Irritation...

[JackN]

So, finally after several years, I can afford 4 identical drives for my MoBo RAID controller.

Bought said drives a week or two ago. After all the fun of assembly and I start it up and one of the drives is DOA.

So now tomorrow I have to go try and get an exchange (if they still have any in stock).

Grrrr...

[Oscaron]

No, no...DOA is a new kind of interface, like IDE and SATA

It's just so quiet that is seems like it's not working.

[BillS]

Originally Posted by Oscaron

No, no...DOA is a new kind of interface, like IDE and SATA

It's just so quiet that is seems like it's not working.

LMAO!!!


sorry Jack

[JackN]

Heh heh, well got the replacement last night, without issue. About to install it and try it all out here in a little bit.



Hopefully will be in RAID heaven here in a little while...

...'course... if I span the drives it would also be cool to have over a terabyte of drive space...

[Oscaron]

Originally Posted by BillS

LMAO!!!

sorry Jack

You know, I only joke...


...because I'm envious

[JackN]

Originally Posted by Oscaron

You know, I only joke...


...because I'm envious

heh heh, well thank you...

but don't be envious until it all works and I do something useful with it!

[Oscaron]

Originally Posted by JackN

Heh heh, well got the replacement last night, without issue. About to install it and try it all out here in a little bit.



Hopefully will be in RAID heaven here in a little while...

...'course... if I span the drives it would also be cool to have over a terabyte of drive space...

I see a 3 episode Sci-Fi Channel Original Mini-series starring Lou Diamond Phillips and Yancy Butler.

Field Agent Max Trenton, out of the Knoxville, TN Office of the FBI, receives a call from a woman who claims to be the Head Theoretical Quantum Physicist at the Sparta Community College about a potential 'problem'

Agent Trenton, who would ordinarily say no, strides from the office (narrowly avoiding his future ex-wife and the stack of legal documents she brought for him to sign) and drives to the college.

In the converted chemistry lab that is now the SCC Particle Physics Lab, Agent Trenton approaches a suitablely dorky...er...'scientific' appearing female in the lab and introduces himself.

The female lab assistant swoons and point out Dr. Francesca standing over by the experimental micro-collider then clutches her clipboard and scurries off to do another one-line in the adjacent lot.

Agent Trenton looks over and see Dr. Francesca bent over working at a computer terminal (too busy to use the chair next to her) her legs visible below her mandatorily-short SCC Head Theoretical Quantum Physicist lab coat. She taps random keys on the keyboard. The computer is NOT showing an elaborate screensaver.....really.

Agent Trenton (call me Max) introduced himself with innuendo-cake with innuedo-icing and and Innuedoan Cherry on top.

Dr. Francesca (call me Doctor) shoots him down then gets right to the point.

The Problem?

Doctor Francesca, while searching for the Grand Unification Theorem, wrote a piece of software that scans and analyzes all the data on the Internet in realtime....on Linux, of course.

What has her worried is that she has been monitoring a CGI Artist in Sparta for several years, in fact its why she accepted the lower-paying job in Sparta and left a think tank contracted to the US Military...and NO it has nothing to do with the 3 DUIs in New York. (Sorry Yancy fans!)

This artist has a particular motherboard designed by the military. This MB accidentally fell into the consumer market and Dr. Francesca, who found out about the error, was censured by the Military when she complained about its danger.

Max asks Dr. Francesa what this has to do with anything.

Dr Francesca gets to the point and says that if 4 hard drives were hooked up to the motherboard in a very specific RAID configuration and the total available storage space is 1 terabyte or more, and then filtered through a hi-quality 3D graphics package, then the data will self-actualize and form an ultra dense mass that would essentially be a Data Black Hole that grows with the addition of more data.

Max stares.

Dr Francesca mentions that eventually the Earth will be absorbed.

Max stares more.

Dr Francesca mentions the billions dead.

Max starts to glaze over.

Dr. Francesca mentions the loss of the Spice Network.

Max wakes up then says, well it's not really a problem unless the artist gets 4 Hard drives, hooked em up in RAID and....

Dr Francesca says the artist ALREADY ordered the drives.

Max OMGs and mentions that they really need to do something.

