Hello! I am considering building a NAS with existing SAS HDD(I have 11x 6TB 3.5” SAS disks), and I am looking for a 4-8 Bay solution. I am looking at either Jonsbo N2 or N3 case, and would using a compact GPU for transcoding would be a nice bonus. NVMe Cache drives would also be nice, so any suggestions are welcome when it comes to hardware/approach
Does anyone know if the Jonsbo N3 backplane truly supports SAS drives? Or is there a better approach to building a relatively compact Desktop NAS? I want to avoid building a full tower for 4 bays, and probably also avoid it for the 8 Bay build.
If the difference between 4 and 8 is minimal I will go for the 8 Bay one.
I am leaning towards PCI-e. I would like to use an Intel B-series GPU as I would like 3-4 4k streams to run (although pre-transcoding could also work), as for the CPU was hoping something with decent specs so it could run 8-10 containers for different small tasks (home assistant with ~15 devices, tailscale, etc.). I would run this at home (and while I am aware that SAS HDD are more power hungry, i would hope with tiering they can power down more often), so power (due to heat mostly) is an issue, a total power budget of 500W, with an avg of 150-200W would be still within “spouse tolerance level of shenanigans”
Depending on how important the movies and tv shows you will store. I would recommend using MergerFS and snap raid. This allows only the drive that has file on it to spin up. Hence saving power. Take a look at the link if you would like to know more. https://perfectmediaserver.com/
Edit: Also, start with a Intel cpu that had igpu for quick sync. If you need more transcoding power it will be easy to add extra GPU. Any gpu will add 10-20 watt idle power
What about a disk shelf? The old Dell MD1200 PowerVault come up on ebay now and then for $200-$300. HBA card and cable is around $100. That provides 12 bays of SATA/SAS with redundant power supplies. There is NetApp and other disk shelves out there too.
Then the compute can be in whatever form you want it to be and is not tied to the storage.
Other option is just an full tower case with lots of 3.5 bays, and put an HBA in it. My 24/7 server is an Antec Performance Series P101. I have an LSI HBA (flashed in IT mode) in it with the right cable set so I can run SATA/SAS drives.
I dont see why it shuldnt. Its passive so its just wiring data and power lines from the ports in the back to the ports in the front.
Sas signal integrity is superior to sata (sas can run through 3 meter long cables by spec, while sata can only do 1.5 meters). So if that backplane supports sata and has the right connectors to fit sas drives, it should work for sas too.
The only thing you lose is dual data channel support, but I dont think you were planning to build a Sas multipath setup (or even know what it is) so who cares.
I have used disk cages with similar passive backplane with sas drives, no problem.
Edit found a post from another user in this forum that says he runs sas drives in it in the last sentence.
I have come here to shill for the N3.
I’ve got one and I really like it; it can fit mini-DTX motherboards which are sort of becoming more popular, Asrock makes some and MaxSun is coming out with some good options.
Normal SAS HDDs will work in the built-in bays, along with their activity lights.
If you’re interested in modifying the case it is especially interesting because an hdplex 500w PSU actually fits in the bottom chamber with the HDDs, freeing up room in the top chamber to add 5.25" bays.
Cheapest 4 bay should be fractal node 304… worth consideration if you can do itx. Not sure about SAS though, might be a very tight fit (I’m not familiar with those cables)
