SBC NAS: NanoPi M4? RockPro64? Other?

I've been researching SBC NAS options; I've spent a lot of time on this forum and have learned a lot - it's a great resource.

I'm looking for an ARM board configuration that will support multiple spinning-rust drives (not RAIDed) and possibly run a light-duty web server or Nextcloud in the background. I'd like to be able to saturate GbE and have decent local HDD-to-HDD transfer speeds.

The Helios 4 looks nice but it's a bit pricey and perhaps still experiencing a few growing pains. The RockPro64 and NanoPi M4 both look pretty good, and I assume will perform similarly given they have the same SOC. The NanoPi gets rave reviews for reliability and support, and the size is nice, but I'm not thrilled with powering it via USB-C. OTOH the RockPro64 supports faster SATA chipsets through its PCIe slot, and is a little cheaper if you compare 4GB versions.

Q1: Any thoughts between these two boards? Other boards I should look at? (There's not too many multi-SATA options that I've seen.)

Q2: Will the NanoPi M4's SATA hat (Marvell 9215-based) bog down on multiple drives?

Q3: If I go with the RockPro64, is a Marvell 9235 like https://www.amazon.com/CREST-D…ell-Chipset/dp/B00AZ9T41M the best choice, or is there another chipset worth looking at?

Thanks!

Zitat von tkaiser

Just some opinions/thoughts

My personal take on the SBC NAS topic is:

• 1 SBC combined with 1 HDD. With this setup I even consider using USB storage with USB-to-SATA bridges known to work well
• When it's about to attach 2-4 HDD to a host and comparing overall costs some x86 solutions look more appealing than a RK3399 + PCIe SATA HBA + custom enclosure + custom PSU -- though a lot higher idle and active consumption
• NanoPi M4 + SATA HAT are a perfect upcylce attempt for an already existing NAS or PC case with 2-4 SATA slots (due to avoiding waste I would always try to use an old PC or NAS case with such a tiny 'NAS core' like M4 + SATA HAT)
• Performance difference between a 9215 and a 9235 with spinning rust in your setup will be negligible (with SSDs or arrays the 9235 clearly outperforms the single lane 9215)

Thanks! I'm leaning towards the M4, and your take on the 9215 makes me a lot more comfortable with that choice.

Great points about x86 - I'm going SBC for this project for not-terribly-practical reasons: (1) I'm going to build a custom oak case just because I like doing that sort of thing; (2) I've got a ton of castoff PSU components I can repurpose; and (3) I just like playing with SBCs.

Looking forward to getting started! I'm sure I'll have a ton of configuration-related questions later, but for now I'm going to the lumber store.

Thanks for the advice!