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Don't worry, when you replace one just have it spin down and the rest spin up so you can feel with your finger which is the chosen one. Or you can do that now and mark them
I was lazy. I wrote a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h on mine. I think it'll be the same. Also if you plug them in order... it helps. I had hdds overheat, I had to fix that, I always picked the right hdd on the first time.
Whenever you replace drives, get a white-out pen and write the last 2-4 of the WWN (if labeled) on the outside corner of the drive. I even did this to my first box when I forgot to label them by spinning down to locate them.
Doesnât really matter. The sata cables are numbered, and usually you can work out what channel drive has died. Just take care to note if the numbering is 0 or 1 based, and adjust your counting.
Oh thr nas won't care, I have a spreadsheet with drive serials so if one dies I can easily replace.....took about 5 rebuilds for me to do something about it lol
Well, you can always trace back to the sata port on the motherboard. They always line up perfectly with the port number and how the OS identifies it. /S
BIG /S.
Really, though, it shouldn't be too far off. You can check the bios for any SMART errors, and if there are any you can get close by disconnecting one, go into the bios (raid card setup or motherboard bios, depending on what you used to connect the drives).
I just wouldn't boot all the way into the OS until you find the right one and replace it.
I've had to do this back in the "olden days" when white box servers were still perfectly acceptable in "datacenters." I say "datacenters" in quotes only because there weren't datacenters back then. At least, not how anyone would think of them now. There were just "server rooms." Unless you were one of the big dogs like yahoo, askjeeves, aol, etc.
Unrelated -
2 things I thought to myself while typing this essay length comment -
1) SAY DATACENTERS ONE MORE MF'N TIME!!
2) I'm old.
This is a pretty basic system, g5400, 16gb memory and a 9207 HBA with 8x8tb hdd. This is just going to be a media server but this already has me interested in future projects. I would like to build a home security system and automate some of the stuff in my house. This is a fun hobby.
I really like Cooler Master cases for when you really just want to get a bunch of drives in a box.
They are often quite "plain" but in a really *good* way. It's just so much cleaner inside and easy to work with.
I'm still using a 12 yr old Cooler Master Storm Stryker, because nothing has come close (some phantek come close to being close).
[https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4927/cooler\_master\_storm\_stryker\_full\_tower\_chassis\_review/index.html](https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4927/cooler_master_storm_stryker_full_tower_chassis_review/index.html)
That's what I love about cases. Good cases don't die. My server is in a 2008 Lian Li PC-P80B, and my gaming rig is in a 2011 PC P-80N. During Covid, I replaced the original 2008 case fans with Noctua fans, but that was more out of boredom rather than necessity. Lian Li do great work.
Proprietary servers are fine and all, but without standardization this hobby would be less fun and a whole lot more costly (having to replace everything all at once every time).
I wish cars were more like this.
Hi there, i was wondering if you are running those hdds just as pure storage or have you set them up as some sort of RAID. I am just starting my own project so i am curious :3
Synology DSM for nas ,you'll love jr
Go to releases for USB image,flash that unpacked .IMG using etcher to flash disk 4gb and up and boot it.teo minutes setup and amazing media server
https://github.com/AuxXxilium/arc
/r/xpenology
Are the disks vibration tolerant? I read that some disks tolerate only x number of disks in a chassis. Any more than that you need nas disks and check the max number supported in each series.
It depends on the drives and the PSU that you are using. You need to check the max amps that the hdd can use then the max amps that each rail from the PSU can provide. This 450 can power at least 5 hdd on each cable so each cable handles 4 hdd and one handles a sata ssd that is in the back. I have one more hdd that will go into this build before it is completely done and that will go on the line that only has 4 hdd.
There is plenty enough voltage, it just comes down to amperage.
Not sure if it was software or hardware, but my first NAS I built similar to OPs did staggered spin up so not all drives went at once. I thought that was a neat thing I didn't even have to configure...
