8 ms·

Pretty neat. I have been thinking about how I can build a tiny NAS, but I would like ECC so that rules out the pi, etc. Best option I have found so far might b

by dshep 6y ago

Pretty neat. I have been thinking about how I can build a tiny NAS, but I would like ECC so that rules out the pi, etc. Best option I have found so far might be this ASRock 4x4-v2000 https://www.asrockind.com/en-gb/4X4-V2000M https://www.asrockind.com/en-gb/4X4-V2000M , it has an 8-core cpu and supports ECC. Would need to get a M.2 to 4x SATA adapter. The hard part seems to be figuring out how to buy the board itself...

Scene_Cast2 6y ago
I've been using a Helios4 for this; it's tiny, has ECC, and plenty of speed for a NAS. Their new board, the helios64, is bigger, and ECC support was in-progress last time I checked.
- sbierwagen 6y ago
  Doh, wish I knew this existed last month. Just built a NAS around an ITX board.
- vladvasiliu 6y ago
  The Helios64 "Full Bundle" looks nice, but only 4 GB RAM seems limited for ZFS. Plus, for 300 USD, there should be a way to set up a similar x86 system, possibly from second-hand parts. I'm thinking some older AMD Zen with 8-16 GB RAM and a Fractal Design Node or similar case. Yes, I know that would likely use more electricity, but in my particular case (France), electricity isn't that big of a cost, plus I wouldn't be running this 24/7. More like one or two evenings a week. The only reason why I'm not running recycled "enterprise" servers at home is that my apartment is small and I absolutely cannot stand the noise they make.
  - MivLives 6y ago
    I've had good luck buying old gaming pc parts off my friends. If they're upgrading their cpu, they normally have a mobo/ram/cpu to sell.
    - vladvasiliu 6y ago
      But those are usually "consumer" parts (in the broad sense). In particular, they won't take ECC RAM. I'm hoping this will change now that AMD has a believable "enthusiast" offering that has ECC. This to me is the main issue. Usually, manufacturers think ECC = Enterprise = Running in a computer room = Doesn't need to be quiet. Of course, usually clients looking for thin, least-possible-U systems doesn't help either. I've actually gotten my hands on a Lenovo tower server my client wasn't needing anymore which is really pretty quiet. But it's "huge" by rack standards. It's basically a full PC tower in height, but longer. I could see myself running it in the kitchen or something once I get it home after the lockdowns. The issue is it only takes 2.5" drives, which are still quite expensive if SSDs or use SMR if HDDs.
- mey 6y ago
  Looking on their site, it seems that Helios64 still doesn't have ECC support (isn't advertised).
- dtx1 6y ago
  I too have a helios4 and i like it for it's ECC Support but it has a plethora of drawbacks. * 32bit OS means maximum 16TB Partition Size * it's not fast at all. It can barely saturate a Gbit connection without any encryption using HTTP. Even with the Crypto Engine enabled, any encryption and the connection drops significantly * Depending on which version you got, the fans are quite annoying, no matter which version you got, the fans are quite ineffective * it has at least one known hardware bug concerning SATA and the internal Flash. * WOL and the internal Watchdog are hit or miss at best On the other hand the linux support and documentation is top notch so i dont want to complain too much but i am kinda disappointed with the speed i got from it
  - Scene_Cast2 6y ago
    Ah. I haven't run into speed or capacity issues (different use cases & preferences, I suppose). For the fans - I am not using the included case. I have one stock fan on top of the SOC and one 120mm fan for the disks. The stock fan is decently loud on bootup, but it stops or low-speed during regular operation.
sbierwagen 6y ago
>a M.2 to 4x SATA Is that a thing which exists?
- dshep 6y ago
  https://www.amazon.com/Internal-Non-Raid-Adapter-Desktop-Support/dp/B07T3RMFFT https://www.amazon.com/Internal-Non-Raid-Adapter-Desktop-Sup... Haven't tried it personally, but maybe it works? :)
  - geerlingguy 6y ago
    I have one of these and have tested it on the Raspberry Pi [1]. It indeed works fine (and IME if it works on the Pi, it works on anything with PCIe). [1] https://pipci.jeffgeerling.com/cards_storage/iocrest-jmb585-m2-sata.html https://pipci.jeffgeerling.com/cards_storage/iocrest-jmb585-...
  - nuker 6y ago
    It works, but custom made heatsink is needed, I got IO errors without it.
- PragmaticPulp 6y ago
  M.2 is a port which can carry different interfaces. In this case, this M.2 slot carries PCIe, so you can add a PCIe SATA controller. Confirm driver support first, of course.
- ashkankiani 6y ago
  I use 2 of them in my computer I'm writing this from for my RAID array.
rubatuga 6y ago
A used HP Z230 is a cheap buy, supports ECC, and easily supports five 3.5inch drives
jjeaff 6y ago
What benefit would ecc have for a nas? Just making sure there are no bits flipped in your data before writing to disk? If so, seems like file integrity checking would be more important.
- goda90 6y ago
  ECC prevents bit flips in the file integrity checking itself.
sliken 6y ago
Why not just get a mini-itx ryzen? They often have 2.5gbe, handle ecc memory, and come with 4xSATA without adapters.
cromka 6y ago
How tiny does it have to be? I would recommend Lenovo P330/P340 Tiny. Not as tiny as the Asrock, but very flexible.
- tyingq 6y ago
  I imagine the Lenovo Tiny with a Ryzen CPU would support the ECC RAM that was mentioned. M75Q, M715Q.
nonameiguess 6y ago
Try the X570D4I-2T from ASRock Rack: https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=X570D4I-2T#Specifications https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=X... I built my home NAS on this and it's great. Has Oculink ports built into the board so I can just use M.2 for the OS itself and it supports 10 GB ethernet, so as long as I'm wired in, there is effectively no network latency since that's faster than SATA anyway. The board itself also does video, so I can use a Ryzen CPU without Radeon graphics and not have to get the pro to support ECC.

