitch buzzing/whistling when its turned on, especially with hard drives in it?


Yes, it's just checking the alarm that you will hear if one of the HDs goes offline and the RAID goes into degraded state.


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## grandpatzer

I'm considering the Ex-50b, but I'm a bit confused, for Hardware raid the PC needs port multiplicator?
but for software raid on pc no need for portmultiplicator?

Ive also heard a rumour that the Ex-50b has been upgraded to JM939 and no longer pc needs port mulitplicator is that true.


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## weh

I already have an EX-50(b) and have just ordered a new EX-503(b) from SilverPCs.com (California, USA). They do not appear to keep these units in stock but were most happy to special order for me. Delivery varies but is typically about 6 to 8 weeks (they get an order directly from Lian Li about once a month in the middle of the month and lead time is about 5 weeks).

My original unit has performed flawlessly for almost two years. It's packed with 5x2TB WD20EARS drives in RAID-5 set by the switches on the back of the chassis. I'm using a HighPoint 2-port eSata PCI/e4 card as an interface with my computer. I stuck the eSata interface card that came with the Lian Li in an older computer so I can easily move the EX-50 should the need arise. The Sata ports on the Intel chipset do not communicate properly with the port multiplier in the Lian Li box.


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## CaptainHomey

this models only been available in UK for about a week!
I've got it arriving TODAY!
after lengthly and expensive call direct to Western Digital in USA
regarding their "Sharespace" 8TB they were unable to help with
the compatibilities of certain HDD's but suggested there have been "conflicts" withsome brands to their Caviar Green drives

anyone got any info on the compatibilities etc as the models NEW and has little to no relevant tach spec to tell me I wont be wasting my money buying the best valued HDD's in UK

says it'll take up to 3tb per butmax is apparently 5x2TB
als says its usb3 compatible etc hence I'd prefer the WD caviar Green (WD20EARS) as not only cheaper but 64mb cache 7200rpm compared to 32mb cache on seagates that are invariably slightly more expensive again

I'm hoping no ones going to say "you need to get the Caviar Blacks" as that'll bosst prices from £60 each to £150 for each drive

I have very limited knowlege on this stuff but its got me confused.com! and I'm desp to get the drives on order as I'm about to overfill my 13.8TB


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## CaptainHomey

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *weh;13232408*
> I already have an EX-50(b) and have just ordered a new EX-503(b) from SilverPCs.com (California, USA). They do not appear to keep these units in stock but were most happy to special order for me. Delivery varies but is typically about 6 to 8 weeks (they get an order directly from Lian Li about once a month in the middle of the month and lead time is about 5 weeks).
> 
> My original unit has performed flawlessly for almost two years. It's packed with 5x2TB WD20EARS drives in RAID-5 set by the switches on the back of the chassis. I'm using a HighPoint 2-port eSata PCI/e4 card as an interface with my computer. I stuck the eSata interface card that came with the Lian Li in an older computer so I can easily move the EX-50 should the need arise. The Sata ports on the Intel chipset do not communicate properly with the port multiplier in the Lian Li box.


This is good news to me...now to find best prices for WD20EARS in UK
but also raises worries about their suggestion its really plug n play!!!


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## weh

Several points:

1) The Lian Li EX-50/503 operates by having a port multiplier with connections for 5 sata-2 drives internally and an esata-2 connection as a link to the host computer. The host computer MUST have an esata port compatible with the Lian Li port multiplier for proper operation. The sata and esata ports supplied on most Intel-based motherboards are NOT compatible. Lian Li includes a PCIe/1 esata-2 host board that works very well. HighPoint makes several esata-2 and -3 host boards in various configurations that also work well.

2) As best I can tell, the only difference between the EX-50 and the EX-503 is that the 503 includes circuitry to convert the external sata connection from the port multiplier to conform with the USB 3.0 standard. As a result, the EX-503 can be connected to computers via their USB ports in addition to connection via esata (one or the other -- not both). The USB 3.0 connection is no faster than the esata connection -- the single esata-2 channel coming from the port multiplier is the limiting factor. (addendum: Both esata and USB 3.0 are way, way faster than trying to connect the EX-503 via USB 2.0 -- use USB 2.0 if and only if there is no other connection available.)

3) As best as I can tell, there is no performance advantage using high performance drives in the EX-50/503. The reason for this appears to be that the port multiplier aggregates five sata-2 drives through a single sata-2 channel. I've tried using both Caviar "black" and "green" drives in RAID-5 arrays and not noticed any significant difference in file transfer speeds. (addendum: If you are addressing the drives singly and not in an array, it might be a different story -- I did not test that way.)

