Yorick
Wizard
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2018
- Messages
- 1,912
Heresy. Heresy I say!
SuperMicro X11SSH-F-O, BIOS 2.2
Patriot SCORCH 128GB M.2 NVMe x2 (P/N PS128GPM280SSDR) as boot device - at the time of writing, same price as a 128GB USB drive
FreeNAS 11.2-U1
Use case: Home media / backup server. No cache/slog needed. USB boot (SanDisk) was failing; a quick DuckDuckGo showed that USB drives do fail at higher rates than SSDs, with Kingston in the lead but still having issues; and a single Patriot M.2 is the same price as a replacement USB.
Potential drawback #1: One drive. One could mirror it to a USB drive (there's a connector on the motherboard even) of course. Also, one SSD is likely far more reliable than two USB.
Potential drawback #2: Not usable as cache/slog (x2 probably not as fast as desired); one fewer PCIe x4 slot than SSM. None of that matters for a home server though.
Potential drawback #3: SSH a little bit more expensive than SSM, around $10
For my use case as a home media server, it's just right. Keep all 8 SATA ports, have a "clean" build without NVMe adapter card, better reliability than USB.
Other use cases: Any FreeNAS build that would otherwise use an X11SSM, prefers to boot from SSD rather than USB, and doesn't need the second PCIe x4 slot. SSH still has two (2) PCIe x 8 and one (1) PCIe x 4.
Caveat #1: A SATA M.2 will not work in this board; make sure it's NVMe.
Caveat #2: The BIOS settings need to be changed so the drive will boot.
BIOS Setting: Advanced -> PCIe/PCI/PnP Configuration -> NVMe Firmware Source: "AMI Native Support"
Boot -> Boot Mode: "Dual" or "UEFI"; "UEFI Hard Disk" Boot Option high enough in the list that it will be the first one executed
Other choices for a boot drive would be a Corsair MP300 120GB M.2 NVMe x 2 (P/N CSSD-F120GBMP300), or a Gigabyte GP-GSM2NE8128GNTD 128GB M.2 NVMe x2.
Silly Side Note: SATA is a protocol, not just a form factor. M.2 comes in either SATA or NVMe flavor. SATA does not always equal 2.5" form factor with SATA connector.
Silly Side Note Redux: Just in case that’s not blindingly obvious, NVMe drives exclusively boot via UEFI. Make sure you choose UEFI boot when installing FreeNAS.
SuperMicro X11SSH-F-O, BIOS 2.2
Patriot SCORCH 128GB M.2 NVMe x2 (P/N PS128GPM280SSDR) as boot device - at the time of writing, same price as a 128GB USB drive
FreeNAS 11.2-U1
Use case: Home media / backup server. No cache/slog needed. USB boot (SanDisk) was failing; a quick DuckDuckGo showed that USB drives do fail at higher rates than SSDs, with Kingston in the lead but still having issues; and a single Patriot M.2 is the same price as a replacement USB.
Potential drawback #1: One drive. One could mirror it to a USB drive (there's a connector on the motherboard even) of course. Also, one SSD is likely far more reliable than two USB.
Potential drawback #2: Not usable as cache/slog (x2 probably not as fast as desired); one fewer PCIe x4 slot than SSM. None of that matters for a home server though.
Potential drawback #3: SSH a little bit more expensive than SSM, around $10
For my use case as a home media server, it's just right. Keep all 8 SATA ports, have a "clean" build without NVMe adapter card, better reliability than USB.
Other use cases: Any FreeNAS build that would otherwise use an X11SSM, prefers to boot from SSD rather than USB, and doesn't need the second PCIe x4 slot. SSH still has two (2) PCIe x 8 and one (1) PCIe x 4.
Caveat #1: A SATA M.2 will not work in this board; make sure it's NVMe.
Caveat #2: The BIOS settings need to be changed so the drive will boot.
BIOS Setting: Advanced -> PCIe/PCI/PnP Configuration -> NVMe Firmware Source: "AMI Native Support"
Boot -> Boot Mode: "Dual" or "UEFI"; "UEFI Hard Disk" Boot Option high enough in the list that it will be the first one executed
Other choices for a boot drive would be a Corsair MP300 120GB M.2 NVMe x 2 (P/N CSSD-F120GBMP300), or a Gigabyte GP-GSM2NE8128GNTD 128GB M.2 NVMe x2.
Silly Side Note: SATA is a protocol, not just a form factor. M.2 comes in either SATA or NVMe flavor. SATA does not always equal 2.5" form factor with SATA connector.
Silly Side Note Redux: Just in case that’s not blindingly obvious, NVMe drives exclusively boot via UEFI. Make sure you choose UEFI boot when installing FreeNAS.
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