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gringott last won the day on December 1 2017

gringott had the most liked content!

About gringott

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  1. gringott

    SSD Optimiser

    Ok, no input. lol So as I was getting nowhere slowly, and the SSDs aren't holding any data and two were not even being used, I destroyed the volumes {VDs} after removing them from DrivePool. I formatted them and re-added them individually to drive pool. I marked all 4 as SSDs, set balancing to 1 in the morning, and made the SSD optimizer the top plug in above Scanner and Prevent Drive Overfill. Copied a folder with a few large files. It used SSD01 & SSD02 for a small amount of the files, SSD03 for the bulk, and it looks like nada for SSD04. I have a lot to copy today, so if I see something else happening I will post here again.
  2. gringott

    SSD Optimiser

    Hope everybody had a Great Christmas and will have a Happy New Year! Ok, now to the meat of the question. I have a bit of an issue and I am not sure where I went wrong. Probably something simple or perhaps I am on the wrong track. I will explain what I am trying to do, and please point out where I am going wrong. I will try to give as much detail as possible so you don't have to waterboard me for more info. I am preparing my workstation and main server to be linked by 10GbE. The server has Windows 10 Pro 10.0.16229 Build 16299 x64 as an OS. Fresh install. I am using DrivePool Beta. SSD Optimizer Plugin 1.0.5. The only other plugin I have enabled is the Stablebit Scanner plugin. Fresh install. As part of the preparation, I am trying to set up my DrivePool on the main server in a certain way to take advantage of the increased network speed. Formerly, I had 2 SSDs using the SSD Optimizer, I had them setup to clear off the drives at 1 am. I have duplication turned on and I don't have any placement rules. Watching them, they filled equally. This is my goal, the files are duplicated on the SSDs and sit there, during "not busy" time they are moved to the archive [slower] drives. I took 4 x 256GB SSDs, and created 2 RAID 0 "Virtual Drives" in the Megaraid console. The drives were not exactly the same size, but 2 were one size and 2 were a little bigger. So I paired like with like, ending up with 1 VD of 475GB and 1 VD of 464GB. The setup went seamlessly. I set the 2 VDs as SSDs in the Optimizer plugin. No problem. Now I am testing the setup. Instead of putting the files on both VDs as I desired, it is placing them on only one of the drives. I have attached a picture. What am I doing wrong????? I have a guess, perhaps I should have paired the drives differently, so that the end state in RAID 0 would be 2 VDs of exactly the same size. But I thought I would ask here first before further "experimenting". Thanks for your thoughts.
  3. Yes, it is great! Had to do it twice in about 24 hours and had zero issues since I remembered to deactivate first before wiping the previous OS installs. Kudos on a great system.
  4. Please let us know your result. I personally was investigating USB 3 with UASP, the problem I found was some users complaining of corrupted data, drives wiped, etc, in reviews. I found this across the board with many enclosures. Seems they also go to sleep which may be a power setting issue in the OS. I have extensive experience with eSata and many enclosures, but the tech is dated, the controller cards are now a small selection and problems with drivers on Windows newer OSes for older cards. On my main system [file host] I moved to SAS and for expansion a DAS SAS enclosure [both homebrew]. Works great, but I have a need to create a small drive expansion for a NUC to use it as a server, and I can't seem to find a small USB 3 enclosure [2 to 4 drives] with USAP that doesn't have some negative reviews from purchasers, mostly based on drives wiped or quick enclosure failure. Also they all seem to have weak or no effective cooling, the last thing I want is hot drives.
  5. gringott

    Windows 10 support etc

    Then I will. Glad I checked in. Happy Holiday Season to all of you.
  6. gringott

    Windows 10 support etc

    No, actually I just "updated" to the other day. Should I install in the meantime?
  7. gringott

