Most hardware is 2-3 years old from my old server, this build is simply to expand the drive capacity/ease of access and use:
CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 620
MOBO: Asus M4A79XTD-EVO
RAM: 2GB
CARDS: 2x Supermicro AOC-SAS2LP-MV8
Windows 7 w Remote Desktop access for any maintenance it needs
I am running DISPARITY, it is simliar to Unraid but a little bit different. It is probably the most flexible of any raid/non-raid setup I've ever come across and has been flawless and worked for several drive recoverys in the past years both for myself and friends who run it. It works based off of 1 Parity drive, it is not real time parity, you can boot a system up with half the drives and not worry about messing the parity/array up. You can lose any number of drives without it affecting other data. Parity and another data drive can fail, and all other data is in tact (Similar to Unraid as is my understanding). Since it is not real-time parity, you can schedule or manually run "Disparity updates", which calculate parity and happen quite quickly. There is no such thing as a complete "Rebuild" needed if a drive fails and is replaced, you simply rebuild data onto the new drive, and the entire setup continues without needing to rebuild/repair parity. Drives can be added quickly and again, without rebuilding the entire parity drive. The only two negative things I can say about this setup, which I don't even think are negative to the average media streamer 1) All drives are shown individually since it isn't "Raid" 2) You don't have the speed of raid, each drives speed is based on it's individual performance.
I got over the drives showing individually pretty quickly when I discovered Link Shell Extensions, it's a windows extension that allows you create unique junctions (beyond what the typical "Junctions" program does. At this point it pretty much runs itself, batch files sort any media/files I download/create and space is easy to manage with a little planning and organization. The speed issue really isn't an issue for a home server if you're just looking to stream media, music, etc.
The best part of disparity it is programmed by one individual who is actively involved in the forums on his site, frequently posts asking for new feature ideas, and actually listens to his users on how to improve and make Disparity better, even though it is completely FREE.
Check out Disparity HERE
ABOUT THE BUILD!
I originally (3 years ago) started with a 3TB Raid 5 setup on my main PC but quickly realized my need for more storage space, I ended up building a dedicated server/storage tower using an Azza Solano 1000 that would hold 12 Disks (I later mounted the OS drive in the bottom of the tower to make it 13 in total). About 8 month ago, I finally outgrew the tower and added an external 4 bay enclosure. At the point I had only 1 spot left in the enclosure I realized I needed a more permanent solution for storage, something that would last YEARS instead of months.
I scoured the internet and all the various storage forums looking for solutions that might suit my needs. People recommended Norco constantly but I have never really been a fan of Norco's design (flame suit on).
I finally settled on a Sharkoon Rebel 12, a German made 22-Bay tower using 4-to-3 adapters. They are very hard to come by but there are still some that pop up on eBay now and again. One thing I didn't want with my server was those annoying 4-to-3 adapters that in order to take 1 hard drive out you had to remove the entire adapter, unplug all drives and take the bay adapter out, then you had access to the drive that needed to be removed. I will NEVER buy any case that functions in this way, it is the largest annoyance I can think of.
I searched for a 5-to-3 solution and wasn't about to pay $110+ x 4 to outfit my tower with enterprise 5-to-3 bays from companies like Supermicro, etc. I found a company ( http://www.moddiy.com ) that had 5-to-3 bay adapters with hot swap tabs, but lacking the hot swap microboard. This meant they were dirt cheap and allowed me to pick up 4 of them for just slightly over what 1 enterprise 5-to-3 adapter would have cost.
I decided that I would REVERSE mount these bay adapters and have all power/sas cables connect in the front of the tower, also allowing for drives to be pulled out through the front after popping the front cover off. It wasn't going to be easy, I knew this case needed the top cover shaved/cut away to allow for a bay adapter to be installed but didn't realize that I would also have to cut the bay adapter since I was reverse mounting it, it's a scary thing when the top lid is an entire inch away from going on properly, you question if your vision was going to fail pretty quickly lol. After some aggressive cutting and filing, everything fit! I was going to make a build log, but after realizing the amount of patience I would need to do this build, I quickly opted against it.
