How to add a lot of storage?

[SpaceRazor]

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I am looking to build my first DIY NAS. I already have a 2 bay synology, but it is basically maxed out and instead of spending money on a dx517, I'd rather build my own NAS. I have built at least one computer before so I know some of the ins and outs, but I have never tried to build anything with multiple hard drives as the main focus of the build. I have heard people talk about HBAs before, but I have never used one myself. I am thinking I would like to the option for 8 or more HDDS for storage with possibly a drive or two (NVME or SDD) for an OS and for caching. Can anyone help guide me on the best way to go? I like the lower cost of consumer grade motherboards, but I don't know if that is the best option or not.

[Dedayog]

6 minutes ago, SpaceRazor said:

Budget (including currency): 

Country: 

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: 

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

 

I am looking to build my first DIY NAS. I already have a 2 bay synology, but it is basically maxed out and instead of spending money on a dx517, I'd rather build my own NAS. I have built at least one computer before so I know some of the ins and outs, but I have never tried to build anything with multiple hard drives as the main focus of the build. I have heard people talk about HBAs before, but I have never used one myself. I am thinking I would like to the option for 8 or more HDDS for storage with possibly a drive or two (NVME or SDD) for an OS and for caching. Can anyone help guide me on the best way to go? I like the lower cost of consumer grade motherboards, but I don't know if that is the best option or not.

Why  not figure out how much space you need or want, then we can plan out a build?

 

Just saying I want 8 drives... why?

[emosun]

did you want 8 10tb drives or 8 1tb drives , etc...

[SpaceRazor]

3 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Why  not figure out how much space you need or want, then we can plan out a build?

 

Just saying I want 8 drives... why?

I have over 30 TB of data right now distributed across several drives. Some of my data is not readily available because it was never migrated after the last time my HDDs filled up and I had to move to higher capacity drives. I would like to make some of the stuff on those drives available on my new NAS. I also want to mirror the drives to have some replication in case something dies. Being limited to a 2 drive bay has me in the mindset that I need as many drives for replication as I do for data storage, but I guess that isn't really the case once I go beyond 2 drives.

 

Either way, I was thinking about buying some new drives to go in the new nas, but I also have 5 drives currently laying around from previous and existing setups so I was planning to deploy those along with the new ones. Also, my setup is only limited in storage capacity, not cpu or gpu so I imagine a new build will last me a really long time so long as I don't run out of storage space. While I may not fill 8 HDDs right away, I am trying to consider the best build direction I can go in now so I can add additional storage in the future without having to buy a new mobo, cpu, and ram when all I need is storage.

[SpaceRazor]

10 minutes ago, emosun said:

did you want 8 10tb drives or 8 1tb drives , etc...

I am thinking more like 8 20tb or 22tb drives honestly. I already have 2 20tb drives full as well as 2 8 tbs drives full plus my various external drives that are 1tb, 4tb, and 4tb.

[Fasauceome]

2 minutes ago, SpaceRazor said:

like the lower cost of consumer grade motherboards, but I don't know if that is the best option or not.

When it comes to adding 8 or more drives, you don't want to cheap out too much. You will need to ensure good bandwidth for all the SATA connections. Although, most will suffice with the existing standard of 6 data connections plus how many you might add via a PCIe card.

 

But when it comes to inexpensive hard drive mounting, that has a lot of room for DIY. If you were to get really creative, you could carve the drive cage from trashed PC cases and screw them into a case you buy that has lots of room inside. Otherwise, finding a PC case that has a good amount of built-in drive bays is not terribly hard, because there's not a ton of variety. 

[Dedayog]

1 minute ago, Fasauceome said:

When it comes to adding 8 or more drives, you don't want to cheap out too much. You will need to ensure good bandwidth for all the SATA connections. Although, most will suffice with the existing standard of 6 data connections plus how many you might add via a PCIe card.

 

But when it comes to inexpensive hard drive mounting, that has a lot of room for DIY. If you were to get really creative, you could carve the drive cage from trashed PC cases and screw them into a case you buy that has lots of room inside. Otherwise, finding a PC case that has a good amount of built-in drive bays is not terribly hard, because there's not a ton of variety. 

Define R6, baby

 

[aoxomoxoa]

1 minute ago, Dedayog said:

Define R6, baby

 

Haha if you can find one at a decent price. I searched for months (if not years) for a Define R2 XL at a good price and got one used for $25. A Phanteks Enthoo Pro could be a good alternative, but you cannot beat Fractal on this one.

[Nuzicx]

TrueNAS or Proxmox, they have forums, existing documentation and build recommendations.

 

Typically they are build with redundancy ZRAID/ZFS. This only works if drives are the same model and size.

 

I'd shy away from large 20-22tb as the GB capacity per platter is high and of greater risk of failure. source

[SpaceRazor]

2 minutes ago, Nuzicx said:

TrueNAS or Proxmox, they have forums, existing documentation and build recommendations.

 

Typically they are build with redundancy ZRAID/ZFS. This only works if drives are the same model and size.

 

I'd shy away from large 20-22tb as the GB capacity per platter is high and of greater risk of failure. source

I'll have to read about the large capacity drives as I have just went for the largest capacity possible since I was limited in drive bays.

 

12 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Define R6, baby

 

I checked the price on amazon and I see the the r6 is only $150... plus $159 for shipping lol. I ended up finding the fractal define 7 for only $179 (+$12 shipping) on newegg with up to 18 drives bays 14 3.5" and 4 2.5". Wow, that is definitely at the top of my list for cases now. I was considering a rack mount case assuming I would be able to fit the most drives that way, but this is a way better option since I don't have to add the cost of a rack.

[SpaceRazor]

7 minutes ago, Nuzicx said:

TrueNAS or Proxmox, they have forums, existing documentation and build recommendations.

 

Typically they are build with redundancy ZRAID/ZFS. This only works if drives are the same model and size.

 

I'd shy away from large 20-22tb as the GB capacity per platter is high and of greater risk of failure. source

I was thinking I would go with TrueNAS and see how it works for me. That said, according to the WAN show, that new unnamed NAS software Linus helped fund may be another option soon

[emosun]

1 hour ago, SpaceRazor said:

I have just went for the largest capacity possible since I was limited in drive bays.

 

the cases... tend to be cheaper than the drives. so i'd highly recommend picking drives based on the drives vs what comparably cheapo cases you have

[Blue4130]

7 hours ago, SpaceRazor said:

I was thinking I would go with TrueNAS and see how it works for me. That said, according to the WAN show, that new unnamed NAS software Linus helped fund may be another option soon

Do you really think it is a smart idea to use a brand new software? I'd wait a few years before I trusted a new NAS software company.

[ToboRobot]

Fractal Define 7 series are pretty good for packing full of drives.  I have one, slowly getting filled.

Sounds like you may be interested in unraid as it is easier to expand over time by adding drives than options like TrueNAS.  

The new software Linus invested in is former unraid devs.

 

Look at getting a mobo with as many SATA ports as possible (6-8) and you can get cheap PCI-E cards that add 5 more, plus NVME for OS/cache and a few spots for 2.5" SSDs.  Or get a used HBA