Just spent 8 hours fixing my NAS

[Vipersan]

At some point in the day my mains went out and tripped the consumer unit ..
After resetting I was gutted to find my 14TB NAS server was damaged ...though this hadn't caused the outage..
I run Freenas ...and it don't like abrupt power downs..
4 Hard drives had become corrupt ..and had to be manually FSCK'd
Finally got it up and running again ..but had me worried for a while.
To prevent such a problem in the future I'm seriously considering a 1000 watt UPS.
Just to shut down the NAS slowly.
Time to start saving up again
Dont suppose anyone has a second hand one they wanna sell ?
rgds
VS

 

[Channel Hopper]

Give me a day or two, I'm certain I have a UPS in the back of the shed, just not sure of the power specifications.

 

[Captain Jack]

That sounds scary to lose 14Tb so glad you got it back. I just splashed out on a Synology NAS with 3x 3Tb hard drives - hope it deals well with sudden power cuts.

 

[John]

After a mains blip as well a year or so ago that knackered a 2Tb hdd and lost a load of stored Bluray films on others in my Synology NAS, i decided to have a small "APC CS350" UPS to protect it.
It's saved the day a few times since fitting it ..... gives you peace of mind a bit as well

 

[Waveguide]

Check the "Hardware Compatibility List" for the NAS and use the
tried and tested types of UPS-units. The "early warning system"
that gives time for a controlled shutdown of the drives uses a
link between UPS and NAS so they must be compatible.
I don't think the drives are protected without the UPS, my NAS
takes half a minute or so to power down and it does a lot during
that time.

 

[Captain Jack]

It does also help to have NAS specific drives. They have many features that don't appear on normal ones, such parking the head properly in case of a power failure as opposed to landing on a platter.

 

[hairybadger]

Just as a matter of interest Vipersan, what filesystem is it on the NAS? Certain - journalled - filesystems don't require a long fsck even on unclean shutdown.

 

[nelson_b]

Hi Evan -
I had given to me a couple of years ago the U.P.S pictured below -- maybe its not big enough for your needs though -- its yours if you want it ?
regards - Nelson.

 

[Vipersan]

Looking at the photos Nelson ..you have the 700 version which handles 450W ..
My Nas has an 800W psu in it ..so when I said I'd like a 1000W unit I was using overkill...
Id imagine a lot of power is used at start up as there are 10x HDs averaging 1 TB plus ....but most of these spin down drawing minimal power once the NAS is running..
So In truth I cant say if your 450 W unit can handle the NAS at power up ..
It would be a close call ..
I presume the only way would be trial and error...
If you can't use it ..I'm happy to try it ...
cheers buddy.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Hi Evan -
I had given to me a couple of years ago the U.P.S pictured below -- maybe its not big enough for your needs though -- its yours if you want it ?
regards - Nelson.

The one I have is almost certainly APS as well,

 

[Vipersan]

Just as a matter of interest Vipersan, what filesystem is it on the NAS? Certain - journalled - filesystems don't require a long fsck even on unclean shutdown.

the unit isn't raided HB ..since believe it or not most of the drive contents (the really important stuff) is dual written to yet more hard drives which are stored in a metal safe..
So in the event of failure I can replace a drives contents to a large extent with stored back up data..from the safe.
Problem is it's very time consuming and no longer instantly accessible.

As to the file system and how it is constructed ..
?
Since Freenas isn't a commercial product ...no Idea mate.
all I know is that its UFS and not raided..
rgds

 

[hairybadger]

the unit isn't raided HB ..since believe it or not most of the drive contents (the really important stuff) is dual written to yet more hard drives which are stored in a metal safe..
So in the event of failure I can replace a drives contents to a large extent with stored back up data..from the safe.
Problem is it's very time consuming and no longer instantly accessible.

