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Sat Nov 21
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  • posts about #hdd more →

    Building a NAS? Skip the Performance Drives

    Origin Data Locker Backs Rugged Looks with AES Hardware Encryption

    Quick Test: Seagate's 1TB Portable FreeAgent Go

    Buffalo's HD-HU3 Poised To Be The First USB 3.0 Hard Drive

    Yet Another Modder Desecrates Fond Nintendo Memory From My Youth

    Crazy Hard Drive Clock Was Probably Built by Nerd Ravers

    WD's Ever-Smaller External Hard Drives Bring Better Security and Incremental Backups

    Apple Working On Fix For "Clicky" MacBook Pro Hard Drives

    Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 Is World's First 2TB, 7200 RPM Hard Drive

    Intel's X25-M G2 SSD Comes With a Shiny Silver Enclosure, 10% Performance Bump
  • Your version of Internet Explorer is not supported. Please upgrade to the most recent version in order to view comments.
    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of theorieofself theorieofself
    11/07/09

    In reply to Building a NAS? Skip the Performance Drives
    i'm running (6) 7200rpm drives in my FreeNAS box. i guess i could have gone with 5400rpm, but i already had all the hardware so i didn't really buy new components when i put the unit together.

    @waclark57 i think you missed the point. the post clearly says, "The main bottleneck in any NAS is the RAID engine. Since many NAS units don't include a dedicated controller, oftentimes the speed of the drive just doesn't matter. If you're using a blazing-fast hardware RAID card in your own custom built setup, then drive speed might make a difference. But for most consumer units, the controller is the bottleneck."

    with that in mind, drive speed obviously isn't an issue in consumer based NAS systems. sure if you have maddd money to spend on high end hardware, and you have a beefy raid controller, 10k or 15k drives will make a difference. #diy
     Reply
    ninjagin promoted this comment theorieofself was starred theorieofself was unstarred
    Image of Bluechip Bluechip
    11/07/09

    In reply to Building a NAS? Skip the Performance Drives
    I'm using Western Digital Green drives in my unRAID setup. [www.lime-technology.com]

    Currently at 2TB + parity and expandable up to 6 drives before I have to upgrade the software license to the next tier (16 drives). #diy
     Reply
    UnderLoK promoted this comment Digo approved this comment Bluechip was starred Bluechip was unstarred
    Image of UnderLoK UnderLoK
    11/09/09

    @Bluechip: I use greens as well, different setup however. #diy
     Reply
    UnderLoK was starred UnderLoK was unstarred
    Image of travisco_nabisco travisco_nabisco
    11/07/09

    In reply to Building a NAS? Skip the Performance Drives
    I read this article yesterday and there are a few points that need to be noted. First they used older 7200 RPM drives and current generation 5400 RPM drives. It would have been more meaningful if both sets of drives were current generation.

    The other note is that if you are setting up RAID 1 the 7200 RPM drives may actually be faster. This is because in the article they rationalize that it is the lack of a hardware RAID controller that causes the bottle neck because the CPU is doing all the XOR calculations. However in RAID 1 no XOR's are calculated because the drives contents are identical.

    just my 2 cents #diy
     Reply
    ninjagin promoted this comment travisco_nabisco was starred travisco_nabisco was unstarred
    Image of TheCrudMan TheCrudMan
    11/07/09

    In reply to Building a NAS? Skip the Performance Drives
    That's why you get one of these:
    [www.promise.com]

    Put half in RAID 0 and half as backup....(I forget which RAID number that makes it) and hook it up via Fibre channel to your Xserve that you're logged into via open directory (and that your home folder is hosted on) via gigabit ethernet.

