Hi
I've had some dedicated servers for storage for a long time now. In the resent months I've gotten so much stuff that I invested in a serious raid controller, but there is something horribly wrong. Hope some of you could help me out here.
My setup today
- Server (Core 2 Duo (2.4 GHz?) with 2 GB RAM and Windows Server 2008, Std Ed 64 bit
- HighPoint RocketRAID 4320 8P SAS (2x internal mini-sas)
- 6 x Western Digitial CaviarŪ Green 2TB
- 1 Netgear Gbit 24 Port Switch, 1 Netgear Gbit 8 Port
- HTPC (Core 2 Duo, 2,8 GHz overclocked, 4 GB RAM), Windows 7 64 bit
The raid is around 5 TB in a Raid 5 setup. The data goes from the server through my 24 Port Switch in the basement, 8 Port Switch on the first floor, and then to the HTPC.
The whole disk is encrypted with TrueCrypt. This puts some more stress on the CPU, but the transfer speed is above acceptable.
My first problems
When browsing on the Raid disks, there is often a huge delay before the content of the directories is shown. The same goes if I start a movie or a series on my HTPC. I can often wait as long as 20-30 seconds before anything happens. I have a STRONG feeling that this so called "Green Series" from Western Digital is to blame. The disks lay dormant at 5400 RPM when not used, and spins up at 7200 RPM when they are accessed. The spin-up time on the disks might be so slow that it is causing all this waiting. What I find a bit strange though, is that this can happen several directories in a row. The reason might be that that each directory structure involves different sets of disks, and that each disk needs to be spun up one after another.
My second problem
Lately my server have had problems starting up. If it's warm, there is a high chance it will not even go into windows logon. The screen is often pink colored, and the text is hardly readable, with letters switched with all kinds of artifacts and so on.
If it's cool there is usually no problems with the graphics. And if there's no peripherals connected, it will start up most of the times. And I can then a remote desktop, and use the server for as long as I wish. If I try to log in via the console though, it only takes a minute or two before it suddenly restarts. I've learned to live with this for some time now, but I'm starting to get fed up by this the problem combo.
My third problem
This might just be a bad coinsidence, but two days ago, my movies started acting super choppy. Now, everything is back to normal. Perhaps there was just some other users on the server putting a strain on disks or CPU.
So, what should I do, and what are my options here?
- I'm thinking that this disks have to be replaced, if the spin down can not be prevented. Perhaps I could run a scheduled thing to prevent them from sleeping? Would save me several hundred bucks.
- The cables between the server and HTPC should be at least 100MBits, and it should be plenty for one client. Never had a problem with it before.
- The problems with the server not starting might be a GPU, Motherboard or memory error. I doubt it's the CPU, as everything can work just fine for months.
- As for the recent choppyness problems I have no idea what can cause this. I had the normal waiting period before the disks spun up, but after that this terrible lagging started, and it would not stop for the 2-3 minutes I bothered looked at it.
I would like to test changing the GPU, and I'd like to restart the server to check if the video lagging is fixed, but I'm a bit afraid if my server will not come up again at all. That's my main concern. Are there other options than a dedicated server? Are there NAS solutions that works good in a windows domain, and that can support the many Terra Bytes I want to have one day, and that is fast? Is it cheap enough, that I can consider this instead of trying to fix my server?
Any help and suggestions is appreciated!
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Topic: Help needed with File server/NAS solution (Read 1852 times)