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PostPosted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:54 pm 
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Well, looks like I got some excellent news. I got the replacement HDD cages which were to replace the replacement HDD cages of the original cages!!! Just plugged them in, no annoying alarm so problem has been finally solved, only took over a month. I set everything up, connected the HDD cages to the PSU and connected all the sata cables. Unfortunately I am absolutely exhausted right now so don't think I have it in me to start messing around with the server. Losing some sleep due to the newborn is bad enough, making it worse is that I am staying up later then normal just so I can sneak downstairs to get on the PC when everyone finally falls asleep!!!

Fortunately I took off tomorrow and Friday, so hopefully I can finally make the transition from the MSS and move on to something else. I will update my original post with a full list of parts and some other posts in the next few days. Probably the last thing I will do is replace out the fans in the case.

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PostPosted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 1:48 am 
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Sweet, good to hear you finally got the drive cage issue sorted!

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PostPosted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 8:25 am 
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yakuza wrote:
Sweet, good to hear you finally got the drive cage issue sorted!


If the cages didnt work I was planning on going old school, I was just going to put the MSS and TR4M in the server case itself, either way this case is going live today :spit:

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PostPosted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:22 pm 
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So how goes the progress?


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 5:40 pm 
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clc4912 wrote:
So how goes the progress?


Will be updating this thread shortly, but yesterday at 6:32pm SHAWSHANK came alive!!! I encountered problems with doing the server recovery which preoccupied much of my time the past few days (4+ days to be exact #-o ). In the process of writing a blog post regarding, and then I will be updating this thread as well as I ended up making a few changes to my original specs..

:whs: :whs: :whs:

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PostPosted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 5:45 am 
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One thing I have noticed, transfer speeds have more then quadrupled going from the EX470 to SHAWSHANK. I do all my video editing on my desktop pc and then when done transfer over to the MSS. Normally, I would get between 10-20MB/sec. I am m oving some files over now from my desktop pc to SHAWSHANK and get between 80-100MB/sec, it took me less then 15 secs to transfer over a 1GB file \:D/ :banana: :chicken:

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 6:25 am 
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I just updated the first post in this thread to reflect changes I made in the original build

Also, if you go to the fourth post in this thread you will see some final pictures that I took, including some side by side comparisons to the EX470 :lol:

I should be getting the replacement PWM fans tomorrow, so that should be the last thing I have to do (hopefully). I will post pictures once I get that done.

Overall things are moving along well. Shawshank is lighting quick, really shows just how slow the EX470 running on the stock CPU is.

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 8:01 am 
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Damian,

Are you running your mobo sata ports in IDE mode or AHCI mode? If in AHCI mode, are you able to see the temperature data in the Disk Management addin and which AHCI driver are you using?


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 8:25 am 
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cavediver wrote:
Damian,

Are you running your mobo sata ports in IDE mode or AHCI mode? If in AHCI mode, are you able to see the temperature data in the Disk Management addin and which AHCI driver are you using?


I only have the O/S drive connected to the mobo so I decided to keep the mobo sata ports in IDE mode. I may go back later and try to set up AHCI on the mobo. I am still trying to troubleshoot why i am not getting any temp data for my SASLP. I enabled SMART, so next I need to look to see what driver version I am running.

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 6:25 am 
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dbone1026 wrote:
I just updated the first post in this thread to reflect changes I made in the original build

Also, if you go to the fourth post in this thread you will see some final pictures that I took, including some side by side comparisons to the EX470 :lol:

I should be getting the replacement PWM fans tomorrow, so that should be the last thing I have to do (hopefully). I will post pictures once I get that done.

Overall things are moving along well. Shawshank is lighting quick, really shows just how slow the EX470 running on the stock CPU is.

I like the new pics. Great work. Been following your progress (trials and tribulations?). Sure is a behemoth! But awe-inspiring. :whs:

I was curious as to the bottom line, so added up all the prices. Check my math because I did it quickly. I got $1312.41 plus the stuff you already had on hand. (How could an accountant leave out the bottom line? :wink: ) Might be worth adding to that first post.

Thanks for sharing the experience! It has been sort of like watching reality TV, but not... Maybe if you added a live webcam to your server space? :crazy: :lol:


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PostPosted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 6:46 am 
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dlaflamm wrote:
I like the new pics. Great work. Been following your progress (trials and tribulations?). Sure is a behemoth! But awe-inspiring. :whs:

I was curious as to the bottom line, so added up all the prices. Check my math because I did it quickly. I got $1312.41 plus the stuff you already had on hand. (How could an accountant leave out the bottom line? :wink: ) Might be worth adding to that first post.

Thanks for sharing the experience! It has been sort of like watching reality TV, but not... Maybe if you added a live webcam to your server space? :crazy: :lol:


Hmmm...I know I had the bottom line in there in the past, I must of deleted by accident when I was updating but I will put back, thanks for pointing out. Ssshhhh, don't want people to know I am a CPA, otherwise they might not think I am credible \:D/

I really had no idea what I was getting in to when I started this process. I really assumed I would get the parts and be up and running in less then a day, I think I started this project sometime in August!!! I should have had a web cam up and running during the whole process, but there would have been a lot of words bleeped out :mrgreen:

You getting ready for winter up north? One of these days I would like to take a trip up to the NH/Maine area. My buddy/college roommate was from NH (he lives in Philly now where he is a doctor) and always had great things to say about NH.

