80 replies to this topic

[capall]

Hi all,
I just got my new microserver (and my first server) and ready to set it up, but am a bit confused on some of of the options. My plan is to use it for PC backup's and streaming music/movies

Setup plan;
Install WHS2011 on the 250GB drive.
Buy two 1Tb or 2TB WD green drives, using one as a mirror. When I need more space I'll either make do with one more without a mirror or, move the OS to the ODD and swap out the 250GB for a larger one, then have 2 more large drives mirrored. I'll use an external USB drive as an server backup and possibly online as well.

Where I need some is help is with the drives and memory. From reading the forums, best or sufficient would be to use the WD green drives, but which ones?. There's various versions of 1Tb and 2Tb on newegg, and I don't know which one to get.

SATA 3.0Gb/s; WDBAAY0020HNC-NRSN 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
SATA 3.0Gb/s; WD20EARS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

and similar naming conventions in 1TB sizes

For RAM, I understand I need the following type; PC3 10600, DDR3 1333 ECC unbuffered, 240pin. Am I OK to use any memory that has this in the title, and use crucial, Gskil or kingston?


Thanks
derek

[ikon]

Just to clarify, when you say you would swap out the 250GB drive for a larger one, are you still planning on having the OS on its own drive, and not use the OS drive for data? I would recommend that you do just that - do not use the OS drive for data.

I think you can tell from the number of reviews that the EARS drives are quite a bit older than the HNC. Not sure if the HNC drives are significantly different or not.

For RAM, the most popular I've seen in these forums is the GSkill RipJaws.

[capall]

thanks for the response,

yes correct, OS always on its own drive, thanks for the re-enforcement. Although I think as I expand, I will be fine with the OS in drive 1 (the pre-installed 250GB), data in drive 2 mirrored on drive 3, and drive 4 for music and video. If my video gets bigger I'll just dedicate a server to it.

So HNC are the replacement for EARS..and then is the EARX the new version again which operate at 6Gb/s ?

[Joe_Miner]

Hi all,
I just got my new microserver (and my first server) and ready to set it up, but am a bit confused on some of of the options. My plan is to use it for PC backup's and streaming music/movies

Setup plan;
Install WHS2011 on the 250GB drive.
Buy two 1Tb or 2TB WD green drives, using one as a mirror. When I need more space I'll either make do with one more without a mirror or, move the OS to the ODD and swap out the 250GB for a larger one, then have 2 more large drives mirrored. I'll use an external USB drive as an server backup and possibly online as well.

Where I need some is help is with the drives and memory. From reading the forums, best or sufficient would be to use the WD green drives, but which ones?. There's various versions of 1Tb and 2Tb on newegg, and I don't know which one to get.

SATA 3.0Gb/s; WDBAAY0020HNC-NRSN 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
SATA 3.0Gb/s; WD20EARS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

and similar naming conventions in 1TB sizes

For RAM, I understand I need the following type; PC3 10600, DDR3 1333 ECC unbuffered, 240pin. Am I OK to use any memory that has this in the title, and use crucial, Gskil or kingston?


Thanks
derek

Welcome to the Forums and congratulations on your new MicroServer. Your MicroServer is a very capable little machine so before settling on a specific plan ......

I would recommend you read through many of the threads in the MicroServer Forum starting with the "links" thread http://homeserversho...roserver-links/

and http://homeserversho...dification.html

For RAM check this post in the MicroServer Forum http://homeserversho...nt-microserver/

I'm actually using the Kingston 8GB that Dieharder is using and had recommended and have had very good luck with it.

but be sure to check out the Wiki

Edited by Joe_Miner, 24 May 2012 - 04:29 PM.

[capall]

will do, thanks

[Joe_Miner]

Hi all,
I just got my new microserver (and my first server) and ready to set it up, but am a bit confused on some of of the options. My plan is to use it for PC backup's and streaming music/movies

Setup plan;
Install WHS2011 on the 250GB drive.
Buy two 1Tb or 2TB WD green drives, using one as a mirror. When I need more space I'll either make do with one more without a mirror or, move the OS to the ODD and swap out the 250GB for a larger one, then have 2 more large drives mirrored. I'll use an external USB drive as an server backup and possibly online as well.

Where I need some is help is with the drives and memory. From reading the forums, best or sufficient would be to use the WD green drives, but which ones?. There's various versions of 1Tb and 2Tb on newegg, and I don't know which one to get.

SATA 3.0Gb/s; WDBAAY0020HNC-NRSN 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
SATA 3.0Gb/s; WD20EARS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

-snip-

For $119.99 or the same price as the WD20EARS but with free shipping (so it's actually cheaper!!!) you can get the Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARX 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive and these are nice drives, IMHO. As you can see in my Signature block below I'm using them in my WHS-V1 and am very happy with their performance even though I have them plugged into SATA-II ports. I also like the 64MB cache.

