sdbardwick
Storage is cool
I haven't explored Win8 yet, but I don't think it needs to lie about the amount of free space available; a 10TB pool with one 1TB drive would show 1TB free out of 10TB.
Home NAS
- Thread starter LiamC
- Start date
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Data transfer performance on Server 2012 seems to be significantly better than FreeNAS, even comparing their NFS implementations head to head. ZFS still has a lot to offer because of configurabilty, but in some of the tests I did, I saw 15MB/s better transfers out of my Windows Server.
I mentioned a few posts up that I saw similar performance with Storage Server 2012 which I assume is built very similar if not identical to Server 2012. I haven't yet tried an NFS mount, but CIFS performance was fantastic. I was seeing 108MB/sec in some cases with large monolithic files.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I actually saw the biggest gains during transfers of small files. 3.7 million .jpg files (~1TB) took around 14 hours to copy to the Server 2012 machine and only about 12.5 hours to copy from that machine to another desktop.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
How does this compare with server 2008? Hard to find benchmarks.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
As I recall, Server 2008 was also faster than FreeNAS, but it lacks Storage Spaces support for flexible disk provisioning.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
FreeNAS ZFS performance on 99% full volumes is UGLY. My primary array filled last night and file copies - even internal volume to internal (well, eSATA) drive on different physical controllers - are presently around 1.5MB/sec.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
My new storage server is going to be a Server 2012 machine. FreeNAS is nice and I love ZFS to death, but I know I'll appreciate the versatility and performance of having a non-appliance server.
That's been my goto NAS OS that I mentioned several months ago and I'm still happy. The one small difference is I chose the server 2012 storage server edition.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
My new storage machine:
Norco 4224
2x Xeon 5645 (12 threads per CPU, 80W)
24GB DDR3
Asus Z8NA-D6 (if they actually let me RMA it)
X25e 64GB (for OS)
IBM M1015 + HP SAS expander
Presently I'm short 4x Barracuda 7200.14s and I'm still waiting to see if the board can be RMA'd, so I'm not quite ready to build yet, but that's such a ridiculous collection of hardware that I'll be consolidated down to maybe two other desktops and a single notebook. I used to have a dozen PCs!
Norco 4224
2x Xeon 5645 (12 threads per CPU, 80W)
24GB DDR3
Asus Z8NA-D6 (if they actually let me RMA it)
X25e 64GB (for OS)
IBM M1015 + HP SAS expander
Presently I'm short 4x Barracuda 7200.14s and I'm still waiting to see if the board can be RMA'd, so I'm not quite ready to build yet, but that's such a ridiculous collection of hardware that I'll be consolidated down to maybe two other desktops and a single notebook. I used to have a dozen PCs!
ddrueding
Fixture
That is indeed a monster. I'm assuming 24 3TB drives?
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
What OS will you run on it? Windows Server 2012?
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I think so. It seems to be legitimately better for file service needs and it will be nice to run all my media tools natively instead of having to putz around with WINE.
Yes, 24 3TB drives once I get them all. I've been buying one or two every time I see the price dip down to something I feel is reasonable, like maybe $110/drive.
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
Why such massive CPU power & RAM for a storage machine? Me confused :scratch:
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
Do you need to share over NFS?
ddrueding
Fixture
Just put a gaming-class video card on there and make it your workstation. Imagine the bandwidth to all that local storage 
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
The CPUs and RAM were freebies that came with the dead motherboard, but video transcoding has been a primary function for fast machines for me for a long time. For a long time, I had linux machines that I fed DVDs and stored .avi or more recently .mkv files. Transcoding BDs is definitely less of a job these days, but it still takes three hours or so to convert a disc on eight cores of an i7.
On top of that, I'm expecting that I'll be able to use Hyper-V to run a few guests for various things that I still want to have around and I'm pretty sure that having ridiculous CPUs and RAM when I'm planning to use some form of softRAID isn't a bad thing, either.
NFS? I'm not sure. I'll definitely still have some Linux systems in VMs, for the most part I'm not going to be bothered by accessing shares over SMB if I have to. I'm using NFS now to access my FreeNAS setup and my systems are still configured to use it.
dd, those Norco chassis are basically a giant desktop case that's utterly lacking in cable management or true server-type hardware, but even with oversized specialty coolers and PCP&C "Silencer"-grade PSUs I've never gotten one to be anything like quiet. In a perfect world I'd just stick it under my TV and be done, but I already know it'll be too damned loud to be anyplace but my back bedroom.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Four days and still no RMA approval from Asus. I don't think I've EVER gotten an RMA approval from Asus.
