3tb hard drives - can they go in any pc ?

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stevewestern

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I am running out of space on my pc so want to install a 3tb hard drive but have seen something about them causing some sort of problems as some motherboards cannot cope with anything over 2tb. Is this utter cobblers or what ?
My motherboard is an Asus P5Q Pro with a Core 2 Duo E8400 if that helps, and many thanks for any advice !

Also, if replacing one of 2 drives in a mirror raid arrangement is it just a case of slotting the new one in and letting the pc do all the copying or do I need to do loads of clever stuff ?
 
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No is the answer. Research your PC


They are limited by BIOS, you cannot install an OS to a partition on a 3tb drive, you need the new thingy ma bob that is replacing bios (Uefi or something) to do this.

They can be used as a data drive (logical partition) but I think there is a 32bit limit on hard disk or partition drive.

I had a brand new server with 3tb drives and i got nothing working and had to swap to 2tb drives.

I am personally avoiding 3tb drives in PCs. External drives seem to work ok (USB) and a fair few NAS support them.
 
I didn't explain enough - I am leaving my OS on one 1tb drive but for storage have 2 x 1.5tb drives in raid and want to increase my storage space so will be replacing both with 3tb drives hopefully.
I then plan to use the old 1.5tb drives in my 4 bay qnap NAS as currently there are 2 x 1.5tb drives in that as well so by adding the extra drives I can go to raid 5 (i think) thus increasing my storage space as well as security.

Make sense or am I wrong as usual ?
 
Thanks neil !

Not sure what to do now as I have wondered about my pc and general storage set up for a while - I currently have a 1tb HD for my os, programs and a lot of other stuff. I then have 2 pairs of HD's, both 1.5tb - one set to store my music as flac files and the other for my photos and itunes, so all my music is repeated there but in a different format. Then my qnap nas has everything stored again and feeds my Sonos music system.
My feelings are that I am using a lot of electricity keeping so many HD's spinning so could be better organized. I am also aware that the pc is a few years old, as are the HD's.
I don't play games so have no need for a super-fast machine but would like more space as I still have another 800+ cd's to rip at some stage hence my questions about 3tb drives.

So, if i were to look into replacing my motherboard and processor where should I start - any suggestions ?
I am not looking to spend a lot of money but if it is the simplest way to go then could...
 
Its like having a personal expert on hand with you Neil..
Very many thanks for always being there and so wise !

I doubt I need another machine - could I just remove the HD's currently in my pc and put one into a nas, copy the data over to a bigger HD then fit a second 3tb hd into the nas to give me raid protection ?
As you know by now, I am one of those people who has heard a few key words but who actually knows nothing (just ask my wife...)
 
okay so lets get this right, your current set up:

PC (motherboard has 6x SATA 3Gb/s RAID capable)
OS - 1Tb
Data - 2x 1.5Tb (RAID1)

NAS
2x 1.5Tb (RAID1)
2x empty bay

is that right? what model is the Qnap?
 
It is really that simple..?

So all I would need to do is put a couple more 1.5tb HD's in my qnap and set up raid 5 (like I know how to do that but I will find out !) and then stick an external 3tb HD into a usb on the back of it to back everything up.
I assume that removing the 1.5tb drives from the pc is fairly simple - just unplug one at a time and restart the pc ?
Will it sort out the fact that I am no longer running a raid set up automatically ?

So many questions but so much appreciated help - thanks again Neil.
 
pretty much.. youll more than likely have to delete the volume currently on the qnap to create the raid5 so back everything up first. but with the qnap (like synology) you can plug usb storage into the rear and set backups (what i do with my synology).

see how you get on with transfer speeds but i would suggest having the qnap and your pc on a gigabit wired connection if possible too (netgear gigabit GS108 switch ~£30-40), just plug that via an ethernet back to your router and off you go.
 
So I wire my pc and nas together via the gigabit switch, then wire that to my router. This is a permanent thing to allow faster transfer/access speeds - correct ?
Could I not just wire them together directly - what does a switch actually do ?

Without a gigabit switch I'll get slower speeds (which is not a problem and something I live with now). Currently the nas is on a different floor and opposite side of the house so running a cable would be a bit of a problem until our house purchase goes through !

As for the nas I could copy everything to a 3tb external HD then connect that to the nas with its new hd's in place to set up the raid5..?
 
stevewestern said:
So I wire my pc and nas together via the gigabit switch, then wire that to my router. This is a permanent thing to allow faster transfer/access speeds - correct ?
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yes, you basically have 3 ethernet cables plugged into the switch. 1 for the computer, 1 for the nas and 1 for the router so that they can all talk to each other. gigabit (1000mpbs) is faster than what youll get from wired to your router (100mpbs) and much faster than wireless.

