4TB shipping!

Wazooo!  Hitachi is now shipping (in limited quantities) 4TB drives!

None too soon as my conversion from 2TB to 3TB drives really isn't expanding my server sufficiently for my needs.

Thank God that v5.0 incorporated support for >2TB drives sooner rather than later!

Kudos to the Lime-Tech team!

Now, if we can just fix the remaining issues and get 5.0 to final status...

Google shopping link

I'm glad to see that it is Hitachi making the drives, as they currently make the best 2 TB and 3 TB drives on the market as well.  I think the prices are pretty reasonable considering the drives are brand new to the market.  Hopefully the 4 TB greens come out soon as well.  I wonder how long Hitachi branded drives will be made since they have been bought out by WD...the first 4 TB greens might actually be WD branded.  Also, we should see 5 TB drives before too long, as 1 TB platters are already available, and there are plenty of 5 platter drives on the market today.  I believe Seagate has already mentioned their plans to release 5 TB drives in 2012.

Here's a quick price breakdown:

4 TB / $350 = 11.4 GB / dollar

3 TB / $300 = 10 GB / dollar

2 TB / $200 = 10 GB / dollar

The above are average prices on 7200 RPM drives, these drives can certainly be had for cheaper during sales.

Keep in mind that the larger your drives are, the longer a parity sync, parity check, and data rebuild will take.  Unless you need the extra storage capacity, I would suggest that sticking with 2 TB drives and the latest stable version of unRAID (currently 4.7) is the safest bet, as critical data rebuilds will finish (and parity protection will be restored) in a much shorter amount of time.

Keep in mind that the larger your drives are, the longer a parity sync, parity check, and data rebuild will take.  Unless you need the extra storage capacity, I would suggest that sticking with 2 TB drives and the latest stable version of unRAID (currently 4.7) is the safest bet, as critical data rebuilds will finish (and parity protection will be restored) in a much shorter amount of time.

I just had an idea. I wonder if it would be possible to implement parity protection as address regions vs. the entire address space. It would probably have to lock out data access during rebuilds and initial builds, so as to keep an already committed region clean. If you could have 500GB chunks operated on and verified clean, you wouldn't have to start all over if the process was interrupted, you could start over at the chunk you were last working on.

Google shopping link

 

I'm glad to see that it is Hitachi making the drives, as they currently make the best 2 TB and 3 TB drives on the market as well.  I think the prices are pretty reasonable considering the drives are brand new to the market.  Hopefully the 4 TB greens come out soon as well.  I wonder how long Hitachi branded drives will be made since they have been bought out by WD...the first 4 TB greens might actually be WD branded.  Also, we should see 5 TB drives before too long, as 1 TB platters are already available, and there are plenty of 5 platter drives on the market today.  I believe Seagate has already mentioned their plans to release 5 TB drives in 2012.

 

Here's a quick price breakdown:

 

4 TB / $350 = 11.4 GB / dollar

3 TB / $300 = 10 GB / dollar

2 TB / $200 = 10 GB / dollar

 

The above are average prices on 7200 RPM drives, these drives can certainly be had for cheaper during sales.

 

Keep in mind that the larger your drives are, the longer a parity sync, parity check, and data rebuild will take.  Unless you need the extra storage capacity, I would suggest that sticking with 2 TB drives and the latest stable version of unRAID (currently 4.7) is the safest bet, as critical data rebuilds will finish (and parity protection will be restored) in a much shorter amount of time.

Raj, you know this is what is holding unraid back, right? If a new customer wants a media solution and finds the unraid web page they are first going to be thrown off by the outdated website, then to see unraid only supports 2TB drives. I doubt that customer will look or read any further. Trust me, I want the community to grow but in the last few months things have died down quite a bit and I think it is because of the lack of drive support and outdated website. I really want to see things move forward, obviously since it will benefit me but of course everyone out there. Now that 4TB drives are on the market, it just sets unraid back another notch. Tom, let us help you!

Google shopping link

 

I'm glad to see that it is Hitachi making the drives, as they currently make the best 2 TB and 3 TB drives on the market as well.  I think the prices are pretty reasonable considering the drives are brand new to the market.  Hopefully the 4 TB greens come out soon as well.  I wonder how long Hitachi branded drives will be made since they have been bought out by WD...the first 4 TB greens might actually be WD branded.  Also, we should see 5 TB drives before too long, as 1 TB platters are already available, and there are plenty of 5 platter drives on the market today.  I believe Seagate has already mentioned their plans to release 5 TB drives in 2012.

 

Here's a quick price breakdown:

 

4 TB / $350 = 11.4 GB / dollar

3 TB / $300 = 10 GB / dollar

2 TB / $200 = 10 GB / dollar

 

The above are average prices on 7200 RPM drives, these drives can certainly be had for cheaper during sales.

