9 replies to this topic

[Earlkonig]

First off I want to say hi to you guys. I have read through the forums here off and on for a while, but just decided to go ahead and join. I am at a turning point for my homeserver and was looking for a little insight. I will give a brief run down on where I was and where I think I am going.

• Q9300 processor
• Super Micro x7sbl-ln2 mother board
• 2x Samsung F4 HD204UI
• 4Gb of Kingston ECC unbuffered memory
• 1x Super Micro CSE-M35T
• 1x Antec Earth Watts Green EA380D Continous Power
• 1x Seagate ST3250318AS O/S Drive
• 1x Cooler Master Mid tower case.(sorry cant remember the model)

Well the OS drive failed on me so I pulled a spare ST3500 Seagate out of my main PC to use. After the complete reinstallation of WHS v1, all my addins, and setting up crashplan to back up critical files I noticed that my smart addin was throwing out alerts on the ST3500. So with that said I went a head and ordered a WD2503ABYX for my new system drive and also the new WD30EFRX x3 for additional data drives. Also while I was at it I ordered another set of Kingston ECC memory kit and WHS 2011. I made the decision of jumping onto WHS 2011 because Microsoft will no longer be offering anymore future editions of WHS. I figured this way with OEM support all the way into 2025 I would be covered for a while with updates. The loss of DE isnt that big of a deal and would rather have it as an addin versus as a part of the OS. I plan on running Drive Bender until I can figure out what I want to do with a raid option. Depending on what I do with the raid depends on how I will implement the new drives. They will be the drives I run in raid. Currently I am leaning heavily on the 2720sgl. It will cover the upgradable life of the server hardware I currently have and offers flexibility on hardware failure. All I have to do is just purchase another card versus an aged motherboard. My delima is that I am afraid I will run into issues with the PCI Express X8 slot 1.0 and the card calls for a 2.0. I know that the website for Highpoint shows that the 2720sgl is backwards compatible, but I am looking for real life experience with someone running that card in a 1.0 slot. I plan on modding the case I have now and add an additional Super Micro CSE-M35T hot swap cage to get a total for ten hot swap bays in a mid tower case. This is the direction I am going and I think I have a decent plan for what I want to do. Any feed back or critism is welcomed. Have a good day.

[ikon]

Welcome to the forums.

I wish I could offer advice, but I don't own any HighPoint products. I do know many members think very highly of the 2720, but I don't know about experience with PCIe 1.0.

[pcdoc]

First off I want to say hi to you guys. I have read through the forums here off and on for a while, but just decided to go ahead and join. I am at a turning point for my homeserver and was looking for a little insight. I will give a brief run down on where I was and where I think I am going.

• Q9300 processor
• Super Micro x7sbl-ln2 mother board
• 2x Samsung F4 HD204UI
• 4Gb of Kingston ECC unbuffered memory
• 1x Super Micro CSE-M35T
• 1x Antec Earth Watts Green EA380D Continous Power
• 1x Seagate ST3250318AS O/S Drive
• 1x Cooler Master Mid tower case.(sorry cant remember the model)

Well the OS drive failed on me so I pulled a spare ST3500 Seagate out of my main PC to use. After the complete reinstallation of WHS v1, all my addins, and setting up crashplan to back up critical files I noticed that my smart addin was throwing out alerts on the ST3500. So with that said I went a head and ordered a WD2503ABYX for my new system drive and also the new WD30EFRX x3 for additional data drives. Also while I was at it I ordered another set of Kingston ECC memory kit and WHS 2011. I made the decision of jumping onto WHS 2011 because Microsoft will no longer be offering anymore future editions of WHS. I figured this way with OEM support all the way into 2025 I would be covered for a while with updates. The loss of DE isnt that big of a deal and would rather have it as an addin versus as a part of the OS. I plan on running Drive Bender until I can figure out what I want to do with a raid option. Depending on what I do with the raid depends on how I will implement the new drives. They will be the drives I run in raid. Currently I am leaning heavily on the 2720sgl. It will cover the upgradable life of the server hardware I currently have and offers flexibility on hardware failure. All I have to do is just purchase another card versus an aged motherboard. My delima is that I am afraid I will run into issues with the PCI Express X8 slot 1.0 and the card calls for a 2.0. I know that the website for Highpoint shows that the 2720sgl is backwards compatible, but I am looking for real life experience with someone running that card in a 1.0 slot. I plan on modding the case I have now and add an additional Super Micro CSE-M35T hot swap cage to get a total for ten hot swap bays in a mid tower case. This is the direction I am going and I think I have a decent plan for what I want to do. Any feed back or critism is welcomed. Have a good day.

Unfortunately I have have had PCI Express 1 in awhile but I see no reason is should not work. Most places you buy these from offer a 15-30 day exchange and if there is an issue it will show up right away. As I have 3 of these cards which I have ran and tested in a dozen different motherboards, I would be very very surprised if you had any issues.

[Earlkonig]

Ok a little update and question. I am going to give the 2720sgl a run with the three WD Red 3TB drives I bought in raid 5 configuration. Now to a issue I have. I just finished getting WHS 2011 set up on my PC. When I was running WHS V1 I had no issues on transferring files on the network or from within the server itself. Now my transfer speeds are horrendous. I have a Dell Power Edge gigabit switch and a linksys e4200 router. I never had issues with transfers until this upgrade. Usually when you start a file transfer it starts strong then drops a little. Backups wont even complete. Anyone have any input on this issue. Its enought to make me convert back to WHS V1.

[ikon]

I'm not clear on which machines you're transferring file to/from. In any case, is the router the link between the 2 computers in question?

[Earlkonig]

No. Sorry this is between my windows7 ultimate machine and the whs 2011. The dell power edge gig switch handles these guys for network switching.

[Earlkonig]

Ok i just read this http://homeserversho...ransfer +speeds. The Samsung HD204ui was installed originally on WHS V1. When I did the new install for WHS 2011 I pulled the drives out. I think that I may need to reinstall fresh with the drive inserted since it may be "aligned" to work with WHS V1. I wont be home till the morning and I have multiple backups of my critical and non critical data. So this shouldnt take to long to try. Since the network worked fine on the old WHS V1 install with the same hardware im leaning away from network failure. This problem persist when remote connected to the server and doing file transfers with in. BTW I have Smart 2012 installed and I am not showing any errors.

[Earlkonig]

Looks like I will be going into uncharted territory with the 2720SGL installed on my supermicro x7sbl mobo. I have searched and found nothing. Even searched the card and northbridge chipset. Either later today I will be happy or mad. LOL we will see.

[Earlkonig]

Ok guys it works. Its a definite performance increase. In the end I want to run a five disk raid 5 setup. Right now I am at 3 with the WD Red 3TB drives. I have dedicated the SuperMicro 3 to 5 hot swap bay to just the Raid 5 array. Thanks for the help and the info.

[ikon]

Glad to hear it's all working as you hoped. Congrats. Don't be a stranger. We're here all week...