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Basic backup system


photoguy

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I am looking to purchase Drive Pool, etc.  I work on a Surface Pro 3 and an iMac.  Don't have a NAS and not sure I really want to get that complicated.  Thinking of buying a couple Seagate 8TB Expansion Drives and connecting them to a USB hub for my Surface Pro.  Then organizing all my older smaller HD's on the two new Seagate's, running a duplicate backup, one copy on each Seagate.  And doing a cloud backup as well.  I realize everyone here seems to have a NAS but wondered if this system is workable as a simple, more basic solution.  Thanks for the time.  I appreciate your opinions.

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You could use an HBA card, something like this for instance: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIACSJ57G0575&cm_re=HBA-_-14G-000B-00067-_-Product

 

I don't know the ins-and-outs but it should give you an additional 8 HDDs over the SATA ports your MB has.

I'd go for this, actually: 

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAD5G5JG6318

 

Not refurb, no need to crossflash, and passes drives straight to the OS. 

 

 

 

 

If I want to have the potential for 8 3.5" drives, what motherboard would I use?  Most have 4 or 6 sata ports and I believe I need 8.  Any suggestions, or is there a way to expand an MB with 4 or 6 Sata ports?  I may not start out with 8 drives but don't want to get caught short in a year or two.  I would think a MB with 8 Sata ports would be expensive.

 

Yeah, you need an HBA card to add additional ports. 

I've linked a good card above (LSI 9207-8i) which with a breakout cable, gets you 8 additional ports, SATA III compatible, and more.

 

Additionally, once you have that, if you need more drives, look into "SAS Expanders". These take a single SAS port, and allow you to hook up 5 more ports (so 20 more drives) or more ...  I use a single SAS card, and expander to hook up almost 30 drives now.  So, it definitely works well. 

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Here is a possible Windows Pro 10 Server setup.  Please let me know what you think and any changes you would suggest.  I am open to any suggestions for improvements or changes.  I want to start out with two WD Red 8TB drives and add more as needed.  I would run Drive Pool and have two pools.


I selected the motherboard to have six Sata 6Gb’s ports, one for each potential drive.  The Fractal Design Define R4 case is selected for quiet, cool and to have enough room for the ATX motherboard and six hard drives.


 I will shop prices and may find better deals.  I would appreciate thoughts and comments.  I want to start with data and photos.  May move to HTMS but not sure what else, but I need reliability and lots of storage. If I can achieve these goals with less expensive options that would be great.


 If this is connected to my Wi-Fi by a cat 6 line, can I then access all the data on the drives by Wi-Fi on my computers?  Any benefit to having Wi-Fi in the server?


Thanks.


Asus Z170-PRO ATX DDR4 NA Motherboard                                                                                                        $149


Intel i5 6500 3.2mghz                                                                                                                                              $189


Fractal Design Define R4 Cases, Black Pearl (FD-CA-DEF-R4-BL)                                                                       $140


Corsair RMx Seriesâ„¢ RM550x — 550 Watt 80 PLUS® Gold Certified Fully Modular PSU                                                                 $110


Crucial 16GB Single DDR4 2133 MT/s (PC4-17000) DIMM 288-Pin Memory - CT16G4DFD8213                        $126


Samsung 850 EVO - 250GB - M.2 SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-N5E250BW)                                                                                           $108


2-WD Red 8TB $295 each                                                                                                                                       $590


Windows 10 Pro                                                                                                                                                       $199


Total                                                                                                                                                                       $1611

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This is a storage / file sharing server, right? Way overpowered. But it will last you for years, YEARS, and you might do other things with it as well.

 

One thing, I think you selected internal memory consisting of one stick only. You can do this but it is better to have two sticks with half, so 2 x 8GB sticks. Very often, you can find kits or pairs of 2 x 4GB or 2 x 8GB etc. exactly for this reason.

 

If budget is not really an issue, go for it. Otherwise, you can do far cheaper. For instance, no reason to have a Z170 MB. Why not look at ASUS PRIME B250M-K and comaprables? About $80 I'd think and has what you need I think. An I3-7100 would save tens of dollers. The case is very nice but depending on where you would place it, cooling and sound may not be that much of an issue. It's not like this one is going to use a lot of power anyway. I would consider either a cheap case or a very expensive one. And not sure why 8GB, 4GB might do very well and 8GB definately will (2 x 4GB!). On the PSU I am unsure. It seems overdimensioned and I would think you can get by for some $60.

 

I am confused about using DP with two pools and (only) two HDDs?

 

You definately want to connect by cable unless you simply can't. I would not know of any reason to have WiFi- on the Serbver.

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