PROJECT LOG The 30 and 45 hard drive server idea

[DigitalZephyr]

Like the idea of high capacity servers. I only have my 30TB server with 15 drives. Using a Lian Li with three 5 bay drive cages. Here is a blog I was watching for a while. Handles 45 drives not including OS drive.

http://extrememediaservers.blogspot.com/

 

[pik4chu]

Like the idea of high capacity servers. I only have my 30TB server with 15 drives. Using a Lian Li with three 5 bay drive cages. Here is a blog I was watching for a while. Handles 45 drives not including OS drive.

http://extrememediaservers.blogspot.com/

Found that one the other day as well. They basically copy the backblaze plan mentioned in the OP. Still some impressive storage. Which reminds me, gotta finish running backups so I can get mine online

 

[Automata]

That is one of the websites I read when I was thinking of making this.

 

[Twigglish]

Blaze site is blocked, so I can't really see how you're fitting 45 hard drives in that server case. I have one similar, and I can't seem to picture fitting them all in there. Can you explain this? lol.

I was thinking rubber for the durability and longer lasting qualities not to mention being 'sticky' when stuff is wedged against it. and I was figuring they would be resting on the backplanes from the bottom for support or am I thinking backwards?

As for thickness I was thinking 1/8-1/4" thick of semi-soft rubber and the holes being just very slightly smaller than the drives for good stability. Also if they were wedged in there a bit it would allow the rubber to bear some of the weight.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#rubber/=96tgf2

*edit* and you may be able to get the rubber cheaper if you look for alternate sources, like say, cutting up a door mat or something.

I was actually planning on doing this exact solution for a similar thing a while back when I needed to add storage to a server that had no more spots. I was going to use to sections of U channel aluminum and make 2 frames, with rubber inside the frames and holes just big enough for the drives. I would then space them apart the proper distance and rivet them to the floor of the case. And bingo, quiet, dampening hard drive storage Only problem is I made a mistake when I ordered mats and got rubber that was too hard. And eventually the need disapeared.

I also can't picture what you were trying to accomplish. I think I'm having a brain dump. 2 u channel bars on each side of the drive, bottom of the U facing the drive, with holes to mount a drive?
Laying this setup on top of a rubber mat, and then bolting it to the bottom of the case?

 

[Automata]

I'd be using drive backplanes in an orientation like this, except in this picture the drives are up-side down.

Of course the backplanes would be on the bottom of the case. The rubber/foam would be at the "back" end of the hard drives to hold them in place.

 

[Twigglish]

your site is classified as "Games" and has been blocked.
Can't see your picture.

 

[Automata]

Can't really help you then. I don't have a website that I can upload it to besides that.

 

[Twigglish]

Heh, it's fine. I'll be checking it out when I get back to my room.

 

[Albaholic]

subscribed

 

[Neuromancer]

Hey thid.

I am not sure how thick the sheet metal is on that case, I know most server cases are pretty hefty though. Your standoffs might work if you find very short screws and just tap the holes into the case. Washers or something can help you shorten the thread length on your fasteners and red thread lock will ensure they do not ever come out. Blue thread lock will make them easier to remove in the future while still adding vibration back out protection.

They dont need deep connections as it's only meant to prevent side to side movement not holding the server upside and shaking it right? lol


EDIT: ALternatively, dpending on the space you have available you could attach the mounting system to the front plate and the divider instead of on the bottom of the case. It would give you more mounting options. IE.. Take a SSD 3.5" apapter as an example. just make it the size of the HDD storage area it can mount to the vertical surfaces and still provide horizontal support. Make it tub shaped and you can support it on all 4 sides.

 

[Automata]

The issue with bolting the backplanes down isn't because of the thickness of the sheet metal, but instead how close the servers are together. I had felt pads on the bottom of the server I'm modding (I had it sitting on a desk for a few months) and tore them off when I put it back in the rack. The thickness of the glue is enough to scrape the top of the next server. Less than 1/16". I literally have no space unless I countersink them, and the metal is far too thin for that.

