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Norco 4220 WHS build
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Author:  cabldawg [ Sun Dec 26, 2010 10:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Norco 4220 WHS build

I am planning on building a Norco WHS system to house my ever growing Blu Ray collection. I want duplication enabled due to the sheer time involved in copying all of the discs with such a large system. This server case supports 20 drives. If that isn't enough what esata card should I use to add an additional external enclosure? Is there indeed a 32 drive limit to the pool? Can I use an adition Norco 4220 case and interface it with the esata connection so that the sytems match. (My Ideal solution. I have a thing about matching equipment.

I'm currently running a MSS EX 475 with 1 WD10EADS & 3 WD20EARS drives. I would like to run the entire system with the WD20EARS drives for the pool, and an SSD for the OS. What motherboard would be recommended to complete this server? I would like to stay with Asus since that's what I run in my 4 HTPC's and have never had any issues with any of them.

Thanks!

Author:  Chasrobin [ Mon Dec 27, 2010 2:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Norco 4220 WHS build

If yer looking at a second norco, look to sata/sas controllers with SFF-8088 external ports, run that to a SAS expander in your other case.
Or do what I did to "The Beast" and cut the top out of one case and the bottom out of a second case.
stack them and now you have a 40 drive system.
32 drive limit? yup in WHSv1 Vail shouldn't have that problem.
In WHSv1 you can physically have more than 32 drives but not in the storage pool.
So you could mount them in the OS and use them for backups or secondary shares.

Author:  cabldawg [ Mon Dec 27, 2010 5:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Norco 4220 WHS build

I have another thought as well. I already own a HP Proliant ML350 G3. I inherited it from a business when I swapped some other equipment out for them. It's the rack mountable unit with redundant hot swappable PSU's, and Hot swap SCSI drives in a Raid 5. It's running a 2.8ghz Xeon CPU with with about 3.5 GB's of RAM. It's difinitely a stout machine that was used to run SBS2K3. What's your take on using that box for the WHS OS in a Raid 5, and installing the SATA/SAS controller out to a Norco for the drive pool? I'm not familair with the external controllers at all, so please be gently :) This rig will be used to store my ever growing Blu Ray collection mainly. I will more than likely keep my HP MSS EX475 for remote access/backups of client pc's, and recorded tv.

I really don't want to have to fool around with RAID for the server storage. While a RAID 5 is great for the OS, I just want the easy expandability of the drive pool so that I can add drives as needed without alot of headache. I can't afford to drop $2k for a complete set of 20 drives in one shot.

Also.....for the SATA/SAS controller, does that connect to the other Norco case's backplane or what?

Author:  Chasrobin [ Mon Dec 27, 2010 5:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Norco 4220 WHS build

you can easily do that the machine will run fine.
On caveate is Vail, when it comes along it will only support one CPU.
So folks using DL/ML series dual processors will have issues or at minimum it will only see one CPU.
But you could run Win7 or Server 2008 on that box just fine.
See my "The Beast" forum on how you might handle the drives and sharing in that situation.

I personally like the ML series as some of them have iLo built in very nice.

Author:  Nefarious [ Wed Dec 29, 2010 9:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Norco 4220 WHS build

The Norco 4220 is a great case for your build. I built mine earlier this year and it's currently running about 12 TB of various sized drives. 2011 will be the year for me to convert it all over to 2TB drives giving me 20TB (duplicated) of usable space. Once it's full, I'll build a new DIY server and play with whatever is current on the market at the time.

Author:  cabldawg [ Wed Dec 29, 2010 11:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Norco 4220 WHS build

Nefarious wrote:
The Norco 4220 is a great case for your build. I built mine earlier this year and it's currently running about 12 TB of various sized drives. 2011 will be the year for me to convert it all over to 2TB drives giving me 20TB (duplicated) of usable space. Once it's full, I'll build a new DIY server and play with whatever is current on the market at the time.



With the drives alone being $2000 to fill this thing, that's a heck of a statement!

Author:  cubanblood [ Wed Dec 29, 2010 4:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Norco 4220 WHS build

cabldawg wrote:
Nefarious wrote:
The Norco 4220 is a great case for your build. I built mine earlier this year and it's currently running about 12 TB of various sized drives. 2011 will be the year for me to convert it all over to 2TB drives giving me 20TB (duplicated) of usable space. Once it's full, I'll build a new DIY server and play with whatever is current on the market at the time.



With the drives alone being $2000 to fill this thing, that's a heck of a statement!



I could be less than $2000 if you buy drivea at the right time. For example I purchase some 2TB drives for $79 at Newegg on a Christmas sale.

Author:  Nefarious [ Thu Dec 30, 2010 10:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Norco 4220 WHS build

cabldawg wrote:
Nefarious wrote:
The Norco 4220 is a great case for your build. I built mine earlier this year and it's currently running about 12 TB of various sized drives. 2011 will be the year for me to convert it all over to 2TB drives giving me 20TB (duplicated) of usable space. Once it's full, I'll build a new DIY server and play with whatever is current on the market at the time.



With the drives alone being $2000 to fill this thing, that's a heck of a statement!


Newegg has had some pretty good deals and I can also purchase through our vendors at work for a discounted rate. Buying 2 drives a month wont break the bank by any means.

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