Turn a PC NAS into a DAS (Thunderbolt 3 maybe?)

[Anthony Piantine]

I recently purchased a NAS (mediocre PC running FreeNAS with an Adaptec 31205 raid controller). It has 16Tb (4x 4tb + 500gb boot drive). 

 

I was hoping to either have it be simultaneously be a NAS/DAS or if need be turn it to simply a DAS. Ive searched through a bunch of different forums and articles and haven't been able to figure much out. If I need to switch the OS that would be fine.

 

I was hoping to be able to connect over thunderbolt 3 and if the isn't possible/cheap then just usb 3.0

 

I don't even entirely understand how a DAS works on the hardware side of things. Is it simply some sort of bus/interface connected to a RAID controller? 

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[Electronics Wizardy]

The best way would be to put the raid card in your desktop and just run a sas cable to the drives. Then remove the board from that nas. But if you still want it to be a nas, just get a point to point 10gbe connection, its like 50 bucks and very fast.

 

 

Thunderbolt 3 nas/das boxes do ip over thunderbolt, might as well get cheap 10gbe cards at that point, its the same speed and cheaper.

 

USB isn't easy to make a DAS box with normal hardware.

 

What hardware is the nas?

[Anthony Piantine]

I don't know If I dare say this on a LTT forum but I'm running a maxed out MacBook Pro so I can't install any cards

 

Get ready for it.. Intel E5300.. 2.6 ghz

 

4gb ddr2

 

4x wd datacenter edition 4tb drives

 

adapted 31205 raid controller

 

 

what board do you mean when you say take board out from the NAS?

 

Then also, the IP over thunderbolt 3 is a standard thing? how does that config look on the pc's side of things

[Electronics Wizardy]

16 minutes ago, Anthony Piantine said:

I don't know If I dare say this on a LTT forum but I'm running a maxed out MacBook Pro so I can't install any cards

 

Get ready for it.. Intel E5300.. 2.6 ghz

 

4gb ddr2

 

4x wd datacenter edition 4tb drives

 

adapted 31205 raid controller

 

 

what board do you mean when you say take board out from the NAS?

 

Then also, the IP over thunderbolt 3 is a standard thing? how does that config look on the pc's side of things

Really your best option is to buy a 4 bay usb drive enclosure. Id just get something like this https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-HFR2-SU3S2-PRORAID-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B003YFHEAC/ref=sr_1_2/146-7728791-1481217?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1541307471&sr=1-2&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A2886967011

 

The core 2 duo system doesn't support thunderbolt, so you will nee da new board and cpu and ram for that.

 

 

[Anthony Piantine]

I thought you might say that. 

 

Just for kicks lets say we don't do that and we don't do thunderbolt. Just plain old USB

 

What would be my options there?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Anthony Piantine said:

I though you might say that. 

 

Just for kicks lets say we don't do that and we don't do thunderbolt. Just plain old USB

 

What would be my options there?

you really can't do usb with normal desktop hardware. If you want usb get the enclosure I liked above, thats the easy way.

 

 

[Anthony Piantine]

Fair enough

 

Is there any other possible way to connect this nas directly my Mac?

 

 

[Anthony Piantine]

My other question is how does a standalone DAS work? What hardware is inside of them. Is it a RAID card connected to some sort of bus that adapts it to USB?

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Anthony Piantine said:

Fair enough

 

Is there any other possible way to connect this nas directly my Mac?

 

 

You can do 10gbe if the nas has a extra pcie x8 slot and you want to speed 300+ usd to a thunderbolt to a 10gbe adapter. But really not worth it.

 

1 minute ago, Anthony Piantine said:

My other question is how does a standalone DAS work? What hardware is inside of them. Is it a RAID card connected to some sort of bus that adapts it to USB?

That das box has a little raid card and usb to sata adapter. It shows up a one drive on the computer and you can select raid level with switches. You can sped more for a better raid box if you want it.

[Anthony Piantine]

First off, Thank you so much for the info!

 

I probably wouldn't do this but can you buy a raid controller card that is a standalone unit like what would be in a RAID enclosure? 

 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Anthony Piantine said:

First off, Thank you so much for the info!

 

I probably wouldn't do this but can you buy a raid controller card that is a standalone unit like what would be in a RAID enclosure? 

 

 

Huh

 

SO you want a usb to sata raid card? You can buy them here https://www.amazon.com/eSATA-USB3-0-feature-hardware-Controller/dp/B00J4S8XUI, but id just get the one that is premade and comes with the box.

 

And usb to sata raid boxes aren't known for being the best.

 

WHy do you wan ta das anyways. YOu can directly connect the nas to the macbook with ethernet.

[Anthony Piantine]

At this point I'm just curious and exploring all my options. Mostly curious

 

What raid boxes are considered better? What else do they do besides sata to usb?

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Anthony Piantine said:

At this point I'm just curious and exploring all my options. Mostly curious

 

What raid boxes are considered better? What else do they do besides sata to usb?

The better ones are just built better and more reliable. If you want a high quality one look at the lacie thunderbolt ones or similar . https://www.lacie.com/products/big/6big-12big-thunderbolt-3/ Thing is there not cheap.