I decided to start a little project. Buying an 8-bay DAS enclosure is easy but can be costly. For example, one can buy a Sans Digital TR8X+B for $399. That unit looks really nice but I have heard mixed stories about the power supply in those. The Sans Digital TR8X+B also has a LED fan which is a no-go in the office. I don't want my feet to glow blue under my desk.
Breaking down the basic components of a DAS box:
Given that information, I set out to build a BOM
Chassis
Silverstone DS380 $149. This is just cheaper than the U-NAS unit although bigger. Another advantage is that it has 4x extra 2.5" internal bays for caching if I want to go more than 8 storage drives.
I do not like the two cross bars in the middle of the drives but good enough for the price.
Power Supply
I am thinking the Silverstone 300w SFX power supply. 80 Plus Bronze and only $50. I know a lot of people are using the 450w version for this case but it should never peak above 200w.
Other benefits, 18dba max but also fanless operation and 24/7 duty cycle rated design advertised.
SFF-8088 Connectors and Backplane
I am combining these together because really you need to know what connectors to pick a cable. Since the Silverstone case has PCI slots on its rear I figured I will do something similar to the Sans Digital DAS enclosure. I picked a Norco C-8087-8088F which is $30-35. There is another option, a 3x mini-SAS one for $50 which is an option for SSDs. If I do go SSDs I was actually considering getting another Norco PCI one becuase the Silverstone case has two PCIe brackets. I could even velcro 4x more SSDs in there because there is room since I will not be adding a motherboard making it a 16 drive, small footprint DAS.
From here I also need SFF-8087 breakout cables. There are 0.5 meter ones sold by monoprice for around $14 each. Top sellers on Amazon in the category and they are not overly long. The case is small and I do want to keep cable lengths shorter.
The odd thing here is that the 0.75m and 1m cables are more expensive. I like not having too much excees and these all are numbered which is nice for a DAS enclosure.
Total cost for cabling: $58 for 8 drive connectivity.
Option 1: Get this 3x SFF-8088 to SFF-8087 board instead and a thrid internal cable. $51 + ($14x3) = $93 total
Option 2: Moving to 16 bay will be another $58 (plus the original $58) and can be done later. ($116 total)
Power control board
Now we have a case, a power supply, and data connectivity. We need the thing to boot up without a motherboard though. There are really two options a "jumper" method that seems a bit flimsy OR a Supermicro Power Control board. It is $35 so it does cost more than the jumper/ shorting method. The Supermicro is preferable for a good reason: it has onboard fan headers to power the fans in the Silverstone DS380's stock fans. Going the jumper route I would need to find power elsewhere.
This is NOT perfect as I think these only have 3-pin fan headers not the PWM 4-pin ones.
Adding it all up
So I did a few different configurations since you can do 8, 12 or 16 drives (using 4 or 8 SSDs). The total in cart is:
8-bay (3.5") DAS Enclosure: $292.50
Option 1: 12-bay (8x 3.5" and 4x non-hot-swap 2.5") DAS Enclosure: $328.46
Option 2: 16 drive (8x 3.5" and 8x non-hot-swap 2.5") DAS Enclosure: $349.87
All three options are less than the $399 DAS unit and there is nothing that is really going to be really "hacky" about this solution. I think the footprint is going to be bigger but I can support more drives and it is less expensive.
Something else I like: later on if I want to transition it from DAS to NAS this has the mini ITX footprint already. All I will lose is the SFF-8088 to SFF-8087 adapter and the power control board. Using something like that ASUS P9A-I would probably be a very quick swap out since thit would only involve swapping 2 components for 1 new one.
Thanks and credits
thanks to the people in the Silverstone DS380 thread for the information and inspiration behind this mini-guide. Also Jeff @ STH for the Supermicro power board guide and DAS wiring guide.
Breaking down the basic components of a DAS box:
- Chassis supporting 8x 3.5" Hard Drives
- Power supply ~300w
- Cables from backplane to external connection
- SFF-8088 SAS ports
- Power control board (since there is no motherboard to turn on an ATX power supply)
Given that information, I set out to build a BOM
Chassis
Silverstone DS380 $149. This is just cheaper than the U-NAS unit although bigger. Another advantage is that it has 4x extra 2.5" internal bays for caching if I want to go more than 8 storage drives.
I do not like the two cross bars in the middle of the drives but good enough for the price.
Power Supply
I am thinking the Silverstone 300w SFX power supply. 80 Plus Bronze and only $50. I know a lot of people are using the 450w version for this case but it should never peak above 200w.
Other benefits, 18dba max but also fanless operation and 24/7 duty cycle rated design advertised.
SFF-8088 Connectors and Backplane
I am combining these together because really you need to know what connectors to pick a cable. Since the Silverstone case has PCI slots on its rear I figured I will do something similar to the Sans Digital DAS enclosure. I picked a Norco C-8087-8088F which is $30-35. There is another option, a 3x mini-SAS one for $50 which is an option for SSDs. If I do go SSDs I was actually considering getting another Norco PCI one becuase the Silverstone case has two PCIe brackets. I could even velcro 4x more SSDs in there because there is room since I will not be adding a motherboard making it a 16 drive, small footprint DAS.
From here I also need SFF-8087 breakout cables. There are 0.5 meter ones sold by monoprice for around $14 each. Top sellers on Amazon in the category and they are not overly long. The case is small and I do want to keep cable lengths shorter.
The odd thing here is that the 0.75m and 1m cables are more expensive. I like not having too much excees and these all are numbered which is nice for a DAS enclosure.
Total cost for cabling: $58 for 8 drive connectivity.
Option 1: Get this 3x SFF-8088 to SFF-8087 board instead and a thrid internal cable. $51 + ($14x3) = $93 total
Option 2: Moving to 16 bay will be another $58 (plus the original $58) and can be done later. ($116 total)
Power control board
Now we have a case, a power supply, and data connectivity. We need the thing to boot up without a motherboard though. There are really two options a "jumper" method that seems a bit flimsy OR a Supermicro Power Control board. It is $35 so it does cost more than the jumper/ shorting method. The Supermicro is preferable for a good reason: it has onboard fan headers to power the fans in the Silverstone DS380's stock fans. Going the jumper route I would need to find power elsewhere.
This is NOT perfect as I think these only have 3-pin fan headers not the PWM 4-pin ones.
Adding it all up
So I did a few different configurations since you can do 8, 12 or 16 drives (using 4 or 8 SSDs). The total in cart is:
8-bay (3.5") DAS Enclosure: $292.50
Option 1: 12-bay (8x 3.5" and 4x non-hot-swap 2.5") DAS Enclosure: $328.46
Option 2: 16 drive (8x 3.5" and 8x non-hot-swap 2.5") DAS Enclosure: $349.87
All three options are less than the $399 DAS unit and there is nothing that is really going to be really "hacky" about this solution. I think the footprint is going to be bigger but I can support more drives and it is less expensive.
Something else I like: later on if I want to transition it from DAS to NAS this has the mini ITX footprint already. All I will lose is the SFF-8088 to SFF-8087 adapter and the power control board. Using something like that ASUS P9A-I would probably be a very quick swap out since thit would only involve swapping 2 components for 1 new one.
Thanks and credits
thanks to the people in the Silverstone DS380 thread for the information and inspiration behind this mini-guide. Also Jeff @ STH for the Supermicro power board guide and DAS wiring guide.