[SCAM ALERT] Storaxa

[Ericloewe]

The real giveaway is that they don't sell disks to go along with it. Every server vendor loves to tack on disks, because they can just buy them at wholesale then sell them at retail prices (whitebox vendors) or substantially marked up (Dell, HPE, Lenovo) for free profit.

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

Looking into this, the ad copy uses mainly existing materials and a smattering of conflicting terminology, so I thought to look into the case hardware as they have to use off-the-shelf mainboard, WiFi, HDD, and software (they're not making those things themselves).

JONSBO N1 Mini-ITX NAS Chassis (close, though not exact)
SilverStone Technology Hard Drive Enclosure (close, also close)

Looks like a con, because a pipe-dream would at least get the terminology correct.

For a solid NAS, check out the Synology DiskStation DS620slim.
Or get a TrueNAS Mini.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

I can also not recommend the Supermicro SC721TQ line of chassis enough. Large selection of Atom or Xeon D based maninboards depending on requirements and budget. With a mainboard that features one NVMe M.2 slot and one PCIe x8 slot with bifurcation support and the Supermicro AOC-SLG3-2M card, this compact and quiet baby packs:

• 4x 3.5" spinning SATA disks
• 2x 2.5" spinning or SSD SATA disks
• 3x NVMe SSD each at full x4 width

I now built 5 of them and will continue, I guess. If only Supermicro would offer a higher one with the same footprint and room for more spinners.

 

[Ericloewe]

They do make one, as evidenced by the TrueNAS Mini-Not-Quite-As-Mini. I guess it's just not part of the regular catalogue.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

They do make one, as evidenced by the TrueNAS Mini-Not-Quite-As-Mini. I guess it's just not part of the regular catalogue.

Is that Supermicro?

 

[Ericloewe]

Supermicro or Supermicro-adjacent (Ablecom).

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

Here we go ...

Ablecom Technology

Founded in 1997, Ablecom Technology specializes in the design and manufacturing of high-end server chassis and cooling solutions.

ablecom.com

Never heard of Ablecom before. Thanks!

 

[Etorix]

Here we go, I knew I'd seen this:

Storaxa kickstarter - an interesting small NAS

The motherboard of the below kickstarter project looks like the CWWK board mentioned in this thread: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/storaxa/fully-customizable-home-cloud-storage-with-remote-access-nas?ref=recommendation-projectpage-footer-4 @newabc originally posted this in the long...

forums.servethehome.com

The discussion about lane allocation was hilarious. 4*M.2 from multiplexed PCIe x1…

 

[Ericloewe]

The discussion about lane allocation was hilarious. 4*M.2 from multiplexed PCIe x1…

It's quite literally like sticking them on SATA 3Gb/s ports in the best case, SATA 1.5Gb/s if they're all trying to transmit in the same direction.

Never heard of Ablecom before. Thanks!

Notice the suspiciously similar logo. It's not 100% clear what the relationship is, but it's abundantly clear that they're closely related.

 

[golfox2]

Damn ok that confirms that I don't need a Storaxa, thank you all for the answers and the discussion ¨!

 

[Ronan]

**ATTENTION MODS**
**NOT SPAM/ADVERTISING**
I have no affiliation with Storaxa

@Samuel Tai
Thanks for replying to my private inquiry, hopefully, I can clear up some of the confusion about this project and why Im here asking questions about it.

1) The campaign was closed on 02/11/2023, 5,917 backers pledged $1,924,001
2) This thread is outdated and speculative. All current discounts, upgrades, and pricing are only viewable by official backers like me.
3) I cannot post links to the current changes, updates, pricing, etc because only backers can view them. That's why I posted a current summary here before asking for opinions on the CURRENT information
4) I was unaware my post was double poasted. I have corrected that error.

Im a real-life Early Adopter/Backer for the Storaxa project who is posting here after creeping because Im concerned about some of the issues brought up in this thread and another storage forum thread------->Storaxa kickstarter - an interesting small NAS

So can I now post my question @Samuel Tai ? I would really like some opinions from people, which is impossible with the outdated information in this thread.

Thanks in advance

 

[Samuel Tai]

The main concern still applies. Running both OpenWRT and TrueNAS Scale as VMs on ProxMox with insufficient resources is not a recipe for success.

