Melandir

I'm sorry to resurrect this old topic but I need your advice on this topic I'm planning to build a new Unraid server in a tower case: Xigmatek Elysium now I need to decide what HDD use in it: 2.5" or 3.5" or to mix with both sizes? My priority is silence, I don't have a dedicated server room to place the server and will sit in my office room, I like to reduce the noise as much as possible and forget about it, from my experience 2.5" are quieter than 3.5" (SSDs will be perfect) plan is to buy one or more of this enclosure 12x2.5" HDD in 3x5.25" https://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=602&area=en or to buy one or more of this 5x3.5" in 3x5.25" https://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=605&area=en 4Tb HDD are now around 100EUR in both 2.5" and 3.5" sizes main use of the array will be storage for house media (film, video, photo etc...) thanks for your time

My suggestion if you don't want to spend a lot of money will be the E5-2670 or E5-2690 both v1 they come cheap are a good upgrade in terms of cores, frequency and CPU cache

The only thing I find interesting for me is the Unifi USG Pro-4, if you ever think of splitting the lot please let me know, but I live on the other side of the pond

I found a used LIAN LI PC-A77 on Ebay, was not in the best condition, but it should work at the moment, I'm now looking into the HDD cages, I'll probably go with 2.5" only HDD to maximize silence operation, Silvertone makes 12 2.5" HDD cage in 3x5.25"

Thanks Johnnie I'll look into your topic

I was expecting that the single drive will be limited to SATA2 speed (more than enough with standard HDD) not that the entire card will receive half the bandwidth , in my case Intel expander looks still be best with price/performance/space (does not take a PCIex slot) ratio around, with my config each drive will be limited to 55MB/s with a 20 Drive configuration. I have lots to learn in this field

Thanks Johnnie, another question please, searching the internet I found that HP 24 Bay sas expander are cheaper than Intel ones (RES2SV240) and I don't understand completly the difference between them, the only big difference I have been able to spot is that Intel expander can be powered without connecting it to the PCIex slot, do you know if that is the only one or there are other difference and maybe the Hp cards does not work well in Unraid?

Thanks Johnnie do you have an example of SAS2 HBA (SAS2008 maybe)? just to check the price difference on the used market, if it's not that much I'll probably stick with the SAS3 HBS so in the future I can upgrade to a SAS3 expander to increase the bandwidth available and the disk count I have an old IBM M1015 that I flashed to LSI to play with Freenas and never used it again is it useful?

I'm sorry, I need to ask an advice, I'm planning an Unraid server and I was looking after an Intel RES2SV240 expander the plan is to use only 2.5"" HDD to keep noise as low as possible. https://www.seagate.com/www-content/product-content/barracuda-fam/barracuda-new/files/barracuda-2-5-final-ds1907-1-1609gb.pdf looking at the Seagate drive spec they state max transfer is up to 140MB, could it be an option to use one 3008 HBA with 2xRES2SV240 connected to the same board? If I have correctly understood each 3008 can provide 4400MB of bandwidth with a SAS2 expander so if I split it on two boards I should receive the following data 2200/16=137.5 MB/s each drive 2200/20=110 MB/s each drive these drives will be used for purely bulk storage of video/music/camera recording, if some VM will need dedicated drives the MB has ports that could be used.

I'm sorry I forgot to check availability in US, on this side of the pond there are still a few left around, I plan to grab one before they go away, no manufacturer is currently producing any case with lots of 5.25 slots, I was lucky to pickup a used Lian Li PC-A77 off Ebay even if it was not in the best conditions. I was inspired by this built and I plan to follow it for what is possible

I'll recommend the Lian Li D600 it has 9x5.25" slots that you can fill with cages for 3.5" and 2.5" HDD as you prefer and is still in production.