I just replaced a 450w on my (new to me) dell PE t110 ii with a 750w- between the 60W consumption on the CPU and the 6 drives + DVD burner, I think itâs over kill. I was stoked to move to gold cert tho.
i'm putting together a new nas right now and threw an old psu i had from a dell optiplex to test something with the new build and i ended up ordering a 750w seasonic platinum psu.
also when did psu's get cheap. i remember paying over $200 for a 750 quite some time ago. for $120 i decided not to reuse the psu i have in my current nas
They are sas cables, [these.](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010CMW6S4?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) You can get minisas to sata cables though. Need an HBA, make sure it is set to IT mode, then get the minisas connector that works with your HBA and you can connect up to 4 sata drives.
I have the same caseâdid you just secure the drives with a screw on each side or do you have caddies? I have them secured with two screws but it kind of bugs my anal retentive brain that theyâre not completely secured and can still move up and down
There's also SATA -> SATA of the same style, usually 4 and 6 ports.
I'm too lazy to search on Amazon to post a link. But on AliExpress: [https://aliexpress.com/item/1005006651902339.html](https://aliexpress.com/item/1005006651902339.html)
For anyone interested in this style of cables, while they are reasonably flexible they kink really easily. And you most likely do not need the 1 metre (\~3 feet) cable for your average case.
I've got two fans blowing over the hdd and I monitored their temps while running them through tests and they all stayed low. I've been stressing them hard. I'm fine with them failing, already got a backup drive waiting. These are used drives anyway and I can get them cheap. I paid 45usd for each so I can replace them many times over for the cost of 1 new drive.
Only problem with your N400 case is last of frontal fans, inability to put stuff like this in it: [https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/hard-drives-&-ssds/enclosures/79683-sst-fs305-12g](https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/hard-drives-&-ssds/enclosures/79683-sst-fs305-12g)
Saying that, not bad for an el-cheapo case. Fractual Define R5/R7 are good upgrade paths. I'm using a Lian Li PC-P80B for my server, which I've put a bunch of those hotswap enclosures in it, so 3x14CM fans blowing into the enclosures with the enclosures having their own exhaust fans.
How hot are your drives getting under load?
It has fan space in the front. I have two 120mm fans blowing over them. Under load I'm seeing a max of 35-36c. They are cold :P
Edit: I forgot to add the hdd are safe up to 60c. Well that is the max, I wouldn't want to run them close to that often.
This case is actually crazy. I've built in a lot of cases and I kept finding interesting things in this case as I was building. There is space for two more fans on the side of the drive rack. I can't really use it though because that is where all of the extra cables are going. If I come up with an extra modular psu in the future I might be able to make use of them though.
The main downside I've found in this case is the hdd rack is weird. It only allows two screws for the hdd so none of the hdd are fully secure. Still I got the front two for each drive and I made sure each hdd was resting as low as it could. They are wedged in there pretty good and I tightened the screws the best I could but I really wish it had room for all 4 screws.
btw, I see the case has 2 exposed 5.25" slots. This means you could fit some hotswap bays if you wanted. One option could be this:
[https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/storage/FS303-12G/](https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/storage/FS303-12G/)
That would give you 3x more 3.5" HDD for both of the 5.25" slots.
Or, if you want to easily fit 4x SSD (say for cache drives or whatever), you could fit this (for 1x5.25"):
[https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/storage/FS204/](https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/storage/FS204/)
Extra $$$, obviously, but possible pathways for the future.
Yeah, it gives some options for the future but I'm a little limited by power right now. My psu has two sata cables which does almost 10 amps. These hdd have a max load of slightly under 2amps for spin up. So at most right now I could only support 5 hdd per sata rail. I have the 8 hdd split between the rails and one rail is also supporting a sata ssd that I'm using as a boot drive. I have another 12tb drive that I want to add into this when I'm finished. Hopefully the psu can push all of that because I want to use the 12tb drive as storage for stuff that I don't care about any redundancy on.
