Using a Mining Motherboard to add lots of sata port?¿

[narnol02]

Wondering if using the Asus B250 Mining motherboard would be a good option for a NAS. It has 18 PCI-Express 1x slots. Could I get risers for all of them and then use a SAS controller that would have say 8 connectors. So 8 x 18 would equal 144 Sata drives. If I use Seagates new 14TB IronWolf drives that would give me about 2 Petabytes of storage if they are all pooled. Does this sound like a workable option and would Windows 10 recognize a pool that large?¿

 

[or.at2497]

about the motherboard, i vote it would be ok to plug 18 controllers. you said this rig will operate as a NAS so why windows? maybe you should try something more dedicated for NASes like UNRAID which is a pretty awsome OS for this application and the premium edition supports unlimited amount of disks and also have parity and cache drive options that you can set yourself very easily.
another problem that windows doesnt support this amount of storage capacity. it has a lot of limitations.
another question that im not totally sure about is, would a cpu be able to hold this machine? a normal 1151 socket cpu has support for 16 pcie lanes and there are 2 more on the motherboard you want to make use of so i would consider the whole motherboard thing again although i really like your idea.
if you want to make use in another motherboard, you can make use in few like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Cablecc-Express-Switch-Multiplier-Splitter/dp/B073QNW3L9/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1537709446&sr=8-7&keywords=pcie+splitter

you should really check UNRAID, i use this OS for my home NAS and this is a power and noise saving OS with a lot of capabilities except perfect NAS operations.

https://unraid.net/

for conclusion, this project is very nice and i support it, totally possible except the OS. its time to let go of windows and look after new horizons.

 

[narnol02]

about the motherboard, i vote it would be ok to plug 18 controllers. you said this rig will operate as a NAS so why windows? maybe you should try something more dedicated for NASes like UNRAID which is a pretty awsome OS for this application and the premium edition supports unlimited amount of disks and also have parity and cache drive options that you can set yourself very easily.
another problem that windows doesnt support this amount of storage capacity. it has a lot of limitations.
another question that im not totally sure about is, would a cpu be able to hold this machine? a normal 1151 socket cpu has support for 16 pcie lanes and there are 2 more on the motherboard you want to make use of so i would consider the whole motherboard thing again although i really like your idea.
if you want to make use in another motherboard, you can make use in few like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Cablecc-Express-Switch-Multiplier-Splitter/dp/B073QNW3L9/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1537709446&sr=8-7&keywords=pcie+splitter

you should really check UNRAID, i use this OS for my home NAS and this is a power and noise saving OS with a lot of capabilities except perfect NAS operations.

https://unraid.net/

for conclusion, this project is very nice and i support it, totally possible except the OS. its time to let go of windows and look after new horizons.

I agree that a better OS would be better. I'm just used to Windows and haven't taken the plunge into something else. Also I run Ubiquity software, Sonarr, Radarr, Sabnzbd, Plex server all on this device currently. I could break out the nas and then have a Windows box that runs all this stuff still.

Also love the multiplier card from Amazon. So if I get one of those cards for all 18 spaces and then get 72 SAS controllers that would bring it up to 576 drives at 14TB. Thats 8 Petabytes of storage.

At this point I should maybe just look at a Storinator from 45 Drives.

https://www.45drives.com/products/storage/order.php?id=XL60&config=03&model=XL60-03&code=XL&software=Default&type=storage

So the 60xl Storinator only lets you configure it with 12TB drives which is only 720 so would have to make a cluster. The big problem with 576 drives is where to mount them and power all of this mess.

This is more of a hypothetical anyways but was wondering what others thought.

If I want to go to an UNRAID setup separate from my windows machine. What would you suggest?¿ Any great sites with info?¿ Also when I looked into some specific raid OS software before I think it required a lot of RAM.

 

[or.at2497]

u r insane lol. about unraid, u could create vms with windows or whatever u like. i started to work with unraid recently so until 2 weeks ago i havent a clue about operating this OS but it very intuitive and simple, except some congurations at the installation. as a main info source i used youtube. there are some pretty good explanations and walkthrough videos, in addition there is an unraid forum in their site. u can also find some good video guides at their download page. just to be clear, i dont get any comission for this recommendation, im just very happy with this os and its unlimited capabilities.

this video in addition to those who r in unraid's download page is very helpful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuJYMCbIbPk

about the ram, im am currently using a bit old mobo with 6 gigs of ddr3 ram and a pentium G4400 but it performs wonderful as a NAS.
there are also 2 months of trial (one month and 2 extensions of 2 weeks each) so i recommend u to install it on some machine and read about it just to know about this OS options.

 

[USAFRet]

So 8 x 18 would equal 144 Sata drives.

Please describe the use case for that many physical drives in one system? I know you said NAS, but that many speaks to a commercial use. And quickly becomes a management nightmare.

 

[TJ Hooker]

@or.at2497 that mining mobo provides 18 PCIe lanes through the chipset. And an additional x16 lane slot direct from the CPU. I don't see an issue there.

 

[or.at2497]

@or.at2497 that mining mobo provides 18 PCIe lanes through the chipset. And an additional x16 lane slot direct from the CPU. I don't see an issue there.

interesting. thanks for the information.