[mythtv-users] MythTV useful newegg deal 8 bay SATA to eSATA (Port Multiplier) enclosure

[Steve Heistand]

On Tue, 9 Jun 2009 10:55:41 -0400, Steven Adeff wrote
> On Tue, Jun 9, 2009 at 10:42 AM, Steve Heistand<steve at heistand.org> wrote:
> > On Tue, 9 Jun 2009 10:28:38 -0400, Steven Adeff wrote
> >> SANS DIGITAL TR8M-B 8 Bay SATA to eSATA (Port Multiplier) enclosure
> >> Newegg Item#    N82E16816111051
> >> $279.99 with promo code
> >> promo code:EMCLTLX35
> >> free UPS 3-day shipping
> >>
> >> has good reviews
> >>
> >
> > !@#% I just had one delivered yesterday from newegg... :(
> > but they are fabulous enclosures, I have 3 of them now.
> > and 2 12 bays, one esata, one sas. they work but not quite
> > as happy with as the 8 bay ones.
> 
> newegg is pretty good about this stuff, send them an email (or call)
> and see if they'd be willing to apply the coupon code instead of you
> returning and reordering.
> 
> good to hear more positives about them, especially from a linux user
> since the reviews on newegg don't mention linux.
> Is there a reason you don't like the 12bay as much? I was originally
> looking at that one but may end up getting this since the price is all
> the better now.
> 

the 12 bays I have arent from sans digital (didnt know they made a 
non rack mount 12 bay) but from pc-direct.com. the company I like
but these enclosures have given me issues. one works flawlessly
the other not so much. its been replaced even without luck.
its down to 10 bays active and that seems to be stable.
the old and new one both would always drop out the 3rd from the
top slot on heavy use. the areca controller (sas) would drop
out the whole bank of 4 drives whenever a drive was replaced.
made hot swapping a royal pain and a recipe for data loss.
converting the enclosure to esata from sas didnt help, rebuilding
was easier as the controller wouldnt drop the 3 other drives on a
bad drive swap. the one drive tray would still drop out a lot.

the 8 bays arent screwless trays so you cant just slide a drive
in and out quickly. have to slide out tray and unscrew the drive
and replace.  and on a cold boot the controller takes a really
really really long time to come up. about 3-4 seconds per drive.
hot booting has no delay though. speed wise I can get about 110M/s
read or write sustained and about 70M/s transcoding (needs to both read
and write to the same filesystem). so its not blazingly fast but
more then enough for mythtv usage. it also does put off a lot of
light out the back. the fans for no real reason have blue neon
lights in them. havent looked into turning off the lights as they
are just in the computer room not the tv room.





"Why is it so hot inside this handbasket?"
--
Steve Heistand
steve at heistand.org