Way to service, assholes.
Way to service, assholes.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
You could stop buying their products.
I quit buying ASUS when they started only including one PS/2 port on all their motherboards. Now lots of manufacturers are doing the same and I'm getting more and more annoyed with them all. I know that many people use USB mice and keyboards but not me because of KVM's (Keyboard, video, and mouse switches) and I do not wish to replace my KVM's.
Now if I knew of a four-port DVI+USB+audio KVM that is both reliable and inexpensive (including cables) then perhaps.
Now if I knew of a four-port DVI+USB+audio KVM that is both reliable and inexpensive (including cables) then perhaps.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
This board was given to me along with $1200 worth of CPUs and RAM so I can't entirely complain. For the most part, I buy Intel or Gigabyte. I really only look at Asus when the Gigabyte equivalent is clearly unsuitable (usually because of unfortunate heat sink placement) or when I have a need so immediate that I don't have any other option.
I've gotten RMA'd boards from ECS but never from Asus though, and that speaks to the overall quality of service I've seen from 'em in all my years of techie work.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
How about their other products, such as notebooks, tablets, etc? Do they actually process RMAs for those?
Newtun
Storage is nice, especially if it doesn't rotate
FWIW, I've had good luck for over 9 months with this USB to PS/2 adapter, converting just the PS/2 keyboard to USB on my old 2-PS/2 motherboard. I wanted to try it before I got one of those newfangled 1-PS/2 mobos. It works fine through my old Zonet KVM.
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
I've RMA'd a few laptops with Asus, and admittedly at the time it was quite pleasant. However, I will stress this, the RAM process was done by calling the local repair centre in Brisbane, speaking to one of the technicians directly to do a quick check over, issued an RMA number, and then the next day drop off the laptop in person at the repair centre. A few days alter I would get a call or email saying it was ready, and I would and pick it up in person. So about a week to get a laptop repaired.
My only complaint, was they would always reimage the laptop back to the stock Asus HDD image, even if it was a simple keyboard replacement.
From my experience. Intel, Seagate, HP (business not consumer), WDC, Tandberg, Dell (again business not consumer), were all fairly easy to deal with...
My only complaint, was they would always reimage the laptop back to the stock Asus HDD image, even if it was a simple keyboard replacement.
From my experience. Intel, Seagate, HP (business not consumer), WDC, Tandberg, Dell (again business not consumer), were all fairly easy to deal with...
It probably is my specific brand of KVM but I've used other USB to PS/2 adapters before and found that unplugging the USB port without powering down the computer destroys the PS/2 port on my KVM. After several dead KVM's I stopped using the adapters. While I might learn slow, I do learn.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Since I posted this thread, I sent a couple boards to Gigabyte and had 'em returned, all without hearing back from Asus, which I contacted on the same day as Gigabyte.
Unfortunately, I would have to pay twice as much to get an Intel, SuperMicro or Tyan dual LGA1366 motherboard as I would for Asus, so I'm probably going to have to buy from them again regardless.
Unfortunately, I would have to pay twice as much to get an Intel, SuperMicro or Tyan dual LGA1366 motherboard as I would for Asus, so I'm probably going to have to buy from them again regardless.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
As long as you can afford the outage that comes with the board dying and a new board shipping why not take the gamble. Or just buy two up front and you are still better of wrt downtime. You are tying up capital either way.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Stereodude
Not really a
I bet he'll get a visit from one of the **AA's shortly.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Even if he's the #1 seeder for the whole Pirate Bay, unless they can positively associate his assigned IP with illegal activity, that visit will end at his doormat.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Until extremely recently copyright violation was a purely civil matter. It's only criminal in the US now because of a rather substantial amount of lobbying by content cartels.
You know that, right?
You know that, right?
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
The civil penalty is as much as $125,000 in fines per infraction of material that's probably available for under $20 if it isn't already hosted free-of-charge on Youtube. In what way is that anything other than ludicrous even setting aside the possibility of criminal justice on top of that?
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
Getting back on topic
Hi Guys,
In an attempt to get this thread back on topic, in the next month will be looking at updating our external HDD used for backup (currently a 500GB w/firewire and USB2.0) and am considering something network attached...
