[plug] SATA & Debian

[Tim Bowden]

Summary so far:
1.  SATA looks like it is no longer a goer.  Thanks for the advice
Craig.  If I can get about the same performace from PATA with software
raid then that's good enough.

2.  I would like to be able to go with an Athlon XP (despite the
slightly higher heat levels) but if there are no good entry level server
boards available then perhaps Intel will have to do.  There is no point
being too religeous about these things.  Ultimately though, it all comes
down to price at some point.  This file server is being set up to take
the load off several desktop machines which are providing file sharing
services so it's not going to take something very special to
significantly improve the system.

3.  I realise the lan will be something of a bottleneck but nothing is
going to be done about that yet.  Most of the computers on the network
are laptops, so the file transfers tend to be copying entire job
directories to and from the server (up to 1 gig for the larger jobs but
usually less than 50mb).  The rest of the desktop machines would do many
smaller writes.  At most there would be four or five desktops and up to
seven laptops at any one time but it would be fairly rare to have them
all going at once.

4.  Case & airflow:  This is something that I am well aware of.  Once it
wasn't even an issue but the way todays HDD's generate heat to add to
the already significant CPU heat problem (and GPU for the fancier
cards), it needs serious attention.  Scott- you've recommended the Lian
LI cases.  I will look into these.  I am planning on using case fans to
maximum effect.  Sucking in air over the hard disks with a few case fans
will certainly keep them cool but is the standard cooling that comes
with Intel & AMD box sets good enough for 24*7 operation?  In my
(limited) experience it seems to be.  Does anyone have contrary
experience?

5.  While serving files will be the main use of this machine it will
also double as an internal web and database server (& perhaps mail). 
Eventually this will start to put a significant load on the disks as use
and content grows so HDD speed is important.

6.  UPS- There is already a basic ups available.  So far it has worked
admirably.

7.  HDD's.  My preference is for Seagate drives going off my own
experience and comments from the list in the past, but if I'm going to
go with PATA with 8mb cache then WD JB's are the most economical.  What
sort of experiences have people had with the latest Western Digital JB
drives?  I know WD went through a patch a while back where you wouldn't
want to touch on of their drives but perhaps that was too long ago now
(thinking back it may have even been four or five years ago.  Thay must
have got over that bad patch or they would be broke by now!)

8.  Scott, thanks for the offer of use of the workshop & mirror.  I will
mail you off list about this.  Craig, thanks for the advice.  It has
indeed given me much to think about and look into.



Thanks,
Tim Bowden