I currently have a pretty simple media server. It runs on a desktop made of old parts and has 4 6 TB drives in a raidz1 array. It is used by a lot of friends who add a lot of media, so its been nearly at capacity for a while. The desktop has no more open SATA ports or drive enclosures, so I’m not sure what the best option for adding more drives is.
I know the most obvious answer is buying NAS, but I think it might be a little complex for what I need, because no other devices need any access to this storage. I was considering purchasing a DAS, as it seems like a simple option, but I’ve seen many people say its not worth purchasing a DAS over a NAS. Any opinions would be appreciated.
Edit: Thanks for the suggestions! I’m likely going to go with a new case for some extra drive bays and a PCI-E SAS controller, this seems like the best option for the simplicity and price!
I was asking just about power, but those bays will come in handy as I haven’t been able to get a new case yet, thanks for sharing!
A second power supply does currently seem like the best option. In my research I found Super Flower’s modular power supplies, which can apparently power a ton of drives
For the molex to SATA splitters, did you need to get one specifically wired for your PSU?
I’d never looked at them before, but yeah that super flower super modular supply looks pretty sweet. It looks like it has a ton of ports that I assume can be wired up as whatever you need.
For me, the splitters were just generic: they plug to an existing molex out connector and give you 5 SATAs on a ribbon.
https://a.co/d/gXtQ3Qp is what I’d bought, just for reference. The power supply I used them with wasn’t modular (ancient) and so whatever it had was what there was.
Maybe I misread, but if you are planning on having two different PSUs in play for the same system, it’s my understanding that it’s important to make sure the DC outputs share a common ground, which might be a little extra wiring.