[capall]

thanks Joe,
yes saw those as well, so in terms of old to newer technology they increase in speed and cache; , going from EARS (sata II, 3.0Gb/s) to HNC (sata II, 3.0Gb/s) to EARX (sata III, 6.0Gb/s).

thanks

[jmwills]

Stay away from memory DIMMS with the heat fins. They will not fit in the Microserver.

[ikon]

Stay away from memory DIMMS with the heat fins. They will not fit in the Microserver.

That's good info for Micro-Server owners. It cuts out a fair bit of the Corsair RAM.

[jmwills]

Yea, but I wondered what would happen to the actual performance of the memory if you removed those fins????

[ikon]

Depending on the make/model, that can be a bit tricky - some of them are glued on pretty tightly.

[jmwills]

I guess I could "alter the design shape" (read as bend).

[ikon]

Can you say "Dremel"? I knew you could

[jmwills]

I don't speak Canadian!

[capall]

could someone explain the difference between these drives

1. WDBAAY0020HNC-NRSN vs WD20EARS

2. WD20EARS vs WD20EARX (is this just the 3Gb/s vs 6 ?)

thanks

[MarkJohnson]

I bought one of the 2tb ears when they first came out. I had to rma it twice and they sent me 2tb black drive the last time. I guess they've had too much problems with them at first. I did however, get another 20ears with my server as a combo deal. It has been fine for a couple months so far.

As for memory, I bought the 8gb (2 X 4gb) Kingston KVR1333D3E9SK2/8G. They work great.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820139262

I don't know if I'd trust the Ripjaws as they are high performance memory and may need manually setup and this board doesn't allow it. Plus the heatspeaders may have issues. Those high performance memory also use high density memory and they are more picky than the generic value memory which use low density.

remember whs 2011 has a max of 8GB memory. If you need more memory then you'll need 2008r2. Also, this server only uses 800MHz ram. So any higher will be dropped back down to 800MHz.

[q]could someone explain the difference between these drives

1. WDBAAY0020HNC-NRSN vs WD20EARS

2. WD20EARS vs WD20EARX (is this just the 3Gb/s vs 6 ?)[/q]

1. EARS has 64MB cache and is a bare drive (OEM)

2. Yes, the EARX is SATA III, but I doubt it will be even close to that speed. I'm sure the EARS will be exactly the same since, HDDs barely surpass SATA I speeds (1.5Mb/s).

-=Mark=-

[ikon]

I don't know if I'd trust the Ripjaws as they are high performance memory and may need manually setup and this board doesn't allow it.

I'm curious about this comment. I've never seen a situation where higher performance memory doesn't work on a lower performance motherboard. My issues have always fine-tuning RAM to run on high performance mobos. As you state, higher-clock-capable RAM will simply run slower on a lower-clock mobo.This sounds interesting. Can you elaborate a bit?

[MarkJohnson]

I'm curious about this comment. I've never seen a situation where higher performance memory doesn't work on a lower performance motherboard. My issues have always fine-tuning RAM to run on high performance mobos. As you state, higher-clock-capable RAM will simply run slower on a lower-clock mobo.This sounds interesting. Can you elaborate a bit?

You normally see this on memory compatibility issues. Sometimes the system won't boot at all. It can be a simple setting issue, or the memory won't work at stock voltage and need to be bumped up. Remeber, standard ddr3 memory runs at 1333MHz and any higher is overclocking. Same with ddr2, it is 667. With ddr2 high speed memory I always had big issues with voltage rather than settings as well as short memory life from high voltages.

In most cases it is a simple memory adjustment in the BIOS, it's just sometimes you can't get into the BIOS from the system not passing POST. A BIOS update can fix things as memory compatibility is added, but flashing a new BIOS with an unstable system can kill the BIOS and leave your system unbootable and you'll need a new BIOS chip installed.

A general rule of thumb is memory without heatsinks have low density chips and are more compatible (more forgiving of timing settings). Memory with heatsinks use high density memory and are more finicky on timings and usually require higher voltages.

With ddr3 memory, it is usually more of memory settings. I'd guess 90% of DIY computer build issues are memory compatibility related. Especially random errors.

I hope that makes enough sense
-=Mark=-

[ikon]

so you're basically saying the memory in question doesn't meet standard specs for its designation (DDR2, DDR3, etc.) right out of the box?

[MarkJohnson]

I know very little of the standards. I just know there are many, many, issues of memory problems for all motherboards. It's so bad that each manufacturer has memory compatibility lists for each board they make. Getting anything outside this list can be a huge headache.

Each chip makers need different values for each setting for the way thier chips are designed. I magine copyright laws and such interfere here. so auto settings are kind of hard to measure properly. not to mention different memory controllers on MB.

But, you'd think if they have a ddr3 standard, then any/all ddr3 should work! Maybe they just need to get together and make stricter standards? I know ddr4 is around the corner as we speak. Probably next round. Maybe they'll be better standardized?

Well, it's past my bedtime.
-=Mark=-