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BUILD

The 100TB NAS

by hklenny

Description
96
Now for something a little different...
99 Comments
This build came about because I needed a large quantity of storage for work and home
PE R M ALINK
data, files and media that would be easily network accessible and protected by
https://pcpartpicker.com/b/rhMZxr redundancy and error-correction. At first, I considered the typical pre-built NAS
systems from Synology, QNAP, Thecus etc. However, I found that the price premium
was very high considering what you get for the money, with basic four-bay bare (no
Part List View full price breakdown drives) NAS systems starting at around USD 300-400 yet only equipped with ARM
SOC dual core processors and 1GB of RAM. On the upper end, more advanced eight-
CP U
bay bare NAS systems start around USD 850-900 but with Atom CPUs and 2GB of
Intel Xeon E3-1245 V5 3.5 GHz Quad- $336.53 RAM, and easily reaching USD 1500-2000 for more beefy Core i3 or above based
Core
models with eight-bays or more of storage. Given that a NAS is basically just a decently
CP U CO O L ER
powerful computer with a large number of storage bays and SATA/SAS connections, at
be quiet! DARK ROCK TF 67.8 CFM Fluid $0.00
Dynamic Bearing least a couple of Gigabit LAN ports, and a software package to manage the storage, I
M O THER B O AR D
decided to go out and try to build my own.
ASRock C236 WSI Mini ITX LGA1151 $194.99
My goals for this NAS build were quite simple:

M EM O R Y – Storage: hold at least six 3.5" drives in a small form factor size competitive with
Kingston ValueRAM 16 GB (1 x 16 GB) DDR4- pre-built NAS systems.
2133
– Size: minimize the total volume of the NAS as much as possible, i.e. find the highest
M EM O R Y
ratio of storage bays to total case volume.
Kingston ValueRAM 16 GB (1 x 16 GB) DDR4-
2133
– Compute power: have enough CPU power and RAM capacity to enable other
applications aside from storage, such as Plex, virtualization, and other services.
STO R AG E
Crucial MX300 750 GB 2.5" SSD
– Connectivity: support at least dual Gigabit ethernet connections to ensure there is
enough bandwidth for serving and receiving data.
STO R AG E
Seagate IronWolf Pro 10 TB 3.5" $363.98
– Reliability: minimize the maintenance required by ensuring that the case allows for
7200RPM ample airflow and cooling of drives and CPU, while also including sufficient dust
protection since it will run 24x7.
STO R AG E
Seagate IronWolf Pro 10 TB 3.5" $363.98 – Noise: run as quietly as possible since it will be stored in a home environment.
7200RPM

STO R AG E My first objective was to search for suitable PC cases. In order to minimize the size of
Seagate IronWolf Pro 10 TB 3.5" $363.98
7200RPM
the NAS system, clearly a Mini-ITX based case would be the preferred choice, since
ATX and mATX cases would be much larger as they allow for four to seven extra PCI
STO R AG E
Seagate IronWolf Pro 10 TB 3.5" $363.98
slots for expansion - something which would not really be needed here. So I used
7200RPM PCPP's hardware search tools and set out to search for ITX cases with a large number
STO R AG E
of 3.5" drive bays. It turned out there were only a handful, with volumes and features
Seagate IronWolf Pro 10 TB 3.5" $363.98 as below:
7200RPM

– BitFenix Phenom ITX: 30.8L, 6 x 3.5" drive bays

STO R AG E
Seagate IronWolf Pro 10 TB 3.5" 7200RPM – Fractal Design Node 304: 19.6L, 6 x 3.5" drive bays
 $363.98 – Lian-Li PC-Q25: 20.3L, 7 x 3.5" drive bays
– Lian-Li PC-Q26: 32.3L, 10 x 3.5" drive bays and 1 x 2.5" drive bays
STO R AG E – Lian-Li PC-Q35: 29.2L, 5 x 3.5" drive bays and 2 x 2.5" drive bays
Seagate IronWolf Pro 10 TB 3.5" $363.98
7200RPM – Silverstone DS380: 21.6L, 8 x 3.5" drive bays, 4 x 2.5" drive bays

STO R AG E
Seagate IronWolf Pro 10 TB 3.5" $363.98 (Note: I also considered the Fractal Design Node 804 - an mATX option and a popular
7200RPM
choice here. However, at 41L for 8 x 3.5" drive bays / 2 x 2.5" drive bays, it was too
STO R AG E large. The 804's wide shape was also not optimal for placing under a desk, which was to
Seagate IronWolf Pro 10 TB 3.5" $363.98
7200RPM be where the system would reside permanently.)

