[vox-tech] Which distro for file/print/web server

[Alex Mandel]

On 11/10/2010 11:05 PM, Bill Broadley wrote:
> On 11/08/2010 07:33 PM, Rick Moen wrote:
>> Quoting Alex Mandel (tech_dev at wildintellect.com):
>>
>>> Good Call, I did look a little at finding a drive case that was both
>>> eSata and usb. The drive case was the cheapest part by far but esata/usb
>>> isn't so common. I'm not sure if the board in between would still be an
>>> issue. If I happen to come upon a good deal on such a case I might try
>>> it. Anyone have an external eSata they could try to get SMART data on?
>>
>> All libata drivers support SMART -- which is what one would expect,
>> given that libata leverages the kernel's SCSI layers.
>> https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Libata_Feature_Table
>> (The particular SATA interface, internal vs. eSATA, is not an issue.)
> 
> While technically true, often eSATA is combined with a multidisk chassis
> and has a lame/broken chip that multiplexes a single SATA connection to
> multiple drives.  Said lame/broken chip often hides the SMART data.  I
> find is similarly frustrating when the RAID controller does the same
> thing.  It's really really annoying to have to pull a failed drive to
> get it's model and serial number so you can RMA it.
> 
> It's also worth mentioning while SMART is cool, I like the idea, and it
> sounds really useful.  The studies that I've seen show SMART is useless
> for predicting failures.  Sure you can get various interesting metrics
> but there's little relationship between any of the numbers it gives you
> and losing your entire disk in the near future.
> 
> The largest of said studies was the Google paper which covered an
> impressive number of disks across all major brands.
> 

Good news, that particular case does pass it through so yay SMART data
and HDDtemp. I think just knowing the temp on the drive is going to be
useful(and I can test if keeping the fan on is worth it) and getting a
report of how many bad sectors will give me a little piece of mind.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817173043

I also no longer have to use a custom udev rule to get the drive mounted
in the right spot. Downside being I'm not sure the eSata is
hot-swappable so I'll have to take the system down anytime I want to
hook the external up to something else.

Thanks,
Alex