Simple, energy efficient NAS: Rock64 vs Odroid HC2

  • Dear all,


    I now read already a lot and tried to compare the SCB's which are best for my planned NAS:


    - 1 HDD for data storage (made available by SMB)
    - 1 USB-Disk for Backup
    - low power consumption, as it should run 24/7
    - faster than a USB2 setup like Orange Pi Zero Plus


    Currently I think Rock64 is the best solution:


    - less energy consumption
    - possibility to connect a monitor for the case if it does not boot up
    - cheaper hardware (by the way, the prices are currently higher than what can be found in older threads, do you know why?)


    Some questions for the Rock64:


    1) Can I use the internal memory for the bootloader and then boot from HDD?
    2) When using the USB to SATA cable from pine64, in which cases do I need the external 12V power supply?
    3) Which would be the faster config: Both HDDs via USB3 Hub at the USB3 port / One disk via USB3 (main disk for storage), the other one via USB2?
    4) Is there another USB3 connection on the GPIO?


    Is there any board out which has a power suspend / sleep mode or wake on lan functionality. I think most of the time the NAS will run in idle waiting for requests. Such kind of functionality would save a lot of power...


    Thanks in advance for any comments on that!


    Best regards
    Oliver

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    1 - Sure but why do you want to boot from the hdd?


    2 - Since 2.5" drives don't use 12V, you only need it when you are using 3.5" drives. Although, you need to make sure your rock64 is powered with a good power supply to power a 2.5" drive.


    3 - Depends on how they are being used. Try both.


    4 - No, it is just power and gpio.

    Is there any board out which has a power suspend / sleep mode or wake on lan functionality. I think most of the time the NAS will run in idle waiting for requests. Such kind of functionality would save a lot of power...

    I don't see why this is necessary. An idling rock64 uses a couple of watts. Most arm devices don't have a sleep mode. Even sleep mode on some x86 boards use a much energy as an idling arm board. Just put your drives to sleep if you need ultra low energy use.

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  • Hello ryecoaaron,


    the idea to boot from hdd is to avoid a corrupted SD card.
    Is there a rule of thumb about how many power is needed per hdd? The recommendation is to use a 5V / 3A power supply for the Rock64. I assume that this would be enough for two HDDs?

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    the idea to boot from hdd is to avoid a corrupted SD card.

    The flashmemory plugin helps a lot. I have run systems for years on one sd card. If you make a clone of the sd any time you make major changes, there is little to worry about.


    Is there a rule of thumb about how many power is needed per hdd? The recommendation is to use a 5V / 3A power supply for the Rock64. I assume that this would be enough for two HDDs?

    Depends on the hard drive (rpm makes difference) but I haven't tried a spinning disk powered by any of my arm boards usb ports. I have all powered docks.

    omv 7.0.4-2 sandworm | 64 bit | 6.5 proxmox kernel

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    Please try ctrl-shift-R and read this before posting a question.

    Please put your OMV system details in your signature.
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  • Hello all,


    I now decided to go for a Rock64.
    All what is missing is an apropriate drive. Are there any recommendations for hard dirves or their specs? In the forum I have not found so much. As I do not like to use another power supply I need to use a 2,5" drive. Something between 2 - 4 TB should be enough.
    Again, I would prefer an energy efficient solution.


    What I found up to now:


    - 3000GB Seagate BarraCuda ST3000LM024 --> appr. 130,- €
    - 3000GB Toshiba Speciality MQ03ABB300 --> only 90,- €, but only 16MB cache


    Thanks in advance for all comments!


    Best regards
    Oliver

  • if 3.5" then I vote for Seagate Iron wolf 4TB. Not the fastest but low at power consumption.

    I have long felt that most computers today are not powered by electricity.
    They instead seem to be powered by the "pumping" motion of the mouse! --Willian Shotts

  • For my MicroNas project I bought 3 of these STEA4000400. In the expansion drive case there are whitelabeled ST4000LM024. Here in Germany prices start at 90€ each. This is the cheaper way to get the ST drives from Seagate but be aware that you loose your waranty as soon you are cracking up the expansion case and yes it is damaged after because the small hooks holding the the cover together will break.

  • Good morning,


    I now setted up everything:


    - Rock64
    - USB to NAS cable from Pine64 connected to USB3
    - Seagate Barracuda


    The problem I have currently is that hdparm gives "drive state is: unknown", so I do not know if drive spun down works or not.
    I rememeber that I read something about a frimware update for the JMS578, but cannot find it anymore.


    Does anyone knows about it?


    Thanks in advance!
    Oliver

  • Hi Eule,
    Sorry. I can't help you there. Since this is also a relatively critical part of the HW, I don't want to experiment with it. :)
    I'm using firmware version v173.1.0.1 since I build my Odroid/OMV system.


    p.parker

    Odroid HC1 | WD Blue 1TB SSD | OMV 5.6.26-1 (Usul) | 4.14.222-odroidxu4

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