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Hardware

Hastur

Type Make Model Connector Specs Notes Price £
CPU Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 (SLACR) Socket 775 Quad 2.4GHz G0 stepping 149.99
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R Socket 775   1, 2 61.69
RAM Corsair TwinX XMS2 PC6400   DDR2 800MHz 2GB CAS4   54.99
Heatsink Scythe Infinity     3 24.29
Fan Silverstone FN121     4 4.49
Fan Silverstone FN121     5 4.49
Fan Silverstone FN121     6 4.49
Thermal Paste Arctic Silver 5       3.83
Graphics Card PNY GeForce 7300 LE PCI-E x16 VGA,DVI,TV-out,passive 7 15.31
DVD-RW Pioneer DVR-112BK PATA 18xDVD±R 10xDVD-DL 8, black 15.60
DVD-RW Pioneer DVR-112BK PATA 18xDVD±R 10xDVD-DL   15.60
HDD Seagate ST380815AS SATA1 80GB, 8MB cache 9 22.39
DVB-T Capture Hauppauge Nova-T PCI PCI     24.39
DVB-T Capture Hauppauge Nova-T PCI PCI   10 24.79
Network Card Intel Pro 1000PT PCI-E 1Gbps, Jumbo:16k   21.02
Case Gigabyte Triton   5-bay ext black 41.65
PSU Corsair VX 450   450W   39.00
eSATA Host No-name SiI3132 PCI-e-1x, 2xeSATA SiI3132, PM-FIS   19.99

Storage

See HasturRaidArray

3TB

Type Make Model Connector Specs Notes Price £
HDD Seagate ST3500630AS SATA2 500GB 9QG3T5QW (#4) 54.89
HDD Seagate ST3500630AS SATA2 500GB 9QG3T61X (#3) 54.89
HDD Seagate ST3500630AS SATA2 500GB 9QG3V6HN (#2) 54.89
HDD Seagate ST3500630AS SATA2 500GB 9QG3T5QM (#5) 54.89
HDD Samsung HD501LJ SATA2 500GB 11, S0MUJ1DPC01407 (#6) 52.89
HDD Samsung HD501LJ SATA2 500GB 12, S0MUJ1KP715582 (#1) 52.89

8TB

Type Make Model Specs Notes Price £
HDD Samsung HD203WI 2TB, 32MB, 5400rpm #S1UYJ1CZ317052, TLER(R) 85.09
HDD Samsung HD203WI 2TB, 32MB, 5400rpm #S1UYJ1CZ317063, TLER(R) 85.09
HDD Seagate ST3200542AS 2TB, 32MB, 5900rpm #9XW09GDN, CC34, TLER(R) 93.60
HDD Seagate ST3200542AS 2TB, 32MB, 5900rpm #9XW08GNB, CC34, TLER(R) 93.60

14TB

Type Make Model Specs Notes Price £
HDD Samsung HD203WI 2TB, 32MB, 5400rpm #S1UYJ1CZ317052, TLER(R) 85.09
HDD Samsung HD203WI 2TB, 32MB, 5400rpm #S1UYJ1CZ317063, TLER(R) 85.09
HDD Seagate ST3200542AS 2TB, 32MB, 5900rpm #9XW09GDN, CC34, TLER(R) 93.60
HDD Seagate ST3200542AS 2TB, 32MB, 5900rpm #9XW08GNB, CC34, TLER(R) 93.60
HDD Seagate ST3000DM001 3TB, 64MB, 7200rpm #Z1F1K11M, warranty until 2015-01-26 89.98 incl.
HDD Seagate ST3000DM001 3TB, 64MB, 7200rpm #W1F1PG24, warranty until 2015-02-17 89.98 incl.

Enclosure

Type Make Model Connector Specs Notes Price £
Enclosure Kit Span IB-5SPB   CFI CF-1051, 320W PSU 13 84.00
eSATA PM Bridge Span IRSA-MM5 SiI3726, 5xSATA to 1xeSATA   14, Included in kit above  
SATA Cable ×5     2xSATA(m) 30cm Included in kit above  
Hotswap Caddy Icy Dock MB-455SPF 5xSATA 3-bay, 5-disk   67.46
Hotswap Caddy Icy Dock MB-453SPF 3xSATA 2-bay, 3-disk   39.89
eSATA PM Bridge Span IRSA-MM5 SiI3726, 5xSATA to 1xeSATA   15, SiI3726 31.00
eSATA Cable Span IRSEE-100 2xeSATA(m) 1m   3.60

