Ever a limit on hard-drives?
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From: Paul on 3 Jan 2010 22:18 Brian V wrote: > Thank you again. > > From what I'v been reading , learning and being told by people in this post > and in other posts: I think I will be fine. > > I also am comming to the conclusion that my computer is designed to handle > what I want to do with it. Eg: I'v looked at some of the current video > editing programs, and my system can still handle these. > > I may or may not upgrade to TB hard-drives (internal), but I think that > smaller ones 500gb could do. I do want back-ups of the music files, etc. The > smaller drives could be fine with the externals. But TB inside would be a bit > more secure instead of a potential drop on the floor like an external. > > I looked at an app that checks the drives temp. It said 49 degrees C. The > CPUS were 49 and 50 degrees C. Is this too hot? > > Does windows/microsoft have an app in the control panel? I don't know which > tool works for that. > > I run XP service pack 3. Had to install in safe-mode. Works like a charm. > > What adapters are needed philo? Is that just the piece that goes in the > expansion port? Or do I need to get something else for the mobo > (motherboard?)? > > Do larger drives suck more power? I assume the power requirements are not > the same for a 400Gb drive or a 1.5Tb drive. Where can I find it out if > needed? I havn't seen this in the specs on store web-sites. > > Lastly: Just say I installed a drive that was too big for the OS or hardware > to handle. What would happen? Would it just not be recognized? Would I see > only a bit of it? Paul you talked about freezing or some errors. Would my > computer not boot up? If these problems happened, can I just unplug the drive > and figure out what I have to do? > > I will figure out what I can do about cooling the inside of my computer. > Summer is comming and I am on this alot more this year. Check that you have at least WinXP SP1. Look at Settings : Control Panels : System for information. If you have at least SP1, you should be ready for disks larger than 137GB. The first few times I tried "large" setups, I tested them by copying files past the 137GB mark. I used test files, so if the disk became corrupted, I could always start over again. For example, I could copy 138 files each 1GB in size, and see what happens. If there was going to be trouble, it would have happened when the 138th file started to transfer. The fastest way to test that, might be to format the partition in FAT32, and then use "fsutil" to make one 4GB file after another. fsutil makes "real" files, when you ask it to make a file on FAT32. On NTFS, it makes sparse files, which are useless for testing. So if I wanted to do a test, I'd probably use FAT32, as it doesn't support sparse files, and would force fsutil to make a file the hard way (writing data at about 60MB/sec). FAT32 has a maximum partition size of 2TB, so this test method might be OK for single disks. Utility to format FAT32. http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm How to use FSUTIL. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773049(WS.10).aspx fsutil file createnew test001 4000000000 fsutil file createnew test002 4000000000 ... Any time you set up a storage configuration with a known issue, it may pay to test it just for the reassurance it gives you. For example, a guy set up a 3TB RAID array, and something happened to it one day, just past the 2.2TB full mark. It would have taken one hell of a long time, to test that it worked fully, but that may have been preferable to losing the contents stored on there. I don't think he had backups. If he'd fully read his RAID controller manual, it mentioned a special setting for volumes larger than 2.2TB. And he failed to use it. (I didn't know there was an option available to build large arrays, but when I glanced through the manual, I found it had a setting to fool the OS.) Large sector option is coming to hard drives this year. There is an article here, that just gave some pre-warning of what to expect. This probably won't affect the purchase you're making tomorrow, but may become yet another issue to address in the future. http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3691 ******* Power consumption on 3.5" drives is largely invariant. I usually estimate 12V @ 0.6A and 5V @ 1A for estimation purposes, as the idling power. The 2.5A current on the 12V rail, is just a startup current, and lasts for the first ten seconds. Once the drive is up to 7200RPM or whatever its full speed is, the current drops back to a lower value. If you go to the manufacturer's site, you can usually find a tab on the product page, with specifications in it. On the very highest capacity drives, some of those cheat a bit on RPMs. Some drives slow down when they're not being used. Lower capacity drives tend to run at constant speed. I've seen at least one large drive, which advertises "5900 RPM" operation, so it is slower than what we're used to. ******* You can run a drive at whatever temperature you want... as long as you have backups :-) This curve is intended to show the impact elevated temperature has on reliability. Too bad they didn't also provide a curve for humidity, as that is an issue too. The HDA on a drive is not sealed, and pressure equalization happens through the drive "breather hole". It has a filter on it (inside the HDA), so large dust particles cannot get in. It is hard to say how good the filter is, with respect to moisture in the air. http://www.hgst.com/hdd/technolo/drivetemp/w2475i03.gif Paul
From: Chuck on 13 Jan 2010 19:27 Of course there is a limit! Power Supply capability Number of available drive interfaces OPS System Support BIOS Support Physical space or arrangement limits Older P/Cs may not have 6 SATA ports, or BIOS support for very large Drives. Older OPS systems may not support very large drives. "Big Box" Store bought P/Cs may have low capacity Power Supplies. Older MBDs may need a BIOS update. I remember a video on the web showing a nutcase that decided to connect a large number of drives--as I remember the total was about 27. No, they didn't fit in a case. On 1/2/2010 5:56 PM, Brian V wrote: > Is there ever a limit to how many hard-drives you want to internally install > into a computer? > > I understand you need a certain amount or ports on your motherboard and the > connectors from the power supply or additional ones from an expansion slot. > > eg: Can I put a 1.5 terabyte drive into an older computer if I really wanted > to? Or if the computer had 6 ports and six connectors, can I put in 1.5Tb x 6?
From: Paul on 13 Jan 2010 22:05
Chuck wrote: > Of course there is a limit! > Power Supply capability > Number of available drive interfaces > OPS System Support > BIOS Support > Physical space or arrangement limits > > Older P/Cs may not have 6 SATA ports, or BIOS support for very large > Drives. Older OPS systems may not support very large drives. > "Big Box" Store bought P/Cs may have low capacity Power Supplies. > Older MBDs may need a BIOS update. > > I remember a video on the web showing a nutcase that decided to connect > a large number of drives--as I remember the total was about 27. No, they > didn't fit in a case. You can get computer cases with room to store a fairly large number of drives. This one holds 24 drives. With the right RAID card or two, you can have access to all of them. http://www.servercase.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=846TQ9B(CSE-846E1-R900B)&Category_Code=Super Paul > > On 1/2/2010 5:56 PM, Brian V wrote: >> Is there ever a limit to how many hard-drives you want to internally >> install >> into a computer? >> >> I understand you need a certain amount or ports on your motherboard >> and the >> connectors from the power supply or additional ones from an expansion >> slot. >> >> eg: Can I put a 1.5 terabyte drive into an older computer if I really >> wanted >> to? Or if the computer had 6 ports and six connectors, can I put in >> 1.5Tb x 6? > |