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On 08/12/2022 13:31, Mark Knecht wrote: |
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> On Thu, Dec 8, 2022 at 5:38 AM Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com |
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> <mailto:rdalek1967@×××××.com>> wrote: |
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> > |
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> > Howdy, |
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> > |
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> > I've pretty much reached a limit on my backups. I'm up to a 16TB hard |
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> > drive for one and even that won't last long. Larger drives are much |
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> > more costly. A must have NAS is quickly approaching. I've been |
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> > searching around and find some things confusing. I'm hoping someone can |
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> > clear up that confusion. I'm also debating what path to travel down. |
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> > I'd also like to keep costs down as well. That said, I don't mind |
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> > paying a little more for one that would offer a much better option. |
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> > |
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> > Path one, buy a NAS, possibly used, that has no drives. If possible, I |
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> > may even replace the OS that comes on it or upgrade if I can. I'm not |
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> > looking for fancy, or even RAID. Just looking for a two bay NAS that |
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> > will work. First, what is a DAS? Is that totally different than a |
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> > NAS? From what I've found, a DAS is not what I'm looking for since I |
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> > want a ethernet connection and the ability to control things over the |
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> > network. It seems DAS lacks that feature but not real sure. I'm not |
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> > sure I can upgrade the software/OS on a DAS either. |
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> > |
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> > Next thing. Let's say a NAS comes with two 4TB drives for a total of |
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> > 8TB of capacity from the factory, using LVM or similar software I |
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> > assume. Is that limited to that capacity or can I for example replace |
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> > one or both drives with for example 14TB drives for a total of 28TBs of |
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> > capacity? If one does that, let's say it uses LVM, can I somehow move |
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> > data as well or is that beyond the abilities of a NAS? Could it be done |
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> > inside my computer for example? Does this vary by brand or even model? |
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> > |
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> > Path two, I've researched building a NAS using a Raspberry Pi 4 8GB as |
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> > another option. They come as parts, cases too, but the newer and faster |
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> > models of Raspberry Pi 4 with more ram seem to work pretty well. The |
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> > old slower models with small amounts of ram don't fair as well. While I |
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> > want a descent speed, I'm not looking for or expecting it to be |
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> > blazingly fast. I just wonder, if from a upgrade and expansion point of |
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> > view, if building a NAS would be better. I've also noticed, it seems |
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> > all Raspberry things come with a display port. That means I could hook |
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> > up a monitor and mouse/keyboard when needed. That could be a bonus. |
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> > Heck, I may can even put some sort of Gentoo on that thing. :-D |
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> > |
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> > One reason I'm wanting to go this route, I'm trying to keep it small and |
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> > able to fit inside my fire safe. I plan to buy a media type safe that |
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> > is larger but right now, it needs to fit inside my current safe. Most |
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> > of the 2 bay NAS or a Raspberry Pi based NAS are fairly small. They not |
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> > much bigger than the three external hard drives and a couple bare drives |
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> > that currently occupy my safe. |
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> > |
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> > One thing I'd like to have no matter what path I go down, the ability to |
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> > encrypt the data. My current backup drives are encrypted and I'd like |
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> > to keep it that way. If that is possible to do. I suspect the |
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> > Raspberry option would since I'd control the OS/software placed on it. |
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> > I could be wrong tho. |
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> > |
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> > One last thing. Are there any NAS type boxes that I should absolutely |
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> > avoid if I go that route? Maybe it is a model that has serious |
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> > limitations or has other problems. I think the DAS thing may be one for |
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> > me to avoid but I'm not for sure what limits it has. Google didn't help |
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> > a lot. It also could be as simple as, avoid any model that says this in |
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> > the description or uses some type of software that is bad or limits |
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> > options. |
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> > |
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> > Thoughts? Info to share? Ideas on a best path forward? Buy already |
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> > built or build? |
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> > |
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> > Thanks. |
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> > |
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> > Dale |
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> > |
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> > :-) :-) |
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> |
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> DAS is direct-attached-storage. I don't think you want that. |
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Depends. If it fits in the safe, and can be connected using one of these |
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eSATA thingy connectors, it might be a very good choice. |
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> |
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> Synology (sp?) is sort of a big name in home & small office NAS boxes. |
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> You can buy the boxes with or without drives. I suspect you won't like |
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> the prices. |
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|
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I've been looking :-) I think the empty box costs more than the drives |
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you're going to put in it ... |
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> |
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> I wonder if you might consider what data on your backups needs to be |
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> immediately available and which doesn't. Possibly buy an 8TB USB drive, |
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> take a bunch of the lower priority data off of your current backup thus |
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> system freeing space and move on from there? |
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> |
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> I built my NAS devices using old computers ala Wol's suggestion to me |
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> maybe a year ago. They work for me but don't have the fastest network |
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> interfaces. |
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> |
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I get the impression Dale isn't actually PLANNING his disk storage. It's |
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just a case of "help I'm downloading all this stuff where do I put it!!!" |
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How much storage do you have in your actual computer? How much space do |
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you need IN ONE PARTITION? Can you get an external disk caddy that you |
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just slot bare drives in? |
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I've no doubt you have good reason for wanting all this storage. I just |
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fail to see why you need huge drives for it if most of the time you're |
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not doing anything with it. |
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Get yourself a basic 4-way DAS/JBOD setup, PLAN where you're putting all |
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this stuff, and plug in and remove drives as required. You don't need |
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all these huge drives if you think about what you're going to do with it |
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all. (And while it takes time and hammers the system, I regularly record |
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off the TV getting a 2GB .ts file, convert it to mp4 - same resolution - |
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and reduce the size by an order of magnitude - maybe more. |
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If you've got two hot-swap JBOD enclosures, that's brilliant. You can |
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stream from your media centre to a drive, swap it out, and use a second |
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system to then organise your collection. |
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Oh - and if you are worried about disks going walkabout, just LUKS the |
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whole disk, and without the key nobody can read it ... build your |
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partitions or whatever over it. |
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Cheers, |
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Wol |