 

[Ericloewe]

1) The campaign was closed on 02/11/2023, 5,917 backers pledged $1,924,001

Irrelevant and does not address any concerns.

2) This thread is outdated and speculative. All current discounts, upgrades, and pricing are only viewable by official backers like me.

That is, and I am being polite, a lie. This thread, and the thread over at the STH forums, both delineate in rather simple terms why the kickstarter campaign could not result in a real, viable product and is, at best, a ridiculous farce composed of unrealistic prices, crap hardware and stratospheric promises.

That's why I posted a current summary here before asking for opinions on the CURRENT information

My favorite part, which I'll quote for the sake of regular users, was:

Since software errors more often than overflow and crashes caused by multi-channel memory running for a long time, ECC RAM is not necessary as long as you remember to restart 2 to 3 times every year.

I think it goes without saying that the author of that sentence has zero credibility.

That's why I posted a current summary here before asking for opinions on the CURRENT information

I read most of it. It has zero credibility, does nothing to address the core issues that have been presented and is generally meritless fluff of the same sort that came before it.

What do you think the top 5 issues are with this device?

Taking this from the deleted post and from STH because the answer is very simple:

1. It's a scam.
2. Even if it were not a clear scam, the authors of the campaign demonstrate a clear lack of technical knowledge in the fields necessary to deliver a successful product.
3. Even if the authors were not evidently incompetent, the product as presented is itself ridiculous and seriously lacking in key areas.
4. Even if the product were sound, the presented timeline is completely divorced from any sort of objective reality.
5. Even if they had a realistic timeline, the offered prices are unsustainable.

 

[SyPhEn]

Well, I have ordered one for just over $200 with 64GB RAM and I am hopeful that I can just remove or disable the WiFi, as I do not require that feature/function. I ordered the following configuration:
Storaxa

(Storaxa - WiFi Module:WiFi 6E [2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz], Boot Drive:2TB )

(CPU, Ethernet and RAM - CPU:Intel Core i7-1265U, Ethernet:2x 10GbE + 2x 2.5GbE, RAM:64GB [2 x 32GB] )

Will wait to see just how it performs. It was worth trying for that price, though I would agree that the price point is not going to be sustainable, as the processor alone sells for more than I paid for the entire unit. I will post an update once I have received the unit and put it through some paces.

 

[Ericloewe]

I think it's pure optimism to think you'll actually receive one.

 

[Arwen]

Reading this here and on Serve The Home's forum, this might actually be a real product for the original backers.

Stay with me for a moment - Pyramid Scheme

They advertise something at a really low ball price, estimates I have seen indicate that it might cost as much as $550 USD per original unit to build and ship. But, they want to suck as many people in as proof they are honest. So they advertise $200 with a limited amount available.

With some of their own capital, they actually produce and send the original backers their NASes.

The real trick is the "upgraded" models costing more. With some reputation of actually producing and delivering products, more orders come in, more pre-paid money comes in. At some point they pull the rug out, and abscond with more money than they started with.

 

[Ericloewe]

Not a crazy theory, but it's more effort than scammers are typically interested in. Like, if they're going to get Super China Happy Sun to ODM them a server, at that point they might as well sell it legitimately at a logical price.

 

[NickF]

I'm almost curious to "buy" one and see what happens...

 

[sretalla]

I'm almost curious to "buy" one and see what happens...

If you were prepared to "lose" the money, I guess you could do that.

Indeed seeing what a catastrophe of a hardware mashup would finally arrive (if at all) would be interesting (from a technical point of view), but unlikely to deliver a pleasant surprise of a device that delivers on all the promises.

 

[jgreco]

Never heard of Ablecom before. Thanks!

Notice anything about the Ablecom logo? Remind you at all of the Supero logo? They are brother companies, quite literally. Charles Liang, CEO of Supermicro, is the brother of Steve Liang, CEO of Ablecom. There are numerous entanglements between the companies, as documented on EDGAR. Ablecom helped build Super Micro's Asia Science and Technology Park, among other things. You can find Ablecom badging on certain Supermicro PSU's, and some Supermicro PSU's show up in the 80PLUS database as Ablecom. It is generally considered that Ablecom has been Supermicro's sheet metal supplier and/or designer, at least in the past, so they're kind of interesting to keep an eye on.