 

[Neuromancer]

The issue with bolting the backplanes down isn't because of the thickness of the sheet metal, but instead how close the servers are together. I had felt pads on the bottom of the server I'm modding (I had it sitting on a desk for a few months) and tore them off when I put it back in the rack. The thickness of the glue is enough to scrape the top of the next server. Less than 1/16". I literally have no space unless I countersink them, and the metal is far too thin for that.

I meant using mounts that are only as thick as the sheet metal itself.

the tub, or channel I dea still works though. It does not even have to be one solid pice. You could take HDD wide strips, bend the ends up 1" on each side and mount the "tabs" to the front plate and divider. You get your bottom support and don't give up any vertical space.

 

[Automata]

I guess I don't understand what you are explaining.

 

[Neuromancer]

For a 30 drive setup, you would need 15 pieces of strap. 2" longer than the width you are traversing (the front of the case to the parallel wall in the middle of the case.

Bend 1" up 90 degree angle on either end of the strap. place in the bottom of the case so you 15 pieces of strap running perpendicular to the front of the case.

The straps will be removable with a lot of work and you can put whatever you want on them. Cup shaped holders, rubber padding etc.

Each strap should have 2 screws on each side mounted on each side. TBH it would be easier instead of straps that hold 2 HDDs, use larger pieces that would hold 2 blocks (10 drives = 2x sta backplanes side by side).

Dunno if I can explain it better than that...

 

[Automata]

I'm still a bit confused, but that picture did clear it up a bit. What material would the "straps" be made out of? The backplanes I'm using will leave very little (0.094") space between the hard drives. There isn't much that will fit between that, be cheap to make and be easy to construct.

 

[Xaotic]

If you use angle bracket rails for mounting the server rather thsn the sliding rails, you can normally obtain around an extra 1/16th inch clearance. This may give you sufficient space to use very thin headed screws. I'll have to measure a set once I am back home on Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

[SatanSkin]

Ran some numbers because it would be fun. If I were to do as many hard drives in a case as possible, I could do 15 backplanes. Remove two backplanes to fit the power supply and that leaves us 13 for the 4u case. For data, you can use a 2u server with a SATA card then run cables out the back to the 4u portion. This leaves us with 6u per "unit". In the 4u portion, you can fit 65 hard drives (13 x 5). Assuming 2tb hard drives, this would let you have a capacity of 130tb per 6u of server rack. With a normal 42u server, you could do 7 units per rack. This would allow for 910tb per rack. Almost an entire petabyte of storage. Once the 3tb drives hit, you could have 1.365 petabytes. That absolutely blows my mind.

I have no where near the money to make this happen, but I want to come up with the server design so that if someone wants hard drive space at this density, it is available.

I also have no idea what any home user would do with this much storage.

cat /dev/theworld >> /mnt/storagesrvr/theworld.bak

 

[Automata]

Yeah, that would be crazy. Those numbers are low if you fill it with 3tb drives.

 

[pik4chu]

If you use angle bracket rails for mounting the server rather thsn the sliding rails, you can normally obtain around an extra 1/16th inch clearance. This may give you sufficient space to use very thin headed screws. I'll have to measure a set once I am back home on Tuesday or Wednesday.

If you are going to do it this way you will be losing out on some of that rackspace because you will eventually have alignment problems in the rack. But keep in mind if one wants to reproduce this build they will have to account for this same issue. Its a shame 5u server cases arent more common.. that would solve the issue. However if going that route might as well use a 4u chassis and just skip a U when mounting it in the rack. Though that means you will lose out on 2 whole 4U servers in the end.

@thid, is there not enough clearence to just mount small standoffs to the bottom of the case? remember you only need just enough clearence for the contacts themselves which shouldnt be much more than 1/16th of an inch. And you can always paint the bottom of the case in liquid electrical tape for protection of short circuit without adding much thickness to the whole setup

 

[Automata]

I think it would be easier to basically JB Weld the standoffs to the bottom of the case. Then there is no screw/bolt/whatever on the bottom and would have no clearance issues. It wouldn't be a "pretty fix", but it would work.

Space wise, I think even a rivet would cause it to scrape against the next server.