So I started with Synology NAS and then got another one to upgrade the one I had. Then I got Gsuite unlimited storage and started using that as my file server. After using it for a year I started getting tired of the limitations such as daily upload limit and api bans. I started looking at ebay enterprise severs since those are very powerful/large storage/cheap (at least for the amount of usage you can get). The problem I started thinking about is the noise it's going to make and power it's going to draw (living in a NYC apartment). I have a 6 year old Digital Storm desktop laying around and decided to use it as a test unraid server. I purchased a SAS 9201-16e card for $30 and cables to go with it and I have some WD Reds from my original Synology to play around with.

So this is what I am thinking of doing. I don't want to spend money where I don't have to and have a bunch of things I can use instead of building out everything. I am using it as a file server with max storage potential (current gdrive is almost 90TB) and maybe running some apps that are not hardware intensive.

Server
Intel NUC or a laptop

Both have thunderbolt 3 and was thinking of using a tb3 to pcie device (for the SAS card I purchased) such as 

https://www.amazon.com/Sonnet-Express-Thunderbolt-Expansion-ECHO-EXP-SE1-T3/dp/B01MTP2XMZ/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=thunderbolt+3+to+pcie&qid=1589148298&sr=8-7

or even the Razer Core X with the laptop

 

Hard drive

I would start off with my WD Reds and then get external drives to shuck like the WD Easystore 12TB

I would use Kingwin Aluminum Four Bay Hot Swap Mobile Rack to have a place to put them

I would power the racks either by a power supply (maybe from the Digital Store desktop or a fanless one from amazon) or if I go Razer Core X I would use the power supply from that to power the racks

 

From those ideas the only thing I would purchase past the SAS card and cables that I just purchased would be the thunderbolt 3 to pcie/the hot swap rack/possibly power supply/drives

 

If these setups work I should have a file server that can have up to 16 drives at 12tb each which should last me a long while. It won't be pretty but will be functional. The NUC would be wired to ethernet for 1gig speed or use wifi on the laptop (which will be wifi 6 and already have a wifi 6 router and laptop)

 

If none of the setup configs work because of something specific please let me know. The alternative would be build a server that would encompass what the nuc/laptop would provide and remove the thunderbolt 3 piece as the server would have a pcie slot but the rest would stay (having the racks out in the open)

You’d need to check the current state of thunderbolt support in unRAID. As of recently, it’s a feature request;

I dont one use it so cannot speak authoratively.

 

i have toyed with external enclosures via SAS / SFF-8088 and found it to destabilize my unRAID to the point of unusability, though I never pinned down the exact cause. YMMV.

 

37 minutes ago, meep said:

You’d need to check the current state of thunderbolt support in unRAID. As of recently, it’s a feature request;

I dont one use it so cannot speak authoratively.

 

i have toyed with external enclosures via SAS / SFF-8088 and found it to destabilize my unRAID to the point of unusability, though I never pinned down the exact cause. YMMV.

 

Thanks for letting me know, maybe if I find a cheap version of a TB3 to pcie then will test it out but maybe will have to move towards a small build.

Would using something like windows server alleviate the issue? Is it specifically unraid that's not fully supporting it yet?