Need help with storage on a R710 Hyper-V Host

[JayG30]

Hello STH. I need to get some storage situated ASAP. Not really up-to-date on the current offerings though.

The storage is going to be for a Hyper-V 2012R2 host. A Dell R710 with a Perc 6/i. I have ~500-600GB of data and want to get 1TB+ of redundant storage. Server will probably be running at most; Terminal Server for ~20 people, small web server, AD/DNS/DHCP server, and light use of a document management software running on a MS SQL Server.

My budget is thin and I'm looking at storage that is <$0.50/GB. Also, I'm guessing the Perc 6/i is going to suck pretty bad for a Hyper-V host. So I'm interested in hearing opinions on relatively affordable options. I'm trying not to spend a ton on this machine because it will be replaced with something far newer hopefully by the end of the year. I was looking at just using 6 x 15k 300GB SAS drives at about $80 each but figure there is probably a better way to spend the money. If I get some decent SSD's I can probably just transfer them into the new machine when the time comes.

I started looking at Intel S3500/3700 drives but they seem expensive (~$1/GB) for the limited budget I'm working with. So I went looking at Samsung drives since that is really the only other brand I have some knowledge of. Looking at the Samsung models, here is what I'm finding is more inline with my budget (<$0.50/GB);

PM853T / 845DC EVO: Looks like both of these can be had cheaply on Ebay for $0.40/GB. Has PLP but TLC so less endurance. Not sure how big of a concern that is.
SM843T: This seem to be older than the 853T/845DC models, but uses eMLC so I guess should have better endurance? Also has PLP. Cost ~$0.50/GB.
SM843: Has no PLP. Uses cheaper client MLC but I guess still better than TLC? More read focused. Can be had for <$0.40/GB

How concerned should I be about the TLC in the PM853T disks? Lots of these seem to be on ebay. Would I be smarter to get an SM843T instead? There are also the "prosumer" range like getting a 850 Pro or Evo. I'm not sure how wise that is in today's market for putting in a production machine.

I'm also looking for any deals or models I might look for that fit into my budgetary constraints while delivering high quality SSD performance. Sandisk, Hitachi, Toshiba, etc.. Should I be looking for particular models from these manufacturers that fit the pricing and perhaps would be better then Samsung?

Thanks for any help!

 

[tigweld0101]

I wouldn't imagine you are doing too many writes. The SM843T is still a nice drive but saving money with the 845dc evo is prob ok for what you are doing. From what you say it sounds like most of your usage is write once then store it for future reads so you aren't generating like 10tb of writes/ day.

 

[JayG30]

I wouldn't imagine you are doing too many writes. The SM843T is still a nice drive but saving money with the 845dc evo is prob ok for what you are doing. From what you say it sounds like most of your usage is write once then store it for future reads so you aren't generating like 10tb of writes/ day.

I feel the same about the 843T vs 853T. I don't think I'm doing enough writes to worry about it. But the price difference isn't that great. From what I've read the 853T is the faster drive while the 843T gives better endurance.

The other thing is I'm finding the 853T in 960GB capacities. So I'd end up with 2 of these in a RAID1. The 843T I'm finding in 480GB capacitiy, so to keep the budget in check I'd get 3 of these in a RAID5 setup. So there is that to consider as well.

I am concerned that when I move to a new machine however that the Samsung drives are going to end up limiting me due to the issues they have had with LSI controllers. Not sure if these drives have the issue or not, just know people have had problems with them and LSI. The new systems we move to will most likely be Supermicro E5 based with LSI controllers since they are so plentiful.

 

[tigweld0101]

If you can put the drives on the Intel SATA controller.

 

[JayG30]

Yea I was trying to find a way to do that in the R710, but I don't think it is an option. It has a backplane that goes to the Perc controller, so putting them in the hotswap bays sort of makes them get wired to the controller. And there isn't any space internal to mount them. In a new chassis I could make this decision though.