    Windows 10 support etc

    All I want for Christmas..... lol
  8. gringott

    Equipment Source

    Next time you purchase a new computer item on ebay do a real search for the model number outside of ebay. Again, almost always I can buy it cheaper elsewhere. It used to be always, but over the last twenty years it has been very rare. I used to show people when they would tell me they picked up a HDD cheap for example, I would do a search and within a minute find it cheaper from a normal non-ebay store - including shipping. Still true to this day. But I am cheap - I want the best item for the cheapest price. I'm on ebay all the time and the first thing I do when I am interested in something is start searching for the model number elsewhere. Works like a charm. I agree. What happens when you find the defect 3 months from now? Not so good. They are desperate to keep those numbers. But you also give your feedback right away. If I am wrong let me know.
  9. Whatever. All I know is I do not have drive failures and I save a lot of money. I toss the boxes in the spare room. I'll fleabay them or toss them when the warranty is up. It just seems to me that you guys are paying an awful lot of money on drives. Since you got money to burn, more power to you. Me, I'm cheap. I do a return on investment and decide what's good for me. I know from experience, cooling is key, these drives [clamshells] work and all my other non-NAS desktop drives work great and don't fail, running 24 / 7 since WHS came out, and before that running 24 / 7 in workstations. I'm calling BS on that one - every drive manufacturer will honor a warranty no matter how many hours you use the drive. That's a fact. NORCO is a poor design, esp. for cooling. I don't care if it's free, too much wrong to discuss here. Do a web search. Also look at HP equivalents, see the difference. They have to honor warranties on failed drives, they are engineered to keep the drives at optimal temperatures. NORCO doesn't sell drives, they could care less. I personally have never seen a Supermicro server in an Enterprise shop, they may be out there but I didn't see them. We had hundreds of servers, IBM, HP, and some Dells, but every time we tried a new generation of Dell, they still turned out to be sub-standard. We can agree to disagree. I think you guys are caught up in hype and reading too much marketing.
  10. You didn't put it back in the case? Why not? There is no seal of any kind. The Samsungs are even better, they are more flexible plastic and go right back like new. Well, for each his own. I haven't had any drive failures at all with clamshells so if I do I'll report back and let you know what happens.
  11. Yes, externals. Seagate externals have one year warranty, the Samsung [same Seagate drive inside] three years. Why the difference? I suspect the Seagate case have a higher return rate due to poor cooling, they aren't willing to take the hit on returns. When they are removed from the case, the cooling is on you. Given proper cooling they should last as long as the desktop versions, it is exactly the same drive. Is a desktop drive warranty not real? Really? A NAS drive warranty from the same drive manufacturer is more real? All your drives listed are desktop drives, with a "NAS" label stuck on them. I don't want to get into a flame war here but I have problems following your financial and warranty logic, after looking at your temp charts. Rail 1: The 4TB Seagates at the top of you temp chart are "NAS" - and have the same 3 year warranty as the desktop drives.Certainly not an Enterprise class drive. No real enterprise would use these drives for anything mission critical. Rail 2, 3 The 4TB WDs are also called "NAS" - and have the same 3 year warranty as the desktop drives. Certainly not an Enterprise class drive.No real enterprise would use these drives for anything mission critical. Rail 4 The 8 TB Seagates also have a "NAS" label stuck on them, and have exactly the same warranty as a desktop drive. Certainly not an Enterprise class drive. No real enterprise would use these drives for anything mission critical, if at all. Plus the known issues with the technology [8TB] would prevent any enterprise implementing these drives for the near future until it is sorted out down the road - keep in mind, you might get an pat on the back for buying cheap "prosumer" drives, but you will be fired for lost data because of it or performance hits that have an effect on production. I know, I have seen it. That's "reality" and what "Enterprise" really means. Jobs are at stake. Nobody wants to hear you saved $500 bucks when a plant shuts down for a hour or two. They want you gone. These drives you have are aimed directly at the home market for what we are using them for. I refuse to pay big money for the same warranty because they put a NAS label on it. I am not saying they are BAD drives, I am saying they created this classification to squeeze more money out of consumers. I won't dig any deeper, maybe you have an "Enterprise" drive not in the chart, but I do know what actual Enterprise drives are and what they cost [i'm sure you do too] - and I certainly wouldn't buy one and stick it in a notoriously bad cooling NORCO case with the power supply blowing air into the case. I would buy drives with the same performance [purchase an extended warranty if you want 5 years], use the savings to get a professional case and proper power supply setup. Or correct the issues with the NORCO and the power supply. What does it all boil down to? With Enterprise drives, the hope is it will be more robust that plain old ordinary desktop drives. My experience with servers is that they are, meaning they last longer, but how much of that is due to good case engineering and cooling based on years of engineering experience that the major manufacturers have? I suspect it makes the difference. We will see with these so-called NAS drives aimed directly at consumers two or three years down the road. I suspect the failure rate will be the same as desktop drives. The drive manufacturers obviously know this, hence the same warranty as ordinary desktop drives. As for the price premium, what did you gain by paying more for a "NAS" drive - the warranty is the same. If you do have real Enterprise rated drives not on your chart, well, they are again another step up in price from the consumer "NAS" drives - and you get an extra two years warranty. You also get a performance increase in general over these NAS drives.. So you pay a hundred or more extra for speed you don't need to stream and store video - and an extended warranty. Five years down the road the drive will be outdated and practically worthless, so if it fails on year 4.5, you get a replacement drive [with Seagate it may be a "refurbished replacement drive"] that has outlived it usefulness in size and performance. As for data integrity, you are the same as me - you use drivepool and scanner, both great tools for monitoring and finding problems, and duplicate everything. Hence I can save money on drives using these tools and still feel safe. Suspenders with a belt. Very expensive suspenders. When thousands to millions of $ ride on it, I get it. Suspenders and a belt with a rope backup. Go Enterprise and go real Enterprise casing / cooling. When it is movies and tv shows I don't.get it.It does not compute as they say. Or maybe I'm full of "it". But my brain does not allow me to see it your way, using logic. As they say, different strokes for different folks.Please point out where I am going wrong so I can make sense out of this.
  12. gringott

