Storage Show-off Topic

looney · January 5, 2013

Welcome to the LinusTechTips Storage Showoff Topic,

Topic:
A topic like this seems to be mandatory on tech forums, so i decided to make one.
In essence this topic is all about large storage systems that you want to show off.

I will maintain a list in this post.

Criteria:
Here are the criteria to get in 10TB+ list:

It has to be a dedicated server system (so no work/game stations) NAS and virtualization is ok.
A total capacity of at least 10TB.
It has to be one system. (all running of one motherboard)
It has to be private/ home storage, don't post your company's data-server!
Pics or it didn't happen, and write a nice post about your system.
Use the template at the bottom of this post in your submission post.

Notes:
Here are a few notes about the criteria:

10 x 1TB in RAID 5 is only 9TB so not enough to make it in the list.
10 x 1TB in JBOD is 10TB but no redundancy to make it in the list.
Storage is calculated with advertised space-parity drives, 1TB=1TB not 931GB (so 4x 2TB RAID 5 = 3x 2TB = 6TB)
All Storage drives/ Arrays count towards the total capacity, parity storage is not counted (excluding the OS drives)
Caching SSD's will also be excluded from the total capacity, but they will be listed in the number of disks.

looney · January 5, 2013

I will start of with my own server:

[TABLE=class: text_table_text_table_text_table]

[TR]

[TD]

Component[/TD]

[TD]

Value[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Case[/TD]

[TD]

Norcotek RPC4220[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

CPU[/TD]

[TD]

AMD Phenom II 965[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

RAM[/TD]

[TD]

16GB DDR3 1333[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Motherboard[/TD]

[TD]

Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Operating system[/TD]

[TD]

Windows Server 2008 R2[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Controller 1[/TD]

[TD]

IBM M1015, Flashed with "IT" firmware[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Controller 2[/TD]

[TD]

HPT Rocket Raid 2680[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Hard drive 1[/TD]

[TD]

6 X 2TB Hitachi HDS5C3020ALA632[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Hard drive 2[/TD]

[TD]

2 X 2TB Seagate ST32000542AS[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Hard drive 3[/TD]

[TD]

7 X 2TB Seagete ST2000DM001[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Hard drive 4 (OS)[/TD]

[TD]

1 X Crucial C300 120GB SSD[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

RAID array configuration[/TD]

[TD]

Flexraid snapshot raid with 2 parity drives[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Storage array capacity[/TD]

[TD]

26TB[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Network[/TD]

[TD]

1 X GbE (soon 3 X GbE)[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

UPS[/TD]

[TD]

none, not really necary with snapshot raid anyway[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

File system[/TD]

[TD]

NTFS / FlexRAIDFS[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Idle power usage[/TD]

[TD]

150/200 Watt[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

The build.

Its a very recent build, (yesterday), i basically upgraded my old data server.

Of the old server i salvaged the following components: CPU, RAM, HTP 2680, 2x seagate 2tb, 6x hitachi 2tb, and the SSD.

The rest is all new.

Array.

The server runs a program called FlexRaid under windows, this creates a RAID pool much like WHS v1 did.

Its a snapshot based raid so it will only create the parity files when you tell it to (or you schedule it).

This sort of raid is more then enough for simple A/V storage.

A nice thing about FlexRaid this is that in case of a complete raid failure you still have a lot of you files as its stored in simple NTFS.

At the moment there are still 8 drives running in RAID 5 under the 2680 controller.

When im done copying the data to the new array i will these 8 drives to the FlexRaid array.

Usage.

I use the storage for movies and series, i have media players around the house that access it.

Its also for backing up my computers.

Backup.

All the arrays are backed up to LiveDrive, this is a online cloud backup storage service (i have 100/100 Mbps connection)

Photos/ Screenshots.

As you can see, the old raid 5 array is still active (disks D, F, G, I, R and S) these will be gone soon and ill have a 26TB V drive

A quick overview of the drives from within FlexRaid

Jamdude · January 5, 2013

Any pics to show?

