External HDD Chasis

[gary_1]

I have a 6x4TB nas (raidz2) that I currently backup to a USB connected 16TB disk (local replication) and then some critical datasets replicate to two separate 8TB disks. However, I'd like to move away from a single disk to a backup pool so that I can run raidz but I'd prefer not to have to sort a second server just for this.

Ideally I'm looking for an external HDD enclosure that connects via esata but is self-powered, or perhaps a small SAS chasis. The server currently has 2 esata ports available although adding more wouldn't be an issue.

I also have an LSI SAS card I use to connect a tape drive for archives/longer term backups in another machine, so that's an option for a single connection. SAS connected to that machine might be the ideal solution as I could power on the enclosure and boot into freenas when I need to refresh the (mostly offline) backups. The machine itself does not have sufficient space for additional hdds and I'd prefer the backup pool not to be connected when the machine was under normal use anyway, so I'd still be in need of an external chasis with this setup.

I've not really had much luck however finding a 2-6 bay self-powered dock/enclosure that is either SAS or e-sata. The e-sata bays I've found only have one port so I assume they're using port expanders? There's plenty of USB3 docks but my experiences with USB over the years with FreeNAS makes that largely unappealing for anything more than a single disk. SAS wise, it appears to be larger rack mount bays that are available, which is excessive as this would just be for a backup pool.

It may be this is a fruitless pursuit and I'd be better off setting up an extra server, but I was hoping to avoid that, so if anyone has used anything similar to the above with TrueNAS core or scale, I'd be interested to hear about it.

edit: Ideally looking for items available in the UK.

 

[ChrisRJ]

From what I have read here, e-SATA boxes do not work well with ZFS, but no personal experience here. Why not use the streamer you seem to already have?

 

[gary_1]

Streamer?

I'm thinking of getting a case with removable bays and sticking an LSI card in + power, no mobo/cpu etc and using that to get a handful of drives connceted via SFF-8088 to either the freenas box or my spare machine. Seems like a cheaper/mode flexible option than any of the ready made enclosures.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Streamer?

I'm thinking of getting a case with removable bays and sticking an LSI card in + power, no mobo/cpu etc and using that to get a handful of drives connceted via SFF-8088 to either the freenas box or my spare machine. Seems like a cheaper/mode flexible option than any of the ready made enclosures.

You'll have to rig up a method by which to fire up the PSU - SuperMicro makes a dedicated board for this that includes some simple fan control logic.

There are some external options, but I can't speak for UK availability. Check for the Silverstone RS381S - searching for "8-bay SFF-8088" seemed to yield some results.

 

[gary_1]

Yes I was looking at the SuperMicro board after reading this blog post.

 

[ChrisRJ]

Streamer?

In the original post you wrote "I also have an LSI SAS card I use to connect a tape drive for archives/longer term backups". This made me think that you own a streamer that be used alternatively.

 

[gary_1]

By streamer do you mean another PC? If so, I do have a spare machine I use the tape drive with, however that spare machine is also normally used as a HTPC. It just doubles up once in a blue moon to write to tape in the background. It's rare enough that having a dedicated machine for it, didn't make sense. I'm thinking along similar lines for this backup pool.

That view might change in the future if my main pool capacity increases and exceeds the size of the single 16TB drive I currently do more frequent backups to.

The issue with using the HTPC for the backup pool, is not one of rebooting into freenas now and then, that's fine. It's that I don't want to leave the backup pool disks connected outside of that time. Removes risks of any Linux updates or user errors when running as a HTPC from whacking the backup without me knowing.

That said, I'm leaning towards a 4 bay (perhaps 8 or 12 if I DIY it) enclosure connected via SFF-8088 which could mean I can connect this direct to the server. I read a post yesterday where someone had used an SFF-8088 to SFF-8087 adapter bracket and then SFF-8087 to 4 sata fan out cable to remove the need for an LSI card and supermicro power board.

 

[ChrisRJ]

Streamer is a tape drive.

 

[gary_1]

Streamer is a tape drive.

I don't know how I missed that one.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

"Streamer" is an anglicised word for tape drive that is only used in German speaking countries. Similar to "handy" for a mobile phone. Most speakers of English apart from native speakers of German will miss that.

 

[Constantin]

Hah. I used to be a native German speaker then.

Anyhow, eSATA port multipliers per @jgreco are a hard NO / Nein / Nyet!, that is unless you would like to join my rapid hair loss program. The chips in question are often unreliable, even if they present the drives inside the enclosure on a JBOD basis. I would suggest getting a proper eSATA HBA card with 8 or more channels that FreeNAS / TrueNAS has been qualified with (see Hardware recommendations in the Resources Section) and dedicate one SATA channel per drive. LSI cards are very popular for HBA purposes.

That said, I would also look into getting a bigger case with good cooling. It might end up being less expensive overall if you account for future growth ambitions to buy a good used SuperMicro server chassis now rather than adding stuff piecemeal together.