Question My Win 2012 R2 Essentials server -- may have gone south . . .

[BonzaiDuck]

I started pulling apart the computer cases. The server was built in a Corsair Vengeance C70. That's a nice case. An old, "ammo box" design, but it has potential. I found more stuff I'd bought within the last two years, which I can use. For instance, a 2TB SK Hynix NVME, already set up with a heatsink on a PCIE expansion card.

I don't think that "old" Z170 ASUS workstation board should be retired now. All the PCIE x8 slots, all the extra PCIE lanes, compared to your gaming motherboard. . . .

I'll be quicker to buy a Synology NAS, than to either build or buy a new 13-gen Intel system. I may just build instead of buy. That old C70 case looks promising.

 

[aigomorla]

I don't agree with the advice for the OP to go learn TrueNAS/Linux. IMO he's trying to simplify his life in retirement, not acquire new skills where he's the only end user and nobody else gets to benefit from his new knowledge.

TrueNAS / Unraid is not too difficult to use.
TrueNAS has a toxic community tho, a bunch of elitist that say you need X hardware and ECC ram, but for home applications, its pretty moot.
TrueNAS can be run on almost anything, so Bonzai is bound to have a spare board cpu and ram to setup TrueNAS software OS on.

And lastly again, this is Bonzai were talking about.
I bet he will have more fun trying to learn truenas then actually having the need for it.
I still recommend TrueNAS

 

[BonzaiDuck]

TrueNAS / Unraid is not too difficult to use.
TrueNAS has a toxic community tho, a bunch of elitist that say you need X hardware and ECC ram, but for home applications, its pretty moot.
TrueNAS can be run on almost anything, so Bonzai is bound to have a spare board cpu and ram to setup TrueNAS software OS on.

And lastly again, this is Bonzai were talking about.
I bet he will have more fun trying to learn truenas then actually having the need for it.
I still recommend TrueNAS

Aigo -- you're the man! I'll explain how I spent my day, and how it looks for a future of a few months.

I moved the Super-Micro 8-port controller card and the four pool drives to my old HTPC box. That is still running an i7-2700K and a P8Z68-V-Pro Gen3 motherboard and 20GB of RAM. DDR3 -- I think. I'd stripped it down to only the 480GB ADATA SSD boot drive. The ADATA only has 26 TBW. But even there, that's old hardware, and I can expect failure or a high risk of something going bad eventually.

Ran into a snag when I realized I needed to download the Win 10 drivers for the controller card. The web-site didn't even make it look as though there were drivers for anything later than VISTA, but following the download link, I found a zip file labeled "Windows 10 driver". Once I got that squared away, I installed Stablebit with my ten-year-old license key, which the tech-support guy sent me. All good!

Then it was just a matter of resetting the security permissions. Then I moved my most important files, plus the server's "Software" folder share after pruning the latter of stuff you would never ever need again. Put it on an NVME-to-USB device, ready to move to my workstation. I could've restored the shares on this HTPC box, but I'm just not that eager.

As you say, I have a new, spare Z170 board and i7-6700 processor with Trident-Z RAM -- all perfect. I could probably put TrueNAS on it, as you say. Would not that be possible? I could scuttle the 3TB Hitachi HDDs of the drive pool, and create a new pool using dual or quad NVME expansion cards. I could get four gen 3 NVME SK Hynix 2TB cards, just over $100+ each to build a pool or otherwise use with TrueNAS, could I not?

Point being -- there's no sense in spending money on more hardware that I might not really need. Do I need a new workstation desktop? Not immediately. Do I need a Synology NAS right away? I don't think so.

I was actually thinking to buy a $60 Win 10 Pro new in shrink-wrap -- still available on EBAY. But what you're saying is I don't need to do that, if the TrueNAS will work.

There's no hurry about this. The Corsair Vengeance C70 "ammo-box" case from the old 2012 server is still tip-top. I can gut it, buy a new PSU, put in the surplus (but new) hardware, and -- that could work.

I'm open to ideas.

The worst part of my day came when I was sorting through the Users folder that included my departed brother's files. Reviewing his stuff, I sort of had butterflies in my stomach, and it made me think back over the last 20 years.

I spoke to my surviving brother over the phone, and we're not going to throw those digital mementos away. I'm just going to pour myself a stiff drink tonight and call it a day.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I like to keep my important data inside RAR archives using "Store" compression so if there's ever any bitrot, I will know when I test the RAR archive's integrity. Another advantage is that you can store a ton of files inside a single RAR file which really helps during copying, as a single large file sequential transfer is much faster than reading thousands of files.

Personally, I would prefer an old used Dell or HP workstation with ECC RAM over the Z170 mobo with Trident-Z RAM, for complete peace of mind.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I like to keep my important data inside RAR archives using "Store" compression so if there's ever any bitrot, I will know when I test the RAR archive's integrity. Another advantage is that you can store a ton of files inside a single RAR file which really helps during copying, as a single large file sequential transfer is much faster than reading thousands of files.

Personally, I would prefer an old used Dell or HP workstation with ECC RAM over the Z170 mobo with Trident-Z RAM, for complete peace of mind.

