[Build Ready] Home User Build. Harddrive questions

[Nuus]

So right now I have the below as my planned out build. It will mostly be used for movie/music storage and streaming. Built also to host a minecraft server.

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHZ Quad-Core Processor
Mobo: Supermicro X10SL7-F
RAM: 4x8GB Crucial CT2KIT102472BD1608
HDD: 6-8 Disks WD Reds 4TB 7200 OR HGST Deskstar NAS 4TB 7200
PSU: SeaSonic G-Series RM550
Case: Depends on if using Hot Swappable Bays (leaning towards Fractual Node 804)​

I've reached an obstacle on deciding a couple of factors due to my lack of knowledge.

1) I've read positive things about WD Reds and HGST Deskstar NAS but I don't know how to compare the two besides price. What are some factors or know qualities about either that will help me decide?

2) How important is having drives/bays that are hot swappable for a home user?

3) I'm looking at starting with 6 - 4TB disks initially then upgrading to 8 - 4TB disks down the line. Is it possible to upgrade from a 6 disk to an 8 disk RAID setup without losing any of the data?


With the exception of those questions I believe I am ready to start putting items on order. Although this is my first build so I might be missing some items that are vital. Any reccomendations/critiques are highly welcome.

 

[Fraoch]

Your build is pretty by-the-book and fairly highly-spec'd. No glaring incompatibilities here.

The Node 804 is really nice but the fans may need some rearranging - they are set up with two exhausting out and one pushing in, so that the case is under negative pressure, sucking dust in from any unsealed areas. Add at least one matched 120 mm fan in front of the hard drives but it would be best if you added two to the front of the drive section to ensure positive pressure. If the power supply has enough space in front of it, you may want to install the second hard drive cage there so that the ventilation is close to all the hard drives.

1) I've read positive things about WD Reds and HGST Deskstar NAS but I don't know how to compare the two besides price. What are some factors or know qualities about either that will help me decide?

Many on this forum use the Reds. It's hard to decide because there's lots of contradictory info out there - there are positive and negative comments about both drives pretty equally. One site may recommend one, another will recommend the other.

2) How important is having drives/bays that are hot swappable for a home user?

Having convinced myself that I needed hotswap bays, I'm now convinced I don't need them.:p The drive access and power lights aren't very useful, since they're in a RAIDZ2 they all work simultaneously so a case drive access LED would be fine. I haven't had to pull one out yet. The ventilation is good - too good, my drives run cooler than they should (~21-22 C, which is under the ideal 30 - 35 C and will impact the life of the drives almost as much as overheating them).

I'll be addressing this by switching to a Fractal Design Define Mini - I couldn't go with the Node 804 as the wide form factor won't fit the available space. I'll be selling my hotswap bay along with a replacement one I tried.

3) I'm looking at starting with 6 - 4TB disks initially then upgrading to 8 - 4TB disks down the line. Is it possible to upgrade from a 6 disk to an 8 disk RAID setup without losing any of the data?

No, you have to destroy the vdev. Alternatively you could add the two disks as a second, mirrored vdev and make another share.

 

[Bidule0hm]

1) I haven't tested the HGST Deskstar but if they are 7200 RPM drives it's not a good idea to use them because they'll be power hungry and will run fairly hot without very decent cooling.

2) Personally I would say no benefits (you really nead to hot swap instead of shutdown for a few minutes for a home server?) and several disadvantages (cooling is harder and far noisier with trays, vibrations are less controllable (the tray can vibrate), ...). But it's just my point of view, you'll probably find someone that totally disagree. It's fine because it's a choice accordingly to your constraints.

3) "Alternatively you could add the two disks as a second, mirrored vdev and make another share." Not a good idea for the reliability. I think if you can buy this whole system you can add the costs of 2 drives right now and do the 8 drives vdev you want ;)

 

[Nuus]

Thank you for both of your answers. I originally did not want to get hot swap bays but I did not know if they were that great for a home user. I will not be getting hot swap bays as I'm ok with bringing the server down to swap out disks. I am on the other hand looking to invest in a full 8 disk system now instead of down the line. I don't see my needs changing for this server and the extra space will make this build last a lot longer.

1) I haven't tested the HGST Deskstar but if they are 7200 RPM drives it's not a good idea to use them because they'll be power hungry and will run fairly hot without very decent cooling.

As I'm looking to hold onto this build for years to come the drives right now are the sticking point. With proper ventilation (5+ fans configured for positive case pressure) would the 7200 HGST be the better option over the 5900 WD Reds? Would the change in spin speed even be noticeable for a system like this?



Lastly, is this anything I'm missing that I need for this build? I already have a USB boot device picked out but besides that I don't know if I need anything else.

 

[DifferentStrokes]

Pick up one more USB drive and set the boot drive up in a mirror. Real cheap insurance.

 

[Bidule0hm]

"Would the change in spin speed even be noticeable for a system like this?" If you plan on using a gigabit link then it won't make any difference. With 10G link it might be worth considering it.

So to anwser this question: "would the 7200 HGST be the better option over the 5900 WD Reds?" there is only disadvantages with 7200 RPM drives (except the speed but I already answered this) so I say no ;)

 

[joeschmuck]

I'd be happy to choose your hard drives for you however here is my two cents...

When choosing a drive for other than high availability data (like a data server farm), you can use 5200 or 7200 RPM drives and not see any perceivable difference in throughput when used in a ZFS system. The main difference would be power consumption where the 7200 RPM drives will typically draw more power than a 5200 RPM drive. I would choose the drive based on the warranty period and cost (look for sales). I recommend you do some research on WD Red and HGST quality and easy return for RMA support. I personally like the WD Red 2TB drives.

Do you need six or eight 4TB drives? That is a lot of storage. Whatever you choose you are better off getting it all up front to build your pool. I like the hot swap trays to make it easy to swap out a hard drive and not need to open the case however I would never recommend that you replace a drive with the system running, always shut it down and play it safe. If you do go for the hot swap trays then make sure you buy a good quality one or just forget about it.

Let me address your RAM... The fact that you are purchasing 32GB RAM is a very good thing as this means you will have a very large ARC. The ARC stores data which is accessed frequently and over a period of time will become very efficient and you will find out that it quite possible and probable that your Minecraft server would only read from the hard drive rarely and retrieve most of the data from the ARC. What this means is your throughput will be snappy. I would suggest you contact other FreeNAS builders who are running a Minecraft server, preferably with a similar system specs to see how they run.

Good luck.