HP MS G8 B120i mixing RAID and JBOD

[schoondoggy 805]

Some possible use cases for the G8 may include having a single boot drive and a pair of drives mirrored. HP RAID controllers don't have a pass-through/JBOD mode, but if you want to run a single drive on it, you can create a RAID0 with a single drive. I have tested this with WS 2012 and it works fine.

[Joe_Miner 254]

Just thinking out loud but shouldn't it be possible to have an OS drive in slot 1 (SATA III), a VM drive in Slot 2 (SATA III) and then data drives mirrored in Slots 3 & 4 (SATA II) is someone was running S2012R2E

[schoondoggy 805]

Just thinking out loud but shouldn't it be possible to have an OS drive in slot 1 (SATA III), a VM drive in Slot 2 (SATA III) and then data drives mirrored in Slots 3 & 4 (SATA II) is someone was running S2012R2E

You could do that. You would just create two RAID0 single drive and a RAID1 with a pair. 

[ikon 438]

Single drive RAID0. That's funny. Almost seems a contradiction in terms to label a single drive as any kind of RAID

[pcbrew 3]

Newbie here looking to replace my EX-485 that is dying and had some questions about single disk RAID.

I happened upon this forum and the Gen8 info looking for replacement options and want to say this is a great resource.  

 

Background

Usage is for home storage & backup with central music and picture storage.  

I am also using the MMS to host my DVD rips (plain .mpg  files) served up via pytivo to my TiVos.

I also plan to run Plex and serve mp4 conversions to a couple of Rokus - these will be ROku friendly so no trancoding needed.

 

I ordered a Gen8 from Newegg last week when I found a combo deal with the $360 pricing ($410 - $50 rebate) and 2x 2TB drives for another $110.  

I also picked up WHS 2011 and a 128GB SSD based on other threads here and just ordered an 8GB memory stick (KTH-PL316E/8G).

BTW, I ordered this FDD to SATA power cable as the one eBay item linked here looks too short to reach from MB to the top bay (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812270329)

 

I am planning to install the OS on the SSD and mount in the ODD drive bay as described here and assume the SSD SATA will not require RAID setup.

 

But, my questions concerns the setup of the storage drives...  

With the 2x2TB drives from the Newegg special, I was planning to use DrivePool to manage the drives and duplicate my critical data (backups and music and photos) across both disks.  I wanted 4GB storage so was considering setting up the controller in AHCI mode instead of RAID to let DrivePool manage things.  But, I have read other threads here saying the server's fan management works best in RAID mode and they run noisy in AHCI mode.  So, this thread piqued my interest and was wondering about configuring 2 data drives, each in 1-disk RAID 0 to maintain quiet operation.  Would that work and would I face any issues?

 

My plan would be to eventually add 2x3TB WD Red drives sometime later when I can score a deal on them.

I hope, based on above, I can configure them as either single RAID 0

But, wanted to ask if the RAID settings can be set in pairs - 2x2TB in RAID0 + 2x3TB i RAID0 and then let DrivePool duplicate ciritcal data across the pairs of drives?  (I assume DrivePool would see and treat each of the RAID 0 pairs as a single unit.)

[schoondoggy 805]

The NewEgg cable has the wrong FDD end on it. The ebay referenced cable is long enough as the power connection is up in the ODD bay.

 

You can do any of the configurations you have referenced above. Technically, they would all work, but,,,,,

If you are comfortable with DrivePool I would run the controller in ACHI mode and see how loud the fan is. Perhaps HP has come up with a resolution to that. You can put your two drives in RAID 0, but I am not a fan of RAID 0 for data drives, no redundancy. If you loose one drive you loose it all.

[psikey 32]

Single drive RAID0. That's funny. Almost seems a contradiction in terms to label a single drive as any kind of RAID

 

Mine is currently configured as 5 separate RAID 0 drives on the B120i.

 

SATA 5 (the ODD connection) is my SSD boot OS drive then the 4 drives are polled with Stablebit DrivePool.

[schoondoggy 805]

Mine is currently configured as 5 separate RAID 0 drives on the B120i.

 

SATA 5 (the ODD connection) is my SSD boot OS drive then the 4 drives are polled with Stablebit DrivePool.

Has HP been able to help with the fan noise/speed issue?

[schoondoggy 805]

The NewEgg cable has the wrong FDD end on it. The ebay referenced cable is long enough as the power connection is up in the ODD bay.

 

You can do any of the configurations you have referenced above. Technically, they would all work, but,,,,,

If you are comfortable with DrivePool I would run the controller in ACHI mode and see how loud the fan is. Perhaps HP has come up with a resolution to that. You can put your two drives in RAID 0, but I am not a fan of RAID 0 for data drives, no redundancy. If you loose one drive you loose it all.

I should clarify, when I say I am not a fan of RAID 0 for data drives, I am referring to your last scenario of 2 drives in a RAID 0.

As psikey states above single drive RAID 0 and DrivePool works fine.

[psikey 32]

Has HP been able to help with the fan noise/speed issue?

 

Keep looking but heard nothing yet.