4) To be safe, one should probably use drives designed for RAID array use, e.g., the Western Digital "RE" drives; however, based on my experience, current versions of WD's "regular" drives -- both black and green -- work just fine. Also, although I have not tried it because of their prohibitive cost, I can't find any reason that current 3T drives wouldn't work. I'm running RAID-5 arrays consisting of five WD20EARS drives in each of my two boxes -- one a 50, the other a 503 -- resulting in well over 7TB in a single volume for each unit.

5) I've had no trouble with installation with either unit. My method was as follows:
-- 5.1) Install the PCIe/1 (or whichever HighPoint model) esata board in the host computer.
-- 5.2) Power the system on and install appropriate drivers.
-- 5.3) Install the drives in the Lian Li chassis.
-- 5.4) Set the switches for the proper drive configuration based on your needs.
-- 5.5) Connect all the wiring, powering on the Lian Li unit last.
-- 5.6) Install the Lian Li management utility.
-- 5.7) Go to Control Panel >> Administrative Tools >> Computer Management >> Disk Management to initialize the drives or array as suits your needs.

Warning: Do NOT change the switches after setting up your EX-50/503 -- you WILL lose any data stored. Permanently.


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## grandpatzer

I have this unit and have a problem.

seems anytime I play a video from the EX-50 the frame rate is slightly lower than it should be, resulting in bad movie experience


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## weh

That sounds more like a software problem, possibly some interaction between 30fps, 24fps, 23.997fps and 3:2 pulldown.

I'm moving data between drives at near the limits of the drives' specs. Components in system: GA-EX58-UD5 motherboard, 3.2GHz i7-970 processor, 12GB 1600 DDR3 cas-7 ram, 240GB Vertex-2 (OS & apps), 2x 2T WD black RAID-1 array (primary work space), three 5x 2T WD green RAID-5 arrays (secondary storage), HighPoint 4-port eSata PCIe/4 adapter (interface for two Lian Li EX-50/503 units and an Addonics port multiplier for the 3rd RAID-5 array).


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## snahl

Quote:


> The host computer MUST have an esata port compatible with the Lian Li port multiplier for proper operation. The sata and esata ports supplied on most Intel-based motherboards are NOT compatible. Lian Li includes a PCIe/1 esata-2 host board that works very well.


Is the eSATA port on a ASUS P8P67 Deluxe compatible with the EX-503?
Is this PCIe/1 eSATA-2 host board included or does it need to be purchased separately?
Can anyone provide images showing the backplane of the new EX-503? I am curious about the openings for air circulation in that backplane.
Thanks.


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## grandpatzer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *snahl;13653798*
> Is the eSATA port on a ASUS P8P67 Deluxe compatible with the EX-503?
> Is this PCIe/1 eSATA-2 host board included or does it need to be purchased separately?
> Can anyone provide images showing the backplane of the new EX-503? I am curious about the openings for air circulation in that backplane.
> Thanks.


I have the EX-50b, it had a esata pci-e card included that works.
I belive the EX-503 might not include this pci-e card?!


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## weh

I repeat that most sata/esata ports on Intel chipset based motherboards do NOT support port multipliers. They can each address only a single sata device. There are a few add-on cards based on chips from SI and JMicron that DO support port multipliers. I won't speculate on any motherboard based sata/esata ports providing port multiplier support. You are on your own there.

However, the EX-503 does have USB 3.0 support and most new enthusiast-level motherboards have at least two USB 3.0 ports, solving the connection problem.

The back of the EX-50 has an eSata/2 port and the power brick connection. The EX-50 comes with a single eSata port PCI/E single channel adapter card and a 1-meter eSata/eSata cable.

The back of the EX-503 has an eSata/2 port, a USB 3.0 port, and the power brick connection (same power brick as the EX-50). The EX-503 comes with no interface card at all, but does have both the eSata/eSata cable and a USB 3.0 cable.


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## grandpatzer

anyone know if it's possible to turn on EX50b while the computer is ON, most of the time when I turn on EX50 I need to restart pc to make it recognize.


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## Gyscos

If my motherboard doesn't support port multiplier, won't I even be able to set up and use a raid or jbod ?


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## weh

The eSata add-in card that comes with the EX-50 has only one (1) eSata port. Therefore, I can connect only one EX-50 box at a time. If, however, you get a different add-in card that supports two or more eSata ports, you can connect multiple EX-50 boxes simultaneously.

Addonics makes a very inexpensive 2-port eSata add-in card that DOES support port multipliers.

