Expansion Unit for NAS?

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1

Hi Gang,

Newbie here. Watched the 40TB NAS build video and I got inspired. Wish I watched this before buying my Synology DS412+ (2 bay NAS).
Considering that I still would like to use the DS 214+ NAS for my video work, but I have to expand the cpacity (since I am at 90% now), my only option is to build some sort of a multi-bay box that will connect via eSATA to my NAS.
Or should I just build a whole new NAS from ground up and ditch the Synology NAS?
Do you guys have any suggestions on this? Any, and I mean ANY tips are more than welcome!

Thanks!
Gabster

2

You can daisy chain synology nas' to each other. If that's not an option I'd recommend building a storage server from scratch. Those NAS boxes are overpriced in my opinion. For ~the same price you can build something and throw a bunch of drives into it.

3

if you want the experince then i would go with building a custom one. If you just want a quick and dirty solution then yes you could connect it via eSATA.

4

Thanks a lot, HelloMrOwl and Dje4321!
Totally, Synology is indeed overpriced.
I'll probably end up building a NAS from scratch since I want the experience. Is NASFeratu still a viable solution? I see is dated 2014. I suspect the world evolved since.
Do you have any hardware recommendations for an economical solution? I am doing video editing work mostly.
Thanks again!

5

Yes it is still viable.
Free Nas is still being developed. Might be hard getting the same motherboard. But can use any itx board and then get a SAS HBA of ebay for more drives and then get sas to sata break out cable.

1 Like
6

Thanks @Yea_boom ! Indeed that motherboard is not available anymore.
I found a motherboard with 4x 6Gb/sec slots and 2x 3Gb/sec slots. Would that speed difference be an issue if I am using 6 HDDs?
thanks

7

For me I haven't noticed any speed difference with HDDS between 3 and 6 interfaces. With an SSD you should put int in the 6Gb/s interface.

I currently use
http://www.asrock.com/mb/amd/fm2a75m-itx/
With this HBA (officially doesn't support 2TB drives)


And i Brought

But you can get Cheap Raid controller/ HBA of ebay and get SAS to SATA break out cables

8

that's a sweet board! Thanks for the resources!
Here's a crazy question. Is there a thunderbolt card I could add to a system so I can turn it into a DAS (direct attached storage)?
Is that even possible? I was wondering to use this NAS system in the future when I can get a mac that has thunderbolt (the one I have doesn't have one).

thanks!
g

9

you could if the software supports it. doubt it though. best bet would be to upgrade from gigabit to 10 gigabit for faster storage.

LTT did a video on a NON-thunderbolt DAS (Sorta) same concept still applies

10

Those are sweet speeds @Dje4321 ! WHOA!! Yes - this might be an option with my next build.
Thanks!!

11

you can only achieve those if your drives can keep up.

12

Good point - I have 5x WD REDs at 3Tb each. Rated at 5400 rpm, 6Gb/sec.