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The original was posted on /r/unraid by /u/moarmagic on 2023-09-27 14:30:26.
I have a 12 bay dell R 510 that’s served as my unraid box for a good 6+ years, but I’ve hit the point where I’m running low on space, and further Hard drive upgrades don’t feel economically viable (IE, smallest disk is a 10Tb, so I’d be paying for a 12+ tb drive, and only getting the difference.) I am stuck on my upgrade path from here, so looking for feedback/thoughts.
Options I see:
- Buy a bigger case- There are 24, 36 bay supermicros out there, but these seem to run around 300-500+ (with everything under 500 being older, 6GB/s hardware, 500+ having the 12/gb backplane) for baremetal, maybe including PSU, so I’m estimating I may have to put an additional 300ish into getting new hardware for it . This options would allow me to move everything, and double or tripple my current space. I could also keep the existing r510 around and through some hard drives on to it- make it a personal fileserver on Truenas or something, taking some of the pressure off my unraid server. rough cost estimate, 600-800 depending on hardware I settle on, 2-3x my existing storage, easier replacement options on mobo etc.
- Leaving the server cases out of it, there are some other options out there- fractal define, thermaltake’s overkill modular 200 series. I’m mostly writing these off, because I’d still be looking at 200+ for a case with 0 extra hardware. While the define can take 18 drives, that’s 1.5x my current storage at roughly the same price as getting the supermicro and kitting it out, i think. Might as well stay rackmount and get more space for my money, baring some insane deal popping up somewhere.
- I could pick up another 12 bay rackmount. R720xds are hitting dirt cheap, and i’ve seen some cheaper priced 730xds on occasion. This could end up getting a system on newer hardware with better cpu/ram to where i sit now for around 500 total with some luck. However, I’m only doubling my storage (assuming i also keep the 510 around. I’m really not sure how old is too old for home server gear. most Wear and tear is on the spinning rust, which is the part i’ve kept upgrading).
- Related to that last point, i could look at throwing together some sort of DAS. My unraid server’s hardware is mostly sitting at 50% utilization, so if I could keep trusting the r510 to tick along without dying on me, I’d just need to get a power supply, external sas ports and some sort of case. Cost here is kinda unknown. I’ve seen a project to 3dprinted brackets designed to mount inside a standard ATX tower, adding 18 drives bays. This probably sits at the cheapest, but also would leave me all eggs in one older basket- If i picked up a second 12bay device, i’d at least have two machines in case the r510 abruptly gave up the ghost. So Maybe $200 USD, but feels like a bandaid fix, will still need to spend more money somewhere down the line.
I think that’s a bit it. One moment I’m thinking that a DAS would be okay, next I’m worried that should my server die i’m going to need to spend the money on option 1-3 anyway. Then I’m thinking that 24+ bays is kinda ridiculous, i should save the money and just get another 12 bay, but that only really addresses my storage problem if i keep both the new and and old NAS running, otherwise i’m just upgrading the mobo/ram, which aren’t actually the pain point right now. So I’d like to get some insight from other power users out here in unraid land, what do you do when it’s less viable to keep replacing disks with larger disks?
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