The dream of a completely silent Diskstation

[dan98]

Having been disappointed with a couple of Diskstation models, in an extremely quiet environment, I'm aiming to make a *totally* silent Diskstation.

It's not for heavy duty use, but would be running Plex, NAS, and some other basic stuff for remote access.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fanless-Desktop-Computer-Windows-HUNSN/dp/B085NLTKW6/ref=sr_1_21?crid=2158UUQ0JAIH0&keywords=fanless%2Bpc%2B2280&qid=1648500866&sprefix=fanless%2Bpc%2B2280%2Caps%2C67&sr=8-21&th=1

 

- 8GB RAM

- 128GB internal M.2 2280 for the OS

- 4TB internal SATA SSD for data

- 4TB SSD usb for backup

 

Could this work?

Thanks

 

Edited March 28, 2022 by dan98

[dan98]

Hmmm now reading through some other posts on this forum, it seems Xpenology will only install on particular / specific hardware....is this true, or is it just a bit unknown?

Sorry for the confusion from a complete noob.

I'll keep reading until things hopefully become clear.

 

[Badger]

Not totally sure, but I think you need at least one sata controller for Xpenology.

[Badger]

Sorry i didn't pay attention to your 1st post.  Looks like it does have a Sata slot...  and a Realtec network card.  I bet it would work fine.  Just follow the tutorial(s).

[dan98]

Thanks for that - sounds reassuring. 
I also realised that the whole OS stays on the USB drive (I think?) so I'll only need one SATA drive in the machine.

[flyride]

OS goes to a partition on every SATA disk.  USB disks cannot be used as NAS storage without some hacking of config files.

 

Nothing wrong with a fanless system (my main NAS has 10x SSD's and a fanless power supply) but XPe really wants SATA ports for horizontal expansion.

 

[dan98]

Ok thanks.

Think I'm getting it.

I was hoping to have one USB 4TB for backup only, and one internal SATA 4TB for all the data.

Yeah I'm really aiming for fanless in a silent acoustic environment.. we'll see how  this goes.

 

[flyride]

If you are just using USB as a backup target inside the NAS, that will work.

[asheenlevrai]

@dan98 The specs mention:

 - Storage: 1x mSata SSD, 1x M.2 2280 SSD, 1 x 2.5 Inch HDD

 - Expansion: 1x mSATA3.0, 6Gb/s; 1x SATA3.0, 6Gb/s; 1x ngff M.2 2280 (sata/nvme) SSD

 

I didn't understand if any storage (128GB?) is included in the device or if you should add your own.

 

I guess you'd want to use the 2.5'' SATA port to connect an SSD (to store your data).

 

mSata drives are pretty obsolete/expensive and I'm not sure XPen supports them (please correct me if I'm wrong).

 

AFAIK Xpen does not support M.2 SSDs yet. Or is it M.2 NVMe SSDs? IDK... You may want to look into that 1st since this may be an interesting alternative to the sATA port.

 

Best,

-a-

[dan98]

Thanks for your thoughts.

I was confused at first because I thought the OS requires a separate install drive - turns out that's not the case.

No storage is included so I'll simply buy a 4TB SATA SSD for data.

The M.2 drive won't be required - it seems those drives are more expensive anyway so I'll stick with the SATA option. 

I will use a USB 4TB drive for backup only.

I guess my biggest concern was that main hardware itself will work with Xpenology.

[flyride]

2 hours ago, asheenlevrai said:

mSata drives are pretty obsolete/expensive and I'm not sure XPen supports them (please correct me if I'm wrong).

 

mSATA drives are usually electrically connected to whatever SATA controller in is onboard so they typically work.

 

M.2 is a flexible connector that can support mSATA storage, NVMe storage, M.key devices, or combinations of the three, depending upon the desire of the board manufacturer.  NVMe for primary storage is technically not supported for baremetal, although there have been attempts to hack it in.  The most reliable way to support NVMe is to spoof it in as emulated SATA using a hypervisor.  Probably not a good use of resources in OP's proposed system.