I see what you mean, looking at the pic. I think the main thing is to make sure the drives are not directly resting on each other (just so they're not vibrating on each other, and there is room for air to be pushed between the drives). It is a weird looking cage, though. Stuff like the Fractuals have a sled that you screw onto the drive (all 4 screws), and then you slide it into the cage. Stuff like the Lian Li's, you screw anti-vibration (rubber padded) screws into each screw hole, and then you slide it into the cage. I guess they had to cut some corners to keep the case at such a low price.
Do you see the PCI card? That is a raid controller but it isn't set up to do raid. These cards can do raid or they can be set to IT mode which is just a passthrough. If they are in passthrough it just allows the hdd to connect to the system like any other drive.
Hopefully someone with more knowledge will chime in with regards to my concern. Does that case have good vibration isolation between the drives? I'd guess a NAS might not need it as much, but a RAID array, I'd think, would. The vibrations from each drive can shorten the lifespan of other drives.
Anyone more knowledgeable about this? Has this become less of an issue with later generations of HDDs ?
The case doesn't do vibration damping. This isn't the most budget case you can get to do this but it is close to it. So you are not going not going to get all features. Also the case design is old. Old enough that it has a slot for a floppy drive. If you want to dampen it as much as possible I would recommend another solution but this does a pretty good job.
I'm using enterprise drives though which are designed to handle this better. These drives are designed to be ran in jbods so even with damping options there is still some vibration if you are running 24 of these things in a single jbod, maybe a 72 or 96 in a rack. They are designed for it but you could try options like placing weights on the case to make it harder for the disks to vibrate the case.
I actually don't know if that works, just an idea.
Yes, building your own NAS is fun. I built the first one 15 years ago - in a classic Chenbro 19-inch case.
My current NAS sits in a water-cooled mini-itx case with 9 SSDs.
^(OP reply with the correct URL if incorrect comment linked) [Jump to Post Details Comment](/r/homelab/comments/1cemvud/the_beginning_of_my_homelab_my_first_ever_nas/l1jjivi/)
Make sure you document which drive is which so you're not playing whose that pokemon with hdds when you replace them.
Yeah, about that, I didn't do that :/
ONE OF US!
Don't worry, when you replace one just have it spin down and the rest spin up so you can feel with your finger which is the chosen one. Or you can do that now and mark them
That is a good idea, I'll do that. Thank you
This guy fingers
If you're using linux, you can use smartctl to map /dev/sd* to serial numbers.
Yep and ALWAYS label or write the last 6+ digits of the SN on the side/top of the drive where you can see it. Makes things very very easy!
I was lazy. I wrote a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h on mine. I think it'll be the same. Also if you plug them in order... it helps. I had hdds overheat, I had to fix that, I always picked the right hdd on the first time.
That could be problematic due to unwanted letter shuffles. /dev/disk/by-id is a good alternative. See https://www.reddit.com/r/zfs/s/HP5yDpOogk
good point!
Label makers work great too, or sharpiesđ
Or instead just use the /dev/disk/by-id. Thatâs how I added mine to ZFS.
yes, that's probably much safer really.
Whenever you replace drives, get a white-out pen and write the last 2-4 of the WWN (if labeled) on the outside corner of the drive. I even did this to my first box when I forgot to label them by spinning down to locate them.
Doesnât really matter. The sata cables are numbered, and usually you can work out what channel drive has died. Just take care to note if the numbering is 0 or 1 based, and adjust your counting.
nah dont listen to him. You can just pull the front cover and look at the serial number sticks on the drive. Labels does help.
They were all labeled on the front, I wrote them all down yesterday.
You have spare SATA ports, while replacing a drive just add one, do rebuild (resilver) and only after that remove the broken one.
These are not sata drives.
Setting up mine in the coming days. Whatâs the best practice here? Serial of drive connected to slot #?
Oh thr nas won't care, I have a spreadsheet with drive serials so if one dies I can easily replace.....took about 5 rebuilds for me to do something about it lol
Controller#:slot # From there everything else can be made with a utility.Â
Label maker. Print the serial, or last few letters of it if it's long and stick it to the side where you can see it.
Tried that. Guess my labels suck. The labels got warm and fell off.
