Buying Advice

[downinthemorgue]

So I'm building a NAS and I'm pretty new to it, so I'm coming here for advice on which HDDs to get. So far I've looked at HDDs from server part deals and goHardDrive, but its all too confusing on which drive to get so I need help choosing. I'll be using either stable bit drivepool + primo cache or unraid (undecided right now). The NAS will mostly be used for redundant storage to keep important back ups and maybe plex later down the line, so mirroring is the highest priority. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

HDD Choice 1: https://serverpartdeals.com/products/western-digital-ultrastar-dc-hc520-huh721212ale600-0f29612-12tb-7-2k-rpm-sata-6gb-s-512e-power-disable-3-5-recertified-hard-drive

HDD Choice 2: https://www.ebay.com/itm/156046813385

PC: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4KWm4M

[tkitch]

Q:  How many drives are you planning to get / what RAID Level are you running?

 

That's a really beefy system for a low-activity NAS, gawddamn...

[downinthemorgue]

28 minutes ago, tkitch said:

Q:  How many drives are you planning to get / what RAID Level are you running?

 

That's a really beefy system for a low-activity NAS, gawddamn...

The parts where cheap enough lol. I'm planning on getting 12 HDDs and either 3 cache SSDs or NVMEs later if needed. I plan on running the HDDs in RAID 1 (Or whatever the drivepool/unraid equivalent is).

[tkitch]

1 minute ago, downinthemorgue said:

The parts where cheap enough lol. I'm planning on getting 12 HDDs and either 3 cache SSDs or NVMEs later if needed. I plan on running the HDDs in RAID 1 (Or whatever the drivepool/unraid equivalent is).

....  Mirroring with 12 drives?

WTF?  That's the most insane thing I think I've ever heard of.  

 

12 Drives, if you actually want capacity and redundancy?  I'd go:

2 Pools of 6 Drives, Raid Z2 (or equivilant) = 6 Drives, 2 of which are Parity
48 TiB (~39TB real space) in each 6 disk pool.

This would mean 2 drives in each pool can die and you lose no data.  

[downinthemorgue]

10 minutes ago, tkitch said:

....  Mirroring with 12 drives?

WTF?  That's the most insane thing I think I've ever heard of.  

 

12 Drives, if you actually want capacity and redundancy?  I'd go:

2 Pools of 6 Drives, Raid Z2 (or equivilant) = 6 Drives, 2 of which are Parity
48 TiB (~39TB real space) in each 6 disk pool.

This would mean 2 drives in each pool can die and you lose no data.  

Like I said I'm still new to this so the terminology still confuses me. But what you mention sounds about right for my use case. But I still can't decide on which of the two linked disks to get, the one on ebay seems like the better deal but I don't know enough to see what the catch is for one or the other.

[OddOod]

7 minutes ago, downinthemorgue said:

getting 12 HDDs

What HBA are you going to use? Your mobo only has 8 SATA ports so you'll need an expansion card

 

11 minutes ago, downinthemorgue said:

either 3 cache SSDs or NVMEs

Do note that the mobo manual states "If M2_2 is occupied by a SATA-type M.2 device, SATA3_7 will be disabled"
....which now that I read it may mean that it will only disable the sata port if you put in an M2 SATA drive, but an M2 NVMe would be fine. Not sure. 
Regardless, you're gonna need an HBA. 

 

 

[downinthemorgue]

4 minutes ago, OddOod said:

What HBA are you going to use? Your mobo only has 8 SATA ports so you'll need an expansion card

 

Do note that the mobo manual states "If M2_2 is occupied by a SATA-type M.2 device, SATA3_7 will be disabled"
....which now that I read it may mean that it will only disable the sata port if you put in an M2 SATA drive, but an M2 NVMe would be fine. Not sure. 
Regardless, you're gonna need an HBA. 

 

 

Yeah I was looking at some on ebay. Specifically this one https://www.ebay.com/itm/155421555013?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=zq9OX4YXQYW&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=2u5qysz9r-q&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=SMS

[OddOod]

4 minutes ago, downinthemorgue said:

was looking at some on ebay

GREAT! I would recommend going for a -16i instead of the -8i so you can handle all the drives through the HBA. If you can't find one that comes with those 4x sata breakout cables, you can just buy those separately, though make sure the port type matches

[downinthemorgue]

2 minutes ago, OddOod said:

GREAT! I would recommend going for a -16i instead of the -8i so you can handle all the drives through the HBA. If you can't find one that comes with those 4x sata breakout cables, you can just buy those separately, though make sure the port type matches

Is there any benefit to handling all the drives through the hba? Or is it just a better deal?

[OddOod]

7 minutes ago, downinthemorgue said:

Is there any benefit to handling all the drives through the hba

mmmmm, maybe? TBH not super sure, but my brain likes it more for some reason and I've learned to trust that lil ball of cholesterol shot through with lighting.
 

8 minutes ago, downinthemorgue said:

a better deal?

Heck, it might be a worse deal. Those LSI card prices are always in flux as datacenters are liquidated or there is a shortage somewhere. I never try to divine messages in that noise. 

[downinthemorgue]

13 minutes ago, OddOod said:

mmmmm, maybe? TBH not super sure, but my brain likes it more for some reason and I've learned to trust that lil ball of cholesterol shot through with lighting.
 

Heck, it might be a worse deal. Those LSI card prices are always in flux as datacenters are liquidated or there is a shortage somewhere. I never try to divine messages in that noise. 

I think I'll go with the 8i for now since it's cheaper. Do you have any HDD recommendations other than what I posted? Or are either if those two good picks? 

[OddOod]

8 minutes ago, downinthemorgue said:

Do you have any HDD recommendations other than what I posted? Or are either if those two good picks? 

TBH I have been buying manufacturer refurbed drives from SPD for years now and have had no issues. Moved to them from shucked WD drive on bestbuy black friday sales which were also perfectly fine. 
Identify a size, find them on SPD, make sure they are SATA and not SAS, buy, test each (I literally just crystal disk info), and deploy. 

[downinthemorgue]

Just now, OddOod said:

TBH I have been buying manufacturer refurbed drives from SPD for years now and have had no issues. Moved to them from shucked WD drive on bestbuy black friday sales which were also perfectly fine. 
Identify a size, find them on SPD, make sure they are SATA and not SAS, buy, test each (I literally just crystal disk info), and deploy. 

Glad to hear you've had no issues with SPD, the drives I was looking at seemed perfect price to capacity. 12tb WD Ultrastars for 109$, CMR. I think I'll go with them.