Dr. Francesca has forestalled the potential disaster by hacking into the S-Mart computers that the artist ordered his hard drives from and managed to swap one of the working drives for a defective return. But, according to her research on a forum, he has ordered a replacement and its only a matter of time...in fact UPS is scheduled to drop off the package in...1 hr!

[JackN]

Journal Entry:

01/01/08 12:10 (GMT-6)

My evil nemesis Dr. Francesca has once again proven to be a thorn in my attemps to take over the world with my not-so-new Uber Athlon. Despite my attempts to hide my tracks blue boxing from a remote terminal to give the appearance of ordering from S-Mart Computers and feigning expectation of delivery via UPS, she has hacked her way once again into postponing my evil expiriment. Appearantly one of the (4) hard drive units I had purchased from Staples was improperly hooked up to the Easy Button when it was pressed.

Aside from a minor detour for the last day and a half, the replacement drive has successfully initialized in Windows XP. I am now faced with the decision of the component configuration as to whether it should be RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0/1, Spanned Volume, or individual drives. (Cue Mad Scientist/Dr. Jeckel music here)

I have decided to risk setting aside a little more time to test several of these configurations beginning with the Spanned Volume mode. The temptation for bragging rights is almost impossible to avoid at this point. (Screen shots to come).

Once I have satisfied this less rational urge, I will likely settle with the RAID 1/0 Mirror/Striping configuration for Data Redundancy and roughly 600 Gig of Uber Space Continium...

With the new DVD RW drive installed I could risk the spanned volume if I adhere to a strict Backup Philosophy and can aquire the proper research funding for the Media Consumables...

01/01/08 12:31 (GMT-6)

Oh $#!+ ... The wife just walked in...

-End Of Entry

[JackN]

Journal Entry:

01/01/08 14:56 (GMT-6)

After hiding the bottle of "Very Old Barton" because of the early return of the other half, I have managed to return to my expirement and have visually documented the physical configuration of the units for the Drive of Doom which from here on will be known as TerrorByte.

Spanning (4) dynamic 300 Gig drives takes a while to format, and it is at 25% after roughly one hour. System temperature and CPU temperature are stable and hovering at 39-40 degrees celcius.

This is a good improvement since the unit generally ran at 41-42 degrees celcius without the extra (4) drives and DVD burner unit installed. Replacing the ribbon cables for the UV Round cables, and using cable ties to manage cable placement has made a vast improvement in air circulation even with the added heat load.

Increased memory size and RAM coolers have added both OS workspace and cool factor.

The addition of (2) USB flash Drives will aid in portability of Confidential plans and documentation.

The new backlit keyboard has increased the cool factor, while contributing little more than a functional space key to the device.


Visual documentation follows as attachments.

Addendum: The main application for this device requires more than the initial documentation that came with it. This situation has been remedied by the addition of (4) specific technical manuals enroute to a secret pick up point.

Inside Lightwave [8]
Lightwave [8] Texturing
Lightwave [8] Lighting
Lightwave [8] Killer Tricks and Tips

-End Of Entry

[Wizard Drongo]

Nice!
Blue LED's are proven to add at least a 50% performance upgrade. Per LED!!

[JackN]

Journal Entry:

01/01/08 19:30 (GMT-6)

Moment of truth is almost here. 99% complete on format. Amazing test of my patience. Waiting to see just what kind of performance I can expect from a set of (4) spanned drives with that much capacity.

XP reports that a wopping 1192.35 Gig will be available upon completion.

What shall I fill it with? Genesis Device code, Encyclopedia Galactica, ?

-End Of Entry

[JackN]

Journal Entry:

01/01/08 20:11 (GMT-6)

I'll let the visual documentation speak for itself, the first phase of the expirement was a success. Quite a satisfying moment in my life to have achieved this goal, even if a few years later than I had hoped.



-End Of Entry

[jorjo]

Right ! now that you have that bucket battered into shape.

GET MODELLING !

A Nautilus is expected from you at this point

[Oscaron]

LOL....Well, all I can say is....Congratulations!

I look forward to contributing the cumulative energy of your data black hole.

[McFilms]

Classic!

*quickly hides the two "anti-data black hole" 500gb firewire drives behind a monitor*