Dell Powervault 705n's and the diff between Quantums?

[lordboots]

So, I've been doing a bunch of research lately, and I have a Dell 705N running 3.1.6. I am trying to do the upgrade, but the biggest drive it's seeing is 128GB (when trying a 300GB drive). I know somebody here has the expertise to make this work, do I need to upgrade the firmware on the device to make it see the bigger drives, or am I going to wind up with the same problems others are having with bigger than 128GB drives (with it crashing the raid)?

Lemme know if I'm missing the obvious here. I have a buddy in BC that's done the 240GB drives in a Quantum 4000 and it works fine there, I'm just curious if I'm wasting my time with the Dell model.

Dave

[Davesworld]

The Dell you have is a Snap 4100. If you log into the web gui and go into yoursnap address/config/debug and put "bios Unlock" in the space and hit enter, it will unlock it, next you type "OEM None" and hit enter, then type "bios Lock" and hit enter and reboot. You now should be able to load Snap OS and it will be a Dell in name on the front only. Even the serial number on a dell can be registered at Snap if you wish.

[lordboots]

Is there any limitation to drive size once you put SnapOS on it? Can you put 400GB drives into it and have it work?

Dave

[Davesworld]

Originally Posted by lordboots

Is there any limitation to drive size once you put SnapOS on it? Can you put 400GB drives into it and have it work?

Dave

Unfortunately, yes. The Dell forums are filled with the same mystery. It's too bad the snap os doesn't ignore the bios like every other recent os. Without a way to get into the bios on these that I know of, I don't know for sure if there is a setting for lba48 in the bios. Still, I'm questioning the value of attempting it any further.

[lordboots]

Originally Posted by Davesworld

Unfortunately, yes. The Dell forums are filled with the same mystery. It's too bad the snap os doesn't ignore the bios like every other recent os. Without a way to get into the bios on these that I know of, I don't know for sure if there is a setting for lba48 in the bios. Still, I'm questioning the value of attempting it any further.

I don't know if it's worth doing, all things considered. When I first decided to try to do the upgrade on one of the 4100's, it was because all of my research and price comparisons for NAS 1TB storage was $5-10,000 depending on vendor, and the Dells were the same price for their 1TB solution. The Buffalo server was something that I JUST learned about and bought. I figure that $925 delivered for gigabit NAS with USB print server and USB connectors pretty much solves the problem pretty easily. It looks like they're going to hurt the profits of the other NAS dealers out there, since it's reasonably priced....

Dave

[Technophobe]

The easy way to resolve the LBA problem will be to modify the OS so that it writes directly to the Controller, that is, if the controller actually supports LBA, which it may not.

However this may prove difficult as the boot up will need to be from a drive that is no longer formated to work with the BIOS.

Therefore the firmware BIOS must also be modified to bootstap the OS.

Be happy with 400Gb in raid 5 or 533Gb stripped (but not recommended) all for less that £300 / 500$ at current ebay prices !!! - Or even buy two or three for way less money than the price of 1Tb devices and you can even share the load ...... for better performance and/or mirroring ..... now that's not so bad is it :-)))) ???

Snap Server 4100 4 x 120Gb 3.4.803 (goodie)
Dell Server 705N 4 x 160Gb 3.4.790 (baddy)
Snap Server 1100 1 x 250Gb 4.0.860 (goodie)

Snap Server 4100 4 x 120Gb 3.4.803 (goodie)
Dell Server 705N 4 x 80Gb 3.4.790 (baddy)

[re3dyb0y]

Its not the OS thats the limitations - People have got 2 500GB's in 2200's and such

Its the 4100's hardware not supporint LBA 48 bit i believe, but a custom/upgraded bios would fix that if we were able to do it!

[re3dyb0y]

Originally Posted by Technophobe

The easy way to resolve the LBA problem will be to modify the OS so that it writes directly to the Controller, that is, if the controller actually supports LBA, which it may not.

However this may prove difficult as the boot up will need to be from a drive that is no longer formated to work with the BIOS.

Therefore the firmware BIOS must also be modified to bootstap the OS.

Be happy with 400Gb in raid 5 or 533Gb stripped (but not recommended) all for less that £300 / 500$ at current ebay prices !!! - Or even buy two or three for way less money than the price of 1Tb devices and you can even share the load ...... for better performance and/or mirroring ..... now that's not so bad is it :-)))) ???

Don't bid on Evil 4100's

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Quantum-SNAP-s...QQcmdZViewItem

:P

[Technophobe]

Please explain .....

I have purchase several on ebay and all have been fine once upgraded

Or are we being "specific" in this instance ??

[re3dyb0y]

They are just evil

Im just being arkward tonight

[Technophobe]

Yeh but "evil" could mean "like BAD man" :-)) or simply "S**t" :-((
You're forgiven !!!

Snap Server 4100 4 x 120Gb 3.4.803 (goodie)
Dell Server 705N 4 x 160Gb 3.4.790 (baddy)
Snap Server 1100 1 x 250Gb 4.0.860 (goodie)

Snap Server 4100 4 x 120Gb 3.4.803 (goodie)
Dell Server 705N 4 x 80Gb 3.4.790 (baddy)

[re3dyb0y]

Still waiting for someone to buy me a snap...

520 would be nice

:P

[jontz]

I dunno, my EVIL snap 4100 roasts your 2200 in throughput. I'm happy with it.

And just to clear this all up, the 705 is a 4100 as stated above. It doesn't support large drives because if a bug in the Promise IDE RAID controller. If anyone can crack it and fix the controller bug, more power to them.

[re3dyb0y]

My snap spends most of its time sat in the drawer at the other side of my bed...

I need a second 250GB for it

RAID it and see if it still has paddy's

[blue68f100]

You miss the sale last week at Fry's. They had the Seagate 250gig on sale for $69.99 USD

[re3dyb0y]

Originally Posted by blue68f100

You miss the sale last week at Fry's. They had the Seagate 250gig on sale for $69.99 USD

re3dyb0y looks blankly at blue68f100


Under £40 is good!


Mine cost 55.45 = $101!!