Also, it is not a problem to connect an EX-50 via the eSata port and an EX-503 via a USB 3.0 port at the same time; however, transfer between the two is not nearly as fast as when both boxes are connected via two eSata ports.

At least with my equipment, I have no problem turning the Lian Li boxes ON after the computer is running. However, I HAVE run into problems trying to shut them down without shutting the computer down first when they are connected via eSata. When connected via USB 3.0, it isn't a problem -- I just shut them down in software using windows and then turn them off -- just like ejecting a USB flash thumb drive.

You must have either an eSata port that DOES support a port multiplier or a USB 3.0 port. The EX-50 has the port multiplier built in and connected directly to its eSata port (so does the EX-503). The ONLY way to connect either box via their eSata ports is by connecting to a corresponding eSata port on the computer that supports the port multiplier function. eSata ports that are derived from the Intel chipset Sata port connections will not work.

The EX-503 differs in that it ALSO has a USB 3.0 port that obviates the need for an eSata connection, assuming you have a USB 3.0 port on your computer.


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## Smithson

Have EX-50 esata bay. I Found this thread and was going to ask about 3TB drives in them, but just now the EDAC Power AC adapter for the bay just died.

So, anyone tried 3TB disk in one? And anyone heard of the adapter just crapping out?

I googled the edac part number but could not find a viable international seller.


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## tsrtg

I've bought EX-503 two months ago, it worked well for two months, after that it died.

"It died" means that it emits constant high-pitch sound and the system does not see the drive. After turning the Lian Li box off and waiting for it to "cool down", I can turn it back on and the system sees the drive with all data intact. However, after a couple of minutes it starts emitting the same sound and disconnects again. And so on.

The hard drives are perfect, no errors in SMART, the fan is working well, and there are no any errors or events in the software RAID manager that comes with the box.

I am very much disappointed. Lian Li should just stick to making cases and not try to make something more complex.


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## ndw

Hey - could one of owners of the EX-30 / EX-303 or other EX- products do me a huge favor? I'm looking to use the lian li enclosure for a custom build and I want to put a mini-itx board inside but I'm not 100% sure it'll fit.

The specifications say it's 175 mm wide, but could someone measure the internal width so that I can confirm?

Thanks very much!


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## pociej

I would like to ask EX-503 owners, your case shuts down after turning off the computer connected to it?
Because my EX-503 running all time (with computer turned off too) till I turn it off with power button I/O...


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## 12grayclouds

hi stumbled across this thread , I have a question hope you guys can help , I have a Addonics card that supports port multiplying , I want to simply access 4x 2tb drives individually , no raid , is this possible , I guess worse case would be 8tb concatenated , but really would like to access drives individually , cheers in advance


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## docchris

Hi,

Does anyone know if the EX-50 definitely supports 3Tb disks?

The product page (http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=331&cl_index=12&sc_index=42&ss_index=115&g=f) says:

• Supports more than 2Tera Bytes RAID drive - so i think it does

then further down...

Supports 2TB RAID drive, maximum 10TB - so i think it doenst

are they taking about the total size of the finished array , or its individual disks?

I'd be grateful to hear from anyone who is using 3Tb drives in this enclosure


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## michelgroen

Hello,

Well i found this thread true google and had a questions for you guys.

I am thinking about changing my mac mini by replacing my dvd-drive to a SATA output. Then buy and connect the LIAN EX-50.

When i found this thread i saw someone posting that when you want to connect the LIAN EX-50 you will need to have a SATA compatible with Port Multiplier.

I searched some more and found that my mac mini has the NVIDIA MCP89 AHCI.

Then i searched on the internet if this one supports PMP. It does support PMP but that site wasn't sure about PMP SM.
site: https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/articles/s/a/t/SATA_hardware_features_8af2.html

The question for you guys is, will the LIAN EX-50 work with this configuration? Because i find a really cheap way to expand my mac mini.

Well thanks for any comments.

Cya


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## Engineer3D

Someone could give some suggestions?

In this moment I'm wondering about Lian-Li.

It has a very nice product, but without some kind of support it's unuseful.
After 3 RMA without any feedback, I'm moving all the files out of the RAID5.

I have a 5x2TB Raid5.

I suspect that the REAL ORIGINE of my problems is the JMicron HW Raid Manager utility.
Now I'm copying 1TB from Lian-Li to the the additional disk and JMicron Manager is off:
seems going smooth.

I had 4 problems:

- at 2TB of occupied space the RAID5 got offline (changed from USB3 to eSata
and seemed to solve the problem).