Here is what I was dealing with, an Azza Solano 1000 with 13 drives (there are 3 inside an external 4 bay not shown here), as you can see it was quite a mess and removing a single drive meant I had to disconnect 4 power/sata adapters/fans, remove the bay, and then access the hard drive. It was a nightmare! This was about as good as cable management allowed within the case given the drive setup.
Sharkoon Rebel 12 arrives, 1 week from Germany, not bad at all.
I wasn't a fan of the typical grey/nude interior color that this case was painted, my painting skills and patience have always been severely lacking, I opted for Flat Black because 1) it looks awesome 2) it hides many paint flaws that would otherwise show up on a glossy surface.
A large part of what was going to keep cable clutter down, would be custom Sata Power cables, it gets rid of the the ribbon effect that normal PSU power connectors have when hooking up multiple hard drives in a custom space. These are all 24" long Sata Power extension cables, and Sata power connectors/caps from http://www.performance-pcs.com . They are very easy to make, just take your time and be sure that no cables are crossed, and that the empty space is on the "L" side of the sata adapter and you'll be fine. One word of caution to those attempting this, it requires a great amount of force using a screw driver to force them into the crimp section, you CAN and WILL snap and I/O board if you put the connectors into your drives and attempt to use them as "holders" (ask me how I know!). I snapped the main OS drive's I/O board in half, somehow it bent back and works 100%, I wish I had a picture of my face for this thread when I did that. I highly suggest plugging the connectors into the drives and lightly pushing the cables on so that you can score them to get the spacing, then unplug them and do it on a hard service, like a work bench.
Here are the SAS cables routed behind the drive tower and through holes in the front, I had to grind the front panel of the tower down on the inside so there would be room for the cabling for those wondering.
Here is the finished product! The PSU is from the previous build and is the one thing that really inhibits this from being as clean as it possibly can be. When/if it dies I will definitely pick up a Corsair fully modular with black braided PSU cables, but in the meantime I think I will live with it, it is a huge step up from what I previously had in terms of cable management/ease of replacing and adding a drive.
Hope you enjoyed and weren't too bored
If anyone has any questions I would be happy to answer!
CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 620
MOBO: Asus M4A79XTD-EVO
RAM: 2GB
CARDS: 2x Supermicro AOC-SAS2LP-MV8
Windows 7 w Remote Desktop access for any maintenance it needs
I am running DISPARITY, it is simliar to Unraid but a little bit different. It is probably the most flexible of any raid/non-raid setup I've ever come across and has been flawless and worked for several drive recoverys in the past years both for myself and friends who run it. It works based off of 1 Parity drive, it is not real time parity, you can boot a system up with half the drives and not worry about messing the parity/array up. You can lose any number of drives without it affecting other data. Parity and another data drive can fail, and all other data is in tact (Similar to Unraid as is my understanding). Since it is not real-time parity, you can schedule or manually run "Disparity updates", which calculate parity and happen quite quickly. There is no such thing as a complete "Rebuild" needed if a drive fails and is replaced, you simply rebuild data onto the new drive, and the entire setup continues without needing to rebuild/repair parity. Drives can be added quickly and again, without rebuilding the entire parity drive. The only two negative things I can say about this setup, which I don't even think are negative to the average media streamer 1) All drives are shown individually since it isn't "Raid" 2) You don't have the speed of raid, each drives speed is based on it's individual performance.
I got over the drives showing individually pretty quickly when I discovered Link Shell Extensions, it's a windows extension that allows you create unique junctions (beyond what the typical "Junctions" program does. At this point it pretty much runs itself, batch files sort any media/files I download/create and space is easy to manage with a little planning and organization. The speed issue really isn't an issue for a home server if you're just looking to stream media, music, etc.
The best part of disparity it is programmed by one individual who is actively involved in the forums on his site, frequently posts asking for new feature ideas, and actually listens to his users on how to improve and make Disparity better, even though it is completely FREE.
Check out Disparity HERE
ABOUT THE BUILD!
I originally (3 years ago) started with a 3TB Raid 5 setup on my main PC but quickly realized my need for more storage space, I ended up building a dedicated server/storage tower using an Azza Solano 1000 that would hold 12 Disks (I later mounted the OS drive in the bottom of the tower to make it 13 in total). About 8 month ago, I finally outgrew the tower and added an external 4 bay enclosure. At the point I had only 1 spot left in the enclosure I realized I needed a more permanent solution for storage, something that would last YEARS instead of months.