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 8:25 am 
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:offtopic:

Yeah, who knew a CPA could be so tech savvy? Your sharing of your hobby through posts and blogs is a great source of info for folks interested in storing and distributing media at home. But a webcam would really be too much -- I don't want to see you scratch. :oops: :shock:

Despite my protests, my wife turned on the heat for a brief time last night (and not in the BR!). I'm sure my kids (2 & 4) appreciated it, but I'd rather wait a few more weeks. Put on a sweatshirt and get that cozy fall feeling!

Leaves are changing color and falling, but still a ways to go before it peaks where I am near the capitol. So no - not really preparing for winter yet. Just enjoying fall. I only feel like it is winter when we have snow.

I do love NH. I was away for about 10 years for volunteer work and too much education, but I returned a few years ago and am happy to call it home again. My wife and I just planned a getaway weekend without the kids and it is nice to have such great options close by. Plenty of B&Bs and other options to choose from. Feel free to PM me if you have questions when you get around to planning a visit.


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PostPosted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 2:18 pm 
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dlaflamm,

Funny enough before I decented become a CPA I was originally plannig on going to school to become a cartoonist!!! I guess my MIS background comes in handy with this tech stuff

As far as the cost, I updated the first page. One thing to point at, at face value that does seem like a lot of money, so I figured I would do a comparison. Lets say I wanted to get an equivalent type setup based around the EX495, it would come out to around $1,200 (obviously not including storage pool drives in either case). My calculation would be an EX495, a TR5M, and a TR8U (giving me 17 drives vs. 16 with Shawshank). So from a price perspective there isn't much of a difference, plus i have the benefit of having complete control over the hardware, instant access to a mouse/keyboard and i can always just upgrade the hardware within the same case (the case/hdd cages was a large bulk of the cost).

Just got the replacement fans today. SHAWSHANK isn't terribly loud, but it is loud enough for my taste so hopefully these fans will do the job. I will post later once I get them installed.

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PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:51 pm 
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My gosh that server looks unbelievable. Good job! It absolutely dwarfs the MSS. I would love to build one myself but the hot swap hardware is just very pricey. It looks like just casing and cages alone costs about $600. I wish there were a middle ground.

One thing I must point out is that my MSS also did give me speeds of 80-100MB/s but I think I took the huge gamble of updating the network drivers and enabling Jumbo Frames. I just like the concept of having 15 bays ready to take drives. I have a bunch of little 500GB drives that could use a home but they aren't even worth the space they occupy in my 8 port and max 10 bay build. 15 would be just great.

I still need to read over your thread to learn about all the drive cage issues you had. It will be great information for those of us who will follow in your footsteps. It might be me when I suddenly get sick of my current limitations.


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:44 pm 
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sxr71 wrote:
My gosh that server looks unbelievable. Good job! It absolutely dwarfs the MSS. I would love to build one myself but the hot swap hardware is just very pricey. It looks like just casing and cages alone costs about $600. I wish there were a middle ground.

One thing I must point out is that my MSS also did give me speeds of 80-100MB/s but I think I took the huge gamble of updating the network drivers and enabling Jumbo Frames. I just like the concept of having 15 bays ready to take drives. I have a bunch of little 500GB drives that could use a home but they aren't even worth the space they occupy in my 8 port and max 10 bay build. 15 would be just great.

I still need to read over your thread to learn about all the drive cage issues you had. It will be great information for those of us who will follow in your footsteps. It might be me when I suddenly get sick of my current limitations.


The jump in speed I get now is a big plus since I basically prep all my media on my desktop pc and then when it is ready transfer over to Shawshank. I haven't enabled jumbo frames, I have heard mixed things about the reliability of jumbo frames and since speeds are more then adequate for me right now I figured why mess around.

The best way to put the price in perspective, I actually am getting my dad set up with a home server. I just purchased him an EX495 and TR5M and I think the cost came out to over $800. That is not a whole lot more then whay I spent, and that only gets him 9 bays where mine gets me 16 bays and plus I have complete control over the hardware. As long as the case/cages last an upgrade cost if I decide down the road should be minimal (for a new mobo and or cpu) whereas with an HP MSS if you want to upgrade it generally means being a new unit.

The issues I had with the HDD cages, it appears there mustve been a bad batch of cages with defective dim switches (the dim switch thought that a fan was connected to the cage but faullty so an alarm would sound. I had no fan connected). Otherwise I have been very happy with this build and it is funny how after I spent so much time and effort putting Shawshank together it really is an afterthought now, which is what a server should be, just let it do its thing and I should rarely need to touch it. If I kept having problems with the cages I would have probably replaced with the Athena Cages.

I know cavediver and others have gone with the Norco build, but a rackmount is not suitable for my setup (my case stands underneath my desk in my office). An alternative to what I build that Iw ould have looked at would have been getting the Antec 1200 Case which can fit 4 of the athena cages (20 HDD max vs 16 with my build).

Right now I have 11 drives (1 O/S and 10 pooled storage drives) for a total of 11.5TB. I still have 5 free bays left, so between that and if I needed to replace my 1TB drives (8 of them) with larger capacity drives hopefully I should be set for quite some time...

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