BUILD Advice needed…miniITX vs mATX…and other hardware.

[Dice]

IMO you should run a single SSD as a boot device vice a mirror of them an

What is the reasoning behind not wanting to mirror boot drives, when using SSD?

 

[Bidule0hm]

SSDs are far more reliable than Universally Sucky Bus ©jgreco (also known as USB...) sticks, so even one SSD against 2 or even more mirrored USB sticks is less likely to fail ;)

 

[Dice]

I understood @joeschmuck's comment as advising against mirroring of SSD's.

 

[Ericloewe]

I understood @joeschmuck's comment as advising against mirroring of SSD's.

It wouldn't be harmful, it's just overkill for many.

 

[thepixelgeek]

What's the difference between two mirrored SSDs vs one and a separate backup, when there's a failure? Is mirrored easier to recover the machine back to normal?

 

[Bidule0hm]

RAID doesn't replace backups, never.

 

[joeschmuck]

I understood @joeschmuck's comment as advising against mirroring of SSD's.

Nope, I don't think I said that or implied that. I will say IMO it's a waste of money to have mirrored SSD boot devices. SSD's are vastly more reliable than USB Flash devices.

What's the difference between two mirrored SSDs vs one and a separate backup, when there's a failure? Is mirrored easier to recover the machine back to normal?

With respect to the boot device, in my experience everyone should maintain a backup of the your configuration file in case you need to recover. Also when it comes to mirrored boot devices actually working they way most people think they work, well that generally isn't true. If your first boot device fails, generally the system hangs and it doesn't boot off the second device automatically. Sometimes you can remove the failed one (once you figure out which one that is) and then boot from the good one provided it didn't become corrupt in the process. I prefer a single boot device and if there is a problem, really it doesn't take long to create a new device and then load your configuration backup file to solve the problem. I think the idea of mirrored boot devices is good providing you have a true RAID hardware controller to handle the failures and truly utilize a mirrored device. But I'm only one of the very few people here that don't speak positively about mirrored boot devices. Of course you can use it, no harm in doing it.

I'd be interested having the link to where I can find 32GB SATA III SSD for cheaper than $49.99

There are a lot of SATA drives out there and you can use any size you desire just as long as it's 8GB or larger. Find one that has a cheap price. Here are a few from NewEgg (the place which gets most of my computer parts money)...

Silicon Power S60 60GB SSD for $35
ADATA SP550 120GB SSD for $39

I own the S60 128GB SSD and it's great for running VMs off of. It's not a power house but great value and it works.
I also own the ADATA SP550 120GB SSD, only received it 2 weeks ago and been using it in my main computer to verify no infant mortality before I make it my Sophos UTM boot drive. I've always trusted ADATA. These are of could just my experiences.

Also, I'd stay away from Patriot Blaze as it appears there are a lot of complaints that they die quickly. I'm sure it's not most of them but still there are a lot of complaints and trust me, I like Patriot USB Flash drives so I was a bit skeptical when reading the reviews. I would have purchased a Blaze SSD 2 weeks ago if the reviews were not so bad.

Any pics / further information on this? :)

I think I have some pics somewhere but I'd have to really look. I think I posted them in one of the threads where folks are showing pics of their systems. Here is the link to the case I purchased and I do have two 120mm fans in the front of the case running at slow speed, the rear case fan is also running at slow speed. No upper fans. Also keep in mind that this case is very large for what the OP wants but I choose functionality over my desire to make a small compact system. When I do upgrade my FreeNAS system (only because something dies) I will be making a smaller system but I plan to use less hard drives as I already know my usage patterns and four 3TB drives is fine. If I can use SSDs, I might consider that but I'm looking at a few years down the road before my current drives should be replaced (fingers crossed).

Well almost time for a shower and rest up for the shoveling I will be doing in the morning. There has already been one reported death from some fella who was shoveling snow today and it was just too much strain on him. I know I'm old so it's okay to go slow. But the dog will have fun in the snow while I'm working.

