Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com>
To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
Subject: [gentoo-user] NAS and replacing with larger drives
Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2022 12:38:02
Message-Id: 9407e524-2226-6ba9-dd7f-bac635d083e3@gmail.com
1 Howdy,
2
3 I've pretty much reached a limit on my backups.  I'm up to a 16TB hard
4 drive for one and even that won't last long.  Larger drives are much
5 more costly.  A must have NAS is quickly approaching.  I've been
6 searching around and find some things confusing.  I'm hoping someone can
7 clear up that confusion.  I'm also debating what path to travel down. 
8 I'd also like to keep costs down as well.  That said, I don't mind
9 paying a little more for one that would offer a much better option. 
10
11 Path one, buy a NAS, possibly used, that has no drives.  If possible, I
12 may even replace the OS that comes on it or upgrade if I can.  I'm not
13 looking for fancy, or even RAID.  Just looking for a two bay NAS that
14 will work.  First, what is a DAS?  Is that totally different than a
15 NAS?  From what I've found, a DAS is not what I'm looking for since I
16 want a ethernet connection and the ability to control things over the
17 network.  It seems DAS lacks that feature but not real sure.  I'm not
18 sure I can upgrade the software/OS on a DAS either. 
19
20 Next thing.  Let's say a NAS comes with two 4TB drives for a total of
21 8TB of capacity from the factory, using LVM or similar software I
22 assume.  Is that limited to that capacity or can I for example replace
23 one or both drives with for example 14TB drives for a total of 28TBs of
24 capacity?  If one does that, let's say it uses LVM, can I somehow move
25 data as well or is that beyond the abilities of a NAS?  Could it be done
26 inside my computer for example?  Does this vary by brand or even model? 
27
28 Path two, I've researched building a NAS using a Raspberry Pi 4 8GB as
29 another option.  They come as parts, cases too, but the newer and faster
30 models of Raspberry Pi 4 with more ram seem to work pretty well.  The
31 old slower models with small amounts of ram don't fair as well.  While I
32 want a descent speed, I'm not looking for or expecting it to be
33 blazingly fast.  I just wonder, if from a upgrade and expansion point of
34 view, if building a NAS would be better.  I've also noticed, it seems
35 all Raspberry things come with a display port.  That means I could hook
36 up a monitor and mouse/keyboard when needed.  That could be a bonus. 
37 Heck, I may can even put some sort of Gentoo on that thing.  :-D
38
39 One reason I'm wanting to go this route, I'm trying to keep it small and
40 able to fit inside my fire safe.  I plan to buy a media type safe that
41 is larger but right now, it needs to fit inside my current safe.  Most
42 of the 2 bay NAS or a Raspberry Pi based NAS are fairly small.  They not
43 much bigger than the three external hard drives and a couple bare drives
44 that currently occupy my safe. 
45
46 One thing I'd like to have no matter what path I go down, the ability to
47 encrypt the data.  My current backup drives are encrypted and I'd like
48 to keep it that way.  If that is possible to do.  I suspect the
49 Raspberry option would since I'd control the OS/software placed on it. 
50 I could be wrong tho. 
51
52 One last thing.  Are there any NAS type boxes that I should absolutely
53 avoid if I go that route?  Maybe it is a model that has serious
54 limitations or has other problems.  I think the DAS thing may be one for
55 me to avoid but I'm not for sure what limits it has.  Google didn't help
56 a lot. It also could be as simple as, avoid any model that says this in
57 the description or uses some type of software that is bad or limits
58 options. 
59
60 Thoughts?  Info to share?  Ideas on a best path forward?  Buy already
61 built or build?
62
63 Thanks.
64
65 Dale
66
67 :-)  :-) 

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-user] NAS and replacing with larger drives Mark Knecht <markknecht@×××××.com>
Re: [gentoo-user] NAS and replacing with larger drives Rich Freeman <rich0@g.o>
Re: [gentoo-user] NAS and replacing with larger drives Frank Steinmetzger <Warp_7@×××.de>
Re: [gentoo-user] NAS and replacing with larger drives Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com>
Re: [gentoo-user] NAS and replacing with larger drives Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com>
Re: [gentoo-user] NAS and replacing with larger drives Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com>