Four 5TB HDDs Installed in my Gen8 for HSS Meetup 2015

By: JohnStutsman

Figure 1 — HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer with 240GB Corsair GT SSD attached to ODD SATA (SATA II 3Gbps) Port 5 and powered from 4-pin FDD connector – secured with tape

The HomeServerShow Meetup 2015 is just around the corner and I wanted to reconfigure my Gen8 MicroServer for the #BestMeetUpEver in Indianapolis this September 12, 2015. Along the way I wanted to take the opportunity to do a little more testing of my configurations.

So, with Windows Server 2012R2 (“S2012R2”) still on a single drive RAID0 SSD attached to the ODD SATA Port (SATA II 3Gbps) from Windows Server 2012R2 installed on my Gen8 MicroServer ODD SATA I removed the four 1TB HDD’s in RAID10 located at the main drive bays (Bays 1 & 2 are SATA III 6Gbps ports while Bays 3 & 4 are SATA II 3Gbps ports) and replaced them with four 5TB WD SE HDDs.

Video 1 – Replacing four 1TB 2.5” HDDs with four 5TB HDDs in my HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer

Next, before doing anything else I wanted to test the performance of one 5TB HDD. I created a Logical drive RAID0 of the single drive attached to Port 1 (SATA III or 6GB/s).

Figure 2 — Performance of 5TB HDD attached to Port 1 of B120i in my Gen8 MicroServer

After completing my tests on the single 5TB HDD I deleted that logical drive and created a new logical drive in the SSA (HP Smart Storage Administrator) made up of all four 5TB HDDs in a RAID10 configuration (and used HP’s default settings). I then went into Disk Management and formatted my new logical drive as shown in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3 – The new 10TB Logical Drive 02 created with four 5TB HDDs RAID10 by the HP Dynamic Smart Array B120i Controller was initialized and formatted in Disk Management of Windows Server 2012R2

Figure 4 – Checking the Properties of my newly Formatted drive shows 10TB of free space

Figure 5 – Storage Configuration in iLO4 showing my OS drive attached to Port 5 and the four 5TB HDDs attached to Ports 1-4 of the B120i

Figure 6 – Performance of my four 5TB HDDs in RAID10 on Ports 1-4 of my B120i in my HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer

Figure 7 — Firmware Versions on my Gen8 MicroServer

Figure 8 — Temperatures 1 day after the RAID10 was created with the four 5TB HDDs — Fan speeds were 26-27% with BIOS Fan settings on INCREASED COOLING

Figure 9 — Power requirements with the four 5TB WD HDDs in RAID10

Figure 10 – Gen8 MicroServer Xeon E3-1265Lv2

Current As-Built: Machine

HP ProLiant Gen8 MicroServer Xeon E3-1265Lv2
16GB ECC RAM (Kingston KVR1333D3E9SK2/16)
OS: Microsoft Windows Server 2012R2 Standard
OS Drive C: 240GB Logical Drive 01 made of 1 x Corsair GT 240GB SSD in RAID0 on HP Dynamic Smart Array B120i RAID Controller (NOTE: this is attached to the ODD SATA Port 5 – SATA II or 3 Gbps)
- Dell MX714 FDD to SATA Power Converter Cable
- Standard SATA cable 180 degrees (straight) both ends
Data Drive: 10TB Logical Drive 02 made of 4 x 5TB WD HDDs in RAID10 on HP Dynamic Smart Array B120i RAID Controller (NOTE: two drives are in Bays 1 & 2 – SATA III or 6 Gbps; and two drives are in Bays 3 & 4 – SATA II or 3 Gbps)