Come hell or high water, I will build it. (build advice wanted)

[Vesto Slipher]

Hello everyone, first time poster so please go easy on me.

I have been thinking of using FreeNAS to build myself a backup and long term storage server for a few years now. Recently my boot SSD died and now I am going to have to get the data recovered. It did also contained important personal files.

This has really made me realise that I can't postpone this any longer and come hell or high water, I will build one.
For reference, I live The Netherlands.

The total amount of data I have to back up is about 6 TB. Add to that between 5-10 TB of family photo's, video and old files which are spread on about half a dozen external hard disks.

Motherboard: Supermicro MBD-X10SDV-2C-7TP4F.
https://www.beat-it.nl/super-micro-...&utm_medium=vergelijker&utm_campaign=datafeed

HDD: WD RED 6TB x8.
https://www.amazon.de/WD-Red-6TB-interne-Festplatte/dp/B00LO3KR96/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_nl_NL=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&keywords=wb+red+6+tb&qid=1562332965&s=gateway&sr=8-1&th=1

Case: 4U server case 20x3.5" hot swapbays.
https://www.servercase.co.uk/shop/s...-+-1-x-slim-optical-drive-650mm-deep-sc-4320/

This is as far as I have gotten since I don't know which power supply or RAM I would need to feed it all. I am looking to get 32GB of ECC ram. Any suggestions would be welcome.
The idea is to have 8x 6TB drives in a raid z2 configuration and when the need arises in the future, add another 8 even larger drives in a second vdev also z2. I can then transfer all the info on the first vdev to the second vdev and retire the old drives. I understand that at that point I will need more RAM. The 20 drive case also gives me the space for another 4 drives in a third vdev.

Future expansion could be adding a m.2 drive as a L2ARC

If you see anything wrong or have any suggestions then please comment. I welcome it.

I do have a number of questions.
1. Can I convert 4 sata ports into a mini-SAS to connect to the panel inside the case where they will then be converted back to 4 sata ports in the hotswap bays?
2. I would like to us this as a local backup, long term storage (photos) and plex server (music). is this possible?
3. Are the red pro drives worth it? Each is 50 euros more expensive.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[tfran1990]

"can i convert 4 stat ports into a mini-sas connect" , No not that i know of.
I would suggest maybe looking on ebay for a cheap 4U case.


There are a couple of build guides that may point you in the right direction, a buld with ddr3 ram will get you for more for your money then using ddr4.
your RAIDz2 plan seems proper but as far as an l2arc you might want to look around, some applications its pointess, depends on how your nas is used.

 

[Vesto Slipher]

I will look for a HBA card when the time comes. For now, on to Ebay.

 

[tfran1990]

read that wrong
with an Intel® Pentium® processor D1508, Single socket FCBGA 1667; 2-Core, 4 Threads, 25W you might be limited with plex beyond music.

 

[sretalla]

The idea is to have 8x 6TB drives in a raid z2 configuration and when the need arises in the future, add another 8 even larger drives in a second vdev also z2. I can then transfer all the info on the first vdev to the second vdev and retire the old drives

Watch out for the flaw in that plan... you can't remove a VDEV that isn't empty (not even sure you can really do it at all without recreating a pool).

Perhaps what you would do is create a second pool, move the data onto it and retire the first pool (optionally changing the name of the new pool to match the old one), then use the older disks as you please either to extend the new pool or in a second one.

 

[Vesto Slipher]

So your going to narrow down you choices on hardware and look for anything with 8 sata ports on your mobo is what you are telling me.....

Have you looked at the motherboard? It has 4 mini-SAS conectors, 4 sata, an M.2 M-key and 2 pci-e x8 slots.

 

[Vesto Slipher]

Watch out for the flaw in that plan... you can't remove a VDEV that isn't empty (not even sure you can really do it at all without recreating a pool).

Perhaps what you would do is create a second pool, move the data onto it and retire the first pool (optionally changing the name of the new pool to match the old one), then use the older disks as you please either to extend the new pool or in a second one.

Thanks for the suggestion.
You seem to be right based off of this forum post.
Probably going to add 8x10TB in a second pool, transfer the data over and then remove and later add back in the 6TB disks when needed.

 

[Vesto Slipher]

with an Intel® Pentium® processor D1508, Single socket FCBGA 1667; 2-Core, 4 Threads, 25W you might be limited with plex beyond music.

What would you recommend? the 2core (D1508) has a cpu passmark of 3813. (2000 recommended for 1080p)
The same board with a 4 core (D-1518) has a cpu passmark of 5322.
I understand that cpu is also running everything else so I might go for the 4 core instead.