I've been asked to build a "budget" NVMe storage box for a friend. The requirement is that it can handle 8 drives to start and have room to double. This will be built for a testing homelab environment.
(Yes, I realize that the words budget and NVMe don't really mix.)
Enterprise NVMe drives (in a 2.5" form factor) are expensive when new (more reasonable from ebay), and consumer NVMe (in the stick form) are more affordable.
Aside from a dedicated u.2 server from Supermicro, (which is outside the budget), do I go with a couple Icy Dock u.2 enclosure for (4 drives per enclosure)? And go with a U.2 controller? (what options do I have for this)
Or do i just get a few a couple of PCIe cards that can handle 4x NVMe sticks per card? and just add more cards as more drives are needed?
What are my options?
(Yes, I realize that the words budget and NVMe don't really mix.)
Enterprise NVMe drives (in a 2.5" form factor) are expensive when new (more reasonable from ebay), and consumer NVMe (in the stick form) are more affordable.
Aside from a dedicated u.2 server from Supermicro, (which is outside the budget), do I go with a couple Icy Dock u.2 enclosure for (4 drives per enclosure)? And go with a U.2 controller? (what options do I have for this)
Or do i just get a few a couple of PCIe cards that can handle 4x NVMe sticks per card? and just add more cards as more drives are needed?
What are my options?