Questions about 3gb/s vs 6 and general questions

[theEmbark]

Hey guys,

I have been researching a NAS and have a couple of questions. I've seen a lot of supermicro systems on ebay available for $200-300 it seems the pitfall for most of these is 3gb/s backplanes. Finding an empty chassis looks to be $200-300 also if I started from scratch.

Before I get into the questions here is what I need my NAS for:
1) Backing up & storing data files (mostly for my recording studio)
2) These files will be loaded in real time and worked on in Logic Pro X
3) Access for 2 users at any given time
4) Large number of drives vs. large storage

My main question - can I get away buying a $200-300 Supermicro NAS off ebay 16 or 24 bays operating with normal gigabit ethernet. I just can't afford 10gbe unless there's a way to get a solution without spending $400-2000+ just on the gigabit gear. With normal gigabit I will see speeds 50-75mb/s from what I have read. Will a 3gb/s backplane suffice from regular gigabit? Or will I see a performance increase at 6gb/s with normal gigabit?

Also what type of drives do these 2.5" chassis hold? Just a laptop drive? I like the idea of more drives in less space but is there an advantage or disadvantage to this with the actual drives?

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

will I see a performance increase at 6gb/s

The only current generation device I'm aware of that can benefit from a 6Gb/s interface is an SSD.

 

[theEmbark]

The only current generation device I'm aware of that can benefit from a 6Gb/s interface is an SSD.

Thank you! That is hugely helpful! There's quite a price difference between 3gb and 6gb and I am only running 7200 RPM drives.

Any reason to go 3.5" bays over 2.5" or vice versa? Silly question but figure I'd ask.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[maglin]

SAS2 is more than adequate for most all home needs. 1Gbit NIC is usually also plenty fast. You should see speeds around 90-100 Mbs and except 10TB+ transfers is just fine. I moved 9 TB in about 28ish hours.


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[Robert Trevellyan]

Any reason to go 3.5" bays over 2.5" or vice versa?

The most obvious reason to choose 3.5" bays is that the per-unit capacity is so much higher. For example, 2.5" NAS drives currently top out at 1TB [*], while 3.5" NAS drives go up to 8TB.

[*] there are 2.5" drives available up to 4TB, but they're not intended for NAS applications.

 

[danb35]

The issue with SAS1 backplanes compared to SAS2 or SAS3 is that there's some question whether the SAS1 backplanes will support drives larger than 2 TB. My understand has been that they simply don't, but I think I've seen some others here suggesting otherwise.

 

[depasseg]

SAS2 is more than adequate for most all home needs.

True, but remember SAS2 is 6Gbit/s. And most backplanes are multi channel (usually 4), so you have 4x6Gb/s.

As danb35 mentioned, the biggest issue with SAS1 (3Gb/s) is it's usually hardware limited to support up to 2TB drives.

 

[Ericloewe]

The issue with SAS1 backplanes compared to SAS2 or SAS3 is that there's some question whether the SAS1 backplanes will support drives larger than 2 TB. My understand has been that they simply don't, but I think I've seen some others here suggesting otherwise.

The controllers definitely are, but I don't think anybody's actually tried an SAS2 controller with an SAS1 expander and lived to tell the tale.
So, let's assume SAS1 expanders are also limited to 2.2TB.