Never liked RAID5 much myself - RAID1 (mirroring), yes, but then is more expensive in terms of disks. Nowt wrong with your solution (off-line backup)

As to ther file system and how it is constructed ..
?
Since Freenas isn't a commercial product ...no Idea mate.
all I know is that its UFS and not raided..
rgds

Yeah - I have UFS on my Freenas installation, which is all I can manage considering the memory capacity of the old system I've put it on. I can't go about 2GB with the motherboard - I'll get around to putting something more meaty in place one day ZFS is (for now!!!) the way of the future

 

[Vipersan]

Never liked RAID5 much myself - RAID1 (mirroring), yes, but then is more expensive in terms of disks. Nowt wrong with your solution (off-line backup)


Yeah - I have UFS on my Freenas installation, which is all I can manage considering the memory capacity of the old system I've put it on. I can't go about 2GB with the motherboard - I'll get around to putting something more meaty in place one day ZFS is (for now!!!) the way of the future

Agreed ..it is a drive hungry solution ..but at least you do get to use about 95% of each drive for data ..instead of giving some over to the raid ..at least 1/3 of the total starage space in the NAS

 

[Captain Jack]

Synology have a pretty interesting "Hybrid RAID" option. In that, unlike the traditional RAID-5, it doesn't require all drives to be of equal size to get the most space out of it. I am not sure what other solutions do but a lot of planning is generally required for RAIDed systems.

I am also on a lookout for a UPS, so if CH or Nelson do have one left over, I'd like dibs on it I don't need a powerful one - something like a 200W one will be enough.

 

[Vipersan]

I am not sure what other solutions do but a lot of planning is generally required for RAIDed systems.

..Another reason why I prefer a mirror system..
No planning required ...just keep adding drives ...(albeit pairs of drives)
;)

 

[Vipersan]

..Another reason why I prefer a mirror system..
No planning required ...just keep adding drives ...(albeit pairs of drives)
;)

Believe it or not ..I still have room to expand ..simply by fitting larger drives ..
Each 1tb can be upped to 3tb ..
I tested a 3tb drive in the nas on a spare sata port last year ..and although I only get about 2.5 tb useable space ..the drive is supported by the mobo and freenas.
rgds

 

[nelson_b]

Looking at the photos Nelson ..you have the 700 version which handles 450W ..
My Nas has an 800W psu in it ..so when I said I'd like a 1000W unit I was using overkill...
Id imagine a lot of power is used at start up as there are 10x HDs averaging 1 TB plus ....but most of these spin down drawing minimal power once the NAS is running..
So In truth I cant say if your 450 W unit can handle the NAS at power up ..
It would be a close call ..
I presume the only way would be trial and error...
If you can't use it ..I'm happy to try it ...
cheers buddy.

O.K . -- i will bring it down for you to test next time i,m in the Greater Manchester area

regards ......

 

[archive10]

Looking at the photos Nelson ..you have the 700 version which handles 450W ..
My Nas has an 800W psu in it ..so when I said I'd like a 1000W unit I was using overkill...
Id imagine a lot of power is used at start up as there are 10x HDs averaging 1 TB plus ....but most of these spin down drawing minimal power once the NAS is running..
So In truth I cant say if your 450 W unit can handle the NAS at power up ..
It would be a close call ..
I presume the only way would be trial and error...
If you can't use it ..I'm happy to try it ...
cheers buddy.

An 800W PSU does not require 800W sustained.
It means that the PSU is designed to be capable of using 800W of power when loaded sufficiently.
To find out what you really need requires an power measuring meter.
These typically come either as a clamp-type device that you place around the mains lead, or as a socket device.
You will probably find that you are using nowhere near the full 800W (which is really a lot), even at spin-up.
I did this some years ago when dimensioning UPSs for an installation at the NAB show in Vegas. We were surprised.
And, if the NAS software is decent, you may be able to program the spin-up of the drives so that they are staggered.
So while you may have a heavy load (only you can tell), you may find that 600W peak is more than enough.

Only other thing is that batteries go bad after a few years (3-4 at normal load). You need to test the capacity, and potentially purchase a replacement.
It is not a good time to find that you have a bad battery when you have an outage...

 

[archive10]

So while you may have a heavy load (only you can tell)

before we get the hreh-hreh-hreh comments, I of course meant a heay loaded PSU in the NAS.

 

[battenfan]

Synology have a pretty interesting "Hybrid RAID" option. In that, unlike the traditional RAID-5, it doesn't require all drives to be of equal size to get the most space out of it. I am not sure what other solutions do but a lot of planning is generally required for RAIDed systems.

If it's a software raid you can throw in pretty much anything. https://raid.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Devices