Moving from Windows to Ubuntu - Have some questions

Thanks :smiley: alot, I would like it to say +5V with 25A not 20A? Or am i wrong again? ;p

I was referring that 4U-4736 case (4x6 in front). I have few Dell sc200 (https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/dell-compellent-sc200/docs). You can get one for around $120 total. It has 2U 4x3 layout, so similar to the inter tech. It is really a nice design, but Dell made it really hard to deal with.

I think that 4F28 may be a not the best case. It is hard to tell how close to each other the new 18 TB drives will be there, and also the HD cassette looks like a vibration heaven.

I have not seen any good reports that would be examining what temps are really good for HDs. So, your temps are looking OK, just don’t let them creep up during the hotter days. Drives usually have operating temps up to 60 C, but I would not want to test it.

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yes exactly. I mean 20A is also fine, it’s just 25A gives a bit more headroom to add more disks in the future.

It’s really hard to find any sort of conclusive data on this indeed. But the last time I had a look around at the various reports, I came to the conclusion that 45C is the max you want to have and that below 40 is better. Didn’t save all the links but I think I looked mostly at the reports from backblaze.

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Linux with Chia can see NTFS plots fine.

Just make sure you didn’t make the drives read only when you were on Windows otherwise you won’t be able to replot on the NTFS partition and would need to format. (Sometimes Chia farmers make the drives read only in their farms )

Some HBA’s do not like consumer/gaming motherboards so be careful. Gigabyte and Aorus for instance don’t play nice with LSI HBA’s (they are the most common HBA’s) All workstation and server stuff seems fine though. (My LSI HBA is working fine on an MSI Gaming Carbon motherboard and it most definitely didn’t work on my Gigabyte board)

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Here are my problems with that statement.

I would read it that there is some substantial difference between 40 and 45C, as 40C is really, really good, where 45C is more or less a crash point. Assuming this is vaguely correct, we see that 45C as a beginning of a burn slope. However, the operating temps provided by manufacturers go up to 60C, what is 15C higher. This to me puts into question such statements.

I would assume that if you go back with a broken HD to the manufacturer 1 day before warranty ends, and somehow you managed to run that HD for those 5 years at 60C, they will still replace it for you. If they would smell anything threatening about that 60C max temp, they would immediately amend specs to top at 50C, and limit the warranty to 4 years or so. However, they don’t do it.

Again, I am on the same page as you are. For now, I set my JBOD max temp to 37C and the minute the code sees any disk at 38C, it starts revving up fans (making more noise). So, that is really great from temps point of view (at least on my mental side). However, I pulled that 37/38C out of the hat and have zero data to support it. Sure, I want to stay as far as possible from 60C, but where the paranoia starts.

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Thanks for the response again :).

Ill try to avoid Dell as much as possible, Ive had one Dell pc before and never again lol ;p.

Would like to build an ordinary PC in a rack case with a ATX motherboard aswell. Any thougts on other cases that could work for me? Or am I better of with the Fractal Design 7XL?

Dont have 18 disk in one case now, but my tempratures are pretty ok:

image

Cold outside today, so they will be hotter in summertime :slight_smile:

Thanks for the response!

If I where to build a new PC for 20-30 HDDS, any LSI HBA and motherboard you can recommend that you know will work together?

And is there any need to buy an 12Gb HBA instead of a 6Gb HBA?

One more thing:

Im buying the: “Seagate EXOS X18 SATA 18TB” for the farming.

This is whats cheapest where I am from (Norway). Ill pay around 350$ pr. drive.

So my ROI pr. drive is like 5 years.
Are the harddrives expectet to last much more than 5 years?
Whould you buy another type of drive?

Sorry you had bad, I’ve been using Dell servers and PC for the past 18 years and I’m still cooking ok.
.
I would like to know what model you had? Desktop, laptop etc?

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Ive had an desktop :). But there are no cases for racks that would take and ATX motherboard and have good enough airflow for normal 18TB Sata drives? ;p

Just asking, do you remember the model number, I had hundreds of Dell desktops in two labs in Boca Raton, Fl back in the day.

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Correction on my side.

I didn’t mean to convey that Dell devices are bad or inferior. I mostly used Dell laptops and was kind of happy with them (sure they had limitations, but virtually all laptops have). I have one Dell t7610 workstation that is about 10 years old, and it is a really good workhorse for plotting, whether CPU or GPU based plots. Those Dell sc200 JBODs are also about 10 years old, and are well designed / build; however, technology changed (thicker drives (less airflow room) but using less power (too much overbuilt PSUs)), plus they were designed for computer centers where virtually everything is on UPSes, plus ambient temps are kept below 20C.

Would I buy a new Dell desktop, hell not. For my whole life I was building my own desktops, and I really despise choices that companies like Dell make (e.g., those damn fans use different connectors (in both that workstation and those JBODs), their SAS expander is using standard 4 pin power connector but assholes switched on 12V line for 5 and most people learn about it after they try to make it work, also that serial port is based on PS2 connector using arbitrary pins for standard serial port line - so they can sell you $50 serial port cable) - I cut some old cables I had and spliced them together to make it work.

And again, I am struggling with those sc200 JBODs, but still would consider those as one of the best options. Thing to consider about those JBODs is that you can buy a 12 slot JBOD for $120, and it includes PSU, and all the SAS goodies / connectors. It is really hard to beat those price (unless you are @Voodoo and have access to platform 9 3/4 and can buy some really good stuff on Diagon Alley).

Maybe one of the best option for a medium farm are Syba 8 bay units (@drhicom is the guy here), but those cost about 2x the price of those sc200, and most likely still may need some big ass fan in front of them. I really like those enclosures. Maybe that would be the best way for you to go - basically 1 USB cable that holds 8 HDs in a well built enclosure.

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Works for me :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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IBM LSI 44E8701 SAS3445E-R L3-25139-00G PCIe RAID Controller Card works with MSI Gaming Carbon motherboard. (i5-8400)

This particular card also has 4 sata ports on it as well if you needed more ports internally.

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Thanks for all the help!

Bought a new 18TB so I can start the process with copying change all my drives to Ext4 ;p.

Any tips for a first time linux user? Go for Gui or cli? ;p

Bought a " Seagate Ironwolf Pro 18TB 3.5" Serial ATA-600", 250$ is a fair price when its used right? First used drive I buy ;p (2 years old)

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Comes with a 2-year warranty from “Tech on Tech” (which is the seller).

I had issued a warranty for a failed drive, and they made it simple and fast in honoring the warranty and getting me a replacement (two days for my failed drive to reach them (in Florida, USA), and they shipped my replacement on the day they received my failed drive, and I got it 2 days later – 4 days in all).

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do they honor warranty if buy those on amazon? I found the warranty on the website but not on their amazon store

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Please provide the Amazon link.
I’ll take a look.

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This is a great case for beginners( not using HBAs) I got a same one in china for about $65 and it costs $90 to ship it to US :joy: But still cheaper than buying it locally. I am using two pcie to 12 sata cards on motherboard.

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