New to the NAS scene

[pelican]

Hey guys,

I'm really new to the NAS scene but it's something I've already attained some pieces for and now I'm looking for some additional details. I'm primarily going to be using it to run PLEX, since my media library keeps growing and I'm tired of adding hard drives to my desktop. I figured my fiance and I could also finally pool all of our media onto one source, as well.

I've done a bunch of reading, but if anybody is using the ASRock C2750 and can throw me some tips, please hit me up--I'd love to chat. I have a few random (yet oddly specific) questions regarding its setup.

Hoping to learn a lot before I finally cement the NAS of my dreams, haha.

 

[CraigD]

A lot of the ASRock C2750 boards have started to just die, also some not all users are having issues with the Marvell SATA Ports

Have you considered SuperMicro motherboards maybe the X10SLL-F (32GB RAM Max), you can add an HBA to it if you need more SATA ports or even buy the X10SL7-F(32GB RAM Max), or the X11SSL-CF (64GB RAM Max) they both have 14 ports

In any case read this

Have Fun

 

[pelican]

I was able to grab a new C2750 for pretty cheap, so that's the reason I ended up sticking with it.

As far as it goes, I'm using a DS380 case with it and I'm wondering if the 8x hot swappable bays can run a full RAIDZ-2 setup (8x 4TB). Also looking to use a couple of 120GB SSDs for caching (they're nothing super fancy).

So I guess the real semantics of the questions are: if I can do 8x 4TB RAIDZ-2, should I run them all via SATA3 and use the SSDs for SATA2, or does it matter if a couple of the HDDs are stuck in SATA2 ports? (if that makes any sense... I know this is probably a reaaaally simple question for more educated/experienced users).

 

[Spearfoot]

I was able to grab a new C2750 for pretty cheap, so that's the reason I ended up sticking with it.

As far as it goes, I'm using a DS380 case with it and I'm wondering if the 8x hot swappable bays can run a full RAIDZ-2 setup (8x 4TB). Also looking to use a couple of 120GB SSDs for caching (they're nothing super fancy).

Yes, that motherboard w/32GB RAM should be quite capable of running an 8 x 4TB RAIDZ2 pool. However, note that several users have had problems with their disks running too hot in the Silverstone DS380 chassis. Search the forum for 'ds380' and you'll find several posts on this subject. If you're going to use the DS380, you may need to investigate alternative chassis fans and you should consider using lower-RPM drives like the Western Digital Reds in lieu of 7200 RPM drives, which tend to run hotter.

So I guess the real semantics of the questions are: if I can do 8x 4TB RAIDZ-2, should I run them all via SATA3 and use the SSDs for SATA2, or does it matter if a couple of the HDDs are stuck in SATA2 ports? (if that makes any sense... I know this is probably a reaaaally simple question for more educated/experienced users).

It won't affect performance much if a few drives are connected at 3Gb/s instead of 6Gb/s. Such a system shouldn't have any problems saturating a gigabit LAN connection.

 

[pelican]

Yes, that motherboard w/32GB RAM should be quite capable of running an 8 x 4TB RAIDZ2 pool. However, note that several users have had problems with their disks running too hot in the Silverstone DS380 chassis. Search the forum for 'ds380' and you'll find several posts on this subject. If you're going to use the DS380, you may need to investigate alternative chassis fans and you should consider using lower-RPM drives like the Western Digital Reds in lieu of 7200 RPM drives, which tend to run hotter.

Yeah, I'll be running WD reds and Seagate NAS drives (I think they're 5900 RPM or something weird). I saw a lot of info about the DS380 causing the disks to run hot since the chassis is so enclosed and the airflow is so bad, but a lot of people have found success creating a vacuum in their case, which I think I'll be doing if I encounter problems. We'll see how it goes, though. I'm still quite a ways away from having all 8 HDD's (soooo expensive).

The only other heat issue I've abundantly found with the C2750 is its processor running hot, which is "fixable" by attaching a small fan pushing on its heatsink. My only issue is attaching it--I don't have access to a 3-D printer, and I've heard of good success with zip ties on the wings or using heat resistant double sided tape (but I'm not sure how that works to attach a fan in a push configuration).

It won't affect performance much if a few drives are connected at 3Gb/s instead of 6Gb/s. Such a system shouldn't have any problems saturating a gigabit LAN connection.

That's awesome, thanks so much! I just wasn't sure if the different controllers would affect how the RAID setup works, but if 8 can connect and be mix-matched on SATA2/3, then I'm a lot more relieved now.


Oh and one last question--I see that the HDD bays have both SATA and SAS hookups--which should I be using? I assumed SATA, but I literally just don't know, haha.

 

[droeders]

Oh and one last question--I see that the HDD bays have both SATA and SAS hookups--which should I be using? I assumed SATA, but I literally just don't know, haha.

You'll want to use the connections on the right side of the backplane for your SATA drives. See page 16 of the manual:

http://www.silverstonetek.com/downloads/Manual/storage/Multi-DS380-Manual.pdf

The other connection you see is for dual channel SAS drives. Also, for more SAS/SATA knowledge see the excellent post from @jgreco here:

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...-sas-sy-a-primer-on-basic-sas-and-sata.26145/

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Based on this ...

I'm primarily going to be using it to run PLEX ... my fiance and I could also finally pool all of our media onto one source, as well.

You don't need this ...

Also looking to use a couple of 120GB SSDs for caching