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
conceptional question / usb HDD / Raid
Re: conceptional question / usb HDD / Raid
c'mon guys, probably i am not the first one thinking of a redundant solution for windows?
Re: conceptional question / usb HDD / Raid
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.
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.
Re: conceptional question / usb HDD / Raid
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
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
Re: conceptional question / usb HDD / Raid
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.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
Dave
Re: conceptional question / usb HDD / Raid
i currently do have a raid system here at home, but it soncumes so much power, that's why i was looking for alternatives.... :/
Re: conceptional question / usb HDD / Raid
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
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
Re: conceptional question / usb HDD / Raid
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