VictorB · January 5, 2013

[TABLE=class: text_table]

[TR]

[TD]

Case[/TD]

[TD]

Fractal Design ARC midi[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

CPU[/TD]

[TD]

AMD A6 3500 2.1ghz triple core[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

RAM[/TD]

[TD]

Corsair 16gb kit 2x8gb 1333mhz[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Motherboard[/TD]

[TD]

Asus F1A75-M[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Operating system[/TD]

[TD]

ZFSguru[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Controller[/TD]

[TD]

IBM M1015[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Hard drive[/TD]

[TD]

6x 3tb Seagate 7200rpm + 128gb samsung ssd[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Hard drive[/TD]

[TD]

2x 500gb Samsung 7200rpm mirror boot + torrent[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

RAID array configuration[/TD]

[TD]

Raidz2 + l2arc cache[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Storage array capacity[/TD]

[TD]

19tb raw 12.5tb usable[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Network[/TD]

[TD]

HP N364T Quad gbit nic[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

UPS[/TD]

[TD]

MGE evolution 1550[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

File system[/TD]

[TD]

ZFS[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Idle power usage[/TD]

[TD]

110watt[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

I made a video serie about this build!

Part1:

Hardware build!

Part2:

Lackrack Power Benchmarks NAS4Free

Part3:

12TB update, ZFSguru, indepth power, UPS, benchmarks

:cool: All the info are in the video's and in the description of the video's!

VictorB · January 5, 2013

Don't know hot to put here all the youtube link but here is part1 :)

looney · January 5, 2013

Nice build victor,

But the capacity for the top 20 is calculated with the drive size minus parity.

So 5x 1TB in raid 5 is 4TB, not 5x 931.32GB in raid 5 is 3,725TB

So advertised space not actual.

That said, what number should i fill in in you top 20 position?

If you have 1 parity drive and the ssd is for cache then it should be 5x3tb=15TB for the array, is that right?

remember: Only actual storage arrays count, so 9TB and a 1TB boot drive wont make the list.

VictorB · January 5, 2013

6x3tb raidz2 = 12TB space. So put it in the ranking as 12tb :)

Nice topic! :) How much space was Linus his server now in his norco case?

looney · January 5, 2013

not sure he had a 4224 in a video review with all 1TB black drives, but i think his home server was just a mix of drives under a whs v1 storage pool.

guess we will see when he posts his stats :P

and i missed the raidz2 in you post :P

now let me see if i can edit the main post to add you in the list:)

edit:

your added to the list, hope they fix the editing soon, this is a pain in the but lol

VictorB · January 5, 2013

Thanx! hehe yeah redoing the whole post for editing is not fun :)

cushy91 · January 5, 2013

Here's my home NAS (Goliath) for serving up movies and TV.

[TABLE=class: text_table_text_table_text_table_text_table_text_table]

[TR]

[TD]

Component[/TD]

[TD]

Value[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Case[/TD]

[TD]

XClio Nighthawk (got it cheap)[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

CPU[/TD]

[TD]

AMD Sempron 140 2.7GHz

(unlocked 2nd core so it's now an Athlon II X2 4400e)[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

RAM[/TD]

[TD]

4GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 1333MHz[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Motherboard[/TD]

[TD]

Asus M4A78LT-M[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Operating system[/TD]

[TD]

unRAID 5.0 RC4[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Controller[/TD]

[TD]

Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Hard drive (parity)[/TD]

[TD]

1 X WD 2TB Green (WD20EARS)[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Hard drive (data)[/TD]

[TD]

3 X WD 2TB Green (WD20EARS/EARX)

1 X Seagate 2TB 7200RPM (ST2000DL001)

2 X WD 1.5TB Green (WD15EADS)

2 X Samsung 1.5TB Green (HD154UI)

1 X Samsung 1TB Green (HD103UI)[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Hard drive (cache)[/TD]

[TD]

1 X WD 160GB 7200RPM (WD1600AAJS)[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Boot drive[/TD]

[TD]

1 X 2GB Kingston DataTraveler USB stick[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

RAID array configuration[/TD]

[TD]

unRAID - single parity disk protects array[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Storage array capacity[/TD]

[TD]

