Looking for help in selecting hardware for a rig to backup data on only.  Its not intended to run Plex or other dockers, just manage a daily or maybe bi-weekly "sync'ing" of data at night.  I have about 30 ish TB of data to backup and planning on starting with 3 - 18 TB drives (one for parity) and having room to add a 4th in the case which would cover me for the foreseeable future on capacity.

 

That said:

 

I like the look and form of this case, more because its portable, size, shape, form.  

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09WZLHCZG/ref=ewc_pr_img_3?smid=A3745GL15R2CE4&psc=1

My only concern with this is heat management.  It wont run all the time but needs to be able to manage a pre-clear operation and moreover the initial copy over, which I think will take several days (30 TB).

With 3 drives in that case it might be OK so close to the fan leaving an empty space between each drive.  If I ever add a drive I'm thinking it may be pretty air flow restrictive.  I wish it were 4 bays in the same space.

 

This was another I looked at.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09WQC44B3/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_2?smid=A2IQNZSH0ZS9OH&th=1

little better interior space but doesn't' appear to have a fan right on the hard drives, just the rear fan that is behind the drives but its open top/bottom just inside the case and behind the backplane.   i'm not sure how much direct air movement it will pull over those drives.  

 

Thoughts?  Any other suggestions on a case?

 

 

For MB's.  I have a few I've been looking at.  Obviously it would be nice to find something with 5 SATA's (if I use the first case), otherwise 4 is enough.  I don't have a good feel for how much processing power I really need to not limit write speed so any advice is helpful.  It would be much more cost effective to get one of the boards that already has a CPU:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BZ74H2RJ/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=AKTROCCBLP6VN&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/N5105-N6005-Demon-SATA3-0-I226-V/dp/B0BZ3655Z1/?th=1

 

If those CPU's aren't enough, I could go to one of these and find a CPU:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08F7BHDLY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D2PC3PTW/ref=ewc_pr_img_2?smid=A3MW2JWB8F4AK&th=1

The first option may not be more expensive, but only 4 sata ports.  

 

Thanks all.  If I can pick a case and MB and get down to a PSU and memory.

 

 

 

 

Does anyone have any thoughts, particularly on the MB options?

If it is just tasked to be a backup NAS, most anything will work.  Transfer speed usually isn't a concern for a backup, as it is automated and running behind the scenes.  Not like you need to sit at a desk and watch it the entire time.

 

If you are mirroring/archiving another server, other than the initial data transfer, I wouldn't think there will be a large amount of data to transfer in subsequent backups.

 

Here is a thread I started last year, on the build of my backup server.  I recently upgraded it, only because I plan to move my home automation services onto it.  Even though I have a 2.5Gbe LAN, I just used the 1Gbe motherboard NIC on the server, as speed was never an issue.  Even with the fastest CPU and LAN, your spinning drives will most likely be the gating factor for speed.

 

 

I use a short 2u case and an old i3 I had sitting around... It's too slow to run some things (it was just burning CPU trying to cache directories so to avoid always spinning drives up... Useless on the backup system I just wasn't paying attention when I set it up) but zero issues for backup. No parity though.

Case hangs between studs under the stairs in the basement. Conveniently out of the way but still accessible.

I do have 10gb networking and can confirm it's overkill, though I can approach saturating writing to m.2 nvme drive. If I ever have to run some services from the backup (e.g. hardware failure on main) it'll be handy though. CPU may be the issue then.