    :D #diy
     Reply
    bagellord promoted this comment TheCrudMan was starred TheCrudMan was unstarred
    Image of bagellord bagellord
    11/07/09

    @TheCrudMan: RAID 0+1 #diy
     Reply
    bagellord was starred bagellord was unstarred
    Image of AmphetamineCrown AmphetamineCrown
    11/07/09

    In reply to Building a NAS? Skip the Performance Drives
    What would LHer's recommend in terms of the best reliability 1TB drives for a NAS? Is that size in the sweet spot at this point? Am I going to significantly decrease reliability using 2TB drives? #diy
     Reply
    AmphetamineCrown was starred AmphetamineCrown was unstarred
    Image of David Frederick Becker David Frederick Becker
    11/07/09

    @AmphetamineCrown: The Western Digital Caviar Black drives are by far the most reliable. [www.newegg.com]
    In fact, I just ordered two of these yesterday!
    Judging from current trends, virtually all of the 2TB drives currently out have pretty bad reliability track records. I had considered them, too, but I don't want to waste money on them.
     Reply
    AmphetamineCrown promoted this comment Edited by David Frederick Becker at 11/07/09 1:15 PM David Frederick Becker was starred David Frederick Becker was unstarred
    Image of brisketboy brisketboy
    11/07/09

    @AmphetamineCrown: If you're primary goal is the reliability of an individual drive and you're willing to pay the premium an "enterprise" drive like the Barracuda ES.2 or something from the newer Constellation line is going to give you the best reliability, especially if you plan on running 24/7.

    If cost is more of a factor, you might consider 1.5TB drives. Seagate (Barracuda LP), WD (Caviar Green), and Samsung (Eco Green F2) all have low-spindle-speed 1.5TB drives. Put them in a RAID 5 or RAID 6 configuration for reliability, utilize the 3-year warranty if needed, and you'll be fine.

    I personally just put together a NAS with 6 1.5 TB Barracuda LPs in a RAID 6 running the Openfiler NAS software and its been running like a champ. 70MB/s over gigabit ethernet without jumbo frames enabled. #diy
     Reply
    AmphetamineCrown approved this comment brisketboy was starred brisketboy was unstarred
    Image of AmphetamineCrown AmphetamineCrown
    11/07/09

    @brisketboy: @David Frederick Becker: I've actually been using the Barracuda ES.2s in my 6 drive ReadyNAS. It is about a year old, and I replaced one a couple months ago when the monitoring software started detecting errors. Now I'm starting to see errors on two other drives. As easy as they are to replace, I'm not really liking the concept of running through 3 drives a year.

    Maybe I'll try the Caviar black drives and see how they do. Seems like I'm going to develop quite the history with replacing drives. #diy
     Reply
    AmphetamineCrown was starred AmphetamineCrown was unstarred
    Image of GitEmSteveDave_HazEnvy GitEmSteveDave_HazEnvy
    10/18/09

    In reply to Origin Data Locker Backs Rugged Looks with AES Hardware Encryption
    6-18 PIN? That's kind of weak. My "secure" password uses 30+characters, including capitals, symbols, and numbers. I'd hate to downgrade. #harddrives
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_HazEnvy was starred GitEmSteveDave_HazEnvy was unstarred
    Image of Ilo Ilo
    10/18/09

    In reply to Origin Data Locker Backs Rugged Looks with AES Hardware Encryption
    Does anyone else think that "one touch drive erase" may not be such a great idea? #harddrives
     Reply
    CustomFirmware promoted this comment Ilo was starred Ilo was unstarred
    Image of Nick2 Nick2
    10/18/09

    In reply to Origin Data Locker Backs Rugged Looks with AES Hardware Encryption
    Isn't Truecrypt a bit more practical than a $700 drive? #harddrives
     Reply
    Jack Loftus promoted this comment Nick2 was starred Nick2 was unstarred
    Image of Noobs-R-Us Noobs-R-Us
    10/10/09

    In reply to Quick Test: Seagate's 1TB Portable FreeAgent Go
    Wait for the new Intel/Apple optical cabled drives next year. It will put USB 3/Firewire 800 to shame.
     Reply
    Noobs-R-Us was starred Noobs-R-Us was unstarred
    Image of otko otko
    10/10/09

    In reply to Quick Test: Seagate's 1TB Portable FreeAgent Go
    Seagate vs WD. Which is better? Is it a matter of preference or is there an actual difference in stability?
     Reply
    jakebathman promoted this comment otko was starred otko was unstarred
    Image of jakebathman jakebathman
    10/10/09

