Upgrade recommendation for more SATA ports

    Hi all,


    I thougth I have a simple problem, that I just need more SATA connectors, but now I think I will need to build a new NAS...


    Current Setup:

    • Case: Node 804
      • basically enough HDD space and cooling currently.
    • CPU / Motherboard: ASRock J5040-ITX
      • Great CPU with enough power, mostly utilized at 20-30%
      • Motherboard is more the issue, as it has to less SATA ports and only PCIe 2.0 x1
    • RAM 16GB
      • is mostly utilized at 30-50%, so it's fine for now
    • PSU: 400W be quiet System Power 9 CM
      • until now it managed all drives, but I really don't know how much it is utilised
    • Expansion Card: InLine 76617F 8 Port PCIe 2.0 x1
      • Currently with 4 HDDs and it takes a lot of time to "initialise" the RAID on startup or when the HDDs are woken up from standby
      • When in normal use, the decreased throughput is currently not an issue
      • The Card has 2 Marvell 88SE9215 but only 1 (4 SATAs) is recognised when checking lspci
    • 2,5" SSD 256GB with OMV and some config paths for the docker container
      • far from to less space
    • HDDs: 6x14TB Toshiba MG07/MG08 SATA in RAID5 (is getting to small) and a 4TB WD with Dokuments
      • upgrade will come with 2 additional 14TB drives


    Currently running Services:

    • OMV with SMB shares
    • Docker
      • Plex Media Server with mainly 4K content, currently ~50TB
      • vaultwarden, syncthing, nextcloud, homeassistant (but not very used very much), heimdall, glances
      • 4-5 other selfhosting solutions, but not very CPU/RAM intensive
      • If I upgrade, I would plan with a lot of buffer

    My possibilities to get more storage:

    • Change to larger HDDs: with 18TB I would get <24TB more space, but the bottleneck of the PCIe Card remains, also my HDDs are still fine
    • SATA Port Multiplier: one of the worst solutions I could use
    • USB SATA Hub: maybe not as bad as the Port multiplier. No idea how this would work with the RAID
    • New Mainboard, CPU, RAM
      • As I use the Plex Server, I would go for the Intel 12th / 13th Gen with iGPU, they would have AV1 transcoding support.
      • And the Mainboard should have as many SATA Ports as possible
      • Mainboard Requirements: Sockel 1700, mATX, best 8 SATA, 2+ PCIe extensions
      • I found this one: Biostar B660MXC PRO but nowhere to buy it
      • Or I go for supermicro, but there I have to go for other CPUs i think
    • I could also separate the storage and self-hosting stuff
      • there are supermicro boards with Atom CPUs and many SATAs
      • This would maybe double the energy I need, and I need everything twice


    Does anyone have other ideas how I could increase my SATA ports? Or have a create upgrade recommendation, or any idea idea would be very helpful.

    Thanks in advance.

    Ditch the ITX board & don't mess with Port Multiplier or USB hub. Pick an intel based matx board with 4 or 6 sata onboard and add a server grade RAID/HBA card for 8 more SATA ports ( the card would need good cooling). Doesn't have be the latest & greatest and the intel generation will be limited to DDR4 if you want to reuse existing memory. How you want to use Plex server will determine the cpupassmark and will be another factor in cpu choice.


    If you went supermicro server grade m/board mostly similar criteria apply, but you also need ECC RAM. Depending on your geo-location and if you are prepared to purchase s/hand, you might find some reasonably priced kit.

    thanks, that goesin the same direction as I already thought.


    I am currently thinking about this setup:

    • Motherboard: ASRock B660M Phantom Gaming 4
    • Or: MSI MAG B660M MORTAR, would habe DDR5, 6x SATA and 2,5GBaseT
    • CPU: Intel Core i5-12400
    • RAM: 2x16GB
    • Expansion Card: Adaptec RAID 71605


    I would use the Card without RAID and stay with the SW RAID, if there is no significant benefit.


    Is there any improvement to the HW possible?

    I wasn't suggesting you use Hardware RAID. PSU spec needs thinking about, as do the SATA connections & cabling. But I can't offer any other unbiased advice as with this many HDDs you are straying into real server hardware territory as opposed to just using consumer grade kit. Eight HDDs fit in the Fractal 804 , but I prefer the Fractal Design range. Of course neither have proper SAS/SATA backplanes nor drive caddies. A RAID card can be an expensive item and it's one item I'd look in the s/hand market for. Once you get to six or more drives, ZFS would be my choice of filesystem which brings us back to considering server grade kit, ECC RAM, etc.


    Whether you use zfs or not, here's some useful info about RAID/HBA cards: https://www.servethehome.com/b…cks-truenas-freenas-hbas/


    A supermicro X10SL7-F has in-built 8port RAID/HBA + 2 x 6GB/s + 4 X 3GB/s SATA ports.


    I would be wary of buying the latest hardware when Linux compatibility is not ensured and the m/board BIOS may need revision.

    Then there is future growth to consider, assuming you can afford the power costs, how easy would it be to expand your system?

    I hope to stay with 8 drives at least for the next 3-4 years.

    The PSU should be fine, as the toshiba HDDs use also the 12V line.

    One issue is that I want to use the HW transcoding feature of Plex, which is best working with intel Quick Sync and that means I need a intel core CPU... I didn't find any fitting server grade m/board and therefore also ECC Support is hardly available, thats why I would stay with consumer tech.


    I had a look on the HBAs, but didn't find any good deal, other then the Adaptec 71605 which is available secondhand for 80€ in Germany.

    I know.it is not generally recommendex, but they are mentioned to have debian support and did not yet find any hints to issues.

    I will of course update if it is working.

    If you want on-board SATA ports the ASRock B660M Steel Legend has 6-SATA and the 2.5 Gbps ethernet, but with DDR4.


    When I read your list I thought you were me for a second there, except I was looking at the LSI LSI00330. Is there somewhere we can look at hardware RAID compatibility with OMV? I'm still weighing my options on how to handle the array. My other option is to add an M.2 E-key 2-port SATA adapter to the motherboard and go with software.


    I haven't purchased or assembled anything yet except the AUDHEID 8-Bay K7 case because I wanted a larger board than Mini-ITX, but in the smallest height I could find. That case is about as close as anything I've seen to a traditional desktop NAS, but with room for more PCIe expansion slots compared to Mini-ITX (for ethernet, RAID, etc.)

    I basicly got exact what I mentioned above, the Adaptec 7 Series Card worked out oft the box and has a HBA mode, so I just use it as an HBA.

    I also switched to Snapraid and MergerFS as my array is only media.


    I would also love the idea of a HW List, I just searched for Debian compatibility.


    As a case I got the Node 804, which is now full.

    Later I will switch to m.2 SSDs and larger 2.5" drives beside the media array.

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