STO R AG E From the shortlist, I eliminated a few options for the following reasons:
Seagate IronWolf Pro 10 TB 3.5" $363.98
7200RPM – Lian-Li PC-Q35: only five 3.5" drive bays with a relatively large case volume at
almost 30L.
CASE
Lian-Li PC-Q26B Mini ITX Tower $180.00 – Silverstone DS380: seemed like a promising option at first, but feedback I found
online showed users complaining about the cramped internal layout and sub-
P O WER SU P P L Y
optimal airflow resulting in drives running hot.
Corsair RMx 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-
Modular ATX
This left the Phenom, Node 304, PC-Q25 and PC-Q26. The 304 and PC-Q25 were quite
CASE F AN similar at around 20L with six/seven 3.5" drives, while the Phenom's size at 30L was
NoiseBlocker NB-eLoop B12-PS 58.1 $24.99
CFM 120mm
more comparable to the PC-Q26 at 32L, but with only six drive bays was clearly less
space efficient than the PC-Q26 and its ten drive bays. So on this basis I eliminated the
CASE F AN
NoiseBlocker NB-eLoop B12-PS 58.1 $24.99 Phenom, and was left with the decision between the Node 304 / PC-Q25 or the PC-
CFM 120mm
Q26.
CASE F AN
NoiseBlocker NB-eLoop B12-PS 58.1 $24.99
Studying other user's builds of the Node 304 and PC-Q25, it seemed that building in
CFM 120mm these cases could be very tight. In the Node 304's case, the drives (and their
CASE F AN
accompanying SATA and power connections) reside right over the motherboard.
NoiseBlocker NB-eLoop B12-PS 58.1 $24.99 Therefore, any cooling has to actively pass over both the densely packed drives and
CFM 120mm
cabling, and the motherboard, and thus could be very challenged in this particular case.
O THER
The PC-Q25 on the other hand has a different design with power supply over the
Noctua NA-SYC1 Accessory 4-pin Y-Cables $7.95
for PWM Fans motherboard and drive bays on the side and below the motherboard. It is also quite a
O THER
densely packed internal layout.
$92.98
 LSI LOGIC SAS 9207-8i Storage Controller
LSI00301
Reconsidering the original goals of the build, and given the possible cooling challenges
for the Node 304 and PC-Q25, and also given that a 50% increase in case volume
O THER
NEW! Gelid Solutions 1 to 4 PWM PC Case Fan would provide an additional four or five 3.5" drive bays and one 2.5" drive bay as well as
Splitter Cable
better cooling potential, I decided to go with the PC-Q26.
O THER
Lian-Li Accessory BP2SATA 2Bay to HDD SATA As it turns out - the PC-Q26 was actually discontinued by Lian-Li, so it was incredibly
Hotswap Backplane Black Retail
difficult to find. A lot of searching online later, and with a bit of luck, I found it available
O THER at a reasonable price.
Lian-Li Accessory BP2SATA 2Bay to HDD SATA
Hotswap Backplane Black Retail
The next consideration was - how on earth was I going to find a Mini-ITX motherboard
O THER that has ten or eleven SATA ports? A lot of searching on PCPP and online later, it turns
Lian-Li Accessory BP2SATA 2Bay to HDD SATA
Hotswap Backplane Black Retail
out there were almost none - I was most likely going to need to add a SATA or SAS
controller to the PCI-E slot in order to get all the SATA ports I needed for the PC-Q26.
O THER
Lian-Li Accessory BP2SATA 2Bay to HDD SATA
Looking at the options with at least six SATA3 ports:
Hotswap Backplane Black Retail
– AsRock C236 WSI: 8 x SATA3 ports through the Intel C236 chipset
O THER
SilverStone SST-CP11B-300; Ultra slim SATA 6G
– AsRock C2750D4I: 2 x SATA3 / 4 x SATA2 ports through the Intel C2750, 6 x
300mm Cable, black SATA3 ports through two Marvell controllers

