[mythtv-users] NAS mobo

[Brian Wood]

Yan Seiner wrote:
> John Drescher wrote:
>> On Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 8:24 AM, Yan Seiner <yan at seiner.com> wrote:
>>   
>>> I found a case that will take 20 SATA hard drives.  Cool!  So now I'm
>>> looking for a mobo that can use all 20 drives.  I can get (relatively
>>> inexpensive) 4 and 8 port SATA cards, so I need something that uses
>>> little power, has fast ethernet and can sustain the data transfer rates
>>> that 20 hard drives can generate.
>>>
>>> I'm thinking server class, but at the same time, all I need is ethernet
>>> and disk throughput.
>>>
>>> Any suggestions?
>>>
>>>     
>> Not even 10G Ethernet will sustain the data transfer rates that 20
>> hard drives can generate. 
> Yeah, I didn't phrase that right.  I am looking to build a single large 
> RAID array.  Speed in and out of the box will be bound by ethernet 
> speeds; my concern is if the mobo can handle the traffic on the PCI 
> bus.  The reason I ask is that I had a problem with a mobo that couldn't 
> handle 6 drives - it would periodically 'collapse' and just start 
> thrashing aimlessly.  I've also had problems with a mobo that couldn't 
> handle ethernet + HD activity very well.
> 
> I can imagine that a couple of PCI-*x SATA cards plus 6 on-board SATA 
> ports can cause quite a few interrupts internally.
> 
> So I'm looking for any suggestions for chipsets / brands /etc to 
> use/stay away from, and so on.

I'd start with the best power supply you can find, and a lot of cooling.

Historically some of the VIA chipsets have had DMA problems, probably
not a "feature" you would want with that setup, so I'd stay away from them.

Are you looking at 32-bit PCI cards or 64-bit ones. The latter are
generally only found on server class motherboards, but would obviously
be better for what you propose.

You also have to decide whether to go with hardware RAID or software.
With a fairly fast CPU Linux software RAID is pretty good these days,
and hardware RAID for that many drives would be expensive. If it were me
I'd go with S/W RAID.

Interesting project though, but I'm not sure I'd put all my HDDs in one
basket, so to speak.

beww