 

Keep in mind that the larger your drives are, the longer a parity sync, parity check, and data rebuild will take.  Unless you need the extra storage capacity, I would suggest that sticking with 2 TB drives and the latest stable version of unRAID (currently 4.7) is the safest bet, as critical data rebuilds will finish (and parity protection will be restored) in a much shorter amount of time.

 

 

 

Raj, you know this is what is holding unraid back, right? If a new customer wants a media solution and finds the unraid web page they are first going to be thrown off by the outdated website, then to see unraid only supports 2TB drives. I doubt that customer will look or read any further. Trust me, I want the community to grow but in the last few months things have died down quite a bit and I think it is because of the lack of drive support and outdated website. I really want to see things move forward, obviously since it will benefit me but of course everyone out there. Now that 4TB drives are on the market, it just sets unraid back another notch. Tom, let us help you!

 

opentoe, you've posted the same context into two areas, if you have these concerns go right to the source instead of doing this way.  If you have issues, direct them to who has the power to deal with them, this context does not really fit with the purpose of the original post.

Raj, you know this is what is holding unraid back, right? If a new customer wants a media solution and finds the unraid web page they are first going to be thrown off by the outdated website, then to see unraid only supports 2TB drives. I doubt that customer will look or read any further. Trust me, I want the community to grow but in the last few months things have died down quite a bit and I think it is because of the lack of drive support and outdated website. I really want to see things move forward, obviously since it will benefit me but of course everyone out there. Now that 4TB drives are on the market, it just sets unraid back another notch. Tom, let us help you!

Yes, I'm well aware of the obsolete LimeTech website.  I personally have implored LimeTech to update their site, suggested revisions, and even offered to do the work for them.

Also, what you said isn't exactly true.  unRAID does support 4 TB drives, but only in the latest beta versions.  While I still recommend 4.7 to my clients, many people use unRAID beta on their production servers with no issues whatsoever.

Raj, you know this is what is holding unraid back, right? If a new customer wants a media solution and finds the unraid web page they are first going to be thrown off by the outdated website, then to see unraid only supports 2TB drives. I doubt that customer will look or read any further. Trust me, I want the community to grow but in the last few months things have died down quite a bit and I think it is because of the lack of drive support and outdated website. I really want to see things move forward, obviously since it will benefit me but of course everyone out there. Now that 4TB drives are on the market, it just sets unraid back another notch. Tom, let us help you!

I probably want > 2TB support more than most people.  I have two 3TB drives just awaiting use - and files piling up on non parity protected drives on other computers.

However - how many solutions out there really support > 2TB right now?  Solutions where you don't have to have all drives powered up at all times...  Solutions that don't cost twice as much because it's their custom hardware...?  I don't know of any.  Assuming Tom gets an RC out in the next few months, I'll still be pretty happy.  I know the current setbacks are outside his control.

The web page isn't that horrible.  I know that's not a ringing endorsement - but I'd much rather have him working on putting out b15 right now than updating the website.

got to figure out at what price I will buy these drives.

Google shopping link

 

I'm glad to see that it is Hitachi making the drives, as they currently make the best 2 TB and 3 TB drives on the market as well.  I think the prices are pretty reasonable considering the drives are brand new to the market.  Hopefully the 4 TB greens come out soon as well.  I wonder how long Hitachi branded drives will be made since they have been bought out by WD...the first 4 TB greens might actually be WD branded.  Also, we should see 5 TB drives before too long, as 1 TB platters are already available, and there are plenty of 5 platter drives on the market today.  I believe Seagate has already mentioned their plans to release 5 TB drives in 2012.

 

Here's a quick price breakdown:

 

4 TB / $350 = 11.4 GB / dollar

3 TB / $300 = 10 GB / dollar

2 TB / $200 = 10 GB / dollar

 

The above are average prices on 7200 RPM drives, these drives can certainly be had for cheaper during sales.

 

Keep in mind that the larger your drives are, the longer a parity sync, parity check, and data rebuild will take.  Unless you need the extra storage capacity, I would suggest that sticking with 2 TB drives and the latest stable version of unRAID (currently 4.7) is the safest bet, as critical data rebuilds will finish (and parity protection will be restored) in a much shorter amount of time.

If you include the cost of the SATA port then the results are even more dramatic.

Assume a SATA port in the server costs $100, i.e., a 6 drive server costs $600.

4 TB / ($350+$100) = 8.89 GB / dollar

3 TB / ($300+$100) = 7.5 GB / dollar

2 TB / ($200+$100) = 6.67 GB / dollar

If you include the cost of the SATA port then the results are even more dramatic.

 

Assume a SATA port in the server costs $100, i.e., a 6 drive server costs $600.