O THER
– AsRock E3C236D2I: 6 x SATA3 ports through the Intel C236 chipset
SilverStone SST-CP11B-300; Ultra slim SATA 6G
300mm Cable, black – Gigabyte GA-B150N-GSM: 6 x SATA3 ports through the Intel B150 chipset
– Supermicro X10SDV series: 6 x SATA3 ports through the Xeon SOC
O THER
SilverStone SST-CP11B-300; Ultra slim SATA 6G
300mm Cable, black Another consideration, aside from SATA ports, was also whether the motherboard
O THER options had dual Gigabit LAN and also whether there was any built-in display
SilverStone SST-CP11B-300; Ultra slim SATA 6G
controller and output support. The last consideration might seem like a strange one -
300mm Cable, black
but actually is a great option to enable the NAS to be used as a media playback system
O THER
SilverStone SST-CP11B-300; Ultra slim SATA 6G
or enable it to be partially used as a workstation, while also serving NAS duties. This
300mm Cable, black gives the system more flexibility for future usage scenarios.
O THER Studying the options with lots of (again) online research, I eliminated a few options:
SilverStone SST-CP11B-300; Ultra slim SATA 6G
300mm Cable, black
– AsRock C2750D4I: though this board had enough SATA ports for eleven drives and
O THER I could add a video card, the CPU is an Avoton C2750 eight core which is much
SilverStone SST-CP11B-300; Ultra slim SATA 6G more underpowered than the other options. Also, various user reviews I read
300mm Cable, black
 O THER indicated that the reliability of this board was quite poor - in particular with the
SilverStone SST-SA011 Mini SAS SFF8087 to Marvell SATA controllers.
SFF8088 Adapter
– AsRock E3C236D2I: an additional SATA/SAS controller would be needed (i.e. no
O THER
room to add a video card to the PCI slot) and since there were no on-board HDMI
SilverStone SST-CPS02; shielded Mini-SAS 36pin
to 36pin cable or DisplayPorts, it would not be possible to connect a modern display to it.

O THER
– Gigabyte GA-B150N-GSM: I almost considered using this, but it was impossible to
SilverStone SST-CPS03-RE 36 Pin 0.5 m Mini SAS find anywhere for a reasonable price.
SFF-8087 to SATA 7 Pin Cable
– Supermicro X10SDV series: relatively expensive, and also had the same issue as
TO TAL :
the E3C236D2I with the digital display options.
$4552.21

This left one option - the AsRock C236 WSI. With eight SATA3 ports, HDMI and
DisplayPort output when using the appropriate Xeon E3 CPU (which needs to include
Details an integrated GPU - some Xeon E3 models do not have one integrated), this option
would give me enough SATA ports yet also give me the option to connect a display to
D ATE PU B LIS H E D the system in case the NAS would serve an additional purpose as a media playback
Feb. 3, 2017 system or partial workstation.
C PU C LO C K R ATE
With the main challenges - selecting a suitable case and finding an ITX motherboard
3.5 GHz
with enough SATA ports and the on-board display controller option - I was ready to put
together this NAS system.

Intel Xeon E3-1245 V5 3.5GHz Quad-Core

Based on the Skylake architecture and comparable to a Core i7-6700, the E3-1245 V5
includes an integrated GPU so that an additional video card isn't needed. (Xeon E3
CPUs ending in "5" include the integrated GPU, for reference.) With four cores (or
eight virtual using HyperThreading), there is far more power in this processor than
almost any pre-built NAS system from Synology etc.

be quiet! DARK ROCK TF 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing

Taken from my other build and used here, since the PC-Q26's maximum CPU cooler
height is 150 mm. I could have used the Intel supplied Xeon E3 CPU cooler, but I
wanted to ensure the CPU and motherboard have enough cooling and also runs
quietly. From usage in my previous system, this is a great CPU cooler.
ASRock C236 WSI Mini ITX LGA1151

As explained above, the only ITX motherboard option with on-board display controller
and output support, while also including eight SATA3 ports. A relatively good quality
motherboard from AsRock and with sufficient space around the CPU socket to support
the Dark Rock TF cooler. Accessing all of the ports and connections is quite difficult
with the CPU cooler installed, so therefore they need to be installed beforehand. With
two DDR4 DIMM slots, this board supports a maximum of 32GB ECC RAM. It also has
Dual Gigabit LAN from Intel for great connectivity.

