Re: Power supply for multiple disks

2000-04-10 Thread Dan Jones
Mike Bilow wrote: > > On Sat, 8 Apr 2000, Edward Schernau wrote: > > > Mike Bilow wrote: > > > > > > Drives use by far more instantaneous current to spin up then they > > need to > > > run in active idle mode. A big, modern IDE drive can consume > > about 2.0A > > > > [Excellent analysis trimme

Re: Power Supply for multiple disks?

2000-04-10 Thread Dan Jones
dek_ml wrote: > > Technically, I could see a setup where a RAID controller could monitor > activity, and if it hadn't been active for quite some time, spin the whole > cluster down. Since the machine sees the disk "through" the cache, and > blocks while waiting for data (don't know the timeout)

Re: Power Supply for multiple disks?

2000-04-09 Thread Michael T. Babcock
I've discovered, the hard way, that slightly more money can get a lot more quality out of your power supply. We're not talking hundreds extra here, just buying something that everyone else respects and works with over long terms. I discovered 'cheap' power supplies sucked because I was running s

Re: Power Supply for multiple disks?

2000-04-08 Thread David Cooley
One argument against spinning the disk down, is the on/of power cycles can kill it faster than just leaving it on... Just like a light bulb. At 12:17 PM 4/8/00, dek_ml wrote: >On Sat, 8 Apr 2000, Mike Bilow wrote: > > > Why on earth would you even bother with RAID on a machine which can > > ex

re: Power supply for multiple disks

2000-04-08 Thread Mike Bilow
On Sat, 8 Apr 2000, Edward Schernau wrote: > Mike Bilow wrote: > > > > Drives use by far more instantaneous current to spin up then they > need to > > run in active idle mode. A big, modern IDE drive can consume > about 2.0A > > [Excellent analysis trimmed] Thanks! > Nowadays I think the "da

Re: Power Supply for multiple disks?

2000-04-08 Thread dek_ml
On Sat, 8 Apr 2000, Mike Bilow wrote: > Why on earth would you even bother with RAID on a machine which can > experience 30 minutes of idle time? We only use RAID for machines which > run web servers, mail servers, name servers, and things like this. Such > machines here never exeperience even

re: Power supply for multiple disks

2000-04-08 Thread Edward Schernau
Mike Bilow wrote: > > Drives use by far more instantaneous current to spin up then they need to > run in active idle mode. A big, modern IDE drive can consume about 2.0A [Excellent analysis trimmed] Nowadays I think the "danger" comes from two sources. First is poor PS quality, and the second

Re: Power Supply for multiple disks?

2000-04-07 Thread Mike Bilow
Drives use by far more instantaneous current to spin up then they need to run in active idle mode. A big, modern IDE drive can consume about 2.0A to spin up, but probably no more than 0.5A to sit in active idle. (Note that the "." is a decimal point; I'm in the USA.) For example, I looked up th

Re: Power Supply for multiple disks?

2000-04-07 Thread Mike Bilow
Why on earth would you even bother with RAID on a machine which can experience 30 minutes of idle time? We only use RAID for machines which run web servers, mail servers, name servers, and things like this. Such machines here never exeperience even a solid minute of idle time. -- Mike On Thu,

Re: Power Supply for multiple disks?

2000-04-06 Thread Jakob Østergaard
On Fri, 07 Apr 2000, Sven Kirmess wrote: > Thursday, April 06, 2000, 10:08:59 PM, Jakob wrote: > > Sorry, but I have to say it. Very, very good HOWTO. Thanks. *Blush*:) > >> Why not? I think about power down after e.g. 30' idle time. Not > >> after a few seconds... What's the Problem with

Re: Power Supply for multiple disks?

2000-04-06 Thread Sven Kirmess
Thursday, April 06, 2000, 10:08:59 PM, Jakob wrote: Sorry, but I have to say it. Very, very good HOWTO. Thanks. >> Why not? I think about power down after e.g. 30' idle time. Not >> after a few seconds... What's the Problem with RAID? Does it mark >> all disks as bad if they don't come up fast

Re: Power Supply for multiple disks?

2000-04-06 Thread Jakob Østergaard
On Thu, 06 Apr 2000, Sven Kirmess wrote: > Thursday, April 06, 2000, 6:36:39 PM, David wrote: > > >>What about "IDE power down when idle"? Can this blow up the power > >>supply or crash the system when turning on 4 disks simultaneous? > > You don't want to use "power down when idle" on drives i

Re: Power Supply for multiple disks?

2000-04-06 Thread Sven Kirmess
Thursday, April 06, 2000, 6:44:49 PM, Ed wrote: >> Do I need a special power supply like 300 W or what are you using? > A high capacity PS is always good to have, esp. in a high uptime > box. Having that extra wattage available can prevent power dips > from making things flake out. What about

Re: Power Supply for multiple disks?

2000-04-06 Thread Sven Kirmess
Thursday, April 06, 2000, 6:36:39 PM, David wrote: >>What about "IDE power down when idle"? Can this blow up the power >>supply or crash the system when turning on 4 disks simultaneous? > You don't want to use "power down when idle" on drives in a RAID... Why not? I think about power down after

Re: Power Supply for multiple disks?

2000-04-06 Thread sjbuller
>I'm playing a bit with Linux RAID and now I have a question about the >power supply. When I use 3 or 4 modern IDE drives I guess they will >consume a lot of energy. Cranking up 10K RPM drives will require substantial power. A real crude yardstick is that the 1.0 inch high drives will take le

Re: Power Supply for multiple disks?

2000-04-06 Thread Ed Schernau
Sven Kirmess wrote: > > I'm playing a bit with Linux RAID and now I have a question about the > power supply. When I use 3 or 4 modern IDE drives I guess they will > consume a lot of energy. > > Do I need a special power supply like 300 W or what are you using? A high capacity PS is always good

Power Supply for multiple disks?

2000-04-06 Thread Sven Kirmess
I'm playing a bit with Linux RAID and now I have a question about the power supply. When I use 3 or 4 modern IDE drives I guess they will consume a lot of energy. Do I need a special power supply like 300 W or what are you using? What about "IDE power down when idle"? Can this blow up the power