15TB[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Network[/TD]

[TD]

1 X GbE[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

UPS[/TD]

[TD]

APC Back-UPS ES8 700VA[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

File system[/TD]

[TD]

ReiserFS[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Idle power usage[/TD]

[TD]

~100W[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

I also have another unRAID box (David) that I use for local PC backups based on a HP N40L MicroServer. I have recently stuck ESXi onto it and virtualised my unRAID setup and using it for VMs to further my knowledge on Windows Server and Active Directory as well as OS deployment. It's only 1TB is capacity (minus another 1TB for parity) and 128GB Samsung 840 SSD for ESXi datastore so won't make the leaderboard here.

You can look at both David and Goliath on my little website here if you want: http://thegearsphere.com (not plugging or anything I swear :P)

VictorB · January 5, 2013

Nice build can you do the full specs overview so we can add it to the list?

Maybe its a idea just to make a long list of 10tb+ system and not only a top20. We are on this forum to be 1 familiy and not only be the best or the biggest! :)

cushy91 · January 5, 2013

Description added :)

Ghost · January 5, 2013

Damn these servers are big. I don't see why anyone would need this much storage though. :/

cushy91 · January 5, 2013

Blurays are big!

looney · January 5, 2013

I am just addicted to storage, when i download something i cant delete it, i just have to store it :)

Ghost · January 5, 2013

VictorB · January 5, 2013

The big servers are also hobby :) Some persons buy 690gtx some buy storage. Do you need it no :D But its fun to build and you don't have to delete all and can make your own collections of movies and music

looney · January 5, 2013

" How fast is your internet?"

100/100

might upgrade to 500/500

bill · January 5, 2013

my server doesn't have enough storage to make the list . . . . . yet!

bill · January 5, 2013

Server 2008 R2 is not cheap. You are a dedicated storage man! You have the CAL's for your network i assume. :-) j/k

Ghost · January 5, 2013

But you can download everything back soo fast. Storing makes no sense. :P

looney · January 5, 2013

Don't forget to take some photos :)

Destroyer34 · January 6, 2013

Victor b's is so clean. nice bro.

looney · January 6, 2013

I agree, its very nice.

To bad my case didn't come with any cable management :p

Jarsky · January 6, 2013

[TABLE=class: text_table_text_table_text_table_text_table_text_table]

[TR]

[TD]

Component[/TD]

[TD]

Value[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Case[/TD]

[TD]

Silverstone Lascala LC17 / Silverstone ST50F PSU[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

CPU[/TD]

[TD]

Phenom II X2 550BE[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

RAM[/TD]

[TD]

Corsair XMS3 Dual kit (2 x 4GB DDR3 1333)[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Motherboard[/TD]

[TD]

Asus M4N68T-M[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Operating system[/TD]

[TD]

Windows Server 2012[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Controller[/TD]

[TD]

2 x Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 w/breakout[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Hard drive[/TD]

[TD]

2 x 60GB Agility 2 SSD's (RAID)

9 x 2TB WD Green (WD20EARS/EARX)

3 x 1.5TB WD Green (WD15EARS)

2 x 750GB Seagate Momentus[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

RAID array configuration[/TD]

[TD]

1 x RAID5 (with 7 2TB Greens)

Rest are individual storage drives[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Storage array capacity[/TD]

[TD]

21TB of total usable storage[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Network[/TD]

[TD]

2 x 1gbE to managed Netgear switch[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

UPS[/TD]

[TD]

1200VA UPS[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

File system[/TD]

[TD]

NTFS[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]

Idle power usage[/TD]

[TD]

Unsure (guess around ~140w)[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

When it was first built:

Of course all those drives dont fit in that case so I had to start allocating them to whever I could slide them in......

I have a dual xeon server which I will be using to drive everything, once I can afford a Norco 4U case to transplant everything too.

2 x E5530's, Asus Z8NA-D6C motherboard & 24GB Corsair ECC memory.

The problem is that the Norco 4U's (e.g the RPC-4224) are very expensive to ship here @ $400+ just for shipping...let alone the cost of the case itself.

(really jealous of your case looney :P)

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