 

4 TB / ($350+$100) = 8.89 GB / dollar

3 TB / ($300+$100) = 7.5 GB / dollar

2 TB / ($200+$100) = 6.67 GB / dollar

Too early in the morning, but something about your math is nagging me as being wrong.

If you are throwing in the SATA port cost, then you are talking about Capacity Costs.

So wouldn't it be:

4*1024 GB / ($350+$100) = 9.10 GB / $

3*1024 GB / (($300+$100)*(3/4)) = 10.24 GB / $

2*1024 GB / (($200+$100)*(2/4)) = 13.65 GB / $

That would show you the Capacity Cost for 4 TB (apples to apples) since it would take 2 2TB drives and ports to have 4TB worth of capacity.

Greywolf is right, but it would be an better example if you showed complete costs for building a unRAID of capacity X. The lowest X is 12TB and fits with the $600 server, almost..

12TB using 4TB drives

$600 server + (3) 4TB data drives $1050 + (1) 4TB parity drive $350 = $2000 (server can grow to 20tb)

12TB using 3TB drives

$600 server + (4) 3TB data drives $1200 + (1) 3TB parity drive $300 = $2100 (server can grow to 15tb)

12TB using 2TB drives (doesn't fit)

$600 server + (6) 2TB data drives $1200 + (1) 2TB parity drive $200 + something to get the last drive connected = $2000 (server is full and overflowed)

Today a 4TB is $299, a 3TB is $219, a 2TB is $104

$600 + $900 + $300 = $1800

$600 + $880 + $220 = $1700

$600 + $624 + $104 = $1330 (7 drives in $600 server)

I purchased my 4tb at $199 and 2tb were $76 that day.

I also agree with Greywolf. But I think c3's method is better like this:

$400 + $897 + $299 = $1,596

$500 + $876 + $219 = $1,595

$700 + $624 + $104 = $1,428

This type of analysis is not straight-forward because the 2TB server in this example becomes more valuable once higher capacity drives become cheaper per GB than 2TB drives.

With these prices it's cheaper to build 2 servers with 2TB drives than one server with 4TB drives. Of course power consumption is doubled.

I also agree with Greywolf. But I think c3's method is better like this:

 

$400 + $897 + $299 = $1,596

$500 + $876 + $219 = $1,595

$700 + $624 + $104 = $1,428

 

This type of analysis is not straight-forward because the 2TB server in this example becomes more valuable once higher capacity drives become cheaper per GB than 2TB drives.

 

With these prices it's cheaper to build 2 servers with 2TB drives than one server with 4TB drives. Of course power consumption is doubled.

The only problem is you are indicating buying/building the server for $400-$600, when that is really a fixed cost.

It doesn't make sense to calculate the server as a fixed cost though. A typical motherboard has 6 x SATA ports. I could build a simple server using a single 4 drive hotswap bay and stick 4 x 4T inside to get 12T of data storage. You would have to use 2 x 4 drive hotswap bays + a 2-port SATA card to be able to stick 7 x 2T drives inside your server to get the same 12T of data storage. If we both started with the same basic parts then your 2T drive server would cost about $120 more compared to my 4T drive server.

If we're talking 21 x 2T drives to make a 40T server then you'd be using 4 x 5-bay hotswaps + something to hold the parity. I could build a server with 2 x 5-bay hotswaps and still hit 40T but I could save ~$220 in hotswap bays, ~$140 on a SATA card and likely a cheaper power supply too.

The server isn't a fixed cost or a cost per port. It starts out as a fixed cost for X number of drives and then has a cost to expand by X new slots. For example, your server may cost $400 for 5 drives and then $180 to add the capacity for 5 more drives.

Peter

Well, for $700 $800 (got to pay Tom) I get a server for up to 20 drives. You need 4 drives, I need 18, same cost + drives.

Well, for $700 $800 (got to pay Tom) I get a server for up to 20 drives. You need 4 drives, I need 18, same cost + drives.

Why would I build a 20 bay server if I only need 4 drives?

Has anyone installed a 4TB drive?

I had assumed that because my HP Microserver supported 3TB drives, 4TB drives would also work. Apparently, not -- the AMD SB800 Southbridge only supports drives up to 3.2TB: http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=958208&page=316

I checked the latest firmware for the Adaptec 1430SA and that states it supports "drives over 2TB", so I'm assuming that will work with 4TB drives. Has anyone connected a 4TB drive to a 1430SA?

Given the price of 3TB drives, I have been shopping for 4TB drives, as the price differential isn't that great.

Where are you guys seeing 4tb drives being sold for $350? The only 4tb drive i see on Newegg is listed at $399.99.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145563

Also does anyone know if these drive would work with unraid beta 5.+ and if so which version

Seagate model STAC4000100 not available for $299(seagate.com)-$329(B+H), external 7200rpm.