by dshep 6y ago

Scene_Cast2 6y ago

I've been using a Helios4 for this; it's tiny, has ECC, and plenty of speed for a NAS. Their new board, the helios64, is bigger, and ECC support was in-progress last time I checked.

sbierwagen 6y ago
Doh, wish I knew this existed last month. Just built a NAS around an ITX board.
vladvasiliu 6y ago
The Helios64 "Full Bundle" looks nice, but only 4 GB RAM seems limited for ZFS. Plus, for 300 USD, there should be a way to set up a similar x86 system, possibly from second-hand parts. I'm thinking some older AMD Zen with 8-16 GB RAM and a Fractal Design Node or similar case. Yes, I know that would likely use more electricity, but in my particular case (France), electricity isn't that big of a cost, plus I wouldn't be running this 24/7. More like one or two evenings a week. The only reason why I'm not running recycled "enterprise" servers at home is that my apartment is small and I absolutely cannot stand the noise they make.
- MivLives 6y ago
  I've had good luck buying old gaming pc parts off my friends. If they're upgrading their cpu, they normally have a mobo/ram/cpu to sell.
  - vladvasiliu 6y ago
    But those are usually "consumer" parts (in the broad sense). In particular, they won't take ECC RAM. I'm hoping this will change now that AMD has a believable "enthusiast" offering that has ECC. This to me is the main issue. Usually, manufacturers think ECC = Enterprise = Running in a computer room = Doesn't need to be quiet. Of course, usually clients looking for thin, least-possible-U systems doesn't help either. I've actually gotten my hands on a Lenovo tower server my client wasn't needing anymore which is really pretty quiet. But it's "huge" by rack standards. It's basically a full PC tower in height, but longer. I could see myself running it in the kitchen or something once I get it home after the lockdowns. The issue is it only takes 2.5" drives, which are still quite expensive if SSDs or use SMR if HDDs.
mey 6y ago
Looking on their site, it seems that Helios64 still doesn't have ECC support (isn't advertised).
dtx1 6y ago
I too have a helios4 and i like it for it's ECC Support but it has a plethora of drawbacks. * 32bit OS means maximum 16TB Partition Size * it's not fast at all. It can barely saturate a Gbit connection without any encryption using HTTP. Even with the Crypto Engine enabled, any encryption and the connection drops significantly * Depending on which version you got, the fans are quite annoying, no matter which version you got, the fans are quite ineffective * it has at least one known hardware bug concerning SATA and the internal Flash. * WOL and the internal Watchdog are hit or miss at best On the other hand the linux support and documentation is top notch so i dont want to complain too much but i am kinda disappointed with the speed i got from it
- Scene_Cast2 6y ago
  Ah. I haven't run into speed or capacity issues (different use cases & preferences, I suppose). For the fans - I am not using the included case. I have one stock fan on top of the SOC and one 120mm fan for the disks. The stock fan is decently loud on bootup, but it stops or low-speed during regular operation.

sbierwagen 6y ago

>a M.2 to 4x SATA Is that a thing which exists?

dshep 6y ago
https://www.amazon.com/Internal-Non-Raid-Adapter-Desktop-Support/dp/B07T3RMFFT https://www.amazon.com/Internal-Non-Raid-Adapter-Desktop-Sup... Haven't tried it personally, but maybe it works? :)
- geerlingguy 6y ago
  I have one of these and have tested it on the Raspberry Pi [1]. It indeed works fine (and IME if it works on the Pi, it works on anything with PCIe). [1] https://pipci.jeffgeerling.com/cards_storage/iocrest-jmb585-m2-sata.html https://pipci.jeffgeerling.com/cards_storage/iocrest-jmb585-...
- nuker 6y ago
  It works, but custom made heatsink is needed, I got IO errors without it.
PragmaticPulp 6y ago
M.2 is a port which can carry different interfaces. In this case, this M.2 slot carries PCIe, so you can add a PCIe SATA controller. Confirm driver support first, of course.
ashkankiani 6y ago
I use 2 of them in my computer I'm writing this from for my RAID array.

rubatuga 6y ago

A used HP Z230 is a cheap buy, supports ECC, and easily supports five 3.5inch drives

jjeaff 6y ago

What benefit would ecc have for a nas? Just making sure there are no bits flipped in your data before writing to disk? If so, seems like file integrity checking would be more important.

goda90 6y ago
ECC prevents bit flips in the file integrity checking itself.

sliken 6y ago

Why not just get a mini-itx ryzen? They often have 2.5gbe, handle ecc memory, and come with 4xSATA without adapters.

cromka 6y ago

How tiny does it have to be? I would recommend Lenovo P330/P340 Tiny. Not as tiny as the Asrock, but very flexible.

tyingq 6y ago
I imagine the Lenovo Tiny with a Ryzen CPU would support the ECC RAM that was mentioned. M75Q, M715Q.

nonameiguess 6y ago

Try the X570D4I-2T from ASRock Rack: https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=X570D4I-2T#Specifications https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=X... I built my home NAS on this and it's great. Has Oculink ports built into the board so I can just use M.2 for the OS itself and it supports 10 GB ethernet, so as long as I'm wired in, there is effectively no network latency since that's faster than SATA anyway. The board itself also does video, so I can use a Ryzen CPU without Radeon graphics and not have to get the pro to support ECC.