Any other options i can try then Storage Spaces in Windows?

[Micro_Voidster]

Is there any software solution that works just like storage spaces works? 

By that I mean the following:

• Can be unplugged and left in closet until I need to add more to archive. Then plugged back in with no issues 
• ideally the ability to plug them in any direction to my pc aka no specific order. 
• Yes I know ideally I'd like for it to a contained system that I can just plug in easily. But right now that doesn't really work unless someone has a good recommendation for how to do such. 

 

I've heard a lot about ZFS i think it was or using linux cause they have so many more software solutions then windows. 

But maybe one of u know of something that I can try. 

Thanks for the help

[Windows7ge]

ZFS is great but it does lack something many people find desirable which is single disk addition. Currently the only software based solutions I know of that support this are Storage Spaces, BTRFS, & UnRAID.

[Micro_Voidster]

..

[Windows7ge]

1 minute ago, Micro_Voidster said:

what I'm trying to do is create a DAS (Direct attached storage) I don't want a network attached thing and i don't want it running all the damn time. What I want is for the thing to be used and then unplugged. 

Are you just asking for a File System or are you asking for recommendations in how to build a DAS? Or both?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Why not just use the drives with their own data and no raid? 

 

That way you can get all the data on each drive.

 

I don't see the point of raid for a cold archive drive.

[Micro_Voidster]

7 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

ZFS is great but it does lack something many people find desirable which is single disk addition. Currently the only software based solutions I know of that support this are Storage Spaces, BTRFS, & UnRAID.

what are the last two?

[Windows7ge]

Just now, Micro_Voidster said:

what are the last two?

Well, BTRFS is an alternative File System option to ZFS. Honestly Electronics Wizardy would know more about than I do. I only ran it once for a couple of months years ago.

 

UnRAID is an entire OS that would replace whatever is running on the box and their RAID implementation is more along the lines of JBOD except without striping the data.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Micro_Voidster said:

what are the last two?

btrfs is a linux filesystem, one is a nas distro that does file based parity, snapraid is simmila on windows.

[Micro_Voidster]

4 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Are you just asking for a File System or are you asking for recommendations in how to build a DAS? Or both?

neither I guess.

 

What I'd like is your guy's opinions on what I could do, do u think I should build a PC for the DAS or is there a better way that would work better for me. Aka something like storage spaces but thats more customizable and not so idiot proof.

[Windows7ge]

1 minute ago, Micro_Voidster said:

What I'd like is your guy's opinions on what I could do, do u think I should build a PC for the DAS or is there a better way that would work better for me. Aka something like storage spaces but thats more customizable and not so idiot proof.

Buy a QNAP or Synology NAS.

 

If you want to build something yourself but insist on Windows as the host OS Storage Spaces or a Hardware RAID controller are basically your only options if simply not using RAID at all is something you don't want to use either.

 

Then there's the Linux side with ZFS/BTRFS

 

Then there's UnRAID which is quite popular.

 

There's other options but those are among the most common/popular.

[Micro_Voidster]

13 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Buy a QNAP or Synology NAS.

Thats what Ive been avoiding Pre Built NAS's from corps are shit quality, don't last long, and cost as much as Apples overprices shit. 

 

13 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

If you want to build something yourself but insist on Windows as the host OS Storage Spaces or a Hardware RAID controller are basically your only options if simply not using RAID at all is something you don't want to use either.

If the raid controller dies doesn't that mean the array dies with it? or is that wrong?

 

13 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Then there's the Linux side with ZFS/BTRFS

In the future I would like to do that but I don't have a PC powerful enough. Actually I have an old laptop with an FX AMD chip in it could that be enough to run a linux server?

 

13 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Then there's UnRAID which is quite popular.

 

There's other options but those are among the most common/popular.

Could unraid run with windows running or is unraid meant to like stick on a USB stick like linux and run it on cheap hardware?

[Windows7ge]

11 minutes ago, Micro_Voidster said:

Thats what Ive been avoiding Pre Built NAS's from corps are shit quality, don't last long, and cost as much as Apples overprices shit. 

Price wise I don't think any consumer NAS is as bad as Apples. Just saw their Rack-mountable Mac Pro. Doesn't even function as a server it's just a Mac Pro in a server chassis.

 

10 minutes ago, Micro_Voidster said:

If the raid controller dies doesn't that mean the array dies with it? or is that wrong?

Not exactly. I personally don't go for hardware RAID but it is possible to rebuild an array that has been lost due to RAID card failure but there are hoops to just though so I can't advocate for it. There's nothing wrong with it either though. Has it's use cases.

 

15 minutes ago, Micro_Voidster said:

In the future I would like to do that but I don't have a PC powerful enough. Actually I have an old laptop with an FX AMD chip in it could that be enough to run a linux server?

A lot of Linux/Server distros are actually less of a load on the system than Windows. ZFS can easily run on 4GB of RAM and just a couple of CPU cores. It does benefit from having more though so whatever you can throw at it. I can't say was BTRFS requires.

 

17 minutes ago, Micro_Voidster said:

Could unraid run with windows running or is unraid meant to like stick on a USB stick like linux and run it on cheap hardware?

Question is a little confusing. It's an OS that would completely replace Windows on the system. It can run off a thumb drive or a small SSD (I'd opt for SSD. Higher quality NAND). UnRAID supports it's own virtualization functionality. I'm not sure what it's based off be it QEMU or something else but Windows could be ran on that to serve Windows applications.

[Jarsky]

4 hours ago, Micro_Voidster said:

Thats what Ive been avoiding Pre Built NAS's from corps are shit quality, don't last long, and cost as much as Apples overprices shit. 

So you've never had a higher end QNAP/Synology nas unit then?

Yes they arent cheap, but theyre robust, have large software suites and fantastic support. 

 

Any form of RAID isn't what you want if you're going to be disconnecting drives, as you'll constantly put the array into failure status. 

If you're going to be just unplugging them and putting them away then why not just get External drives? That sounds like the solution you're after....

[Micro_Voidster]

On 2/16/2020 at 7:55 PM, Jarsky said:

So you've never had a higher end QNAP/Synology nas unit then?

Yes they arent cheap, but theyre robust, have large software suites and fantastic support. 

 

Any form of RAID isn't what you want if you're going to be disconnecting drives, as you'll constantly put the array into failure status. 

If you're going to be just unplugging them and putting them away then why not just get External drives? That sounds like the solution you're after....

Ideally yes, the perfect solution would be what I have now. Where I have a Raid 6 array that I can unplug and replug in any order and it recognizes the pool. BUTT

 

My issues is that its Storage Pool and everywhere I go people say Storage pools is SHIT and unstable and u should rely on it to be how you archive your data on HDD's. What are your thoughts? Should I keep using it if my use case still allows for needing it badly?