Home Server + 10G ethernet

[Kei]

Thanks but I#m sorry to say I made the same mistake as you many years ago. Desktop with lots of hdds. Was impossible to swap out disks as I hadn't labelled them. And could not hotswap. now I have a small Dell R610 which is much easier to look after,

I have the list of disk serial numbers and what position it occupies which makes it really easy to locate. Megaraid storage manager shows the serial numbers so I can see which one is missing and locate it quickly. Sure, it’s not as quick as a backplane with disk id and failure lights and unplugging the connections whilst it’s running isn’t wise but it beats having cheap backplanes go bad. I don’t mind a bit of downtime as the storage array is not something that needs to be permanently accessible. It simply holds one of three copies of very important files, temporary space for re-encoding work and a Plex media library.

The problem with proper servers was cost, disk quantity, power consumption and without doubt, noise. I did consider a NetApp DS4246 Disk shelf type arrangement using external cables but it’s quite an expensive way to go and it’s a second case to store.

 

[Kei]

I've taken the old Icydock backplanes out and examined them to see if I could determine the cause of the failure. It looks like corrosion of the contacts may have played it's part. Spot which slot is the one that has failed.


Not looking particularly pretty, but most of that is dust stuck to the contact cleaner I sprayed in a month or so ago to see if it was simply a mucky contact.


Having cleaned the PCB, it appears that the pads have corroded around the pins. What's weird is that they aren't soldered. I'm wondering if that was done to try and prevent cracked joints from disk hot swapping.

 

[Kei]

Managed to pickup a second solid side panel for the 750D last week so I've made a start on modifying it to fit the 2x 120mm fans for cooling the expansion cards.

So far I've got as far as drilling the 8 mounting holes for the fans. Now I need to figure out how I'm going to make the large 115mm'ish hole for the fans to breathe.


Test fitted a pair of the old scythe fans which fit back on the side great.

 

[Slawomir]

Hi, In regards to the unsoldered pins on the backplane PCB I've never seen anything like this in my entire 30+ years career. These must be soldered as it will cause electric connection problems with signaling and power supply lines comming to HDDs causing even damage to Hard Drives and SAS controller. Solder them one by one with Pb free solder and solder flux or Pb solder for Electronics with different resin based flux. Pb based solder is easier to melt and easier to apply without professional equipment. Do it ASAP or you are facing described damage. This PCB should never pass Quality Check and be sold. Shame on ICY BOX which somehow is or maybe was a good brand. You never know these days as all is made in China and most of the staff in low quality manufacturing sites due to lower cost.

This solder wire should do the job. It's Pb based and easier to apply. https://uk.farnell.com/duratool/spc22158/solder-wire-63-37-sn-pb/dp/2527485

 

[Kei]

Hi, In regards to the unsoldered pins on the backplane PCB I've never seen anything like this in my entire 30+ years career. These must be soldered as it will cause electric connection problems with signaling and power supply lines comming to HDDs causing even damage to Hard Drives and SAS controller. Solder them one by one with Pb free solder and solder flux or Pb solder for Electronics with different resin based flux. Pb based solder is easier to melt and easier to apply without professional equipment. Do it ASAP or you are facing described damage. This PCB should never pass Quality Check and be sold. Shame on ICY BOX which somehow is or maybe was a good brand. You never know these days as all is made in China and most of the staff in low quality manufacturing sites due to lower cost.

This solder wire should do the job. It's Pb based and easier to apply. https://uk.farnell.com/duratool/spc22158/solder-wire-63-37-sn-pb/dp/2527485

I've already soldered the one, just not tested it yet.

I finally tackled the side panel having actually bought the 4.5" hole saw required to create the cut outs for the fans. Not the easiest job but they seem to have come out ok. There are a couple of marks to the black finish, but nothing too obvious.


Fans fitted with silverstone filters


New solid side panel fitted to the reverse


All fitted and running.

 

[AyeAyeAhoy!]

It's interesting, going through this thread reaching back to 2014. Nice to see the progress over time

 

[Hanuki]

think this is the most sophisticated home network setup i've seen in my life, very impressive