20 Disk 18 TB RAID 6 Storage Based on Debian Linux

Tue 21 July 2009 Category: Storage

This system is no longer operational and has been decomissioned (2017)

This is my NAS storage server based on Debian Linux. It uses software RAID and 20 one terrabyte hard drives. It provides a total usable storage capacity of 18 terrabytes in a single RAID 6 array.

One of the remarkable side effects of using 20 drives within a single array is the read performance of over one gigabyte per second.

norco nas

Case:Norco RPC-4020
Processor:Core 2 duo E7400 @ 2.8GHz
RAM:4 GB
Motherboard: Asus P5Q-EM DO
LAN:Intel Gigabit
PSU:Coolermaster 600 Watt Corsair CMPSU-750HX 750 Watt (Coolermaster died)
Controller: HighPoint RocketRAID 2340 (16) and on-board controller (6).
Disks:20 x Samsung Spinpoint F1 (1 TB) and 2 x FUJITSU MHY2060BH (60 GB)
Arrays:Boot: 2x 60 GB RAID 1 and storage: 20 x 1 TB RAID 6
RAID setup:Linux software RAID using MDADM.
RAM:4 GB
Read performance:1.1 GB/s (yes this is correct, not a typo)
Write performance:350 450 MB/s. (suddenly faster after Debian update)
OS:Linux Debian Squeeze 64-bit
Filesystem:XFS (can handle > 16 TB partitions.)
Rebuild time:about 5 hours.
UPS:Back-UPS RS 1200 LCD using Apcupsd
Idle power usage:about  140 Watt

norco nas

setup

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