Hardware check for new build.

[GrimmReaperNL]

Hello everybody.

I'm outgrowing my QNAP TS-669L 6x 8TBytes in RAID6. It served me well the past 8 years, so I'm looking to build something that'll last at least as long.
It will primarily be used as storage. No crazy VM use planned. Every so often play a media file from the NAS. Connect to it through Samba and sometimes FTP.

Show : Full build

• Case: Fractal Meshify 2 (€170)
• PSU: Corsair RM850 (€120)
• MoBo: Supermicro X11SCL-F (€250)
• CPU: Intel Core i3 9300T (€170)
• RAM: 2x Samsung M391A2K43BB1-CRCQ, 16GB (€90 each)*
• SSD: Crucial MX500, 260GBytes (€40)
• HBA: IBM ServeRAID M1215 (IT mode flashed) (€55)*
• HDD: 11x Toshiba MG07ACA14TE (512e), 14TB (€240 each)
• Extras: €70

Total price: €3695

* = 2nd hand/refurb
Prices slightly rounded up.

Case: Fractal Meshify 2
Able to house 13 3,5" devices and 4 2,5" devices. Planning on putting three 14cm fans on the front, one 14cm on the usual rear, and one 12cm over the pci expansion slots if it fits. I like building in a 'regular' case and don't really have the space to put a rack type case.

PSU: Corsair RM850
Guides on this forum said the corsair RM series would be adequate. And this model has enough sata power plugs.

MoBo: Supermicro X11SCL-F
Honestly, one of the few available motherboards with a 1151 socket in Dutch webstores.

CPU: Intel Core i3 9300T
Again, one of the few available cpu's for socket 1151 with what guides said are adequate amounts of cores and clockspeed. Onboard video.
Plus only 35W TDP.

RAM: 2x Samsung M391A2K43BB1-CRCQ 16GBytes
DDR4, ECC, matching speed (or over) with cpu spec, starting with 32GBytes, able to upgrade with two more sticks to 64GBytes when needed, available.
This is refurbished though, does anyone have experience with that?
If not, I can go for two Samsung M391A2K43BB1-CTD, 16GB, but they're €20,- more expensive each.

SSD: Crucial MX500, 250GBytes
This is for the OS/Boot. It's 'small', power loss protection, TLC

HBA: IBM ServeRAID M1215 (IT mode flashed)
This is secondhand, new are almost not available or really expensive. Like with the RAM, any experience with second hand/ refurb parts?

HDD: HDD: 11x Toshiba MG07ACA14TE (512e), 14TB
I was thinking about going RaidZ2 with a hot spare, but found a thread recommending going RaidZ3 instead. So I would hook up eight drives through the HBA and three directly to the motherboard (and the boot SSD will be on the motherboard). Or would it be better to have as much disks to the motherboard first and what's left over connected to the HBA?

I'm not quite sure about the cabling I need for the HBA. Would two 100cm SFF-8087 to 4x sata data cables work? Power would come from the PSU.

Looking for any comments or feedback anyone can give.

Thank you.

 

[QonoS]

"SSD: Crucial MX500, 250GBytes
This is for the OS/Boot. It's 'small', power loss protection, TLC"

Crucials MX500 power loss protection is not the real thing. It actually called "partial power loss protection" or "power loss protection for data at rest". Meaning "data in flight" which is about to be written and still remains in MX500s DRAM is lost in an event of power failure. "power loss protection for data at rest" ensures only that data already written does not get corrupted when power fails.

This could be enough for your use case. If you seek for real PLP though, then search for enterprise grade SSDs with PLP. "end-to-end data protecion" is a good hint.

---

Refurbished RAM is no problem. Just run Memtest86 over night to make sure.

 

[GrimmReaperNL]

"SSD: Crucial MX500, 250GBytes
This is for the OS/Boot. It's 'small', power loss protection, TLC"

Crucials MX500 power loss protection is not the real thing. It actually called "partial power loss protection" or "power loss protection for data at rest". Meaning "data in flight" which is about to be written and still remains in MX500s DRAM is lost in an event of power failure. "power loss protection for data at rest" ensures only that data already written does not get corrupted when power fails.

This could be enough for your use case. If you seek for real PLP though, then search for enterprise grade SSDs with PLP. "end-to-end data protecion" is a good hint.

---

Refurbished RAM is no problem. Just run Memtest86 over night to make sure.

That's good to know. I do have a APC UPS 700U hooked to my current NAS. I'll use that with the new NAS as well.

 

[Arwen]

@GrimmReaperNL - Note that ZFS was specifically designed to not corrupt data on power loss, at any point. It's either fully written, or not, (barring hardware failure). Data in flight can be lost, but without pool corruption.

So, a UPS is good, though not directly needed for ZFS pool integrity.