From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Brad Campbell Subject: Re: Busted disks caused healthy ones to fail Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 08:46:22 +0400 Message-ID: <41BFC19E.2020906@wasp.net.au> References: <200412141523.iBEFN4909947@www.watkins-home.com> <41BF4967.9000801@wasp.net.au> <20041214214946.GA23973@jim.sh> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: In-Reply-To: <20041214214946.GA23973@jim.sh> Sender: linux-raid-owner@vger.kernel.org To: Jim Paris Cc: Guy , comsatcat@earthlink.net, linux-raid@vger.kernel.org List-Id: linux-raid.ids Jim Paris wrote: >>It's not that hard. >>I have 4 drives loaded in the rear bays and 2 x 5 Way SATA Hotswap bays in >>the 6 front 5.25 inch bays. 14 Drives. And yes, they are on a single 420w >>PSU along with the motherboard, Athlon XP 2600+. and 5 80mm fans. Not much >>else though. > > > !!!!!! Holy crap! > > Let's pick a random typical hard drive, a Seagate 120GB SATA: > http://www.mittoni.com.au/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/1690 > It lists maximum current draw as 2.8 A on the +12V line. > Multiply that by 14 drives and we get __39.2 amps__. Now, lets actually pick my hard drives shall we? Max current draw on the 12v line is 1.56A at spinup, dropping to 600mA at seek and 556mA at Idle. So _worst_ case is 21.84A for about 2 seconds (which does actually exceed the PSU ratings by nearly 3 amps). This machine only gets power cycled about once every three months and I did actually monitor the 12V rail with a CRO to check specs and ripple and they never budged. Worst case running load is 8.4A which leaves ~10A on my 12V rail for my motherboard. Ample. > Now let's pick a random 420W power supply: > http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?submit=Go&description=N82E16817103445 > Note how it's +12V output is rated for only __15 amps__. Now lets pick my power supply http://www.wasp.net.au/~brad/p1000256.jpg So yes, on spinup I'm exceeding my 12V rail by 3 Amps for about 1.5 Seconds (Which this supply has amply proven capable of handling). Outside that I don't see an issue. > Your numbers might differ a bit. But it is NO surprise that your > drives are failing. The surprising part is that they and your power > supply have worked this long. I never said anything about failing disks! In fact, if you check back you will see me commenting I have a bucket load of Maxtor Maxline-II drives in there that have been flawless to date. (In fact I have just ordered 25 more, 15 for me and 10 for a mate. That should increase the sample a little) They all sit at below 40 Degrees C and the PSU remains quite cool. (I'm an electronic technician by trade and have several thermocouples I use to verify measurements). Here is the reason the drives stay nice and cool. http://www.wasp.net.au/~brad/p1000250.jpg -- Brad /"\ Save the Forests \ / ASCII RIBBON CAMPAIGN Burn a Greenie. X AGAINST HTML MAIL / \