To Get

  • Enclosure PSU needs a second floppy power connector for the second PM bridge
  • Enclosure needs 1-3 more 30cm SATA cables (for all 8 hotswap bays)

 

1 ICH9R PM supported >2.6.17 ⇑

2 1×PCIe-16x, 3×PCIe-1x, 3×PCI ⇑

3 Scythe Infinity review ⇑

4 For Scythe Infinity ⇑

5 For Scythe Infinity ⇑

6 Auxiliary System fan ⇑

7 Special offer 48% off ⇑

8 Fastest optical writer currently available ⇑

9 Cheapest SATA drive I could find ⇑

10 Dual tuners not well supported, so I bought two single tuners ⇑

11 Different drive to reduce the probability of batch disk failure ⇑

12 Faulty, RMA 2008-08 ⇑

13 Also includes 5.25 to 3.5 adapter rails, unused ⇑

14 First port must be occupied ⇑

15 First port must be occupied ⇑

Hardware Options

Motherboard

Requirements

  • Intel Core 2 Duo socket
  • 2 GBit LAN, at least one jumbo frame capable
  • 7 SATA (RAID 5, Hot spare, system disk)
  • 2 PATA (Dual DVD writer)
  • 2 PCI (Nova-T PCI)

Intel P35

Make Model SATA IDE Chipset LAN PCIe PCI Notes
Asus P5K P35 Deluxe 6+1 ICH9R, JMB361   2 (j9,nj) 1x16,1x4,2x1 3 Specs
Abit IP35 Pro 6+2e 1 ICH9R, JMB363 2 (nj,nj) 1x16,1x4,1x1 3 Specs
Foxconn P35A 4+1e 1 ICH9R, JMB361 1 (nj) 1x16,1x4,1x1 3 Specs
Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 8 1 ICH9R, JMB363 1 (nj) 1x16,1x4,3x1 2 Specs
Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R 8 1 ICH9R, JMB363 1 (nj) 1x16,3x1 3 Specs
MSI P35 Neo 5     2 (nj,nj)     Specs
MSI P35 Platinum 5+2e     1 (nj)     Specs

Nvidia 650i

Make Model SATA IDE LAN PCIe PCI Notes
Abit FP-IN9 SLI 4 2 1 (nj?) 2x16,2x1 2 Specs
Asus P5N-E 4 2 1 (nj?) 2x16,1x1 2 Specs
Gigabyte N650SLI-DS4 4 2 1 (nj?) 2x16,1x1 2  

Nvidia 680i

Make Model SATA IDE LAN PCIe PCI Notes
Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 10 1 4 (nj) 2x16,1x8,1x1 3 Specs

jN = jumbo capable, Nk frame; nj = non-jumbo

Case

1 Large case with space for 9 disks (6 raid, 1 system, 2 DVD)? Or separate case for RAID and two internal SATA to Multilane adapters?

Cases

| Make | Model | !Ext Bays | !Int Bays | WxHxD | Link | |:------------ | ------------- | --------- |:-------------------- | -------------- | | Asus | CK-1022-5 |   |   |   |   | | Lian-Li | PC-V2000 |   |   |   |   | | Lian-Li | PC-V600 | 4 | 3 | 210 371 490 | £74.99 | | Coolermaster | Stacker 832 | 9 | 4 | 250 536 638 | £118.72 | | Coolermaster | Centurion 532 | 5 | 4 | 235 460 495 | £33.89 | | Coolermaster | Stacker 810 | 11 | 4 | 227 536 584 | £93.61 | | Gigabyte | Triton | 5 | 3 | 200 440 495 | £41.65 |

See Enclosures.