- Another problem: RAID5 goes offline when I try to copy a 36GB file. Is it too big? :-O

- I have a degradeted RAID5 because LianLi doesn't like a disk: "PAGE 0 DAMAGE ERROR".
Nowhere in Internet there is an explanation about this string!
I made all the test on disk. The disk is PERFECT, but no way: LianLi EX-503B refused to add it
again to the RAID5 chain.

- I put another NEW disk and there was a failure in rebuilding after 1%: so I'm copying all
data out of EX-503B to other disks.

I have a degradeted RAID5 and I'm praying for an happy ending...

Thanks


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## barcode71

I just hooked up my EX-503 and using it as individual disks (4x HDDs) until I have enough money to buy 4TBx4 for a 8TB RAID10.

I am using a ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe mobo and using box's USB 3.0 it BSODed my machine. I'm thinking it may have something to do with the Renesas USB3.0 controller on my 6 series chipset. I don't have a 7 series chipset lying around to test if this occurs on Intel's native USB 3.0 controller.

When transferring a big system image file over USB 3.0 the transfer window would often freeze and not allow me to move the window or cancel. Accessing any of the drives during transfer would lockup whatever window that opened (until the file transfer was complete).
Transfer speeds over USB 3.0 are very slow, around 25MB/sec which seems like it's transferring at USB 2.0 speeds.

I switched over to eSATA and so far no BSODs *knock on wood*, and transfer speeds settle around 65MB/sec.


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## Engineer3D

Hi All,

this post is about the *solution of my case*.

*Lian-Li Support has been very kind* and after a long long analysis we discover the problem was a misworking
controller. It was a very annoying issue and difficult to find.

Suddenly they sent me a new device and *now all is working properly*.

By eSata, I have a *smooth 220-230 MB/s* input/output.

Ex-503B has very good performance









Bye!


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## barcode71

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Engineer3D*
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> this post is about the *solution of my case*.
> 
> *Lian-Li Support has been very kind* and after a long long analysis we discover the problem was a misworking
> controller. It was a very annoying issue and difficult to find.
> 
> Suddenly they sent me a new device and *now all is working properly*.
> 
> By eSata, I have a *smooth 220-230 MB/s* input/output.
> 
> Ex-503B has very good performance
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bye!


How are you achieving a sustained 220-230MB/s transfer speed? No single 7200rpm HDD has that type of sustained transfer speed.

Are you using the drives in RAID0/5/10?

FYI, 220-230MB/s sustained transfer isn't even possible on Vector and 840 PRO class SSDs.

What I mean by sustained transfers is when you're transferring around 500GiB+ of data. Even the Vector and 840 PRO SSDs in RAID0 will take a big hit when it starts moving a big picture folder with a lot of small files.

That is why I'm highly skeptical of your 220-230MB/s claim on the EX-503. If what you're claiming is true, then my EX-503 is faulty and requires a RMA.


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## rui-no-onna

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *barcode71*
> 
> FYI, 220-230MB/s sustained transfer isn't even possible on Vector and 840 PRO class SSDs.
> 
> What I mean by sustained transfers is when you're transferring around 500GiB+ of data. Even the Vector and 840 PRO SSDs in RAID0 will take a big hit when it starts moving a big picture folder with a lot of small files.


Perhaps it might just be due to the type of data? I reckon 500GiB worth of 25-40GiB Blu-ray rips would copy faster than 500GiB worth of 10-25MB RAW images.


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## barcode71

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rui-no-onna*
> 
> Perhaps it might just be due to the type of data? I reckon 500GiB worth of 25-40GiB Blu-ray rips would copy faster than 500GiB worth of 10-25MB RAW images.


And that's what *Engineer3D* failed to clarify, but lets get back to HDDs. The fastest consumer 7200rpm HDD with 1TB platters levels out around ~80MB/s and that's if both drives are identical. Transfer speed is affected by many variables from the age of the drive, technology used and the controller. Obviously if someone is transferring data from a old PATA drive to the latest SATA drive isn't going to see the ~80MB/s sustained transfer speeds.

I'm just curious how *Engineer3D* managed his claim of 220-230MB/s transfer speed, because those numbers sound more like burst speed and RAID speeds than sustained transfer speeds.

All HDD review sites share a common fallacy, they almost never show you the average sustained write speeds. They like to throw big triple digit numbers at you making you think their HDDs transfer at 150MB/s+ speeds when in fact their sustained transfer rates are less than half that number.


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## rui-no-onna

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *barcode71*
> 
> And that's what *Engineer3D* failed to clarify.
> 
> I'm just curious how *Engineer3D* managed his claim of 220-230MB/s transfer speed, because those numbers sound more like burst speed and RAID speeds than sustained transfer speeds.