    SATA card

    I would for sure stay away from the 2720SGL, and look at HightPoint with a jaded eye. Do a check on newegg - yes, some of the users complaints are bs, but that many for the same reasons? My experience with HighPoint has been one decent card without issues out of 5, a couple were literally worthless. I wouldn't touch the 2720SGL with a ten foot pole. IMHO the best product they ever made was the on board minimal hardware mostly software RAID back in the Windows 98 / 2000 era. They popularized the trend that is still here. Rock solid and came on the motherboard. Everything since has been blah or crap.Don't ever try to deal with support, even if you can reach them. Just search. I never found a happy story.
  13. gringott

    Equipment Source

    TripleR - Nice find. I added that firm to my search sources. As for ebay, here has been my experience the last 20 years with NEW computer gear - I have very very rarely found an item on ebay that I couldn't get cheaper from a regular vendor store [not ebay not auction]. On those very very rare occasions I have found ebay to the be the cheapest, and purchased, I found out later the item had some defect even if it was NIB - leading me to believe the manufaturers used a second party ebay vendor to move stuff that works, but has a known defect that limits operation etc. In other words, rather than take the cost hit of having to refurbish the product, they went this route. This holds true to this day. As for used equipment, obviously, there is risk involved - how long was it used, how close is it to a major malfunction or failure etc. That $599 HBA you pick up for $179 may last a week or years. It's a crap shoot. Here is an example, I needed a 3 x 3.5" drive into 2 5.25" cage. I have been looking, but nothing below $100 really fit the bill that I had found, everything wasn't exactly what I wanted. I found exactly what I needed on newegg a few days ago. I picked up this Icy Dock MB453IPF-B 3 Bay EZ-Tray 2.5/3.5 SAS/SATA HDD/SSD Advance Monitoring Backplane Cage in 2x 5.25" Bay. Full of features full SAS or SATA, solid as a rock, before I mounted it I ran it externally, ran the cables out the side of my workstation. Worked like a charm. $20 SHIPPED after rebate of $35 [i have several Icy Dock products, all purchased with rebates, never had an issue].I would have purchased more but limit one rebate. The rebate ended 31 Aug, so deal is off, now they have a $15 coupon code making it $40 shipped. If you just bought one spare tray, it costs $20. Think about that. So now I do an ebay search. Price? The cheapest I could find was $59.95 plus $9.95 shipping, so $69.90 for something I paid $20 for after rebate, free shipping, full warranty, no perhaps dodgy vender. I have gone through this time and time again over the literally decades. I often see used items for double or more what the new item costs. I do buy some things on ebay, but for the reasons above not computer items, or very rarely, and as I stated, there is a reason - 2nd class merchandise. If I buy used, it has to be cheap enough for me to toss it if it fails in a month without singing the blues. There of course could be an exception in server hardware - stolen goods. The place I worked, had hundreds of servers, millions $ in SANs, etc. A co-worker was ordering replacement HBAs etc and ebaying them. His cost of the part - zero. So he could sell at any price depending how bad he needed money that week. Until of course somebody found his listings - they didn't call the cops, they sacked him. No unemployment here for termination for cause. Nice. But I guess the ebay buyers were happy. They got new equipment cheap. Lucky the firm didn't bring in the law, they could have clawed back that equipment.
  14. I've been paying around $23.80 per TB with 5TB drives, not factoring in some I got cheaper and the two Toshibas with longer warranties I paid $30 per TB [Desktop retail, not clamshell or OEM]. The Samsung externals I have been buying have a 3 year warranty. Zero failures of clamshell drives. What temperature do your drives report in that NORCO case? Just curious.
  15. You guys are quick [and rich], I'm currently doing 5 TB drives due to price per TB. I remember 3 TB drives, only got 4 before 4 TB became a "better deal". Still using the 3 TBs, no failures, knock on Bill Gates head [wood]. All my 4 TBs are going strong, had two fail [long story] but still at edge of warranty, so got free replacements.Picked up a couple of Toshiba 5 TB desktop drives at a great price with good warranty, no issues with performance, however they are very noisy at times as other buyers have reported. For the last couple of years I have been mostly buying externals and clamshelling them due to price. Anybody want to buy a bunch of USB 3 external cases, new in box? Ha ha.
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