Outgrowing my N40L

[bally12345]

So I have HP N40L Microserver with 5x 4TB WD REDS and 1x 240GB Samsung Evo 840 SSD for cache. Now the problem is I am down to around just under 1TB of free space.

 

I could upgrade 2 disk to 6TB WD Reds but that will only be a short term fix and I dont think I can squeeze another 4TB WD red into that case.

 

Forgot to mention 1 WD red is for Parity.

 

Does the N40L support larger drives than 6TB? I will only gain 2TB which I will burn through pretty fast...

 

Is there any UK suppliers that sell ready made rackmount servers or would I have to attempt to build myself? The only thing I am confused about is the SAS controllers and how that works.

 

Something with 9-12 drive bays and a CPU with 10000 passmark would be great then I can just have one machine for unraid.

 

Anyone in UK who can recommend a decent setup and case please let me know.

 

Thanks

[mr-hexen]

Generally speaking if it supports 6TB drives then it will work with the 8 and 10 TB drives currently on the market.

[bally12345]

After searching for awhile I cant find anything to confirm the N40L supports 6Tb but the N54L does.

 

Im at the stage now where I have other smaller disk under 3TB lying around as I replaced them with 4TB drives and think it makes more sense to go with something that can support more disks. 8 or 12 bays should be perfect along with Intel i7 4790 but which mobo and case to go for and a PSU that is efficient too.

[HellDiverUK]

After searching for awhile I cant find anything to confirm the N40L supports 6Tb but the N54L does.

 

All the Microservers share the same BIOS, so if the N54L supports it, the N40L and N36L will too.  The only difference between the three machines is the clock speed of the CPU.

[IG82]

I recently decided the same with 2 x N36Ls, that said you can definitely fit 6 drives in them.  One of them had a 2 port adaptec SATA card and the other I just used the ODD and eSATA ports.  With a cache drive plus 6 hard drives you will need an expansion card I think.

 

Longer term I would go for something larger, but in the meantime something to consider!

[BobPhoenix]

I ran my N54L with 8 external drives before.  I got a Dell Perc H310  and put it in the N54L in the PCIe x16 slot, 2 4x3 drive cages with fans, a replacement power supply for a SANS Digital 5 bay external drive box, 2 4 Sata to 1 molex power adapters and ran my 8 6TB HGST NAS drives external for 6-12 months without problems.

[ashman70]

I would just buy a larger case, maybe something like the Silverstone DS380, it holds up to 8 3.5' drives in hot swap bays with a small case in the rear of the case for 2.5' drives. Depending on what board you put in you'll likely need a PCIe card with a few sata ports if you go with 8 drives to start. I built a system using this case there are a few threads about this case listing the pro's and cons, there is also a 'hack' that involves some cardboard to improve the airflow in this case, works great.

[bally12345]

So having a good look at what data I have on my unraid machine it looks like I could save a shed load of space by getting rid of some rubbish old tv shows. Do I need all seasons of Pimp My Ride!? NOPE! There a good bunch of other questionable shows that I could quite happily delete such as 21 seasons of simpsons!

 

I will be keeping Family Guy, Prision Break and some of the lastest shows but the old ones can go. Who ever watches a town called Eureka?

[BobPhoenix]

Who ever watches a town called Eureka?

ME 

[mr-hexen]

My brother gives me the same idea while trying to convince me to add Southpark to my Plex Server... uhh no thanks!

[Squid]

My brother gives me the same idea while trying to convince me to add Southpark to my Plex Server... uhh no thanks!

Blasphemy   

[tjb_altf4]

From my understanding, the drive size limitation is only in reference to the boot drive.

I have an N36L which supposedly has a 2TB limit, but 4x 4TB (with smaller SSD primary) is working no issues 12 months down the line.

 

Adding more drives may push you to the limit of the little PSU, so keep that in mind.