N5200B pro & Hitachi 2tb 7K2000

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.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 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

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 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.

---

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

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.

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?

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

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

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by innominae

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...)

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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