 

[Raiz]

Having both the Coolermaster HAF case and the Fractal R5, I would recommend the Fractal. The Coolermaster does exactly what it says. It keeps things cool. However, it also allows in a ton of dust through the thousands of holes in chassis.

The Fractal is always nice and clean whenever I open my case, cable management is better, and it's smaller than the HAF. If you do go with the HAF, make sure to buy an aftermarket dust kit.

 

[Dice]

Nope, I don't think I said that or implied that

I'm not a native english speaker that probably lead to some misunderstanding, in particular the formulation "vice" which kind of did not give any <coherent> translation :)
Better ask twice. :)

I think I posted them in one of the threads where folks are showing pics of their systems.

I've been looking a lot for this thread, but just cannot seem to find it. I've a DIY case planned. I hope to cut away some stupid mistakes by hopefully finding the magical thread where all the DIY goodies hopefully are :D
I hope it gets resurrected soon enough :D

 

[thepixelgeek]

Having both the Coolermaster HAF case and the Fractal R5, I would recommend the Fractal. The Coolermaster does exactly what it says. It keeps things cool. However, it also allows in a ton of dust through the thousands of holes in chassis.

The Fractal is always nice and clean whenever I open my case, cable management is better, and it's smaller than the HAF. If you do go with the HAF, make sure to buy an aftermarket dust kit.

R5 is sweet! I do like Fractal cases in general. Haven't had any experience with them yet, as I'm new to DIY, but I've heard good things.

Speaking of cases, I'm curious to know whether or not it's advisable, or encouraged, to get hot swappable (w/backplate)? Noticed some cases, including the Lian Li PC-Q25, have this capability.

 

[Raiz]

I haven't had to swap out a drive, but I would image that they would only fail maybe once a year or so. That Lian Li case looks to be about as small as you can get. I think your final build might look something like this... a possible cabling nightmare.

 

[thepixelgeek]

True...well, in the end, I may either reduce amount of drives, or get bigger case...not sure yet. Now seeing this makes me wonder about airflow issues.

 

[thepixelgeek]

I'm still torn over the miniITX vs mATX. Since I can't find the Asrock board anywhere, I may just pull the trigger on the x11 Supermicro.

 

[diedrichg]

[*]CASE: Tough to find a nice small case that can hold 6 drives. So far my list is:

1. Lian Li Pc-m25
2. Node 804
3. Thermaltake Urban SD1
4. Nanoxia DS 4
5. [new addition] Fractal R5
6. or other? I wish I could fit more drives into the Aerocool DS cube!

I'd personally go with the Fractal R5. Granted it's a much bigger footprint but the ease of access to the drives vs the Node 304 is my determining factor.

 

[Raiz]

Now seeing this makes me wonder about airflow issues.

You see that fan above the power supply that is supposed to blow air out of the case? It can't be fully effective because it's partially blocked. Maybe if you got a smaller PSU it would be better.
If I got a case that small I would want to put a handle on it and carry it around like a murse.

 

[thepixelgeek]

You see that fan above the power supply that is supposed to blow air out of the case? It can't be fully effective because it's partially blocked. Maybe if you got a smaller PSU it would be better.
If I got a case that small I would want to put a handle on it and carry it around like a murse.

You mean like this? ;)

 

[Raiz]

LOL!

 

[Dice]

@Raiz that was nice cooking station :D

 

[thepixelgeek]

Fractal Design Node 804 looks like it may work well. I'm digging the cube, small form factor, these days.

 

[Black Ninja]

I haven't had to swap out a drive, but I would image that they would only fail maybe once a year or so. That Lian Li case looks to be about as small as you can get. I think your final build might look something like this... a possible cabling nightmare.

When I saw the picture it caught my attention, I said my self: I don't remember putting this picture on the forum ?!? Then I revitalized it wasn't my nas it just one very much like it )