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Author Topic: Source for replacement DSS100 and DSP100 PSUs Leslie Hartmier Expert Film Handler Posts: 100 From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Registered: Jul 2012 posted 01-24-2017 02:21 PM                     I noticed in the Datasat thread that someone (Leo?) mentioned using Supermicro modular PSUs in the DSS200, and it led me to wonder: Anyone know where we might source out replacements for the DSS100 and DSP100 PSUs, and if so, any additional information on them would be keen. We're not upgrading the devices if we run out, we'd just get rid of them, but it would be foolish to get rid of a device if all that is necessary is to replace PSUs. That said, it seems that, other than the wee IDE bootstrap drive (and the odd RAID drive) that eventually expires, it's just the PSUs that die, and it would be good to source the things out. So, any tips on sources and info for the PSUs (and the IDE bootstraps and Dolby-approved HDs, if you have a list of suppliers)? Thanks! Leslie  |  IP: Logged Martin Murray Film Handler Posts: 69 From: ennis tx Registered: Sep 1999 posted 01-24-2017 03:18 PM                     Ebay  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 01-24-2017 08:33 PM                        I can't tell you anything about the DSS/DSP100 power supply unit, as I don't have any of these servers - sorry. FWIW, the Supermicro PSU model used in the DSS200 is PWB-801-1R. Obviously, another one in that series with the same form factor but a higher rated output would also work. As for HDDs, if you're registered on dolbycustomer.com and have registered your unit to your account, the list of approved drives is a PDF that you can download from there. However, given that the DSS100/DSP100 is no longer officially supported by Dolby, what do you have to lose by putting non-approved drives in it? If the storage configuration is the same as in a 200, it's a RAID5 and the drives are hot-swapable. So, just as long as you have a spare on hand and are confident to swap it in quickly if the need arises, I can't see any argument against putting cheap, white label desktop grade drives in it. I have one such drive in one of my DSS200s: it's been spinning for 2.5 years now, with zero errors or reallocated sectors. Very few people would have a 10-year old, 500,000 mile car serviced at a main dealership: to do so would be throwing money away, given the absence of any warranty. IMHO, the same logic applies to a DCP server for which the OEM has ended support.  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 01-25-2017 03:29 AM                     quote: Leo Enticknap I can't see any argument against putting cheap, white label desktop grade drives in it I do NAS drives are optimised for RAID. Their firmware will drop the drive quickly if something is wrong on the drive while a desktop-class drive may take its time to try and return the required information. On a desktop drive a few seconds' delay once in a while is not a big deal. On a Cinema server it may cause the film to stutter. That said, if the drive is working fine there won't be any difference but manufacturers are using enterprise-graded drives for a good reason.  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 01-25-2017 05:46 AM                     True, but you an always try to buy a RAID optimized drive that is not on the approved list. Since so many people use personal NAS devices now, they are easy to find. - Carsten  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 01-25-2017 05:51 AM                     agree. If not "enterprise" graded, at least a NAS drive, they are not too expensive compared to the desktop line.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 01-25-2017 10:09 AM                        quote: Marco Giustini On a Cinema server it may cause the film to stutter. Have you ever seen this actually happen? The volume of data/bandwidth involved is so small, and the number of tasks that a DCP server does is so restricted, that I'd be very surprised if this is a significant risk. It takes a DSS200 around half an hour to ingest a typical 150GB DCP via the CRU bay. So let's say for argument's sake that it ingests (and therefore is capable of data transfer to and from the RAID) at around 4x the required read speed for playback. So the drive would have to lock up for a long time, and the other drive in the RAID containing the data that is trying to be read, would have to be having a bad day as well, for this to become a significant risk. Admittedly I only have one desktop grade drive in a RAID of 4, but I have not seen, nor has anyone else who uses that server reported, any picture stutter. I probably will put a NAS-grade drive in it when that one finally dies (assuming that it does not outlive the server itself, or at least our use of it), just to be on the safe side, but I'm not convinced that this risk is anything above insignificant. For a server, or any other piece of hardware, that is still covered by a warranty or for which the OEM offers support on condition that you don't go off piste with it, then I understand the need for, and would always use their authorized replacement (and upgrade parts), and those alone; just as if a car is under warranty on condition that it is only serviced at the main dealership, then you have to take it there, and when it comes to the bill, BOHICA. But that does not apply to the DSP100/DSS100 - I believe that Dolby has even crippled the software updates since 4.7.something so that you can't install them on the 100. So, given that these machines in the field are now in the final phase of their service life and maintained aftermarket, I personally wouldn't be inclined to feel that I have to stick to Dolby's approved part list.  |  IP: Logged Mike Renlund Film Handler Posts: 71 From: San Francisco Registered: Feb 2008 posted 01-25-2017 11:21 AM                     Here are some thoughts I have, speaking very generally as drives do differ across manufacturers: Enterprise class drives will normally be placed in an array with the redundancy that RAID provides, so if there is an error (bad sector, etc.) the drive will spend a minimal amount of time (seconds) trying to recover knowing that the data is available elsewhere. Because of this, bad sectors and small issues don't result in a degraded array. Consumer class (desktop) drives are normally the only drive in a system. As such they are designed to go to great lengths to recover data from a bad sector (or other issue). Sometimes taking minutes to do this. During this time the drive may be offline, or not responding. This is where the RAID array gets degraded, or has problems while a drive is working on the recovery. Exactly how a consumer drive or drives will operate when there is a problem in Digital Cinema playback depends on several factors (bitrate, what content is being called from the drive, how much content was buffered before the error, etc.). There could be no problem at all, some small stutter that probably won't be reported by an audience, a brief pause, or other manifestation. If it does affect playback it should be short...as the RAID array will degrade and not use that drive. If the array is degraded multiple times due to a consumer drive being unavailable while trying to recover data, the rebuild process puts extra wear/tear on all the drive(s). My two cents... Mike Renlund  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 01-25-2017 11:22 AM                        I have had that happen, back when I was playing American Sniper a couple of years ago. One of the hard drives in my GDC was apparently bad and there was a section of the movie during the funeral -- about ten seconds that would stutter just like the film was stuck in the gate. Every time. Replaced the hard drives and the problem was solved. This was with the drives that came with the server, directly from GDC as far as I know. I replaced them with more drives directly from GDC.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-25-2017 11:36 AM                     GDC provides very good HGST drives for the full size servers, but the HGST drives they supply for the SX-3000 external raid box leave a bit to be desired.... Mark  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 01-25-2017 03:06 PM                        My server is a SX-2001A. I think the hard drives in it are Hitachi, though I could be wrong....  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-25-2017 04:24 PM                     Hitachi = HGST. The HGST badge came about when Western Digital acquired them. The drives that drove most people nuts were the Seagates from the 2010-2012 servers. They sucked biggly. The big server companies at the time used them and they all migrated to the Hitachi drives. I have had good luck with the Hitachi, HGST and Western Digital (WD2000FYYZ and WD2003FYYS...both discontinued, natch). If I were to bank on a drive today, it would probably be the HGST line, until proven otherwise.  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 01-25-2017 05:15 PM                     quote: Leo Enticknap Have you ever seen this actually happen? The volume of data/bandwidth involved is so small, and the number of tasks that a DCP server does is so restricted, that I'd be very surprised if this is a significant risk. Leo, What Mike said. I didn't say that consumer drivers are SLOW, they are as fast as the enterprise-graded ones. Just that if there was a read error they would spend a long time trying to recover it - stalling the whole RAID array. A NAS drive will drop out of the RAID immediately, as Mike said. So, as long as both drives, consumer and enterprise, work fine, happy days. But if anything happens, then you may end up with a stopped/stuttering show when using consumer drives.  |  IP: Logged Leslie Hartmier Expert Film Handler Posts: 100 From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Registered: Jul 2012 posted 01-25-2017 05:34 PM                     Hmm... as I understand it from Gordon, the DSS100s have some fishy setup that prevents using enterprise/NAS/archival hard drives that are not on the Dolby-approved list (he further says that the DSS200s are not restricted in this way), so mostly it's just we'll keep trying to acquire the drives from the list. I looked at the BIOS of the approved and unapproved drives, and cannot see anything specific that would prevent their use, but we did have a spate where there were a fair number of non-approved drives (installed by the previous owners in...Nashville, I think?) that enjoyed dropping out, and the locations would cry and we'd have to remote in to just rebuild the RAID, so there might be something to the paranoia. The annoying IDE NAND drives are a lot more of an annoyance (I replaced one recently, and want to find a reliable source for those), but the modular power supplies seem to be the things that like to crap out, and I like to keep extras (also an extra Show Player and Show Store) on site for the location to swap in as necessary, so I'm certainly motivated to source substitutes/replacements. Leslie  |  IP: Logged Stephan Shelley Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 854 From: castro valley, CA, usa Registered: Nov 2014 posted 01-25-2017 08:14 PM                     The PSU in the DSS-100 is a GIN-6350P. It was a standard supermicro supply. They are available online. The DSP is another story. I don't think they are a standard supply.  |  IP: Logged

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