Cooling

Thermalright Ultra 120 + Scythe S-Flex 120mm fan
Scythe Infinity - small, up to 4 fans, economical
*http://www.anandtech.com/casecooling/showdoc.aspx?i=2937&p=5 (Scythe Infinity)

Overclocking

Power Consumption

F: frequency, V: core voltage, P: power
Poc = Foc/F * Voc/V * P

PSU

Bandwidth Calculations

DVB-T: 6Mbit RAID: PCI: 127

ATA Failures

Moved to HasturAtaFailures

Array Upgrade

Special Notes

1TB drives

Make Model Platters Specs Notes Price £ p/GB
Hitachi 7K1000.C 2 7200rpm, 32MB   49.98 4.998
Samsung HD103SJ 3 7200rpm, 32MB Spinpoint F3, 3yr 52.36 5.236
Seagate ST31000520AS   5900rpm Barracuda LP 54.83 5.483
Seagate ST31000528AS 2 7200rpm, 32MB 7200.12 54.86 5.486
WD WD10EADS Green   variable rpm, 32MB   61.60 6.160
WD WD1001FALS Black 3 7200rpm, 32MB No NCQ, 5yr 65.77 6.577

1.5TB drives

Make Model Platters Specs Notes Price £ p/GB
Samsung HD154UI 3 1.5TB, 32MB, 5400rpm EcoGreen F2 62.97 4.198
Samsung HD153WI   1.5TB, 32MB, 5400rpm EcoGreen F3 66.69 4.446
WD WD15EADS 3 1.5TB   69.97?? 4.665
WD WD15EARS   1.5TB, 64MB   72.29 4.819
Seagate ST31500341AS 4 1.5TB, 32MB, 7200rpm 7200.11 68.00 4.533
Seagate ST31500541AS   1.5TB, 32MB, 5900rpm   77.52 5.168

2TB drives

Make Model Platters Specs Notes Price £ p/GB
Samsung HD203WI 4 2TB, 32MB, 5400rpm TLER(R) 92.79, 84.271 4.639, 4.213
Samsung HD204UI 3 2TB, 32MB, 5400rpm TLER(R),2 56.99 2.782
WD WD20EARS 4 2TB, 64MB, 5400rpm   92.98 4.649
Hitachi 7K2000 5 2TB, 32MB, 7200rpm   95.51, 89.35 4.775, 4.467
WD WD20EADS 4 2TB, 32MB, ~5400rpm   97.15, 85.093 4.857, 4.255
Seagate ST3200542AS 4 2TB, 32MB, 5900rpm TLER(R), 4 107.98, 89.355 5.399, 4.46

 

1 OEM, no warranty? ⇑

2 4KB sectors ⇑

3 OEM, no warranty? ⇑

4 tumbleweed's timeout issues ⇑

5 OEM, no warranty? ⇑

3TB drives

Make Model Platters Specs Notes Price £ p/GB
Seagate ST3000DM001 3 3TB, 64MB, 7200rpm OEM oem: 79.98

1yr: 85.96

2yr: 88.80 | 2.603516
2.798
2.96 | | Toshiba | DT01ACA300 | 3 | 3TB, 64MB, 7200rpm | OEM | oem: 74.76
2yr: 87.77
2yr: 80.40 | 2.492
2.857096
2.68 |

4TB drives

Make Model Platters Specs Notes Price £ p/GB
WD WD40EFRX Red       136.20 3.325195
WD WD40EZRX Green   4TB, 64MB, 5900rpm OEM 121.68 2.970703
Seagate ST4000DM000   4TB, 64MB, 5900rpm OEM 118.08 2.882812

Further drive comparisons extracted to local spreadsheet.

Multilane

Type Make Model Connector Specs Quant Price £
ML Device Adapter Span IRSA-SM2 2xML to 8xSATA     27.50
ML Device Adapter Span IRSA-SM1 1xML to 4xSATA     9.70
ML Host Adapter Span IRSA-PM2 2xML to 8xSATA     22.90
ML Host Adapter Span IRSA-PM1 1xML to 4xSATA     9.00
ML Cable Span IRSE-M1 2xML 1m long   28.50
ML Host Adapter     2xML to PCIe      
MiniSAS Device Adapter Span IRA-SS2 2xSFF8088 to 2xSFF8087   1 26.30
MiniSAS Host Adapter Span IRA-PS2 2xSFF8087 to 2xSFF8088   1 28.80
MiniSAS Cable Span IRA-8888-1 2xSFF8088 1m long 2 26.20
MiniSAS Fanout Cable Span IRA-87SA-05 1xSFF8087 to 4xSATA 50cm 2 8.40
MiniSAS Fanout Cable Span IRA-87SA-03 1xSFF8087 to 4xSATA 30cm 7.60
MiniSAS Reverse Fanout Cable Span IRA-SA87-05 4xSATA to 1xSFF8087 50cm 2 8.10

RAM Upgrade

  • Awaiting delivery of 2x2GB DDR3
  • Delivered

Installation

BIOS Settings

  • Ctrl+F1 on main screen enables overclocking options in Intelligent Tweaker.
  • Only after reboot with new RAM are proper timings visible

Recommended settings for DDR3 at 1333MHz 

MIB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T.)