Options are:
1. Stick with a stock external HDD connected via USB. Nothing much changes, but is the cheapest option. (4TB w/USB3 is sub $200).
2. Look at a Seagate FreeAgent or WDC MyBook Live single drive solutions (since we only need 2-3TB) and connect it directly to our router. (all desktops and laptops can connect).
3. Look at a larger NAS solution (QNAP, Netgear, WDC, etc).
4. Build own own NAS. (HP MicroServer + OpenSolaris + 12TB of storage).
I'm leaning towards 2, as it's only approx $50 more over option 1 with all the benefits of centralised storage. But have a few questions?
a, does anyone have experience with either the Seagate/WDC solutions. Are there others I should consider that are like the Seagate/WDC solutions.
b, what performance am I likely to get? (anything over 10MB/s is ok, since it's a pure backup device - no need for media sharing, http server, etc, and backups are done at night).
c, network protocol support? SMB/CIFS? NFS?
d, Max connected users? (any artificial limits).
I know option 3 and 4 above will give better performance and features, but for a centralised backup device it'll mostly be overkill unless option 2 solutions are really, really sucky and shouldn't be considered.
Hi Guys,
In an attempt to get this thread back on topic, in the next month will be looking at updating our external HDD used for backup (currently a 500GB w/firewire and USB2.0) and am considering something network attached...
Options are:
1. Stick with a stock external HDD connected via USB. Nothing much changes, but is the cheapest option. (4TB w/USB3 is sub $200).
2. Look at a Seagate FreeAgent or WDC MyBook Live single drive solutions (since we only need 2-3TB) and connect it directly to our router. (all desktops and laptops can connect).
3. Look at a larger NAS solution (QNAP, Netgear, WDC, etc).
4. Build own own NAS. (HP MicroServer + OpenSolaris + 12TB of storage).
I'm leaning towards 2, as it's only approx $50 more over option 1 with all the benefits of centralised storage. But have a few questions?
a, does anyone have experience with either the Seagate/WDC solutions. Are there others I should consider that are like the Seagate/WDC solutions.
b, what performance am I likely to get? (anything over 10MB/s is ok, since it's a pure backup device - no need for media sharing, http server, etc, and backups are done at night).
c, network protocol support? SMB/CIFS? NFS?
d, Max connected users? (any artificial limits).
I know option 3 and 4 above will give better performance and features, but for a centralised backup device it'll mostly be overkill unless option 2 solutions are really, really sucky and shouldn't be considered.
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
PS. I meant the Seagate GoFlex Home Network Storage System, and not the FreeAgent.
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
Just some reviews on newegg about the Seagate option, basically it's a POS to be avoided...
Still interested in the WDC or other similar devices though.
PS. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo
Still interested in the WDC or other similar devices though.
PS. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
All the commercial NASes - at least for the sub-8-bay products - are an Atom CPU and 2 or 4GB RAM running a *BSD or Linux variant with a pretty web interface. If you wanted to make a project of it, you could probably find a spare Atom board and CPU for $25 or $30 and build something that's far more flexible than a little 2-bay Synology/Buffalo/Netgear NAS.
Atom board + CPU ($30) + Coolermaster Elite 120 ($40) + PSU (whatever) + support for 3 3.5" hard drives and room for an SSD besides = a pretty decent NAS setup.
I've had poor luck with Seagate branded external drives, full stop. Do not consider them unless you need to hold down paper. Crappy AC adapters. AC adapters that IMO probably kill the drives they're attached to. If you're going the external route, buy internal drives and quality enclosures yourself.
I've worked with several 2 and 4 bay NAS products. Synology has probably been my favorite of the bunch. I like the firmware better than other devices I've tried, but I don't think that a two bay NAS is worth $200, either.
Atom board + CPU ($30) + Coolermaster Elite 120 ($40) + PSU (whatever) + support for 3 3.5" hard drives and room for an SSD besides = a pretty decent NAS setup.
I've had poor luck with Seagate branded external drives, full stop. Do not consider them unless you need to hold down paper. Crappy AC adapters. AC adapters that IMO probably kill the drives they're attached to. If you're going the external route, buy internal drives and quality enclosures yourself.
I've worked with several 2 and 4 bay NAS products. Synology has probably been my favorite of the bunch. I like the firmware better than other devices I've tried, but I don't think that a two bay NAS is worth $200, either.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
Any USB NAS sounds like it might fit the bill for #2.