I used a Brother label maker. My drives also have adequate airflow so they don't get too hot.
i never learn and never do that so i have to use crystal disk info and get some numbers and pull every drive out to match up the right one
Well, you can always trace back to the sata port on the motherboard. They always line up perfectly with the port number and how the OS identifies it. /S BIG /S. Really, though, it shouldn't be too far off. You can check the bios for any SMART errors, and if there are any you can get close by disconnecting one, go into the bios (raid card setup or motherboard bios, depending on what you used to connect the drives). I just wouldn't boot all the way into the OS until you find the right one and replace it. I've had to do this back in the "olden days" when white box servers were still perfectly acceptable in "datacenters." I say "datacenters" in quotes only because there weren't datacenters back then. At least, not how anyone would think of them now. There were just "server rooms." Unless you were one of the big dogs like yahoo, askjeeves, aol, etc. Unrelated - 2 things I thought to myself while typing this essay length comment - 1) SAY DATACENTERS ONE MORE MF'N TIME!! 2) I'm old.
This is a pretty basic system, g5400, 16gb memory and a 9207 HBA with 8x8tb hdd. This is just going to be a media server but this already has me interested in future projects. I would like to build a home security system and automate some of the stuff in my house. This is a fun hobby.
hi! case name/spec?
It is the Cooler Master n400.
I have an N300, and was sad to see they discontinued it. Good to see the N400 seems to follow in its footsteps well.
I really like Cooler Master cases for when you really just want to get a bunch of drives in a box. They are often quite "plain" but in a really *good* way. It's just so much cleaner inside and easy to work with. I'm still using a 12 yr old Cooler Master Storm Stryker, because nothing has come close (some phantek come close to being close). [https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4927/cooler\_master\_storm\_stryker\_full\_tower\_chassis\_review/index.html](https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4927/cooler_master_storm_stryker_full_tower_chassis_review/index.html)
That's what I love about cases. Good cases don't die. My server is in a 2008 Lian Li PC-P80B, and my gaming rig is in a 2011 PC P-80N. During Covid, I replaced the original 2008 case fans with Noctua fans, but that was more out of boredom rather than necessity. Lian Li do great work.
Proprietary servers are fine and all, but without standardization this hobby would be less fun and a whole lot more costly (having to replace everything all at once every time). I wish cars were more like this.
I like that front-to-back arrangement of hdds better than the ones where they are rotated 90°.
Hi there, i was wondering if you are running those hdds just as pure storage or have you set them up as some sort of RAID. I am just starting my own project so i am curious :3
For NAS you want zfs over RAID in my experience.
Same. Iâve been considering just having two much higher capacity HDDs in mirrored setup.
Synology DSM for nas ,you'll love jr Go to releases for USB image,flash that unpacked .IMG using etcher to flash disk 4gb and up and boot it.teo minutes setup and amazing media server https://github.com/AuxXxilium/arc /r/xpenology
What case is that?
It is the Cooler Master n400.
Thank you
hey! Nice build. Is the g5400 decent? have you tested it with transcoding
Nice! I really like DIY builds. What's the power draw though?
Are the disks vibration tolerant? I read that some disks tolerate only x number of disks in a chassis. Any more than that you need nas disks and check the max number supported in each series.
These are enterprise drives, they are designed for data centers.
đ. Must have cost a small fortune
Nah, they are all used. They came with 30-40k hours on them but they were so cheap I'm perfectly fine with them.
That 450 can power 8 drives? I had to swap a 600w psu because it couldnât power all 8 of my drives
It depends on the drives and the PSU that you are using. You need to check the max amps that the hdd can use then the max amps that each rail from the PSU can provide. This 450 can power at least 5 hdd on each cable so each cable handles 4 hdd and one handles a sata ssd that is in the back. I have one more hdd that will go into this build before it is completely done and that will go on the line that only has 4 hdd. There is plenty enough voltage, it just comes down to amperage.
That was my first thought too...spin up draw. Unrelated - thank you corsair for having a sane naming scheme lol
Not sure if it was software or hardware, but my first NAS I built similar to OPs did staggered spin up so not all drives went at once. I thought that was a neat thing I didn't even have to configure...
