$59 CPU/Motherboard ASRock N3150B-ITX Mini-ITX The complete setup price tops at $220 total. Even the safe_mode_gpio=4 and max_usb_current=1 options at /boot/msdos/config.txt did not help. I would still use that setup but it just won’t boot with that larger Maxtor M3 4TB disk because it requires more power and I already used stronger 5V 3.1A charger then 5V 2.0A suggested by vendor. The four humble ARM32 cores and soldered 1GB of RAM was able to squeeze whooping 5MB/s read/write experience from this ZFS/GELI setup but that was not hurting me as I used rsync(1) for differential backups and the Internet connection to that box was limited to about 1.5MB/s. It was of course with GELI encryption and ZFS with enabled LZ4 compression on top. The silenced disk in the Supermicro SC101i case.īefore this setup I used Raspberry Pi 2B with external Western Digital 2TB 2.5 USB 3.0 disk but the storage space requirements become larger so I needed to increase that. I also ‘silenced’ the disk vibrations with felt stickers. I created custom disk holders using steel plates I got from window mosquito net set for my home but you should be able to get something similar in any hardware shop. The disk placement required little modifications. I attached Akyga AK-CA-57 cable to this USB 3.0 connector on the motherboard.Ĭase with Maxtor M3 4TB disk. With attached Akyga AK-CA-57 USB 3.0 cable things get little narrow, but with proper cable lay you will still be able to fit another internal 2.5 SATA disk or external 2.5 USB 3.0 disk. The opened Supermicro SC101i case with ASRock N3150B-ITX motherboard inside and attached Pico PSU looks like that. As this will be my offsite backup replacement which is only 3rd stage/offsite backup I do not need to create redundant mirror/RAID1 protection but it’s definitely possible with two Maxtor M3 4TB 2.5 USB 3.0 drives. The only problem can be more physical one – will it blend will it fit? Fortunately I was able to find a way to fit it in the case and there is even space for the second disk. WHERE ARE THE VERSIONS KEPT SYNCTHING INSTALLIf I was going to install two USB 3.0 disks using this method I would use one of these cables instead: This is the Akyga AK-CA-57 USB 3.0 cable. This motherboard has connector for internal USB 3.0 (so called front panel USB on the case) so I bought Akyga AK-CA-57 front panel cable with USB 3.0 port and connected everything inside the case. Thus it will not make a difference or not a significant one for sure for such storage.Īt first I wanted to make a hole on the motherboard end steel plate (somewhere beside the back ports) with drill to get outside with USB cable from the case and attach it to one of the USB 3.0 ports at the back of the motherboard but fortunately I got better idea. We are not even approaching SATA I standard here which tops at 1.5Gbps. These speeds will drop to about 70MB/s and 90MB/s at the end of the disk respectively for write and read operations. The maximum performance I was able to squeeze from this Maxtor M3 4TB 2.5 USB 3.0 drive was 90MB/s write speed and 120MB/s read speed using pv(1) tool, and that was at the beginning of the disk. The difference can be important for low latency high throughput SSD drives that approach 580MB/s speed but not for traditional rotational disks moving gently at 5400RPM. While SATA III provides theoretical throughput of 6Gbps the USB 3.0 provides 5Gbps theoretical throughput. I will use an external Maxtor M3 4TB 2.5 drive and connect it via the USB 3.0 port in this setup. I think you do already know where I am going with my thoughts. The internal Seagate 4TB ST4000LM024 2.5 SATA drive costs about $180-190 but the same disk sold as Maxtor M3 4TB 2.5 disk in external case with Maxtor brand (which is owned by Seagate anyway) and USB 3.0 port costs half of that – about $90-100. One thing that surprised me very much was the hard disk cost. Here is how the Supermicro SC101i case looks like with ASRock N3150B-ITX motherboard installed. You may also check the follow up Silent Fanless FreeBSD Server – Redundant Backup article. Keep in mind that ASRock also made very similar N3150-ITX motherboard (no ‘B’ in model name) with different ports/connectors that may better suit your needs better. I also got more power efficient ASRock N3150B-ITX motherboard with only 6W TDP which includes 4-core Celeron N3150 CPU and also nice small Supermicro SC101i Mini ITX case. Today I would like to show another practical example of such setup and with more hands on approach along with real power usage measurements with power meter. To my pleasant surprise BSD NOW Episode 253: Silence of the Fans featured my article for which I am very grateful. I already once wrote about this topic at the Silent Fanless FreeBSD Desktop/Server article.
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