Hi!
TLDR
Workstation and Homeserver build with consumer hardware
Data availability requirement:
- -Back to work in one day
- -Workspace is the exact same as before drive failure
Context:
I am currently trying to setup and multipurpose workstation for game dev and sounddesign with occasional admin and recreational use.
Current system is 7950X on X870E due to X670E hardware failure
This is a Hobby and for that I am using consumer grade hardware. My old 7950X will be setup as a home server for Data storage and building/rendering/… use so that I can keep going on my main machine.
Questions about Build:
Goal:
*Homeserver for Data, builds, Version Control, … (Perforce, ZenServer, Horde, ZFS, …)
**Workstation build with good resilience/uptime *
Already acquired hardware:
2x48 GB 5600 MT Ram kit
2x48 GB 6600 MT Ram kit
PSUs Seasonic and Superflower 750W,1000W,1200W
RTX 4090, RTX 3090
*AM5 X870E *
HDD: NVME 2x 4 TB, 3x 2TB, 2x 1TB, 2x 2TB SATA, 3x 12 TB SATA HDD Seagate Enterprise
SFP+ PCIe NICs and RJ45 combo managed switch
1. AMD vs INTEL Workstation
AM5: More generations of CPU to come, limited features, RAM was a hassle to get working but its working at 6K MTs, RAM Sweetspot at 6000 to 6400, bifurcation.
Z890: Unclear future, better features, RAM Sweetsport out of stock 96GB range, better bifurcation solution.
Z890 can be acquired cheaper but about high end tier motherboards on both sides cost around the same. Z890 is cheaper with same or better features.
Flagship consumer chips are the same price here. U285K better in my software’s computing tasks then 9950X but 9950X3D maybe will pass U285K.
AM5 Homeserver
7950X, JEDEC 96GB RAM, PCIe 10GbE SFP+ ,RTX 3090, 5x 12 TB HDD double parity, OS on RAID1 500GB SATA
Storage
I am willing to buy more storage but the current setup seems sufficient for now.
Data availability and backup
Goal:
Keep systems running, keep data available, FortKnox important Data
Current Projects that I cant afford to lose will always kept on
- Workstation PC
- Homeserver
- Online
- OS, Projects and configurations to 1 Bay external SSD via FreeFileSync, maybe Vreeam agent but free version has limitations
What is the current best way to recover the OS from failures, RAID or Incremental backups for my use any good?
Is encrypting at least one of these solutions necessary?
I tried Windows Backup today, never have used it, installed Windows with custom xml but Windows Restore doesn’t seem to work. Apps and settings may only be restored if available in Windows Store, which most of mine are not.
Raid:
Hardware Raid via Mainboard but this brings another point of failure. Does the Mainboard give notice if a drive fails at boot with serial?
Software Raid (Classic or Storage Spaces?) but EFI and Recovery partition seems to not be mirrored, how would I proceed to recover if the drive with EFI partition fails?
Incremental backups
There is many software out there many want a nice fee per month. Can you give me suggestions with solid backups? (Server and Workstation)
Incremental backup would save me one NVME slot which is preferred. With hardware raid I just change the failed drive and I don’t have monthly costs, its easy. With Incremental backups I could have more NVME space, however I am not sure which software would be good/free/pricey and gets me back to work asap.
- Back to work in one day
- Workspace is the exact same as before drive failure
Thank you in advance for helping me out. If you have good sources I would also be happy to receive some links so I can get some more knowledge about these topics.
F