I currently have an HP micro server gen 8 with Xpenology with hybrid raid, which works fairly well, but I’m 2 major versions behind. I’m quite happy with it, but I-d like to have an easier upgrade process, and more options. My main use is NAS and a couple of apps. I’d like to have more flexibility, to easily have an arr suite, etc.
Considerdering the hassle of safely upgrading xpenology because of the hybrid raid (4+4+2+2 Gb HDDs) I-d like a setup which I can easily upgrade and modify.
What are my options here? What RAID options are there that easily and efficiently these these disks?
I don-t have the spare money right now to replace the 2Gb disks. Planned in the future
SHR is just bog-standard Linux mdraid and LVM. This should be mountable from almost any Linux. So, you could switch without reformatting.
You should be able to install e.g. OpenMediaVault to an extra disk (or USB drive) and it should detect your SHR (According to this).
OMV supports Docker containers so installing additional software should be easy.
If you just want a NAS, TrueNAS core and zfs, probably.
If you want to run services, run docker on an OS on bare metal and either zfs or two mirrors, optionally joined with lvm. I don’t think I’d recommend putting all four disks in one array.
Personally I run a bunch of stuff, so I have docker on alma on proxmox.
Hah. I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought of ZFS. I do have a project involving it though.
Alternative is buying used disks. Locally I could find them for 20 a piece
The reliability could be hit and miss no? These could have a bajillion hours on them, depending on where they came from. 20 may be a bargain, until you have to keep replacing them every 2 years or less. Just guessing here.
To go with this you can also look at https://www.goharddrive.com/. They provide white label drives and refurbished drives with a three year warranty in my case. ~$110 USD for a 12TB Seagate Ironwolf.