Storage expansion can outgrow a small home server
A setup began with one Apple Time Capsule in 2008, then grew to three. By 2018, it had become a RAID storage stack connected under a 3B. In 2022, it moved to a Dell T110 server, then added an HP RAID cage powered by a makeshift , running 12 drives in total.
Last month, adding a 13th drive overloaded the power setup and caused a chain of failures. A used HP drive rack was then added, but the Seagate SATA drives ran at 3Gbps instead of 6Gbps, and drives began failing while the storage array was being built. The setup then moved to cheaper SAS drives and two Supermicro rack servers.
Each server has 32GB of memory, a 500GB NVMe drive, and Linux Mint 22.3. One now works as a 33TB data server, while the other is a 62TB with six empty bays left. The used SAS drives have 4,000 to 20,000 hours of use, and cost about one-twentieth of the new price, so extra storage space was included to allow for failures and local recovery.
Key points
- A 12-drive setup failed after a 13th drive pushed the too hard.
- The HP drive rack and Seagate SATA drives showed speed and problems together.
- The final setup became two Supermicro rack servers using used SAS drives.
- The new storage split is 33TB for data and 62TB for media, with six bays still empty.
- Used drives were much cheaper, but already had 4,000 to 20,000 hours of use.