Robust Graphics Booster = Auto
CPU Clock Ratio = 9
CPU Host Clock Control = Enabled
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) = 333Mhz
PCI Express Frequency = 100Mhz
C.I.A.2 = Disabled
Performance Enhance = Standard
System Memory Multiplier = 4
Hi Speed DRAM DLL Settings = Option 2
DRAM Timing Selectable = Manual
CAS Latency Time = 9
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay = 9
RAS# Precharge = 9
Precharge Delay (tRAS) = 24
ACT to ACT delay = Auto
Bank Write To READ Delay = Auto
Refresh to ACT Delay = 0
Read to Precharge Delay = Auto

System Voltage Control

DDR3 OverVoltage Control = +.1V
PCI-e OverVoltage Control = Normal
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control = Auto
CPU Voltage Control = Auto
  • Reset to safe defaults
  • Finally booting with both chips
  • MIT shows memory frequency of 1066:1066
  • AHCI mode or IDE mode

Settings when it successfully booted with both DDR3 chips: 

MIB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T.)

Robust Graphics Booster = Auto
CPU Clock Ratio = 9 X
CPU Host Clock Control = Disabled
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) = 100Mhz
PCI Express Frequency = Auto
C.I.A.2 = Disabled
Performance Enhance = Turbo
System Memory Multiplier = Auto

DRAM Timing Selectable = Auto
#CAS Latency Time = 8 Auto
#DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay = 8 Auto
#RAS# Precharge = 8 Auto
#Precharge Delay (tRAS) = 20 Auto
#ACT to ACT delay = 4 Auto
#Rank Write To READ Delay = 4 Auto
#Write To Precharge Delay 8 Auto
#Refresh to ACT Delay = 60 Auto
#Read to Precharge Delay = 4 Auto
#Static tRead Value = 6 Auto
#Static tRead Phase Adjust = 0 Auto
System Voltage Control Manual
DDR2/DDR3 OverVoltage Control = Normal
PCI-e OverVoltage Control = Normal
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control = Normal
CPU Voltage Control = Auto

Health Status showed: 

Vcore   1.252V
DDR2/DDR3 Voltage  1.504V

Try 2.4GHz core without Turbo

  • No WinT cards, no DVD-RW, no backup HDD

  • Works, shows 4GB RAM but reports CPU frequency 1600MHz.

  • CPU frequency is not a problem. Under load jumps to 2400MHz.
  • Running memtester hung the system. Now won't boot.

Try 2.4GHz with single DDR3

  • Removed one stick and posted successfully
  • Set DDR3 overvoltage +0.1V
  • Stable memtester (63 iterations)

Bump voltage then two DDR3s

  • Overvoltage +0.2V
  • PCI-E voltage +0.1V

3GHz and 1066

  • Overvoltage +0.2V
  • PCI-E voltage +0.1V

Optimized Defaults

  • Optimized defaults

900MHz 800MHz

  • Nope

Last good DDR3 settings +0.2V

  • DDR3 +0.2V
  • CPU 1.275V

One DDR3 : 1066 @8-8-8-20 1.76V

Two DDR3 : No Post

1066 @8-8-8-20 1.76V

Last good DDR3 settings +0.3V

One DDR3 : 1.872V

Two DDR3 : No Post

Last good DDR3 with manual timings

  1. 9-9-9-24
  2. 266/1066/10-10-10-20 = 1066/8-8-8-20
  3. 333/1333?/10-10-10-20, FSB+0.1 = 1333/9-9-9-24
  4. 333/800/Auto, FSB+0.1 = 800/8-8-8-20

Gave up and left it at One stick

  1. 333/1333/auto = 1066 ??

Core clock also shows only 2400 in Linux though.

Seems quite stable so far. Other stick must be faulty.

memtest

Howto : http://forum.canardpc.com/threads/28875-Linux-HOWTO-Boot-Memtest-on-USB-Drive

Links

Disk suddenly too short for array

  • "Not large enough to join array"
  • "Too small for array"

Samsung HD203WI (serial no. #S1UYJ1CZ317063) dropped out of the array for being suddenly and inexplicably too short.