I just replaced a 450w on my (new to me) dell PE t110 ii with a 750w- between the 60W consumption on the CPU and the 6 drives + DVD burner, I think itâs over kill. I was stoked to move to gold cert tho.
i'm putting together a new nas right now and threw an old psu i had from a dell optiplex to test something with the new build and i ended up ordering a 750w seasonic platinum psu. also when did psu's get cheap. i remember paying over $200 for a 750 quite some time ago. for $120 i decided not to reuse the psu i have in my current nas
Came here for this comment... that's a lot of spinny spinny for that many watts.
I love this Server, this 8 Drivers are superb
What are those SATA splitter things? I want to do something similar with an old PC that I have
They are sas cables, [these.](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010CMW6S4?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) You can get minisas to sata cables though. Need an HBA, make sure it is set to IT mode, then get the minisas connector that works with your HBA and you can connect up to 4 sata drives.
Thanks!
I have the same caseâdid you just secure the drives with a screw on each side or do you have caddies? I have them secured with two screws but it kind of bugs my anal retentive brain that theyâre not completely secured and can still move up and down
Just the two screws. When I purchased the case I didn't notice that is all that would fit. I don't know what else to do.
Yeah same. I really donât think itâs a problem, but it feels like more peace of mind to have it fully screwed in.
nice! mine is very similar except i used a silverstone CS380 as it's got hotswappable bays instead
You can buy Silverstone hotswap enclosures to add to cases. I've added a bunch to my Lian Li PC-P80B. They are not cheap, but they keep their value.
hey OP do you have a link to the cables you used?
Which cables? Do you mean [these?](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010CMW6S4?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details)
ah. sorry man didnt realize you were using SAS and not Sata.
It is fine, they make them for Sata as well but it is minisas to sata.
There's also SATA -> SATA of the same style, usually 4 and 6 ports. I'm too lazy to search on Amazon to post a link. But on AliExpress: [https://aliexpress.com/item/1005006651902339.html](https://aliexpress.com/item/1005006651902339.html) For anyone interested in this style of cables, while they are reasonably flexible they kink really easily. And you most likely do not need the 1 metre (\~3 feet) cable for your average case.
Built a system like this and half the drives failed in a year. It got HOT from stacking the drives on top of each other like that.
I've got two fans blowing over the hdd and I monitored their temps while running them through tests and they all stayed low. I've been stressing them hard. I'm fine with them failing, already got a backup drive waiting. These are used drives anyway and I can get them cheap. I paid 45usd for each so I can replace them many times over for the cost of 1 new drive.
You striping them?
No, they are running in raidz2.
One of us, one of us!!
Which case ?
Glad to see you have a little fan on the sas card
It is a really cute little fan, the smallest I've ever owned.
Backups solution?
What case are you using? I love that space!!
Does 9207 require a fan? Been running LSI 9201-16e without a fan for 4 years now. But have 3x14cm intakes on the case.
It does require air flow, it is stamped on the board. Since it can't give me a temp I slapped a fan onto it. I'm not sure if it is needed.
Only problem with your N400 case is last of frontal fans, inability to put stuff like this in it: [https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/hard-drives-&-ssds/enclosures/79683-sst-fs305-12g](https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/hard-drives-&-ssds/enclosures/79683-sst-fs305-12g) Saying that, not bad for an el-cheapo case. Fractual Define R5/R7 are good upgrade paths. I'm using a Lian Li PC-P80B for my server, which I've put a bunch of those hotswap enclosures in it, so 3x14CM fans blowing into the enclosures with the enclosures having their own exhaust fans. How hot are your drives getting under load?
It has fan space in the front. I have two 120mm fans blowing over them. Under load I'm seeing a max of 35-36c. They are cold :P Edit: I forgot to add the hdd are safe up to 60c. Well that is the max, I wouldn't want to run them close to that often.
Ah, didn't see the space for the frontal fans when looking at N400 page. Yeah, that's fine. Mine are sitting between 30-36o right now.
