fit-IoT Users Forum

Hey folks,

with interest i had a look at thix small box.
My wish is to use this box as video player and NAS with around 1 TB capacity of storage running at raid 1.
My idea was to attach 2 x 1 TB usb HDD to this fitpc and do a mirror raid. the operating system itself i'd like to put on a SSD internal hdd.

As i'd like to run win2003 or 2008 on that box i saw that raid - due to dynamic disc issues on usb devices with windows - it's not possible out of the box (only with a workaround: attaching the disk via sata to a workstation before and convert to dynamic volume, then put to usb enclusure and attach to pc via usb).
As i guess i'm not the only one thinking in windows world of a raid: is there any way u can recommend for a software running on windows to make a mirror raid over 2 usb attached volumes with adequat performance (not consuming 100% cpu load) without this workaround to?

What speed results can I expect?

Many thanks for input or ideas how to realize it in a better way

µrAn

c'mon guys, probably i am not the first one thinking of a redundant solution for windows?

You may try something like this - http://www.usb-ware.com/firewire-usb-ra ... ezraid.htm
Disclaimer: this just came up in a google search. I do not know if this specific controller is any good. It is brought for illustration.

Hi,

Yes it is an excellent idea, I am looking into the same concept.

However I have a fit-PC2 and I can only say that the USB ports are not very stable.

First of all they are always powered - even when the computer is switched off. The supplier says this is normal because it is an embedded computer (??).

When the computer is running I often have problems with the USB ports as well. If I for example plug in a HDD while the computer is running it will only recognize it about 1 time in 5. When it doesn't I have to reboot with the HDD plugged in. The same goes for keyboards and other USB devices.

When reporting this to the supplier the respons was, and I quote, "USB ports are often 'flaky' and can be affected by a number of factors which are unlikely to be specific to FitPC2. That is the trade off you give when you have a 'Universal' port."

If you are looking for reliable HDD and RAID perhaps connecting via the LAN port is a better idea. Have a look at this really neat 2.5" unit:
http://www.span.com/product_info.php?cP ... s_id=26187

Cheers,
Per

per wrote:Hi,
When the computer is running I often have problems with the USB ports as well. If I for example plug in a HDD while the computer is running it will only recognize it about 1 time in 5. When it doesn't I have to reboot with the HDD plugged in. The same goes for keyboards and other USB devices.
Cheers,
Per

Are you 'powering' the HDD via the FitPCs' USB?, if so try connecting the HDD 'power' lead to a powered USB hub and see if things improve.

Dave

i currently do have a raid system here at home, but it soncumes so much power, that's why i was looking for alternatives.... :/

Hi µrAn,

Check this one out. The power supply is at 5V/3A that is a max of 15W not much at all.

http://www.span.com/product_info.php?cP ... s_id=26187

many thx. but i do have an nas system already. all i wanted was to reduce power consumption and have a all in one solution. i heard that under linux it should be no problem to build usb raid, but all i was looking for was a windows system