Kingston KVR21E15D8/16 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 ECC

To ensure there is enough RAM for the NAS operating system, caching, and any
applications or virtual machines, I maxed out the RAM at 32GB of ECC.

Crucial MX300 750GB 2.5" SSD

Something I picked up on a Black Friday sale, it will be used for caching and any
application data. It sits at the very bottom of the case below the 3.5" drive cage.

Seagate IronWolf Pro 10TB 3.5" 7200RPM x 10

After studying the cost per TB of various disk sizes up to the current maximum of
10TB, given that the cost per TB differential between the largest disks and smaller disks
was not too large, as well trying to avoid the wastage of having to swap out existing
disks for new disks in the future due to insufficient capacity, I decided to aim for the
largest disks available for this system so that I would not have to change them later,
since buying smaller disks (e.g. 4TB or 6TB per disk) and then running out of space
and having to buy all new larger disks later would probably be more expensive in terms
of total cost.

For NAS drives that are to run 24x7, there are only a few options at the larger disk sizes
- WD's Red series which maxes out at 8TB per disk, or Seagate's new IronWolf and
IronWolf Pro series which max out at 10TB per disk. (There were also WD Gold and
Seagate Enterprise options at 10TB, but these were 50-100% more expensive than the
Red and IronWolf options - so I did not consider these.) When considering the cost per
TB, the IronWolf series was more competitive than the WD Reds.

For the IronWolf series there are two options - IronWolf and IronWolf Pro. The former
comes with a 3-year warranty, while the latter comes with a 5-year warranty and data
recovery service for the first two years. The IronWolf Pro is rated for up to 16 bay drive
arrays, while the IronWolf is only from 1-8 bay drive arrays. The IronWolf Pro is about
a 13% premium over the IronWolf, and given that the warranty extends much further
and includes data recovery services as well as support for a 10 bay drive array, I decided
to go with the IronWolf Pro since I will use this server for as long as possible (i.e. until
it dies).

Overall, this IronWolf Pro 10TB is a great drive - runs very cool (as it is a sealed helium
design) and runs fast. Acoustics are quiet during idle, but somewhat louder during
random accesses - typical for spinning disk drives. Interestingly - the startup and power
down of ten of these disks in one system sounds like a jet engine powering up or
spinning down.

Lian-Li PC-Q26B Mini ITX Tower

This is a very well designed case which works well for this build. Some considerations:
– Airflow is designed to move from front to back. Therefore, I have the front three
fans as intakes, while the rear top fan acting as exhaust (which will also hopefully
help reduce dust build-up on the dust filter at this fan location).

– The dust filters on the front sides of the case for the three intake fans are easily
accessible after removing the side panels. The dust filter for the top exhaust fan is
much more difficult to remove, however (it requires removing the fan itself).

– The quality of the build is impeccable - I did not find any issues and the aluminum
and black powder coating is beautiful.
– Installing and removing drives is super easy. The case comes with screws for each
drive which allow you to slide the drives in and out directly into the SATA
backplane. Then the drives are all secured using a locking mechanism on the drive
cage.
 – Removing the side panels is very easy, and makes the internals very easily
accessible. One only needs to take care on the back side panel to ensure the cables
are stowed appropriately so the back panel will fit back on properly.

– The space for the power supply is quite short due to the drive cage. Therefore, as
short as possible a PSU is recommended, since some space is needed for the cables
to come out of the PSU.
– The case only comes with one BP2SATA dual SATA backplane. Therefore, I had to
get four extra ones (quite difficult to find).

– Wiring the cables can get pretty tight, but the cable channel in the middle back of
the case helps a lot.

