BUILD Synology Refugee: Critique my Z-3 Build!

[Bidule0hm]

I have little experience in the matter, I have two data safety things to look into after I buy my NAS: solar flare protection, and offsite backup. I will point out that Faraday cages do not have to be sealed, they can be a mesh, so the paint may not be a problem (though I am not an expert on the subject). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage#mediaviewer/File:Cage_de_Faraday.jpg

When I originally said "EMP Bags" I was talking about something like this: , which claims it is not the same as an ordinary anti-static bag, though I have not taken the time yet to have an opinion of whether this claim is credible, the manufacturer is defending the product: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1WHNV...2PTQ8X5OEQA50&store=industrial#Mx6YXGWUFEH9NA

What would you recommend for solar flare protection? I'm truly at the start of my search and open to ideas.

There is a big difference between a hole of the size of the lid and the holes in a mesh. The size of the holes determines the minimum frequency that can pass right through the faraday cage, the bigger the hole the lower the frequency. From memory the minimum frequency is: Lambda = Hole diameter * 2 (lambda is the wavelength of the frequency) but it's maybe "* 4" instead of "* 2".

I wouldn't trust theses bags until I can test them, they look suspiciously like a simple antistatic bag...

What I recommend? well, you want a very low impedance (resistance, to simplify) material with no holes if possible. I would probably use PCB material because it's pure copper that is on a support material (so it's mechanically resistant without needing several mm of copper which would be very expensive), it's readily available and it's pretty cheap. I would simply cut the faces of the desired size box and solder them along the edges (except for the lid of course) like this for example and I would use some EMI gasket to make a good contact with the lid along the periphery.

 

[danb35]

it is not stated in the documentation so I doubt it is supported.

@jkh disagrees with you:

Hot spare drive replacement. If you have spare drives in your pool, and a drive fails, FreeNAS will now automatically remove the failed drive and replace it with a spare.

 

[marbus90]

Jordan states that a version which is at the time of my posting is less than 24 hours old introduces several new features.

Next time you could maybe state that you mean version 201502271818 and not just throw "9.3" out there. it's not a 9.3 feature, it is one introduced in the version 201502271818.

 

[jgreco]

Ok kids, chill ... ;-)

 

[danb35]

Jordan states that a version which is at the time of my posting is less than 24 hours old introduces several new features.

Next time you could maybe state that you mean version 201502271818 and not just throw "9.3" out there. it's not a 9.3 feature, it is one introduced in the version 201502271818.

Allow me to quote myself:

It's also worth noting that, as of the latest update, FreeNAS 9.3 appears to support hot spares,

Perhaps you missed the part in bold.

Just because the feature's there, of course, doesn't mean it's well-tested enough to trust it with your data.

 

[corfe83]

I'd think a better solution than either of these, though, would be to just set up a six-disk RAIDZ2 with whatever flavor of disk is preferred, and use the savings for a crashplan (or Tarsnap, for the truly paranoid, or other offsite backup) account. All the RAID redundancy in the world won't help you if your power supply fries your disks, or the server is destroyed in a fire, or you inadvertently do rm -rf /. Going from RAIDZ2 to RAIDZ3 is pretty strongly into "diminishing returns" territory already.

I already intend to do crashplan (or some similar service), in addition to backing up to my 2TB USB drive which I will typically leave unplugged and in a faraday cage (and which I will upgrade for size when my data grows too large for it). Z-3 is in addition to, not a replacement for offsite backup. I agree it's diminishing returns, but when I add up the cost it's $1700 for Raid-Z2 or $1800 for Raid-Z3, I like the safer option.

what if:
in 3.5 years there's a firmware bug visible on $model, of which he is using 8 in a precious raidz3 and warm spare. and BOOM all data gone. horrible. nobody wants that when he plans for an EMP safe chassis.
in 3.5 years there's a firmware bug visible on $model, of which he is using 2 in a boring raidz2 without any spares on a far cheaper system due to lack of an additional controller. BOOM. still all data visible since the other 4 disks held well.

This is a good point. I am trying to stick to low-RPM drives to minimize temperature (for long-term health of drives), and I'm also specifically avoiding seagate and prefer WD or HGST due to brand reliability stats and personal experiences. A quick search on newegg looks like I don't really have other options (unless I pay extra for higher size drives, which feels a bit wasteful for the possible benefit). I have trouble believing 4 drives would suddenly fail within such a short period of time, anyway (unless I have a hosed power supply or central component, in which case other drive models won't help me, and in which case I'll revert to my last copy on USB or crashplan).

Someday I'll build a second NAS box to replicate or rsync to (and still keep my crashplan for offsite backup), but I'm having enough trouble justifying building one of these things, let alone 2 right now. Maybe in a few years I'll get there.

 

[corfe83]

What I recommend? well, you want a very low impedance (resistance, to simplify) material with no holes if possible. I would probably use PCB material because it's pure copper that is on a support material (so it's mechanically resistant without needing several mm of copper which would be very expensive), it's readily available and it's pretty cheap. I would simply cut the faces of the desired size box and solder them along the edges (except for the lid of course) like this for example and I would use some EMI gasket to make a good contact with the lid along the periphery.

Thanks for the helpful reply, I will look more seriously into ordering or building one of these, once I get my FreeNAS box built, and tweaked to my satisfaction.

 

[marbus90]

There's no point in avoiding Seagate.

You have to avoid WD and HGST as well. WD had a Firmware Bug on the Reds which lead them to die prematurely. Yes, you can replace them under warranty - as you can do with Seagates which fail prematurely. HGST has only 7200rpm NAS drives and firmware issues on some drives (same as WD), which are dying in masses as well. So HGST is a no-buy either. These issues are far more recent than Seagate issues.

Toshiba might be another bet, they're fresh into the server market. Haven't looked at their portfolio too closely.

 

[Sir.Robin]

My Seagate ES 750GB's are running quite hot (around 50 celcius) but i still have over 58.000 hours on 4 of 6 drives. The other two has passed 44.000 hours.

At work i have systems from different vendors and it is mostly Seagate in them.

The ES.2's i got are 7200rpm SAS drives but they are actually running quite cool. Under 30 celcius now in winter and around 35 in summer.

For the record i would not hesitate buying WD or HGST either. You can end up with a bad batch from either one i beleive.

 

[corfe83]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

To close the loop, I went ahead and finally ordered today, but at the last minute decided on WD Reds instead of Greens (still 3TB), and bought a couple more case fans to compensate. The longer (3 year) warranty and the "designed for NAS", whatever that means, sold me in the end. I will double-check that the firmware is up to date and do some hardware testing when it arrives. Also I did buy the spare (8th drive), because I'm just paranoid that way, and it gives me a bit more peace of mind. I'm studying up more on the freeNAS manual now, and I can't wait to start playing with it later this week.

 

[jgreco]

Be happy, the Reds are a better choice.