    @otko: I want to know this as well, because I'm looking to get a 1TB portable before the year is out, and I'll be keeping it for a few years
     Reply
    jakebathman was starred jakebathman was unstarred
    Image of chaos215bar2000 chaos215bar2000
    10/10/09

    In reply to Quick Test: Seagate's 1TB Portable FreeAgent Go
    Why would a larger drive be slower? I would think that packing the bits closer together would make it faster.
     Reply
    lostarchitect approved this comment chaos215bar2000 was starred chaos215bar2000 was unstarred
    Image of lostarchitect lostarchitect
    10/10/09

    @chaos215bar2000: it's about the platter spin speed, not the density of data. this is a 5400 rpm drive, which is common but slowish. many people prefer a 7200 rpm unit.
     Reply
    lostarchitect was starred lostarchitect was unstarred
    Image of Argo117 Argo117
    10/10/09

    In reply to Quick Test: Seagate's 1TB Portable FreeAgent Go
    I think, now that TBs are becoming more feasible as common storage space, we should refer to them as "tubs" like we refer to GBs as "gigs"
     Reply
    phunnyballs promoted this comment Argo117 was starred Argo117 was unstarred
    Image of phunnyballs phunnyballs
    10/10/09

    @Argo117: but when somebody writes

    "whats the difference between tub and gig" into google, they may find themselves looking at a tub girl. And that would always be on my mind
     Reply
    Edited by phunnyballs at 10/10/09 12:03 PM phunnyballs was starred phunnyballs was unstarred
    Image of Diziet_Sma Diziet_Sma
    10/10/09

    @Argo117: Or 'tebs'?
     Reply
    Edited by Diziet_Sma at 10/10/09 1:21 PM Diziet_Sma was starred Diziet_Sma was unstarred
    Image of giusepe giusepe
    10/10/09

    @Diziet_Sma: Or tits? Oh, wait..
     Reply
    Diziet_Sma approved this comment giusepe was starred giusepe was unstarred
    Image of Diziet_Sma Diziet_Sma
    10/10/09

    @giusepe: That's it! I don't care about anyone else, I'm calling them tits from now on. Then, next time I'm having a geek-chat with my husband, I can be all, "Cool, that [drive/laptop/tower] sounds interesting - how many tits has it got?"
     Reply
    Diziet_Sma was starred Diziet_Sma was unstarred
    Image of Tech-Hedz Tech-Hedz
    10/07/09

    In reply to Buffalo's HD-HU3 Poised To Be The First USB 3.0 Hard Drive
    Is that the x-box 720? :P
     Reply
    CustomFirmware promoted this comment Tech-Hedz was starred Tech-Hedz was unstarred
    Image of somewhat lord of PRNG attacks somewhat lord of PRNG attacks
    09/27/09

    In reply to Yet Another Modder Desecrates Fond Nintendo Memory From My Youth
    If you're going to desecrate a cartridge, at least use something good like Superman 64. Maybe make it vent random green gas.
     Reply
    spannu promoted this comment somewhat lord of PRNG attacks was starred somewhat lord of PRNG attacks was unstarred
    Image of dragon:ONE dragon:ONE
    09/27/09

    In reply to Yet Another Modder Desecrates Fond Nintendo Memory From My Youth
    Hey, I've got an SNES controller that I ripped off the end of and turned it into a parallel port gamepad for some emulator action...
     Reply
    dragon:ONE was starred dragon:ONE was unstarred
    Image of appletoad appletoad
    09/27/09

    @dragon: Was it difficult? I want to do the same but USB and I know it's a pain in the ass.
     Reply
    appletoad was starred appletoad was unstarred
    Image of dragon:ONE dragon:ONE
    09/27/09

    @appletoad: USB... you're better off with a RetroUSB kit.
    [www.retrousb.com]

    Parallel is easy to do but you'll need that kit to do USB.
     Reply
    spannu promoted this comment dragon:ONE was starred dragon:ONE was unstarred
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