I have 2 new Exos 22 TB drives and need a system for them.
I was thinking getting the Synology DS923+, 64GB RAM, and a no-Syno m.2 drive for caching the db-es. But I saw some reviews and they say you can’t use other m.2 brands for storage, only for caching the data flaw. I need the storage mode for db-es. I could skip the m.2 drive, with ext4 and Exos it’s not a must, and it seems R1600 CPU it’s pretty powerfull for 4 drives. The biggest problem with this build is the price and the ROI.
So this gets us to the next option - build a new cheaper, but still powerfull system.
Many prise the Intel N100 CPU that is 4C/4T at 6W, it surpases the AMD R1600 as performance, is available in mATX and ITX mobos, and offers more flexibility in choosing the parts.
I will put a list of parts that, I think, will fit the new system and I gladely accept any recommendations. What you guys think, starting with N100?
i dont know, but PassMark - Intel N100 - Price performance comparison
5639 points are enough CPU power for sure.
I once had 5 nodes each on VM on 1200point CPU and it was barely pulling that.
later i changed for 8100 point cpu and was super smooth.
Parts that I found… I hope that they will work together:
Case Kolink Satellite
https://kolink.eu/Home/case-1/mini-itx-2/satellite.html
PSU Lenovo 19V 4.74A 90W MMDLENOVO008-47842
MoBo AsRock N100DC-ITX
https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/N100DC-ITX/index.us.asp
RAM Samsung 32GB DDR4, 3200Mhz, Non-ECC M378A4G43AB2-CWE
https://semiconductor.samsung.com/dram/module/udimm/m378a4g43ab2-cwe/
HDD Seagate Exos X22 22TB SATA x2 pcs - fast-formated to 4Kn, ext4, non-RAID.
https://www.seagate.com/gb/en/support/internal-hard-drives/enterprise-hard-drives/exos-X22/
If all works well, I plan to add 2 extra HDDs in the PCIe port through an adapter (sugestions?), but I don’t know how to power them. I’ll wait to see what MoBo offers.
An m.2 drive for OS and db-es. Still searching. Maybe Samsung PRO 1TB.
For OS, someone tryed Debian Bookworm and works with N100.
What you guys think? Ubuntu LTS or Debian?
Im running several Nodes on a N100-System with 32GB RAM (32gb is possible).
Connected 11 external Drives per USB.
Works like a Charme, Never more than 21watts (System only).
Has the Power to run a win10-vm on top, but than the System is under Full load 
Take a Look at the N100 Mini-PCs.
I paid 180€ for the System and an additional NIC.
This contradicts the official documentation: Intel Processor N100 6M Cache up to 3.40 GHz Product Specifications
I do almost the same, although in my case it’s 12 nodes, a VPN-server, Syncthing-server and a multinode dashboard; just 16GB RAM with zram having all those storagenodes 2GB of RAM.
And even then, the system is fully responsive; even idling some percents of the time. But mostly waiting for I/O.
Thats true, i know.
But it works like a charme with a 32GB Module (1 Slot, Single Channel) since 2 Months now Running as Esxi Host 
Best wishes
Intel lies too often… maybe AMD too. For my Syno DS220+, with Jxxx processor, it says maximum 8GB, but I run 18GB. 
What USB adapters / hubs are you using? Are there any specific models you may recommend?
Will this be in order with the new TOS? where new TOS?
(*goes checking)
I noticed the MB has 1 PCIe 3.0 x4 (x2 mode), and your build is something similar to a system described here.
I am wondering if there is any option to connect SATA / SAS adapter by this PCIe port to a server type 24 HDD shelve and use N100 or slightly more powerful but still power efficient CPU to do such a job. To be more precise, I do not mean here the use case where storj data is being gathered, I rather had on my mind connecting a shelve with already filled HDDs.
I am wondering what low power system could connect and handle 12 or 24 HDDs inside a server shelve and if this might be possible at all?
Wow, nice find. That looks super, but I’m affraid of naked electronics. I see only fire hazzards and fried chips.
For PCIe to SATA maybe you want something like this 
:
What OSes are you running on your N100 systems?
This is a 4-port sata controller followed by three port multiplexers. Even if everything works perfectly and host OS knows how to workaround port multipliers you are still decimating performance by serializing access. In reality this turns to shit (stalls and data loss) very quickly.
Avoid at all costs.
Get old server SAS adapter instead. Cheaper and with a benefit of actually working.
Which new ToS? 
Are there Plans to change something?
I would say, if you still need to buy something then try something (if not anything) else then external drives over USB. Otherwise, make sure the USB-hub is powered (at least 5W per unpowered attached drive, and 1-2W per powered drive). And make sure everything is at least USB 3.
But be sure, that it’s a quite unreliable setup in comparison to SATA/SAS. So not a set-and-forget setup. It usually takes me one hour a month to manage issues related to this.
Although, performance actually isn’t an issue. Because it’s all random, which is inherently slower than disks even SSD moreover bandwidth is higher than most consumer’s internet bandwidth.
Thanks. Yeah, thats why I came up with this PCIe extension card proposal. However, should one like to go the USB hub route, would you guys have any suggestion related to powered USB 3.0 hub (brand and model)? I am recalling I took a look some time ago and it was not easy to find something that had all USB 3.0 connections thus the question.
If possible, I would go for Oracle Linux with Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel, but I repeat, if possible. Based on my experience some hardware is not natively supported but in general its pretty cool OS with XFS as a native filesystem (I believe great option to store database files).
That’s strange, Googled just “powered usb hub 3.0” and I found really a dozen on the first shopping page.
And what do you think about QXP-1600eS-A1164? It seems that SAS would not be supported by @snorkel 2 new Exos 22 TB drives or would it?
And for SAS adapter, what would be your recommendation, anything on your mind that is able to connect to AsRock N100DC-ITX. And @arrogantrabbit, do you think that N100 with SAS adapter might actually work with 24 HDD server shelve?