New Home NAS Feedback Requested

[Tabmowtez]

Hi,

I've currently got a Home NAS nearing 100% capacity in terms of CPU grunt and storage so I am looking to build a new system.
I have the following picked out currently:

• Fractal Design Node 804 Black Micro ATX Case
• Corsair CV550 550W Bronze Power Supply
• Intel M10JNP2SB Motherboard
• Intel Xeon E-2226G
• Noctua NH-L9i Low Profile Intel CPU Cooler
• Kingston KSM26RD8/16MEI 16GB 2666MHz ECC Reg DDR4 x 2
• Crucial BX500 120GB 2.5" SATA SSD x 2
• LSI 9211-8i flashed in IT mode

My current system has around ~10TB of useable space and I don't want to upgrade for a while so I am looking for at a minimum 8TB drives.
The chassis and motherboard support 8 3.5" disks and I am questioning whether to build a Raid z1 or z2 pool.
My current system is 6 x 3TB disks in a z2 pool and I haven't had even 1 disk failure in 5+ years so I'm debating the need for a z2 pool in my new system.
I remembered back in the day there were reasons why I chose the disks because of the filesystem/disk boundaries etc. but I'm not sure if that is still a thing.
Also, I've never worried about a SLOG or L2ARC and I'm assuming I still don't need to worry about if for what I need, although I can always add these later.

The disks that I am tossing up between are the:
5400 RPM Models:
Western Digital Red NAS 8TB HDD, WD80EFAX - $359 each
Seagate BarraCuda 8TB HDD, ST8000DM004 - $259 each

7200 RPM Models:
Western Digital Red Pro NAS 8TB HDD, WD8003FFBX - $429 each
Seagate IronWolf NAS 8TB HDD, ST8000VN004 - $339

The LSI 9211-8i will house the 8 disks and the boot disks will be on the onboard controller, unless it is worth splitting them up?

I use my NAS mainly for file storage, Plex streaming (4k content too), a VM or too and some jails currently.
I'm leaning more towards the Ironwolf as I get the performance at a decent price point but at the same time I haven't used Seagate in a long time.
I'm also guessing that even the 5400 RPM disks would most likely suffice for what I require and would saturate a 1gbps link when I'm streaming.

Would love some feedback on everything, in particular if people think it is worth going z2 over z1 with the disks today and how people have found Seagate vs. WD in general. Also any feedback or potentially other options on the system would be welcomed too.

Thanks,
Terry

 

[JaimieV]

Looks fine to me. Agreed no point in ZIL/SLOG, and no point going for faster HDDs unless you're going to move to something quicker than 1gigE for your networking. I use 10gigE and it takes three VDEVs to fill that.

I'd say it's a little on the over-plush and expensive side, but I'm all about recycling old datacentre hardware myself - you can have an entire spare machine for less than the cost of a hard drive that way, if you've got somewhere you can hide 2U server hardware.

For 8TB drives I would definitely say RAIDZ2, I'm afraid. It's a long time to resilver and you are at risk throughout.

Or you can do as I do, and use your old NAS as a backup - I wake my second NAS every night to do a backup replication. That gives me enough confidence to use RAIDZ1 vdevs plus a spare instead of RAIDZ2 vdevs, which when you have three vdevs adds up (or rather, subtracts) in drive costs. Pick your own balance of risk mitigations.

 

[Tabmowtez]

and no point going for faster HDDs unless you're going to move to something quicker than 1gigE for your networking.

So you think it's better to save $80 per disk and go with the Seagate Barracudas?

if you've got somewhere you can hide 2U server hardware.

Unfortunately I don't so need to go with the tower, although I see this lasting me many years so paying a premium isn't the worst thing for me at the moment.

For 8TB drives I would definitely say RAIDZ2, I'm afraid. It's a long time to resilver and you are at risk throughout.

I guess you're right, I do need to weigh up the risk vs. the extra space I would get I guess. Is a vdev of 8TB disks in a RAIDZ2 still ok? No issues with the 4k or stripe size or anything?

 

[JaimieV]

Just checked the Barracudas, and at least one web page thinks they're SMR - if that's correct, avoid like the plague. Worth keeping an eye out for bargains over Black Friday soon. I've been shucking 14Tb WD externals lately at about $200...

There's no issues with the stripe size - ZFS sorts itself out.

 

[Tabmowtez]

Looks like they are according to https://www.seagate.com/au/en/internal-hard-drives/cmr-smr-list/

Sounds like I need to go the Ironwolfs...

 

[pschatz100]

I am a big believer in using NAS drives. Also, keep in mind that 7200 rpm drives will run hotter than 5400 rpm drives.

I'm not certain where you are located, but 8TB WD RED Plus drives are selling for a bit over $200 at Amazon and Newegg in the US.

 

[Tabmowtez]

I am using WD Red's in my current NAS and have been happy with them. The Seagate Ironwolf's are NAS drives too and are a fair bit cheaper (I'm in Australia) and am trying to buy all my parts from local retailers for ease of warranty etc. if it comes to it.

 

[elorimer]

I've been shucking 14Tb WD externals lately at about $200...

Bestbuy will have them for $190 next week. I guess that doesn't work down under.

 

[Tabmowtez]

The pitfalls of being on an island far away from everything... We get screwed with prices here. It might be worth buying from overseas but then when you factor in postage and if you have to RMA something potentially any cost savings go out the door and then some...