N5200B pro & Hitachi 2tb 7K2000

[innominae]

firmware : 2.1.09
raid 5 with ext3 format

Hello all,

Does anybody try hitachi 2tera hard disk ?
Can i have some feedback ?

Some weeks ago i look @ the official hard disk compatibility from thecus official site and see that WD 2Tera green was not a good idea (multiple thread on issues). The hitachi 2 tera was marked as tested but with a scary firmware (3.x.x) that cannot be downloaded yet.
Of course, i have the opportunity to own 5x2tb hitachi and decide to go for the order.
Now that i received them, i watch again the compatibility list and discover that...thecus take out hitachi 2tb form the list :-(

I decide then to take a go and swapped my spare thecus from 5x1tb F1 samsung to 5x2tb Hitachi hoping that it will works (and thinking that thecus cannot handle green technology - hitachi 2tb is fixed 7k2 speed)

After making short test on each hard disk, decide to build one raid 5 in ext3 format.

As i know that it will take a while, i would like to share some experience

thanks for your help.

and i will make my best to give you all information in 48h i think

Only hope that it will work.

Regards

[innominae]

Update on 25/11/09

Building array was finished (1 array raid 5 on 5*2tera hard disk).
It tooks less than 30 hours (!!)
The temperature was 40° for the upper disk and 43° for the lower disk during the build and it was stable.

Start testing by copying 6 terabytes of data using network between nas (2x5200pro to 1x5200pro)

Will test read/write and rebuilding the array by taking out one hard disk.

Planned to test for fully one month.

Update will be done on this part of the thread.

I only use the thecus for file server/archiving. No specific modules will be tested (sorry, i've litle knowledge about sql/webserver...). Tests will be only focus on file server.

[deluxx]

firmware : 2.1.09
raid 5 with ext3 format

Hello all,

Does anybody try hitachi 2tera hard disk ?
Can i have some feedback ?

Some weeks ago i look @ the official hard disk compatibility from thecus official site and see that WD 2Tera green was not a good idea (multiple thread on issues). The hitachi 2 tera was marked as tested but with a scary firmware (3.x.x) that cannot be downloaded yet.
Of course, i have the opportunity to own 5x2tb hitachi and decide to go for the order.
Now that i received them, i watch again the compatibility list and discover that...thecus take out hitachi 2tb form the list :-(

I decide then to take a go and swapped my spare thecus from 5x1tb F1 samsung to 5x2tb Hitachi hoping that it will works (and thinking that thecus cannot handle green technology - hitachi 2tb is fixed 7k2 speed)

After making short test on each hard disk, decide to build one raid 5 in ext3 format.

As i know that it will take a while, i would like to share some experience

thanks for your help.

and i will make my best to give you all information in 48h i think

Only hope that it will work.

Regards

Update on 25/11/09

Building array was finished (1 array raid 5 on 5*2tera hard disk).
It tooks less than 30 hours (!!)
The temperature was 40° for the upper disk and 43° for the lower disk during the build and it was stable.

Start testing by copying 6 terabytes of data using network between nas (2x5200pro to 1x5200pro)

Will test read/write and rebuilding the array by taking out one hard disk.

Planned to test for fully one month.

Update will be done on this part of the thread.

I only use the thecus for file server/archiving. No specific modules will be tested (sorry, i've litle knowledge about sql/webserver...). Tests will be only focus on file server.

It hasn't been a month yet but any updates on this? Need to purchase some drives to replace the Western Digital ones. Thanks!

[innominae]

Yeah, for now i have no issue with the hitachi 2Tb.
as i said, the basic use (file server/raid 5) is ok for me.
My only test i didn't make is to take out one disk for rebuilding.
My concern is that rebuilding a 500G hard drive consume lot of time and i scared about rebuilding 2tera of data (nothing about lost data).
But as i order 5 more 2Tb for the second thecus, i could make this test during christmas time.

Regards


Now if you need some bench, just ask and i'll do it.

[ftwm]

Hello innominae,

I want to know what size after you rebuild the NAS (2TBx5 Raid5). I know, if you used the ext3 to format the N5200Pro. The ext3 max is 8TB. You used mulit-raid in your N5200Pro ??? I want to upgarde my N5200Pro from 1TBx5(Seagate) to 2TB (Hitachi is very low price in the market) and I want to change from ext3 to xfs or zfs. Do you have any command of zfs and xfs?

[innominae]

hello, sorry for my late answer (i was replacing my second thecus with 2Tb hitachi).
I'll confirm you the free space for a full raid 5 but it is 7Tera in ext3 -> will update & confirm this evening.

If you go with firmware : 2.1.09, you have the option when creating raid to use ext3, zfs and xfs. But i didn't test the others formats. Perhaps when i'll upgrade my third thecus (end of january)

And at last, i only create one fully raid 5 with 5x2Tb. Didn't use iscsi.

For now the 5200pro is only for basic file server/backup sync. No idea how the hardware will react with consuming option/action like real time encryption/decryption or rebuilding/extending raid.

Now after thinking, i know that 8tb is ext3 limitation but it is after raid5 building or before (in that case, i made a mistake and loose space...)

keep you update.

Regards

[innominae]

disk information
Capacity : 1,907,729
Model : HDS722020ALA330
Firmware : JKAO

Raid
Total capacity : 7444.5 GB
Data capacity : 6849.9 GB
Raid config
Strip size : 64Kb
Ext3 file System
data purcentage : 95%


For information and comparaison with 1TbF1Samsung
Capacity : 953,869
Model : HD103UJ
Firmware : 1AA0

Raid
Total capacity : 3718.5 GB
Data capacity : 3600.6 GB
Raid config
Strip size : 64Kb
Ext3 file System
data purcentage : 100%





Regards
Innominae

[peterfu]

Now after thinking, i know that 8tb is ext3 limitation but it is after raid5 building or before (in that case, i made a mistake and loose space...)

The limit is after raid building, cause for the ext3 file system the raid is the known device and not the single discs.
br
Peter