Re: [gentoo-user] NAS and replacing with larger drives

[Frank Steinmetzger]

Am Thu, Dec 08, 2022 at 06:36:14PM +0000 schrieb Wols Lists:

> >  > I've pretty much reached a limit on my backups.  I'm up to a 16TB hard
> >  > drive for one and even that won't last long.  Larger drives are much
> >  > more costly.  A must have NAS is quickly approaching.  I've been
> >  > searching around and find some things confusing.  I'm hoping someone can
> >  > clear up that confusion.  I'm also debating what path to travel down.
> >  > I'd also like to keep costs down as well.  That said, I don't mind
> >  > paying a little more for one that would offer a much better option.
> >  >
> >  > Path one, buy a NAS, possibly used, that has no drives.  If possible, I
> >  > may even replace the OS that comes on it or upgrade if I can.  I'm not
> >  > looking for fancy, or even RAID.  Just looking for a two bay NAS that
> >  > will work.  First, what is a DAS?  Is that totally different than a
> >  > NAS?  From what I've found, a DAS is not what I'm looking for since I
> >  > want a ethernet connection and the ability to control things over the
> >  > network.  It seems DAS lacks that feature but not real sure.  I'm not
> >  > sure I can upgrade the software/OS on a DAS either.
> >  > […]
> >
> > DAS is direct-attached-storage. I don't think you want that.
>
> Depends. If it fits in the safe, and can be connected using one of these
> eSATA thingy connectors, it might be a very good choice.
>
> […]
>
> I get the impression Dale isn't actually PLANNING his disk storage. It's
> just a case of "help I'm downloading all this stuff where do I put it!!!"

Haha, thanks for the laugh.

> Get yourself a basic 4-way DAS/JBOD setup, PLAN where you're putting all
> this stuff, and plug in and remove drives as required. You don't need all
> these huge drives if you think about what you're going to do with it all.

That’s actually a good idea. Either use a hot swap frame for an internal 5¼″
PC bay, a desktop dock for bare drives or a multi-bay enclosure. The market
is big, you have lots of choices. USB (with or without integrated hub),
eSATA, one or two bays, etc: https://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=hddocks

Advantages:
- no separate system to maintain just for storage: save $$$, time and power
- very flexible: no chassis limitation on number of disks
- no bulky external enclosures, each using a different power brick and cable
- minimum volume to put into a safe (just get or make a bulk storage case)

Disadvantages:
- not as “fancy” as a NAS
- possibly not all disks can be used at the same time
- physical handling of naked disks takes more care
- LVM is not practical, so use each disk separately
- you gotta remember which files are where¹
- SATA connectors aren’t made for very many insertion cycles (I think the
  spec says 50?), which doesn’t mean they endure much more, but still …

> (And while it takes time and hammers the system, I regularly record off the
> TV getting a 2GB .ts file, convert it to mp4 - same resolution - and reduce
> the size by an order of magnitude - maybe more.

Well, ts uses mpeg2 encoding, just like old video DVDs, which is very
inefficient when compared with modern h264/h265. Modern digital TV broadcast
uses h264 by now.


Incidentally, I got myself a new HDD today: an external 2.5″ WD Passport
Ultra 5 TB with USB-C 3.0. Just because I like portable storage and also
because I need temporary space if I want to convert my NAS RAID-Z2 to Z1.


¹ I do have several external USB disks, plus the big NAS. All of which don’t
run very often. And I don’t want to turn them on just to look for a certain
file. That’s why I have another little script. ;-) It uses the `tree` command
to save the complete content listing of a directory into a text file and
names the file automatically by the name of the directory it crawls. So if I
want to find a file, I just need to grep through my text files.

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

The whale is characterised by its bulky form factor.