Engineer3D already mentioned 5x2TB drives in RAID5 and a 36GB file in his initial post...

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *barcode71*
> 
> The fastest consumer 7200rpm HDD with 1TB platters levels out around ~80MB/s and that's if both drives are identical. Transfer speed is affected by many variables from the age of the drive, technology used and the controller. Obviously if someone is transferring data from a old PATA drive to the latest SATA drive isn't going to see the ~80MB/s sustained transfer speeds.
> 
> All HDD review sites share a common fallacy, they almost never show you the average sustained write speeds. They like to throw big triple digit numbers at you making you think their HDDs transfer at 150MB/s+ speeds when in fact their sustained transfer rates are less than half that number.


The WD10EZEX (1TB 7200RPM) maintains 150MB/s up to 500GB capacity. It only tapers below 100MB/s in the last 100GB. The WD20EFRX (2TB 5400RPM) maintains 100MB/s up to 1.5TB, alas performance quickly drops to 65MB/s after that. Obviously, there's some overhead involved while copying but the picture isn't quite as dismal as you paint.

Maybe I'm looking at the wrong sites but the HDD reviews I've seen usually show maximum/average/minimum sequential speeds. Most even show the data throughput curves for the drives (usually HDTune Pro or HDTach screenshots). Personally, I usually just look at the HDTune/HDTach screenshot and average sequential speeds.


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## Engineer3D

Hi All,

now I'm going to explain.

First of all I have 5 disks in raid5. They are 5K hitachi disks of 2TB (speed of 80MB/s each one).

The mainboard is an Asus P9X79 Pro with ASmedia controller.

I have inside 2 SSDs (240GB+480GB), and often I have to transfer my CFD/FEM simulation to LianLi storage.
Usually they are among 10GB and 80GB of datas (big and little files mixed).
With big files I mean 40-50GB at once.

I didn't make any test, by I rely on win7 copy time.
Usually this time is respected. So there are no great deviations of countdown.

For having this sustained transfer rate I activated the internal writing cache of device
(hoping that electricity doesn't betray me during transfer). I don't matter because,
at least ,I make again the copy.

I suppose that 220-230MB isn't the max speed but it's limited by eSata II interface.

I hope that's enough

Best regards


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## barcode71

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rui-no-onna*
> 
> Engineer3D already mentioned 5x2TB drives in RAID5 and a 36GB file in his initial post...
> The WD10EZEX (1TB 7200RPM) maintains 150MB/s up to 500GB capacity. It only tapers below 100MB/s in the last 100GB. The WD20EFRX (2TB 5400RPM) maintains 100MB/s up to 1.5TB, alas performance quickly drops to 65MB/s after that. Obviously, there's some overhead involved while copying but the picture isn't quite as dismal as you paint.
> 
> Maybe I'm looking at the wrong sites but the HDD reviews I've seen usually show maximum/average/minimum sequential speeds. Most even show the data throughput curves for the drives (usually HDTune Pro or HDTach screenshots). Personally, I usually just look at the HDTune/HDTach screenshot and average sequential speeds.


Yes, I'm aware that most sites show maximum/average/minimum sequential speeds and use HD benchmarking software. What they almost never show is transferring 500GB+ data from one drive to another. Most of the time it's just a combination of files are add up to <10GB.

I get great speeds (~120MB/s) when transferring <10GB files from my Hitachi 7K4000 to a 7K3000 (both 7200rpm drives), but those speeds drop to ~75MB/s when I move 500GB+ of data, and that's what HDD reviews never show.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Engineer3D*
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> now I'm going to explain.
> 
> First of all I have 5 disks in raid5. They are 5K hitachi disks of 2TB (speed of 80MB/s each one).
> 
> The mainboard is an Asus P9X79 Pro with ASmedia controller.
> 
> I have inside 2 SSDs (240GB+480GB), and often I have to transfer my CFD/FEM simulation to LianLi storage.
> Usually they are among 10GB and 80GB of datas (big and little files mixed).
> With big files I mean 40-50GB at once.
> 
> I didn't make any test, by I rely on win7 copy time.
> Usually this time is respected. So there are no great deviations of countdown.
> 
> For having this sustained transfer rate I activated the internal writing cache of device
> (hoping that electricity doesn't betray me during transfer). I don't matter because,
> at least ,I make again the copy.
> 
> I suppose that 220-230MB isn't the max speed but it's limited by eSata II interface.
> 
> I hope that's enough
> 
> Best regards


Thanks for the update


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