SCSI for a media setup?

[fluffykitten]

I posted an hour ago about a problem I had trying to run (4) 73GB 10k ultra320 drives in one of my personal computers with a 64mb controller, a pci-x which I had connected to a PCI slot and had problems so that is out of the system until I get some answers and help.. problems not from the pci-x being in the PCI but - i don't know yet..

Anyway, I am a hardcore media junkie, including automation with speed.

I have a 1U case, perfect setup to fit the 4 drives in it, however the 10k drives will only hold 296mb.. however the media is on my external drives, all of them are maxed, a bit over 9TB, so building the 1U 4 drives for a media box not so great, or can it be, tell me some ideas so I can build. I am stuck right now not knowing what to do. The speed will be fast, much much faster then the fastest ide/sata hdd even running at half the performance, not being used for server related, just personal home.

 

[Leeky]

What are you actually asking for help with?

I don't see the point in 4 296MB hard disks - You might as well bin them! They might sound good, but anything that old, with that capacity is going to be slower than a brand new SATA2/3 hard disk. The speed of new disks will come from the bandwidth of the interface, which will be severely reduced on anything as old as the 296MB hard disk.

A mechanical hard disk with 7,200RPM spindle speed in a homeserver is more than adequate alongside gigabit ethernet at running HD with bandwidth to spare. 10K disks, or SSDs are totally unneeded, and would be pointless in your case anyway, as your external hard disks are going to be throttled by the USB connections they're connecting to the computer with, not the speed of the network (assuming gigabit).

A 1TB hard disk sits around £30-40 these days (probably the same money in Dollars), so no need to be looking elsewhere at faster stuff.

 

[fluffykitten]

Sorry, 4 of them would be 296GB not MB. No USB being used as they are all internal drives, with a PCI-X controller.. I have plenty of TB drives currently for storage, this is just to have fun with. money doesn't matter here, since I have the hardware, 4 ultra320 10k with the controller so why not run it for ... something..

 

[Lokalaskurar]

Here's an idea

Well, the maximum amount of allowed units in a SCSI-configuration is 24. And I think, although I've never tried it myself, that the PCI-X card will allow 24 units even if it's connected to an ordinary PCI slot. I've successfully run 12 units on ordinary PCI (32bit).

Correct me if I misunderstood your posts, please.

So if you could find some more SCSI units (a bit expensive, but affordable if you know where to look) you could place some more in tandem.

The maximum amount of allowed storage in your SCSI-setup, using your current units, would be 1776GbB (24x 74GbB), and that would still be at tremendous speed. Even if not as great as Paul and his SSD-madness (Go check YouTube if you're unfamiliar with The SSD Madness setup ).

An idea: you could try to get some more SCSI-units just like those you already have. SCSI is really a viable option as it's fast, safe, and pretty easy to use. And there are about a gazillion options for configuring the setup, so you have basically a tonne of fun waiting to be discovered. Running games on SCSI tend to increase the performance as well. There's a lot of less work for the CPU when the disks all of a sudden takes care of themselves.

Edit:
Your problem could perhaps be related to the PCI-X card not being able to communicate properly using only the PCI slot. It should work provided your PCI-slot is not 64-bit, and that the PCI-X card is not in a desperate need of a PCI-X slot.

Although some slow-down is to be expected if not the full PCI-X bandwidth can be used; the SCSI-terminator at the end of the line will pretty much take card of any PCI -> PCI-X related problems.

And even though you never mentioned SCSI in your post(s), I assumed you're using SCSI because of the title, btw.

 

[fluffykitten]

Yes, SCSI drives...

I could get more yes, currently I can get a different model but the thing is and it is probably simple is the end is different, well they came encased what you would normally see on servers, unlike the Fujitsu, I can get Seagate Cheetah 10k ultra-U320 drives. Looks as if the power and data is on my larger slot compared to my other.

How many are we talking about here, Are you talking about some serious speed. let me know, and would you be able to help me along with this process, I will need some help.

Thanks

I can't imagine how loud it will be, when I turned the 4 on, like a turbine engine, I may be able to get 15k drives too, not sure yet though and will find out later in the day. sleep comes now.

 

[DelJo63]

Adaptec is the KING of the SCSI controller cards . . . what make/model is your controller?

You don't mention RAID . . . is that your intent or you just need mass HD storage?
If you've not heard, a RAID option is JBOD (just a bunch of drives) which makes
x number of say capacity y look like one HD of (x * y) capacity. The down side is
it is linear; one hd must fill up before the next drive is accessed.

SCSI devices in the right enclosure can give you Hot Plugging (removal/insert while) powered on. The enclosure gives you the right kind of connectors and the controller card implements the quick disconnect.