by siyb

After the harddrive crash I decided to upgrade the server’s hardware, so that next time I wouldn’t have to cry over lost data. The new lineup of my server’s storage system now is:

• 1 * Tekram ARC-1210 SATA controller (4 ports)
• 1 * Asus K8V-XE Mainboard
• 1 * Enermax Liberty ELT400AWT
• 4 * Seagate ST3320620NS, 320gig each -> Raid5 (Tekram controller) AS “file storeage”
• 2 * Western Digital WD3200JS -> Raid1 (Software mainboard controller) AS “system partition”
• 4 * Zalman ZM-2HC2 Heatpipe HDD coolers

The whole idea is to create a RAID5 which has a redundancy of 1 harddrive, this leaves the server with 3*320gig space. The Zalman heatpipes will hopefully keep the harddrives at a appropriate temperatur level and reduce vibrations, which should increase the potential lifetime of the drives. Additionally, they expand the 3.5 inch harddrives’ width to 5,25 inches, which enables me to install them into the cdrom drive bays that are located above the usual harddrive bays. The pictures below illustrate the use of the heatpipes and what the server looked like before the installation of the harddrives.

After “screwing around” for about one and a half hours, always trying not to break the new hardware by mistake, all harddrives were installed.

Time to move on and connect the drives to the powersupply, the first picture shows the server before the rearrangement of the cables, all following pictures display the actual improvement.

But wait … due to the fact that my old mainboard does not provide the PCIe slots needed for the RAID controller, a new mainboard had to be bought. I also wanted to use my old CPU (Sempron 3100+), which runs on 754. It was hard to find a mainboard featuring PCIe x8 (or higher) that also supports 754 CPUs. After solving the PCIe issue, the next problem arose. My old power supply, a TAGAN TG380-U01 only provided 20 pins but the new mainboard needed 24. I did not want to use some crappy 20pin to 24 pin translator, so I went to my local pc dealer and got an Enermax Liberty power supply. Finally everything was compatible and I could proceed installing the hardware.

HIER NOCH BILDER VON MAINBOARD ADDEN!!!

As you can see on the pictures, it was time to install the cpu, ram and pci(e) cards and wire up the harddrives. When I tried to unhook the cpu from the old socket, I discovered that the cooling paste makes a really good glue, it took me half a day to get the guts to pull harder, never experienced such a bitch ever before, usually they stick a bit but this time it was more cement than it was cooling paste.

First of all I had to get rid of the cement, for this purpose, I can only recommend the two component ArticClean, worked perfectly as the picutures below illustrate.

After that new cool paste was applied and the active cooler was reattached.

Ok lets recall what I have had to do so far. I bought a raid controller, which did not fit my old mainboard. The new mainboard was not supported by my old powersupply so I had to get a new one. Now if you think my problems were over, you are wrong, just take a look at the next few pictures ….

Yes, the raid controller does not properly fit the case, well fortunately, this is just a minor flaw. Up next wireing up the harddrives. The Enermax power supply features a modular buildup, you only connect the wires you really need.

Well, well finally done. Took me weeks to get the system set up as it is now. Ordering hardware, waiting, ordering more hardware, even more waiting. But now everything seemed to work, powered the computer and guess what …

I am tired now and will continue tomorrow, just finished this post so that you can get an impression of my path of suffering …