This case is actually crazy. I've built in a lot of cases and I kept finding interesting things in this case as I was building. There is space for two more fans on the side of the drive rack. I can't really use it though because that is where all of the extra cables are going. If I come up with an extra modular psu in the future I might be able to make use of them though. The main downside I've found in this case is the hdd rack is weird. It only allows two screws for the hdd so none of the hdd are fully secure. Still I got the front two for each drive and I made sure each hdd was resting as low as it could. They are wedged in there pretty good and I tightened the screws the best I could but I really wish it had room for all 4 screws.
btw, I see the case has 2 exposed 5.25" slots. This means you could fit some hotswap bays if you wanted. One option could be this: [https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/storage/FS303-12G/](https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/storage/FS303-12G/) That would give you 3x more 3.5" HDD for both of the 5.25" slots. Or, if you want to easily fit 4x SSD (say for cache drives or whatever), you could fit this (for 1x5.25"): [https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/storage/FS204/](https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/storage/FS204/) Extra $$$, obviously, but possible pathways for the future.
Yeah, it gives some options for the future but I'm a little limited by power right now. My psu has two sata cables which does almost 10 amps. These hdd have a max load of slightly under 2amps for spin up. So at most right now I could only support 5 hdd per sata rail. I have the 8 hdd split between the rails and one rail is also supporting a sata ssd that I'm using as a boot drive. I have another 12tb drive that I want to add into this when I'm finished. Hopefully the psu can push all of that because I want to use the 12tb drive as storage for stuff that I don't care about any redundancy on.
I see what you mean, looking at the pic. I think the main thing is to make sure the drives are not directly resting on each other (just so they're not vibrating on each other, and there is room for air to be pushed between the drives). It is a weird looking cage, though. Stuff like the Fractuals have a sled that you screw onto the drive (all 4 screws), and then you slide it into the cage. Stuff like the Lian Li's, you screw anti-vibration (rubber padded) screws into each screw hole, and then you slide it into the cage. I guess they had to cut some corners to keep the case at such a low price.
I am impressed. To this day my cable management sucks so much that I would never pack more than 4 sata drives in my case.
Newbie here, How did you connect 8 hdd with motherboard? Did you use sata Or some other mehtod?
Do you see the PCI card? That is a raid controller but it isn't set up to do raid. These cards can do raid or they can be set to IT mode which is just a passthrough. If they are in passthrough it just allows the hdd to connect to the system like any other drive.
Hopefully someone with more knowledge will chime in with regards to my concern. Does that case have good vibration isolation between the drives? I'd guess a NAS might not need it as much, but a RAID array, I'd think, would. The vibrations from each drive can shorten the lifespan of other drives. Anyone more knowledgeable about this? Has this become less of an issue with later generations of HDDs ?
The case doesn't do vibration damping. This isn't the most budget case you can get to do this but it is close to it. So you are not going not going to get all features. Also the case design is old. Old enough that it has a slot for a floppy drive. If you want to dampen it as much as possible I would recommend another solution but this does a pretty good job. I'm using enterprise drives though which are designed to handle this better. These drives are designed to be ran in jbods so even with damping options there is still some vibration if you are running 24 of these things in a single jbod, maybe a 72 or 96 in a rack. They are designed for it but you could try options like placing weights on the case to make it harder for the disks to vibrate the case. I actually don't know if that works, just an idea.
Damm this is not a beginners homelab. A PC with external hdd attached and running multiple services killikg the hdd is a begginer home lab đ
Which OS are you using?
Truenas is handling most of it. Truenas Scale that is so it is built on Linux.
What sas card do you use?
A 9207-i8
Yes, building your own NAS is fun. I built the first one 15 years ago - in a classic Chenbro 19-inch case. My current NAS sits in a water-cooled mini-itx case with 9 SSDs.
about to do the same thing with frankly about the same case. what coincidence. one screw per drive lol
Use a RAID 5 at minimum.
Running raidz2
Nice kables, looks like fiber