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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Complete 12-bay RAID

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Brook Willard

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Hey guys,

I'm selling one of the rack-mount RAIDs I've used on my DIT cart. I've since upgraded to a 16-bay unit, so this one's collecting dust. It's in perfect working condition and looks brand new [save a few scratches from installing it into my rack]. Everything's still under warranty - I bought this setup in September of 2008... so it's 6 months old at the most. I moved a few dozen TB through the pipeline in that time - it works. :)

5_1237178942.jpg


Norco DS-1240
Areca ARC-1231ML
3x 1m mini-SAS [SFF-8087] to Infiniband [external multi-lance] cables

I bought the setup after reading the glowing AMUG test/review here. If you read the article, the 1240 has properly supported HDD access lights and the low-clearance screws for installing drives. There really isn't much for me to say beyond what they've said in that review.

It's all still under warranty and functioning properly. I can provide the original invoices for the enclosure and RAID card if you ever have any difficulty and need them for support. I was getting approximately 600MB/s read/write times as measured by my BlackMagic speed test. I configured it to a RAID 6, but the Areca card supports RAID 0, 1, 3, 5, 6 and 10.

I used this RAID on both SouthLAND and ER... so it's a totally famous collector's item too.

Just pick up 12 of your favorite SATA drive [up to 2TB these days...] and load it up. It'll work in late model G5s or any [to my knowledge...] Mac Pro.

I'm gonna say $1,300 for the whole shebang, but as I have no use for it, I'll take reasonable offers. Shoot me a PM or an email.

Brook
 
Hello Brook,
checking Your cable config, it seems that You have kept Your Mac case OPEN, so You could directly connect Areca's internal sas to Nordco's infiniband connectors ?

Regards

Stephan
 
orlando said:
Hello Brook,
checking Your cable config, it seems that You have kept Your Mac case OPEN, so You could directly connect Areca's internal sas to Nordco's infiniband connectors ?

Regards

Stephan
Click to expand...

You don't need to have the case open, you can simply pass the cables through an empty PCI slot.
 
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MisterHilder said:
You don't need to have the case open, you can simply pass the cables through an empty PCI slot.
Click to expand...

Bingo. Areca didn't have an externally ported card I was happy with, so I decided to route internally. I had another tower whose PCI slots were all full. I bought another side door on eBay for a few bucks and drilled a hole in it for the cables. It's a lame workaround, but it does the trick.

Keep in mind that if you're using a single-height graphics card, there's always an open slot on the rear of the computer... even if all of your PCI slots are full.
 
Brook Willard said:
Bingo. Areca didn't have an externally ported card I was happy with, so I decided to route internally. I had another tower whose PCI slots were all full. I bought another side door on eBay for a few bucks and drilled a hole in it for the cables. It's a lame workaround, but it does the trick.

Keep in mind that if you're using a single-height graphics card, there's always an open slot on the rear of the computer... even if all of your PCI slots are full.
Click to expand...

Interesting idea about case drilling :)

I have been using for more than a year now similiar areca setup,
but instead of drilling holes I have put up a following solution:

You connect Areca to
http://www.pc-pitstop.com/sas_cables_adapters/AD8788-4.asp
and than use this cable to Your chassis
http://www.pc-pitstop.com/sas_cables_adapters/8870-1M.asp

Regards

Stephan
 
MisterHilder said:
You don't need to have the case open, you can simply pass the cables through an empty PCI slot.
Click to expand...

Well, many setups don't have empty slots ...
So You either open the case or make a hole, or something third ...
For example most of the machines in my company (10+) are cards full.

Regards
 
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I moved to another generic SATA enclosure to keep the burden on the card. I'm using an as of yet unreleased RAID card to work the magic.
 
I suppose the internal ARC-1231ML controller is not included in that price, correct?
Did you upgrade the memory on the card? Is it included?

I figured out 83% actual space with 2TB drives in a RAID-6 + Spare Drive to be 15TB even.
 
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USlatin said:
I suppose the internal ARC-1231ML controller is not included in that price, correct?
Did you upgrade the memory on the card? Is it included?

I figured out 83% actual space with 2TB drives in a RAID-6 + Spare Drive to be 15TB even.
Click to expand...

Wait! The RAID controller is included in that price. I did not upgrade the memory on the card, but the memory is included.

If you filled it with 2TB drives with a hot spare, you'd be looking at 18GB unformatted.
 
OK, so I am not sure I follow on this... I know there is a RAID card in the enclosure, so that is the Areca ARC-1231ML? And you didn't need a second piece of hardware installed in your Mac? Where did you plug it into exactly?

Sorry to bug, I am just curious to see, but if you felt like it, could you take an actual pic?
 
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There is no RAID controller in the enclosure. I connected the infiniband/SAS cables from the back of the enclosure, through an open PCI slot and into the internal connectors on the 1231.

I'll dig around to see if I have any "up the skirt" pictures from when I had the card running.
 
Great. That is good to know. So you just plugged the card into a port that is inside the case of your computer. Ok. Good, cause this thing is expensive enough.

Does your card come with 256MB, 1GB or 2GB?
 
Brook Willard said:
If you filled it with 2TB drives with a hot spare, you'd be looking at 18GB unformatted.
Click to expand...

Damn, that's quite a loss of storage space! From 18TB down to only 18GB unformatted!

:shocked:

Did you ever get your Mac Pro rack-mounted? Can we get a pic of your new rig, or is it top-secret ninja stuff?

Congrats on wrapping up ER. Wasn't quite my favorite show, but I'm definitely looking forward to Southland...
 
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USlatin said:
Great. That is good to know. So you just plugged the card into a port that is inside the case of your computer. Ok. Good, cause this thing is expensive enough.

Does your card come with 256MB, 1GB or 2GB?
Click to expand...

It comes with the 256MB it shipped with.

Curran Giddens said:
Did you ever get your Mac Pro rack-mounted? Can we get a pic of your new rig, or is it top-secret ninja stuff?
Click to expand...

I'll post some pictures soon, probably in the ER wrap thread I'll put up around when the last episode airs. AJ Cases built me a great solution.
 
Looking forward to the pictures of your setup. I would love to hear more about it and about your tips and tricks for handling the footage. Do you have a thread about it?

It seems that the Areca can only take 800Mhz sticks so the best you could get for it is something like the Mushkin 2GB 800 with 4-4-4-12 timings which is only $30.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146725
 
Brook Willard said:
Bingo. So if somebody wants it faster... they're $30 from the solution. :)

This sucker's still sitting on the floor next to my desk...
Click to expand...

Brook can you confirm this is 6 months old... your original post
said bought Sept 2007... was it just sitting around all that time
and you only used it 6 mos... or was that a typo?

thanks
 
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