Corsair RMx 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX

A 160 mm long PSU which had just the right number of SATA and Molex connectors to
wire everything up. Runs quiet as the fan does not spin up until a certain load level is
reached (which was not reached during stress testing I did later).

NoiseBlocker NB-eLoop B12-PS 58.1 CFM 120mm x 4

Having used these very efficient (in terms of airflow vs noise) fans in my other build, I
found these to be a perfect fit to keep this system cool and run quietly.

LSI LOGIC SAS 9207-8i Storage Controller LSI00301

A very good SAS controller which can support up to eight SATA drives directly through
the two SAS ports. This controller supported full SATA3 speeds, which is why I chose it.
I also avoided choosing a SAS RAID controller, as it is preferable to setup software
RAID through FreeNAS or unRAID which support more advanced RAID technologies
and file systems like ZFS.

Lian-Li Accessory BP2SATA 2Bay to HDD SATA Hotswap Backplane Black Retail x 4

Though I didn't need to get these SATA backplanes, using these backplanes enabled
me to reduce internal cabling because each backplane can power two drives from either
one SATA or Molex power connector each. These backplanes also allow more easy
swapping of drives when needed, without having to mess with any wiring - a big help as
it can get very confusing which SATA cable goes to which drive.

SilverStone SST-CP11B-300; Ultra slim SATA 6G 300mm Cable, black x 7

As space in the case is quite tight, I used these ultra slim SATA cables to wire up six 3.5"
hard drives and one 2.5" SSD. These SATA cables are incredibly slim and flexible, so
they worked very well.

SilverStone SST-CPS03-RE 36 Pin 0.5 m Mini SAS SFF-8087 to SATA 7 Pin Cable

This cable was used to connect one of the SAS ports on the SAS 9207-8i SAS controller
to four 3.5" SATA hard drives, making a total of ten 3.5" hard drives connected to the
system.

SilverStone SST-SA011 Mini SAS SFF8087 to SFF8088 Adapter

SilverStone SST-CPS02; shielded Mini-SAS 36pin to 36pin cable

For future expandability, this Mini-SAS cable was connected to an external SAS
connector. This will allow me to add extra drives using an external SAS drive enclosure
and expand the storage capacity of the NAS system at full SATA speeds.

Wrap Up

Overall, this NAS build turned out quite well, though there were a few challenges along
the way. The case selection required quite careful consideration as some cases which
initially seemed appealing turned out to have some shortfalls which would cause
cooling or reliability issues later. The motherboard needed to be selected appropriately
in order to ensure all the drives that could be installed would be supported, and also
having the ability to select a board with on-board digital video support was a nice
bonus. Fortunately, I was able to find ways to work through those decision points and
maximize the potential of the system. The other challenge was during the build itself -
despite being a not-too-cramped case, cable routing and management still needed to be
carefully planned in order to reduce obstruction to proper airflow and cooling of the
system. Lastly, the size of the finished system is quite good and sits well under the back
of my desk. For size comparison, there is a photo in the gallery of the NAS box next to a
standard PS4 console.

I have been putting this build through its paces - first by running drive integrity and
burn-in tests to ensure the IronWolf Pro drives are functioning at 100% without any
errors or bad sectors. To do this I used a combination of the smartctl and badblock
tools built into FreeNAS. Some photos of the burn-in statistics are shown in the photo
gallery. The burn-in tests were run twice and thankfully completed without errors
(though the tests themselves took one week per round). During the testing, I noted
that at around 25-27 C ambient, the drives were running at a maximum of 42-44 C - an
excellent result. To ensure that the drives run cool at all times, I have set all of the fans
to run at full speed at 1200 rpm. Noise levels from the fans is negligible and most noise
comes from the disks themselves when they perform random accesses.

I have not yet decided what kind of software to use on this NAS system. There are a
couple of contenders, namely FreeNAS and unRAID. I am also considering using
Ubuntu which would give me more flexibility in how I can utilize the NAS - i.e. not only
as a storage service, but also for running applications such as media playback services
or virtualization or as a part-time workstation. As it will take me some time to
determine the most appropriate software setup for this NAS system, I shall report back
later with any notes.

If you made it this far - thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as
I enjoyed the process of researching and building it.

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