Re: [gentoo-user] Computer case for new build

[Frank Steinmetzger <Warp_7@gmx.de>]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 4400 bytes --]

Am Mon, Sep 18, 2023 at 12:17:20AM -0500 schrieb Dale:
> Howdy,
> […]
> I've found a few cases that peak my interest depending on which way I go
> with this.  One I found that has a lot of hard drive space and would
> make a descent NAS box, the Fractal Design Node 804.  It's a cube shaped
> thing but can hold a LOT of spinning rust. 10 drives plus I think space
> for a SSD for the OS as well.

These days you can always put your OS on an NVMe; faster access and two 
fewer cables in the case (or one more slot for a data drive).

> […]
> The downside, only micro ATX and
> mini ITX mobo.  This is a serious down vote here.

Why is that bad? µATX comes with up to four PCIe slots. Even for ten drives, 
you only need one SATA expander (with four or six on-board). Perhaps a fast 
network card if one is needed, that makes two slots. You don’t get more RAM 
slots with ATX, either. And, if not anything else, a smaller board means 
(or can mean) lower power consumption and thus less heat.

Speaking of RAM; might I interest you in server-grade hardware? The reason 
being that you can then use ECC memory, which is a nice perk for storage.¹ 
Also, the chance is higher to get sufficient SATA connectors on-board (maybe 
in the form of an SFF connector, which is actually good, since it means 
reduced “cable salad”).
AFAIK if you have a Ryzen PRO, then you can also use a consumer-grade board, 
because they too support ECC. And DDR5 has basic (meaning 1 bit and 
transparent to the OS) ECC built-in from the start.

> I was hoping to turn
> my current rig into a NAS.  The mobo and such parts.  This won't be a
> option with this case.  Otherwise, it gives ideas on what I'm looking
> for.  And not.  ;-)

I was going to upgrade my 9 years old Haswell system at some point to a new 
Ryzen build. Have been looking around for parts and configs for perhaps two 
years now but I can’t decide (perhaps some remember previous ramblings about 
that). Now I actually consider buing a tiny Deskmini X300 after I found out 
that it does support ACPI S3, but only with a specific UEFI version. No 
10-gig USB and only 1-gig ethernet though. But it’s cute and small. :)

> Another find.  The Fractal Design Define 7 XL.  This is more of a tower
> type shape like my current rig.  I think I read with extra trays, it can
> hold up to 18 drives.  One could have a fancy RAID setup and still have
> huge storage space with that.  I think it also has SSD spots for drives
> that could hold the OS itself.  This one is quite pricey tho.

With so many drives, you should also include a pricey power supply. And/or a 
server board which supports staggered spin-up. Also, drives of the home NAS 
category (and consumer drives anyways) are only certified for operation in 
groups of up to 8-ish. Anything above and you sail in grey warranty waters. 
Higher-tier drives are specced for the vibrations of so many drives (at 
least I hope, because that’s what they™ tell us).

> To be honest, I kinda like the Fractal Design Define 7
> XL right now despite the higher cost.  I could make a NAS/backup box
> with it and I doubt I'd run out of drive space even if I started using
> RAID and mirrored everything, at a minimum.

With 12 drives, I would go for parity RAID with two parity drives per six 
drives, not for a mirror. That way you get 2/3 storage efficiency vs. 1/2 
and more robustness; in parity, any two drives may fail, but in a cluster of 
mirrors, only specific drives may fail (not two of the same mirror). If the 
drives are huge, nine drives with three parity drives may be even better 
(because rebuilds get scarier the bigger the drives get).

> 9 pairs of say 18TB drives
> would give around 145TBs of storage with a file system on it.

If you mirrored them all, you’d get 147 TiB. But as I said, use nine drives 
with a 3-drive parity and you get 98 TiB per group. With two groups 
(totalling 18 drives), you get 196 TiB. Wheeee!


¹ There was once a time when ECC was supported by all boards and CPUs. But 
then someone invented market segmentation to increase profits through 
upselling.

-- 
Grüße | Greetings | Qapla’
Please do not share anything from, with or about me on any social network.

Skype jokes are oftentimes not understood, even when they’re repeated.

[-- Attachment #2: signature.asc --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 833 bytes --]