MoBo with 8+ SATA connectors

[ListysDad]

Sorry if this has been asked before but I've looked through and can't find a recent answer!

Can anyone help?
I need a new MoBo with ideally, the following:
- 8+ sata connectors
- serial port
- 8+ USB ports (or headers)
- AMD2+
- take 4GB of dual channel memory (4 slots)
- OC able but not madly as silence is paramount!
- RELIABLE...

Size can be any that fits into a modified Antec Solo case.

Thanks people.

[Jay_S]

I need a new MoBo with ideally, the following:
- 8+ sata connectors
[snip]...

You could use an expansion card for the SATA ports. The Supermicro AOC-SAT2-MV8 has 8 SATA ports and uses the PCI-X interface but is known to work in regular PCI slots (just slower). It's not terribly expensive either. It's a favorite of the WHS and unRAID crowd, and is on the solaris HCL.

[ListysDad]

bump

[Jay_S]

A quick search yields these boards. I know you're in the UK, but Newegg's filtered search engine is a great researching tool. You want AMD, so look at what AMD south bridges support (SB750 supports 6 SATA natively). So any AMD boards with more than 6 will have a secondary SATA controller on-board. But why bother - use an expansion card (4-port SATA cards are cheap, but the Supermicro I linked to above is bomb proof), pair it with whatever MB you want, and take it all with you when you upgrade MB's.

What are you doing with all those SATA ports - plugging HDD's into them? Good luck getting 8 HDD's to comply with your "silence is paramount!" requirement.

[K.Murx]

I would suggest the Gigabyte MA790XT-UD4P. 8 SATA, 8 (back bracket) + 4 (internal) USB.
Only internal serial port header, though (what are you doing with it, anyway?).

Note: If you want to use all HDD's in parallel, bandwidth will be limited by the SATA controller.

[ListysDad]

Thanks guys.

to answer the question, im obsessed with backing up my photographs... I already have 6 drives in the machine and two as an external raid array. 3 drives are 'live' and three as back ups including a boot disk. I've suffered by losing thousands of images so that's where it all comes from.
The ext raid box is noisier by a factor of about 50 than my pc as it has a rubish 40mm fan and no option to improve it.
I have modded the solo case by various ways so that it now has 5 120mm fans in (2 dedicated to cooling teh hard drives, 1 exhaust, 1 to PSU and 1 to the cpu but it only emits a very low hum and it sits less than 15" from my head at head level too
I modded the rubbish suspension system it ships with and also squeezed in two more drives all suspended...
So, my quest is to quieten the raid array by putting it inside.
I didn't realise that my through put would be so reduced by having more drives so how do i get over that?

[K.Murx]

First, let me press a very important point:
RAID is not a backup. And multiple HDD's in the same case are not a proper backup, either. Make sure some of your backups are off-site, and off-line (electricity wise).
Otherwise you might lose your images - again.

And ten let me clarify my original question: I was just curious what you do with the serial port. It's been a while since I connected anything to that

Regardign the bandwith issue: It is unlikely that it will be notable in a setup/usage scenario such as yours. As long as you do not try to write to/read from all your drives for a prolonged time, it will not be an issue, and even if, it will only slow things down a bit.

[Jay_S]

First, let me press a very important point: RAID is not a backup. And multiple HDD's in the same case are not a proper backup, either. Make sure some of your backups are off-site, and off-line (electricity wise).
Otherwise you might lose your images - again.

+1. RAID is for maintaining up-time in the face of isolated drive failures, backups are for ... backups!

My most recent 100-pack purchase of DVD+R's cost $17USD. It's hard to argue with the cost/portability/durability of backing up to DVD. Especially for small files like photos. Archive those originals and store them off-site! If this is your business (or just critically important to you), consider a safe deposit box at a bank - their fire sensing & protection equipment is worlds better than the average home owner or small office is able to afford.

Otherwise, can you locate a 2nd NAS somewhere in your building that is separated from your primary office by a fire wall (or similar)?

Re: throughput - does it matter? How many images are you accessing from multiple drives at the same time? If you're concerned about the time it will take to batch copy to your backup drives, if your batch size exceeds your system's available cache and RAM, I'd bet you'll be limited by the physical throughput of your slowest drive. For an interesting benchmark, check out IOZone (how-to). Make sure to test file sizes in excess of your system's RAM - this will show you just how "fast" your drives are. Once those buffers and RAM are full, it's all about how fast the read/write mech can lay it down on the platters. Prepare for sadness

[ListysDad]

Murx & Jay

You raise some valid points people. I do back up my business stuff online and that has proven invaluable when drives fail. However, I don't do that with my pictures as I have over 1TB of them and growing...
I haven't used DVDs for reasons of storage and time and sanity. When I realised how I had a problem it was going to take an age to back up, an issue to store and even worse to search (which I need to do).

I'm now seriously contemplating a NAS box but as some video files are over 5GB I understood they will not store due to file limitations. Is that true?

Re the serial port. I use for work a Psion Organiser 5MX. It has over 3000 customers, and my diary for the last 4 years which is constantly referred to. I use it because nothing today lasts more than a day when charged yet 1 set of rechargable cells lasts me over a week in the Psion. Sure its a B/W screen but the database is customisable and the diary can be synced with outlook hence the serial connection... Old school maybe but ROCK solid and utterly reliable. Even my e71 phone cannot hold a candle to it for what it does...

Thanks for your help guys. I really appreciate it.

[K.Murx]

I'm now seriously contemplating a NAS box but as some video files are over 5GB I understood they will not store due to file limitations. Is that true?

Should be no problem if you use any decent file system (NTFS on the Windows side, essentially anything on the Linux side)

Re the serial port. I use for work a Psion Organiser 5MX. It has over 3000 customers, and my diary for the last 4 years which is constantly referred to.

*shudders* Now I sure hope that's backed up!

[ListysDad]

Murx

Well, its all your fault...

I've just taken the plunge and purchased a ReadyNAS with 2 x 1.5TB drives!

You were right is was time I did it properly.

On the Psion, fret not it's backed up on its removable CF card every few days and then top PC as well. I'd die if I lost that lot!!!

Thank you very much for your help. Now all I need to do is become familiar with teh Ready NAS...