SMART logs

Before: 

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     SAMSUNG SpinPoint F3 EG
Device Model:     SAMSUNG HD203WI
Serial Number:    S1UYJ1CZ317063
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0024e9 003308d88
Firmware Version: 1AN10002
User Capacity:    2,000,398,934,016 bytes [2.00 TB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   8
ATA Standard is:  ATA-8-ACS revision 6
Local Time is:    Tue Feb 25 00:53:29 2014 GMT

After: 

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     SAMSUNG SpinPoint F3 EG
Device Model:     SAMSUNG HD203WI
Serial Number:    S1UYJ1CZ317063
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0024e9 003308d88
Firmware Version: 1AN10002
User Capacity:    2,000,397,852,160 bytes [2.00 TB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   8
ATA Standard is:  ATA-8-ACS revision 6
Local Time is:    Wed Feb 26 04:18:58 2014 GMT

Diagnosis

By chance when playing with GParted Live came across a reference to Host Protected Area

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_protected_area#Identification_and_manipulation

hdparm -N /dev/sdb showed HPA was enabled and some sectors reserved. Also lists max sectors.

Disable HPA

Test with 

hdparm -N 3907029168 /dev/sda
 (set the number of sectors shown by

hdparm -N /dev/sdb. Use the 'p' prefix to make it permanent: 

hdparm -N p3907029168 /dev/sda

Then power-cycle the disk. Only one permanent setting of max-sector-size can be performed per power cycle.

hdparm -N /dev/sda now prints: 

max sectors   = 3907029168/3907029168, HPA is disabled

RAM Failing?

Random errors which kill processors.

Replace RAM

Buy another RAM pair? (TW3X4G1333C9A)

Replace whole system?

Motherboard with 10xSATA connections

Log

2008-04-29

updated to F10 firmware after boot failure

2008-08-07

re-added the RMA'd HD501LJ

2009-02-01

/dev/sdg Read failures. copy of log in /root, ST3500630AS, 9QG3T5QM

2010-05-09

Ordered 2x HD203WI, 2x ST3200542AS from eBuyer (~£37)

2010-05-14

New disks arrived

2010-05-19

Shutdown for Hastur Raid Upgrade

2010-12-13

Purchased two HD204UI backup HDDs

2011-01-12

Purchased miniSAS hardware

2013-01-29

Purchased two ST3000DM001 3TB disks

2013-01-31

3TB Drives delivered

2013-02-02

  • Added disks to enclosure. Only one disk added to array.
  • Noted ST3500630AS 500GB backup disk showing stable 10 reallocated sectors.
  • One ST32000542AS 2TB array disks showing 302 reallocated sectors. Up from zero on 2011-09-13.
  • See [HasturRaidUpgradePath][260]

2013-03-07

  • /dev/sdd (ST32000542AS) started failing on 2013-03-04 === START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Device Model: ST32000542AS Serial Number: 9XW08GNB Firmware Version: CC34 User Capacity: 2,000,398,934,016 bytes Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall] ATA Version is: 8 ATA Standard is: ATA-8-ACS revision 4 Local Time is: Thu Mar 7 19:26:29 2013 GMT SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled

    === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: FAILED!

Yet strangely /dev/sdc was kicked out of the array.

  • Restarted /dev/md6 and re-added /dev/sdc.
  • Added second 3TB as hot spare.
  • /dev/sdd failed during rebuild.
  • Rebuilt on to 3TB drive

2013-12-03

  • Ordered 2x2GB DDR3 Corsair XMS3 (TW3X4G1333C9A) from eBuyer

2014-02-25

  • Attempted to fit the DDR3. Only one stick working.

2014-02-26

  • HD203WI (S1UYJ1CZ317063) has shrunk following BIOS futzing.

2014-03-20

  • Solved HD203WI shrinkage. Disabled HPA which had been enabled somehow.

2014-11-23

  • Ordered 2x Toshiba DT01ACA300 3TB disks from dabs.com (£74.98 each inc VAT)

2015-11-06

  • Ordered 2x Toshiba DT01ACA300 3TB disks from scan.co.uk (£141.95, £70 each)

2016-02-28

  • Ordered 2x Western Digital WD30EFRX 3TB disks from scan.co.uk (£188.60, £91.56 each inc VAT)

2016-09-20

  • Switched to faster 2x4GB of RAM
  • Only booting with 4GB!

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