My Rambling Thoughts

Rethinking the file server

My file server is using the Asrock N3150-ITX m/b and resides physically in a In Win BK 644 Micro ATX tower (300W).

The m/b supports four SATA3 ports. It also has a PCIe 2.0 x1 slot and a half-size mPCIe slot. Half-size = 26.8x30 mm.

The casing has room for two 3.5" HDDs and one 5.25" drive bay.

I'm wondering if I can boot from the mPCIe slot. First, it is not a mSATA slot. It is also a good thing that it is not, otherwise it would share one of the SATA controllers. I want mPCIe + 4 SATA ports, not mSATA + 3 SATA ports.

From what I google, there are almost no mPCIe SSDs. Even if there were, they were long obsolete (i.e. too small). mPCIe is now replaced with M.2, specifically type M for NVMe SSDs. (Type B for mSATA.)

There are mPCIe to M.2 type M adapters. Due to space constraint (only half-size, remember), I need the adapter to have a flex cable. Typical M.2 SSDs are 2260 or 2280 (meaning 22x60 mm or 22x80 mm). Shorter ones exist, but I prefer lower chip density.

One concern is that mPCIe is only x1. I'm guessing the version is 2.0, so x1 is 500 MB/s, which is plenty fast.

NVMe SSDs use x4 (since M.2 provides it), they are said to work with x1 too — though slower.

The most important unknown is, will the system boot from it? Some say it will if we enable network boot.

If it works, I can use a small SSD (say 1 TB) to be the boot drive and put /home on it. The spinning HDDs will store purely data.

File server disk allocation 2024

Changes over the years:

FS20102012201620172024
HDD size1 TB2 TB (pri)4 TB (pri2)
/20 GB10 GB15 GB15 GB80 GB
/var2 GB2 GB3 GB3 GB
/var/log1 GB1.5 GB1.5 GB
/var/tmp1 GB1.5 GB1.5 GB
/tmp2 GB2 GB3 GB3 GB30 GB
swap2 GB2 GB2 GB2 GB8 GB
Reserved8 GB8 GB
/home900+ GBThe restThe rest300 GB300 GB
/dataThe rest1.14 TB
/data22.08 TB

I decided to simplify the partitioning and do away with /var, /var/log and /var/tmp.

The partitions were laughably small in the past. :lol: They are now sized to be inline with modern expectations.

I'm not sure if I should have two data partitions or not. The intent is to separate short-term and small data (e.g. downloads, manga, music) and big-and-mostly-static-data (e.g. pics, shows).

Signs of a dying HDD

Mechnical HDDs seldom fail outright. Ignore the warning signs at your own peril.

Clicking sound. This is the most obvious sign. If you hear this, copy the data out asap. The HDD is on its last legs.

The HDD is running hotter than usual. We don't normally feel the HDD physically, but the OS should report abnormally high temperature using SMART. The reason for the increased temperature is that the HDD is retrying its operations.

Abnormal slowdowns, like super-long pauses when loading or saving a file when it used to be instantaneous.

General slowdown, as in it takes longer to copy files. Read speed drops from 100 MB/s to 40 MB/s. The OS drops the SATA link speed from 6 Gbps to 1.5 Gbps.

SMART attributes such as Reallocated_Sector_Ct, Current_Pending_Sector, Offline_Uncorrectable and Multi_Zone_Error_Rate are non-zero and rising.

HDD SMART data 2024

DriveSizeDatePower On HoursPower CyclesLoad CyclesMZER
pri2 TB2014/417,61249771,793806
2016/1140,303593771,8661,011
2018/855,757621771,8811,309
2019/1065,788652771,8851,380
2024/3104,278705771,8981,464
 
data22 TB2014/416752910
2016/119,487612,9270
2018/821,949904,4580
2019/1031,9301236,7220
2024/331,9841286,7550
 
infplus16 TB2016/11389141180
2018/81,984242560
2019/101,990312640
2024/32,767423430
 
omega26 TB2018/8456220
2019/10457250
2024/331,264529,5925,629
 
bignum6 TB2020/1181200
2024/34426840
 
pri24 TB2024/352123090

pri and omega2 have to be replaced because they are failing.

omega2 started to fail first. I was unable to copy some files into it. A few days later, I observed the same for pri. Both drives failing within days of each other, so coincidental?

pri has been in use for almost 12 years! I wanted to retire it in 2019. The original plan was to clone pri to data2 and use the latter as the primary drive. I never got around to doing it. I ended up not using data2 at all.

omega2 failing is somewhat of a surprise. It is only 3.5 years! Can it be used if I mask out the "bad sectors"? But its high MZER (Multi Zone Error Rate) is giving me pause.

I bought pri2 back in 2021 but didn't get to use it. I finally put it into use.

bignum is a SMR drive. When I bought it, I didn't know about SMR drives. It is fine for archival data, but not as a general-purpose drive.

New 65W USB chargers

I got 4 new chargers recently:

  • Samsung 25W PD 3.0 travel charger (USB-C), $12.00
  • Samsung 65W 3-port charger (2x C, 1x A), $15.06
  • Lencent GaN3 65W travel adapter (3x C, 2x A), $32.73
  • Baseus GaN5 65W 3-port charger (2x C, 1x A), $29.26

I have enough chargers already, just "itchy hands" to "modernize" some of my older ones.

Notice a trend? All but one are multi-port 65W. The power is split 45W+20W when charging multiple devices. 45W is bare minimum for charging notebooks.

These compact chargers have a simple power splitter. When multiple ports are used, one port will get most of the power (e.g. 45W), other ports will share the remaining 20W. You don't get 35W+30W or 25W+25W+15W. Always check how power is distributed for multi-port chargers.

On the left are two Baseus GaN chargers. The one on top is a GaN2 Pro Quick Charger that I bought in 2022. The one at the bottom is a GaN5 Pro Fast Charger. The old one works well, except it has US-style plug head and is very loose as a result. The new one supports more quick charging protocols as well (e.g. PPS).

The Baseus 65W charger is pretty expensive. I saw another brand selling at $21 (at its lowest point)!

The Samsung 65W charger is surprisingly cheap and compact, but there is a catch — it charges at 65W with PPS only, otherwise it is limited to 35W (20V 1.75A). Hence, it is not suitable for notebooks as most don't support PPS.

The Lencent travel adapter has 3 USB-C ports and two USB-A ports. Only one USB-C port supports 65W. When used together, the power output is 45W (C1), 15W (C2+C3) and 12W (A1+A2). It's not clear, but I believe C2+C3+A1+A2 add up to either 15W or 20W.

I may get another 65W travel adapter if it costs around $30. The usual price is $40+. I have 3 multi-port travel chargers, but they are all 28W only (with one USB-C port at 15W).

With these, I have enough 65W chargers! :lol:

(I also have four 65W notebook chargers, but they are rather big.)

Will I get 100W chargers? They are big, heavy and expensive.

The answer is, maybe. ;-)