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

[Dale]

Frank Steinmetzger wrote:
> Am Thu, Dec 08, 2022 at 05:30:18PM -0600 schrieb Dale:
>
>>> I use USB3 hard drives on Pis for my bulk storage because I care about
>>> capacity far more than performance, and with a distributed filesystem
>>> the performance is still good enough for what I'm doing.  If I needed
>>> block storage for containers/VMs/whatever then use a different
>>> solution, but that gets expensive fast.
>>> […]
>> From my understanding, you are right about USB3 and GB ethernet being
>> the big change.  They also have more memory and faster CPUs but if you
>> bottleneck the data with slow USB and ethernet with the old ones, who
>> needs a fast CPU?  I think they realized that the USB and ethernet had
>> to improve.  It got better from there. 
>>
>> https://shop.allnetchina.cn/collections/sata-hat/products/dual-sata-hat-open-frame-for-raspberry-pi-4
>>
>> I found the above.  From my understanding, it allows a SATA drive to
>> connect to either 2 or 4 bays.
> Looking at the pics, it looks all very wibbly-wobbly. You will either have
> the parts lying around open on a desk or you need to find a case for all
> that stuff which adheres to no industry standard form factor. Pi accessories
> are quite hard to come by, since they’re often sold out.

They have a case for it too.  Check this out.

https://shop.allnetchina.cn/collections/sata-hat/products/quad-sata-kit-for-raspberry-pi-4-case-only


>
>> One thing I like about the Raspberry option, I can upgrade it later.  I
>> can simply take out the old, put in new, upgrade done.  If I buy a
>> prebuilt NAS, they pretty much are what they are if upgrading isn't a
>> option.
> If you just do storage, what do you need upgrades for, anyway? All it needs
> to do is receive your data and write it to disk. And then return it later
> when asked for. I don’t remember you mentioning running VMs or some such.
> Any current commercial NAS has enough oomph for that, unless it’s a very
> cheap ARM-based one. (Only the ecryption part remains to be solved with a
> ready-made NAS.)

Well, my pool of data keeps growing.  I may need to add drives or
something.  Plus, every few years, I could upgrade the thing if I go the
Raspberry Pi route.  Keep it running fast and all that.   ;-)


>> I just wonder, could I use that board and just hook it to my USB port
>> and a external power supply and skip the Raspberry Pi part?  I'd bet not
>> tho.  ;-)
> From a practical standpoint, what is the difference then to an HDD dock or a
> simple USB-SATA-Adapter? Except that a dock is a “proper”, clean solution
> with a nice case, a secure stand on your desk and no finnicky open SATA
> cables that could cause disconnects during operation if you touch them the
> wrong way.
>
> I know what it’s like to ponder all kinds of options, and it’s fun. But it
> seems to me, you’re looking for a solution for a problem you’re still
> looking for.
>

Given the size of one of the directories I have, it takes two drives, or
soon will, and the use of LVM or something similar.  I can't do that as
it is now.  I've even wondered if I hooked two eSATA drives up and gave
both plenty of time to spin up if LVM would see them both and me be able
to use two drives as one that way.  Thing is, I don't know how LVM
reacts if the two drives become available at separate times, maybe even
many seconds or a minute or so apart. 

My problem is a growing directory.  I admit, It's not increasing as fast
as it was.  When I was on DSL, it limited my speed a lot.  With this new
fiber internet, I can download huge amounts of data in a really short
period of time.  I can download it faster than I can verify it.  I'm
still checking things I downloaded over a month ago.  I'm having fun
doing it tho.  ;-)

I thought about breaking up that huge directory.  Split it into two
parts, the 'a' through 'l' and 'm' through 'z' thing.  Then use two
drives to back it up.  Thing is, the external drive enclosures that I
really like and trust, I can't buy anymore.  They are Rosewill eSATA
drive enclosures.  It has a fan to keep things cool and a display on the
front.  They are really nice and rock solid.  All the USB type drive
enclosures I've tried caused all sorts of problems.  I bricked a couple
hard drives and eventually, the enclosures wouldn't work at all.  The
Rosewill enclosures are the most stable things I've ever seen.  I wish I
could find a few more of them, as spares if nothing else.

Dale

:-)  :-)