NASLite Network Attached Storage

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Task-specific simplicity with low hardware requirements.
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 3:38 pm 
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Testing a new Atom board which does everything I want with NASLite - except supporting sufficient SATA ports :(

So what to do? How can I duct tape my pile of old Promise 4 port cards to this thing?



Know PCI is old and creaky, but it's what I have. Also don't see myself needing SATA III speeds - given that this is essentially a backup of a backup server. MAID - massive array of idle disks. Want to avoid port multipliers due to the problem reports. SATA cards are cheap if you can stuff enough of them.

I know that those old Magma PCI expanders likely could do the deed, but was hoping for something simpler/cheaper. Any ideas appreciated.


The whole point of NASlite was cheap reuse of obsolete hardware? Well, the stuff I have here is really obsolete :):):)


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 7:33 pm 
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Assuming that the motherboards SATA controller supports it, maybe maybe not, you could use a SATA port multiplier to get 5 from it. Otherwise you are kinda stuck it would seem. They are cheap on Ebay running around $15.00 to $20.00.

Mike


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 8:43 pm 
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mikeiver1 wrote:
Assuming that the motherboards SATA controller supports it, maybe maybe not, you could use a SATA port multiplier to get 5 from it. Otherwise you are kinda stuck it would seem. They are cheap on Ebay running around $15.00 to $20.00.

Mike


Mike, thanks for the quick response....

Unfortunately, I don't trust port multipliers. Which as you can imagine puts me at a disadvantage.

https://www.google.com/#q=port+multiplier+file+corruption
http://www.zdnet.com/article/are-sata-port-multipliers-safe/

Did find a $50 Chinese product which expands a miniPCIe slot into 3ea PCI....but am leery of that scheme for NASLite driver reasons.

What I'm really searching for is an internal version of those Magma PCI expansion boxes http://magma.com/products/classic-pci-expansion/13-slot-pci-expansion/ but without the ridiculous price. Failing that, could swallow ordering a full ATX board with plenty of slots - If I could see they had their power use under control. But just don't see many of those.

This N270 Atom board would work very well if more sata ports could be added.


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PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 11:12 am 
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Both of the likes are rather dated, the first one from 2011 and the second from 2013. Allot changes in a few years and the Marvell based units are used in some rather big hardware.

Failing that as an option there is little choice I can see for you but to pony up for a new board with the required expansion on board.

The are other outboard options that will work with your board but they are kind of steep in cost since they are used as back end storage in some enterprises.

Good luck,

Mike


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PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 6:42 pm 
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mikeiver1 wrote:
Both of the likes are rather dated, the first one from 2011 and the second from 2013. Allot changes in a few years and the Marvell based units are used in some rather big hardware.

Failing that as an option there is little choice I can see for you but to pony up for a new board with the required expansion on board.

The are other outboard options that will work with your board but they are kind of steep in cost since they are used as back end storage in some enterprises.

Good luck,

Mike


Yeah, I get your drift. Probably will end up with a different motherboard for sure.

It's easy to solve problems by throwing money at them, though I can see that someone with a good junk pile could extract some value (not me) through a few well placed experiments. It's not like this isn't a common problem (running out of slots).

Am finding some industrial long support life motherboards - but can't say any of them reach the power efficiency of that atom.


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PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 9:38 pm 
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Just pony up for something like this, ASRock AD2550R/U3S3 Mini ITX Server Motherboard DDR3 1066 or this, SUPERMICRO MBD-X7SPA-H-O Mini ITX Server Motherboard DDR2 667 and some RAM and be done with it.

You get the atom you desire, 5 Marvel SATA ports plus 1 eSATA, a PCIe 3.0 16 lane, Dual Intel Gig E ports.

Done!


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 1:20 am 
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Do you still recommend the asrock Mike?


Last edited by Elmon on Thu Dec 07, 2023 4:26 pm, edited 9 times in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:07 pm 
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Location: Up State NY in the USA!!!!
Just about any board with the sime kind of specs should work. If it is to modern then it may lack drivers to grin the devices on the board up. Most any board I have loaded it on it has worked with with few exceptions. I would do a search for the highest rated Atom motherboard on say Newegg or the like and go that route.

BUT, Without having the board to have a go at I can't say yay or nay on it working for you. Make sure that the place you order your board from has a good return policy just in case.

Mike


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