![ihs-isuppli-thailand-floods-hard-drives[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/b17247U.jpg "ihs-isuppli-thailand-floods-hard-drives[1].jpg")
So I have a bunch of shitty hard drives left around that I've gotten from old workstation computers at my job. Some were in an old server and others were in workstations.
They're all old but I think some run better than others. A stack of 4 hard drives were in a server and 1 of them failed. They're all jumbled together and I don't know which one is the damaged one.
I need a tool recommendation that will help me find the max read/write, buffer, seeking and all other nitty gritties of the hard drives so I know which ones are worth using and which ones aren't. Also, S.M.A.R.T. testing and whatever else can be helpful.
I recently got 2 "HP ProLiant DL320 G6 Servers" from a Government Online Auction and I'm setting them up to replace my shitty, old desktop ESXi server.
1 server will be the ESXi server host.
1 server will be a FreeNAS box for my storage.
The old server will be converted into a pfSense box for my network as my router sucks the nut.
I ordered a "Intel EXPI9404PTLBLK PRO/1000" off of Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Intel-EXPI9404PTLBLK-Express-Profile-Adapter/dp/B005DASO3M) and that will be the network card used inside of the pfSense box.
Any suggestions /g/ents?
Bumpin'
Having Googled around a little, I've found:
HDDScan
http://hddscan.com
And
CrystalDiskInfo
http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html
I think that HDDScan is probably the better bet. Can anyone confirm this? Or maybe give another suggestion?
>>51969237
The blinking orange light on the tray should be a good indicator of the failed drive.
Couple things.
1- Make sure the firmware on all the things is current. HP likes to play stupid firmware games.
2 - Depending on how much storage you need, it might be best to convert the old ESXi server into a storage system, and use both HP's as vhosts.
If you're using SAS drives, I wouldn't worry too much about it, provided you're not using a RAID 0. Not that they don't go bad, but they usually have a higher number of sectors they can re-allocate.
Speaking of SAS drives, they should be cheap on ebay for anything up to 300GB.
Or just use 4 desktop SATA drives, depending on if you have SFF or LFF drives
Crystal disk will give a quick over view of drive health, but for myself I'd be wary of any drive with over 4500 operating hours. There pretty much end of life by then but mo prob sticking them in a raid array for safety.
>>51969237
>>>/wsr/
>>51969641
#1 - A few days ago I downloaded all the latest SPP files directly from their FTP (Fuck their Warranty Contract bullshit) as well as the latest BIOS for the servers. I initially had some issues updating but I figured it out.
The servers are now up-to-date with all the official HP stuff.
Regardless of whether or not I wanted to update, I would have to as only the newer BIOS and SPP "officially support" ESXi 6.0.
So yeah, I'm good on that front.
#2 - Both of the ProLiant servers came with x2 WD 1TB Enterprise drives! I was planning on taking x2 drives from the ESXi server and putting it into the FreeNas server so that I would know I had 4 reliable drives in the FreeNAS box.
I then wanted to run tests on the extra drives I have sitting around to see which were the best candidates for the ESXi host.
I know the FreeNAS box CANNOT use ANY sort of RAID setup as FreeNAS has it's own software RAID configuration.
BUT for the ESXi host, I was going to set 2 of the drives into RAID 0, which would run the Server itself and the more performance related VMs. While the 2 extra slots on the ESXi host would be used for the server storage disks. Backups and whatever else really.
4 of the drives are 500GB Seagate Barracudas.
1 of which is a dead drive (Hence needed a software suggestion to test which one is the dud)
2-4 other drives are from old workstations. Some are fairly old and are made by MAXTOR/Seagate; and are around 80-120GB. Making me think that they're probably Sata SAS drives. (Which is another reason I would like test them to see their RPMs)
I COULD technically use the serial keys on the drives and go to the manufacturer's website to check the specs but that doesn't tell me the current health status of the drives. (Considering they're fairly old)
Sorry for the long post D:
>>51969769
I need a little more than just basic info I think. It would probably be a better idea to run small benchmarks on them, no?
You think even if the drives are near "end of life" that it wouldn't be that bad of an idea to add them to a RAID array then?
>>51969777
Sorry, what?
Bumpin'
There isn't a specific software that is universally accepted on /g/ that should be used for Hard Drive benchmarking, integrity, and testing?
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=hard+disk+sentinel#
there you go faggot
Let's say hypothetically we gained a HDD that has a different 'input slot' not entirely sure what to call it, sorry for the cringe.
![01[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/39KDW6c.jpg "01[1].jpg")