I am planning to build my own NAS and can’t decide on hardware. My use case is pretty simple. TrueNAS on bare metal. I have a Mini PC running Proxmox for my other needs.
Requirements
Support for at least 6 HDDs - I plan to start with 2 x 8TB, mirrored so that I can tolerate 1 Drive failure. In future I plan to expand by adding more 8TB HDDs, in a config where I can tolerate 1 drive failure. If I have more than 4 Drives, I would like to shift to 2 Drive fault tolerance.
Low power consumption
ECC Support
I am okay with either Intel or AMD as I don’t need Intel QuickSync.
I am from India so I am limited by the hardware available here.
Not saying that this is the best option, but there is an Asus WS C422 DC mobo, which is sometimes available for cheap.
LGA2066 mobo with 8x DDR4 Reg. ECC slots.
6x SATA ports; 1x SFF-8643 (U.2 only); 1x M.2.
3x PCIe16. With declared x4x4x4x4 bifurcation support. 1x PCIe4. All are Gen3.
Not cheap CPU coolers.
Very cheap used Xeons W available. Something like W-2123 (4C 8T).
No IPMI.
Perhaps not that great with low power consumption.
While you didn’t say that you are on a budget, I read it like this. Because locations with limited hardware choices are actually not that limited, but the prices are just nuts. I can be wrong…
Do you mean you would be okay with Mirrors or do you want Raid-Z2?
Pool1
VDEV1 mirror of two 8TB drives
VDEV2 mirror of two 8TB drives
-you can only lose one drive in each VDEV, otherwise you lose entire pool
or
Pool1
VDEV of 4x 8TB drives in Raid-Z2.
-you can lose any two drives in the VDEV
If you want Raid-Z2, you need to start with a 4x 8TB drive setup from the start. You can’t change from Raid-Z1 to Raid-Z2. It requires a new pool
I may make a different post for the configuration part of it as I am not sure how to do it. But I was hoping to start with 2x8TB, and keep adding more drives when needed to increase space.
That’s a solid plan for a NAS setup. For your needs-TrueNAS on bare metal with ECC support and low power consumption-you’ll want a motherboard with at least 6 SATA ports or room to add an HBA card later. A Ryzen CPU with ECC-compatible motherboard is a good option if you’re leaning toward AMD. Intel Xeon CPUs or some older Core i-series with ECC support can also work well.
Starting with 2 x 8TB in a mirror is a great idea, and when you’re ready to expand, moving to RAID-Z2 or a similar setup will give you the 2-drive fault tolerance you’re aiming for.
Just make sure to check compatibility for ECC memory and power-efficient components, and go for a case with proper airflow and enough drive bays for future upgrades. Best of luck with the build!
I am unsure if I should continue asking here or create a new thread.
After a bit of research and looking at what’s available in the market, my current plans are:
Motherboard: C246-WU4
CPU: i3 9100 or 9300 (what would you recommend, 9100 is more easier to find)
I can start with 2x16GB ECC Ram & 4 HDDs, with 1 drive fault tolerance. For future exapansion, I can add 2 more 16GB sticks, and 4 more HDDs.
Both support ecc - if you’re running this as a NAS only, I see any real benefit from the extra .1Mhz Go with what is cheaper/more available imo. Both have 4 cores 4 threads, so no serious difference I see between them.
The motherboard supports UDIMMs, not RDIMMs, which may be harder to find & more expensive. Just don’t grab the wrong ones.
If you’re going to ever go with 2 drive fault tolerance, it likely makes sense to start with raidz2 & suffering grabbing 5 HDDs at the start instead of 4 if possible. Otherwise it’ll be a full pool re-make, which will involve having to move data somewhere, remaking the pool, then moving data back. I had to go through that when I first started; it was not fun.
I am still doing research and a build with Asus Pro W680 (Non IPMI) + refurbished i5 12500T is costing the same as my previous suggestion.
The W680 only has 4 Sata ports (should be enough for my initial needs). Is this a better option, and can I expand it in future using some PCIe Card or HBA to add another 4 HDDs?
Yeah, I got the same board in a different build. I had some minor issues & can only boot on a very specific bios (not the newest) - otherwise I like it.
It can actually support 8 hdds without an hba! 4 with the sata ports and 4 more with a slim sas to sata connector.
*** SlimSAS slot can support up to 4 SATA devices via a transfer cable. the cable is purchased separately.
- 4 x SATA 6Gb/s ports
Much newer hardware; better option imo as long as the referb cpu works.
I can’t imagine that the ddr5 ecc udimms are cheap or easily available right now… check the price on those
Here’s my current plan:
i5-12500T
ASUS Pro WS W680-AC
ADATA Premier 16GB DDR5 RAM 5600MHz x 2
ProLab Design AI838 Mid Tower Workstation Case
Corsair RM850x Gold ATX 3.1 Fully Modular Smps
The RAM is costing around 450$ for both, and the overall build cost is around $1200. I am based in India, though, and have converted the cost to USD.
Only problem is that I don’t think that RAM is actually ECC; ddr5 on-die ecc vs actually ecc rdimms/udimms are two different things. Otherwise looks like a fine build imo, much more sane than a lot of first time builds I’ve seen.
I’d see if it is at all possible to get even a single stick of ecc if that is still a requirement; the performance impacts of a single stick of ddr5 (can still run in dual channel) aren’t as bad as they were for ddr4 (would be single channel).
If you already have Proxmox for all your docker & virtualization needs, I think you could easily get away with 16gb of ram if you’re just going for a baremetal pure NAS & something like: Kingston KTD-PE548E-16G 16GB DDR5 SDRAM Memory Module is available for ~$185 USD for a single stick… at least locally for me. It’d be cheaper, be real ECC, & even if you get two it’d be cheaper than the $450 you quoted that doesn’t have ECC.
if you start with mirrors than you can add more mirrors to the existing pool without issue. You can’t change the first mirror to a RAID-Z later though - you’d need to back up your data and recreate your pool.
The specifics depend on how many drives you’re adding later, you could potentially add three drives to a new pool, move your data across and then destroy the mirror pool and add those drives by expanding the RAID-Z2 pool - the options will be dictated by what drives you’re adding at the time
