From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Nov 18 13:51:24 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0162410656C9 for ; Thu, 18 Nov 2010 13:51:24 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mike@sentex.net) Received: from smarthost1.sentex.ca (smarthost1-6.sentex.ca [IPv6:2607:f3e0:0:1::12]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id ADC9D8FC21 for ; Thu, 18 Nov 2010 13:51:23 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [IPv6:2607:f3e0:0:4:808a:bf97:8eb:f23b] ([IPv6:2607:f3e0:0:4:808a:bf97:8eb:f23b]) by smarthost1.sentex.ca (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id oAIDpFxO058437 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-CAMELLIA256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Thu, 18 Nov 2010 08:51:15 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from mike@sentex.net) Message-ID: <4CE52F49.4010602@sentex.net> Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2010 08:51:05 -0500 From: Mike Tancsa User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2.12) Gecko/20101027 Thunderbird/3.1.6 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Andy Wodfer References: In-Reply-To: X-Enigmail-Version: 1.1.1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.67 on IPv6:2607:f3e0:0:1::12 Cc: freebsd-questions Subject: Re: FreeBSD and large harddrives X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2010 13:51:24 -0000 On 11/18/2010 7:16 AM, Andy Wodfer wrote: > Hi, > I'm going to build a server that's intended to store uncompressed videofiles > (where 1 hour film equals about 500GB). I plan on using Western Digital 2TB > or 3TB SATA harddrives. Total storage in version 1 of this server will > probably be 8-12 TB. Harddrive speed is not so important so a 5400rpm drive > would be OK. Seems like the green line of WD harddrives use both 5400rpm and > 7200rpm. I will use RAID 5. I would stay away from the green series hard drives for this application. There have been a number of reports of issues with the drive's power saving design causing problems when used in raid arrays. Search the list for more details. Use their black series instead. > > The processor will be a 64bit capable Intel processor and I plan on using a > Highpoint Rocketraid or 3ware Raid controller. I would use FreeBSD 8.2 ( a contemporary RELENG_8 snapshot in other words) that is AMD64. eg ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/snapshots/201011/FreeBSD-8.1-STABLE-201011-amd64-dvd1.iso Use ZFS for the file system. Snapshots for backup and data integrity. 3Wares are great controllers, but a decent MB with 6 SATA ports and then an additional eSata controller with external drive cage like this one. http://www.addonics.com/products/host_controller/adsa3gpx8-4e.asp see the man page for ahci on what is supported. Booting off zfs is a bit tricky. If you already have the 3ware card, a pair of smaller / cheaper drives for the base OS and then all your zfs drives for data storage is the least painful way to go right now. I do this for my backup server. 10TB of storage, but the box boots off a 3ware raid card in raid1 mirror for the base OS. ZFS is a bit of a different beast at first, but its very worth while to get to know and understand. ---Mike