I'm building a NAS box with 3-4 WD GPs. I would like to run it using a PicoPSU 120W and a 110W brick. I can bypass the Pico, feeding 12v from the brick directly to the HDDs but I fear it still won't be enough to start all HDDs at once.
Is staggered spin up support reserved for hi-end RAID controllers or does any cheap AM2/AM3 motherboards support that feature?
740G motherboard with staggered spin up support?
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I've spent a good while trying to find reason/patterns regarding staggered spin-up. To answer your question, I doubt you'll find staggered spin-up on a motherboard.
Per the Sata 2 spec (PDF), staggered spin-up is an option that uses uses pin 11 of the sata power cable. How odd! So, not only does the HDD need to support this, but so does your PSU. My guess is that most commercially-available PSU's do not support this.
BUT. I was reading user reviews of the Supermicro CSE-M35T-1B 5-in-3 hot-swap chassis, and a few mentioned that this chassis supports staggered spin-up. It's an undocumented "feature", and still requires support in the HDD.
I own three WD10EADS "green" drives, and I remember reading somewhere that they do not support anything on pin 11. Of course, I can't find where I read that now
. YMMV.
Per the Sata 2 spec (PDF), staggered spin-up is an option that uses uses pin 11 of the sata power cable. How odd! So, not only does the HDD need to support this, but so does your PSU. My guess is that most commercially-available PSU's do not support this.
BUT. I was reading user reviews of the Supermicro CSE-M35T-1B 5-in-3 hot-swap chassis, and a few mentioned that this chassis supports staggered spin-up. It's an undocumented "feature", and still requires support in the HDD.
I own three WD10EADS "green" drives, and I remember reading somewhere that they do not support anything on pin 11. Of course, I can't find where I read that now
. YMMV.Here's some hell re: staggered spin-up and WD drives:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1462107
You know, I'd probably just go for a real PSU and avoid staggered spin-up. A simple 380W Antec 80+ PSU is going to be cheaper than the Pico + brick too. Depending on what OS you're using, you may be able to spin down drives when not in use. My unRAID server idles at 39W with all three drives spun down, and that's with a 400W 80+ Corsair. I see 88W peaks @ startup. This was with my kill-a-watt.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1462107
You know, I'd probably just go for a real PSU and avoid staggered spin-up. A simple 380W Antec 80+ PSU is going to be cheaper than the Pico + brick too. Depending on what OS you're using, you may be able to spin down drives when not in use. My unRAID server idles at 39W with all three drives spun down, and that's with a 400W 80+ Corsair. I see 88W peaks @ startup. This was with my kill-a-watt.
Thanks for the replies. I've done some research regarding staggered spin-up and I'm also confused about the pin11 thing. Seems like a very odd way of doing it, requiring support all the way.
I have the PSU from my 1380, a special looking Antec 350W 80+ but I would really like to use a 120W PicoPSU and a 110W 12v brick I have laying around. I could also use a Dell DA-2 but I'd rather not. That would probably work though, 18A should be plenty for 4 HDDs.
I have the PSU from my 1380, a special looking Antec 350W 80+ but I would really like to use a 120W PicoPSU and a 110W 12v brick I have laying around. I could also use a Dell DA-2 but I'd rather not. That would probably work though, 18A should be plenty for 4 HDDs.
It's not just the 12V rails, but the 5V rails pull a bit of current during spin up as well if I recall correctly. I think you are cutting it a bit close powering 4 drives with the Pico120 and your 110W brick, but it doesnt hurt to try and I think it should work. The GP are supposed to have reduced spin-up requirements anyways. I have a 740G + AMD LE-1250 + 2 WD GP + 120W Winmate DC-DC + 120W power brick and my initial peak power consumption is around 50 - 60W (it idles at around 35W). So by my estimates, each additional drive would take up an extra 20W during spin up so roughly 100W should do it.
Your 110W brick should hopefully have some sort of "peak" capabilities in which you may be able to briefly load it for 10-20% more from its rated capacity.
If you do decide to try it, post and let us know the results.
Your 110W brick should hopefully have some sort of "peak" capabilities in which you may be able to briefly load it for 10-20% more from its rated capacity.
If you do decide to try it, post and let us know the results.
Like most here, I'm all for prioritizing low power consumption. But with storage, other qualities should take priority: reliability and recoverability. If you're building a 3-4 drive NAS, I assume this is for online storage and backups. But will you have backups of all this data? Can you afford downtime, data corruption, etc., if your picoPSU can't keep up? I think briefly overloading a PSU in a storage environment is asking for trouble.
Using the picoPSU instead of your Antec might save you a few watts, but is it worth the risk?
Using the picoPSU instead of your Antec might save you a few watts, but is it worth the risk?
I will back up important data to an external 1TB HDD. The NAS will be for mostly non-critical data (music, movies etc) so 100% reliability is not a goal in this case. But I see your point.
There's also no easy way to mount the Antec PSU in a normal chassis. Might take almost as much tweaking with that PSU as it would be using the Pico.
There's also no easy way to mount the Antec PSU in a normal chassis. Might take almost as much tweaking with that PSU as it would be using the Pico.
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flyingsherpa
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If you're a DIY'er, check this out: http://hackaday.com/2010/02/05/pre-spun-hard-drives/. It holds the mobo in "reset" while it spins up one drive at a time. Once all are spun up, it lets the mobo boot normally. I'm not aware of a commercial solution, but this may be an option for some.