I scoured the internet and all the various storage forums looking for solutions that might suit my needs. People recommended Norco constantly but I have never really been a fan of Norco's design (flame suit on).
I finally settled on a Sharkoon Rebel 12, a German made 22-Bay tower using 4-to-3 adapters. They are very hard to come by but there are still some that pop up on eBay now and again. One thing I didn't want with my server was those annoying 4-to-3 adapters that in order to take 1 hard drive out you had to remove the entire adapter, unplug all drives and take the bay adapter out, then you had access to the drive that needed to be removed. I will NEVER buy any case that functions in this way, it is the largest annoyance I can think of.
I searched for a 5-to-3 solution and wasn't about to pay $110+ x 4 to outfit my tower with enterprise 5-to-3 bays from companies like Supermicro, etc. I found a company ( http://www.moddiy.com ) that had 5-to-3 bay adapters with hot swap tabs, but lacking the hot swap microboard. This meant they were dirt cheap and allowed me to pick up 4 of them for just slightly over what 1 enterprise 5-to-3 adapter would have cost.
I decided that I would REVERSE mount these bay adapters and have all power/sas cables connect in the front of the tower, also allowing for drives to be pulled out through the front after popping the front cover off. It wasn't going to be easy, I knew this case needed the top cover shaved/cut away to allow for a bay adapter to be installed but didn't realize that I would also have to cut the bay adapter since I was reverse mounting it, it's a scary thing when the top lid is an entire inch away from going on properly, you question if your vision was going to fail pretty quickly lol. After some aggressive cutting and filing, everything fit! I was going to make a build log, but after realizing the amount of patience I would need to do this build, I quickly opted against it.
Here is what I was dealing with, an Azza Solano 1000 with 13 drives (there are 3 inside an external 4 bay not shown here), as you can see it was quite a mess and removing a single drive meant I had to disconnect 4 power/sata adapters/fans, remove the bay, and then access the hard drive. It was a nightmare! This was about as good as cable management allowed within the case given the drive setup.
Sharkoon Rebel 12 arrives, 1 week from Germany, not bad at all.
I wasn't a fan of the typical grey/nude interior color that this case was painted, my painting skills and patience have always been severely lacking, I opted for Flat Black because 1) it looks awesome 2) it hides many paint flaws that would otherwise show up on a glossy surface.
A large part of what was going to keep cable clutter down, would be custom Sata Power cables, it gets rid of the the ribbon effect that normal PSU power connectors have when hooking up multiple hard drives in a custom space. These are all 24" long Sata Power extension cables, and Sata power connectors/caps from http://www.performance-pcs.com . They are very easy to make, just take your time and be sure that no cables are crossed, and that the empty space is on the "L" side of the sata adapter and you'll be fine. One word of caution to those attempting this, it requires a great amount of force using a screw driver to force them into the crimp section, you CAN and WILL snap and I/O board if you put the connectors into your drives and attempt to use them as "holders" (ask me how I know!). I snapped the main OS drive's I/O board in half, somehow it bent back and works 100%, I wish I had a picture of my face for this thread when I did that. I highly suggest plugging the connectors into the drives and lightly pushing the cables on so that you can score them to get the spacing, then unplug them and do it on a hard service, like a work bench.
Here are the SAS cables routed behind the drive tower and through holes in the front, I had to grind the front panel of the tower down on the inside so there would be room for the cabling for those wondering.
Here is the finished product! The PSU is from the previous build and is the one thing that really inhibits this from being as clean as it possibly can be. When/if it dies I will definitely pick up a Corsair fully modular with black braided PSU cables, but in the meantime I think I will live with it, it is a huge step up from what I previously had in terms of cable management/ease of replacing and adding a drive.
Hope you enjoyed and weren't too bored
If anyone has any questions I would be happy to answer!
It was a challenge as the SAS to Sata cables are 1M (3ft) each, they were the only one's that came pre-sleeved with good quality sleeving so it was a no-brainer; I also wasn't sure what route I would have to take with them to reach the hard drives. All the cabling is tucked on the backside of the hard drive tower, there are a few SMALL holes in the case that BARELY fit the molex connector through. The panel door closes without much fuss, surprisingly.