Could I not just wire them together directly - what does a switch actually do ?
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you could but youd have no connection to your router, which may limit your internet access :)

Without a gigabit switch I'll get slower speeds (which is not a problem and something I live with now). Currently the nas is on a different floor and opposite side of the house so running a cable would be a bit of a problem until our house purchase goes through !
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yes youll get slower speeds, which may not be an issue for you. like i say see how it goes.

As for the nas I could copy everything to a 3tb external HD then connect that to the nas with its new hd's in place to set up the raid5..?
Click to expand...

so you mean get a new USB 3tb drive, copy everything to that. then wipe the nas presently, set up the RAID5, then copy everything back to the nas? yeah should work fine.
 
Neil.
Why is Eastleigh so far from Cornwall.
I owe you a very big beer.
I'll look at some 3tb external hard drives and a gigabit switch. I have always been a little surprised at just how long it takes to access anything on the nas....!
Thank you !
 
The time to access may not change much as you are probably waiting for the NAS to wake up and spin up the drives. Gigabit wired will be a lot faster for actually transferring the data though.

I have a server in the garage on 40m or so of network cable from the gigabit router and get copy speeds of 900 Mbits/second and the cable is cat5e not cat6. So expect things to be pretty fast with wired...
 
Robert - you are right - I am waiting for the nas to wake up, but even then it does seem to take a while for a folder full of files to open up.

I am learning though it must often seem annoyingly slowly to some !
 
Neil - I can but given that I have everything stored on my main pc the only time I ever want to access the nas is via the laptop when I want to attach a picture to an email or whatever. The nas is just for keeping a copy of everything and supplying my Sonos music system with tunes !

Looking at switches I see there is a gigabit 5 port switch -

http://www.ebuyer.com/52760-netgear-prosafe-gs105-5-port-gigabit-switch-gs105

Any reason I would need 8 ports over this one ?
 
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stevewestern said:
Any reason I would need 8 ports over this one ?
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The future.

I bought a managed switch (one you can log into and fiddle with) earlier this year for my office. I spent 2 or 3 days umming and ahhing over whether to spend the extra £50 for the 16 port one as I was only using 6 at the time. Looking at it now, it has 12 ports used (I'm just putting in some VoIP stuff here)............
 
PS. If you need some ethernet (cat 5e or cat6 - cat5e is fine for Gbit) Buy them from ebuyer. If you are already paying for postage, they are about the cheapest place to get them I know of. Something that may cost £10 in PCWorld can often be ~£1 from ebuyer.
 
Thanks Andy - I actually have a 50m length of cat5 cable left over from a previous project !
As for the future - I am an old man who often doubts if he has much of a future...
 
arad85 said:
The future.

I bought a managed switch (one you can log into and fiddle with) earlier this year for my office. I spent 2 or 3 days umming and ahhing over whether to spend the extra £50 for the 16 port one as I was only using 6 at the time. Looking at it now, it has 12 ports used (I'm just putting in some VoIP stuff here)............
Click to expand...

my boss just bought a 16 port tp-link gigabit managed for £40 :eek:
 
stevewestern said:
Thanks Andy - I actually have a 50m length of cat5 cable left over from a previous project !
As for the future - I am an old man who often doubts if he has much of a future...
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Well, now you know how you're going to link up the NAS and the switch...
Ebuyer will sell you lengths a few metres long for less than you can buy the connectors to make them up one e-bay. Always worth getting a couple of spares for a few £. I tend to do the same with USB cables too - I need a couple of micro-USB terminated onesd, so they'll be on the list next time I buy anything from ebuyer...

neil_g said:
my boss just bought a 16 port tp-link gigabit managed for £40 :eek:
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I have a TP-link - was closer to £140 :eek:

He got a source for any more? I'm looking at putting an 8 or 16 port managed in the living room :rolleyes: ;)
 
arad85 said:
Well, now you know how you're going to link up the NAS and the switch...
Ebuyer will sell you lengths a few metres long for less than you can buy the connectors to make them up one e-bay. Always worth getting a couple of spares for a few £. I tend to do the same with USB cables too - I need a couple of micro-USB terminated onesd, so they'll be on the list next time I buy anything from ebuyer...

I have a TP-link - was closer to £140 :eek:

He got a source for any more? I'm looking at putting an 8 or 16 port managed in the living room :rolleyes: ;)
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£46 apparently from amazon, he cant find it now so might have been a clearance.. there is one for £57 though, no idea if its managed though..
 
Just to counter the expensive switches... I have this one under my TV connecting all the AV stuff together that has networking (and to the router) and it does the job fine for £17.
 
neil_g said:
£46 apparently from amazon, he cant find it now so might have been a clearance.. there is one for £57 though, no idea if its managed though..
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Nice. I think they have just upgraded... The £57 is unmanaged unfortunately.

I have a couple of cheappy switches elsewhere in the house though (even a 10/100 one!)
 
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