Are those mainstream desktop models -- the Dell and HP -- with ECC? I've always been very careful selecting my RAM for my DIY builds. I stick with G.SKILL. You either find a problem with them right away, or they test reliable and I never worry. But I only had one kit -- I think it was DDR2 -- which required RMA and replacement under lifetime warranty.

I'd like to think that using non-ECC RAM is still much safer than running your submersible Titanic tour vehicle with a game controller.

I'm having an exchange at the moment with a friend in another state, who had probably flirted or dabbled in building his systems. He was still running his Devils Canyon system a year ago -- and continues to run it now -- but, at that time, he bought a Lenovo system with a small footprint. He told me he'd turned away from buying dGPU graphics cards, happy with the onboard Intel or AMD options.

I'm trying to wrap my brain around this much more practical approach to things. On the other hand, I have techie friends who keep older systems with prior-generation operating systems, despite all the hype about security risks from discontinued support.

I'd probably like to just "try" a new system with Win 11, but with a processor that would give me an idea of what you could get in your custom-built choices with a processor leaning toward the performance end of the scale.

Meanwhile, I've got enough NVME storage and good enough backup that I can start sorting through 20 years of data files and pruning away duplications and unwanted material. Slowly -- deliberately -- of course . . .

 

[igor_kavinski]

Are those mainstream desktop models -- the Dell and HP -- with ECC?

The only mainstream model that would support ECC would be AMD desktops but even then, you would have to check their manuals to be sure. But you should be able to find decently priced used Dell or HP workstations with ECC.

https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp-z4-g4-workstation-customizable-1jp11av-1

That one has four cores and you can add more RAM to it.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I found a Dell Precision "small footprint" like that HP with an i7 or i9 13700 processor and 32 GB of RAM for maybe only $500 or $600 more.

Right now, I'm belatedly tuning up the LG Gram laptop I bought in late summer 2021. "Windows 11 version 22H2 . . . Status: Downloading 82%". Should have done this when i bought the lappie.

This is all getting turned around in a positive way this week. I got my drive pool back. I got my files back. I can probably make the Win 10 system fitted with the server drive pool a quasi-temporary server -- just to make me feel even better. I'm going to devise a serious "upgrade" plan for all of it.

Just for what I've done this morning, for resurrecting my drive pool and files -- it's Friday -- and I think I'm going to open the little jar of hash I got from the Canna Dispensary two weeks ago and pinch the bowl of my bong. Wait for my laptop to finish installing . . . . fiddle around some more with these desktops . . . . . flip to the streaming on my Bravia and vedge out for the day . . . .

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I found another forum with a thread from someone who wanted to use Windows 10 for a file server. Someone else posted images from a TrueNAS system. It looks like it might be "the thing".

I could ask some questions, or make some web queries. I may come back to this thread and do that. But basically, I've got a Z170 motherboard, the i7-6700 processor all brand new, and good, tested DDR4-3200 RAM -- 32 GB if I want it. I will still retire yet another system once this TrueNAS is built and running.

 

[Shmee]

TrueNAS isn't the only NAS OS out there either, there are others, such as XigmaNAS, which I believe is much lighter on the system requirements, particularly with system RAM.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

My dentist -- who is also my friend -- had created and then maintained his office information system for some years. Every so often, a PC would be delivered into my hands and my efforts would get me a discount on my bill. He, too, is interested in the Synology product and will probably be just as interested in TrueNAS and similar solutions.

In the meantime, I've raised up the Win 10 HTPC and shared what had been the server folders under Win 2012. This is just temporary. But at this point, given the brand-new though technically dated parts available to me, and also given the promising prospects for re-using a Corsair Vengeance C70 case, I will begin putting a new PC together.

That leaves a choice of OS options. Even the most expensive of those may make total cost to using a PC with parts already obtained about 1/3 the price of the basic Synology device.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'm going to add an update here just in case someone might post another insightful comment.

In economics, we always talk about "the short run" and "the long run".

In the short run, my Windows 10 HTPC has been resurrected with the drivepool and controller. Accounts have been created for shared access from my other systems. I can change the way I was doing things before, so that important files are stored on local workstations and backed up. Maybe I can synch files and folders with the server drivepool -- we can see about that.

The drawback for using this old hardware -- the motherboard, processor, RAM are old. The controller card is old, and the Hitachi 3TB drives have been running a long time.

In the long run (remember what I said), this is probably just a disaster waiting to happen.

Now I have scoured through my parts lockers and discovered the brand-new, completely fresh spare Z170 motherboard I have left from the time of my vaping-pen-static-charge disaster -- I think it was early spring 2021. And I have also discovered a brand-new, fresh i7-6700 processor. I also found my two 2x8GB kits of DDR4-3200 TridentZ GTZ RAM.

And so far, I haven't spent a dime on anything.

I have one more unused, unactivated license for Windows 10 Pro -- purchased as a spare back during the static-charge panic.

I can use Win 10 to host my media files on my network, probably using a free version of Serviio or Plex. So it's just a matter of choosing storage devices for a modicum of space on this "new" hardware. OR -- I even think I could host video streaming from a TrueNAS setup.

Either way, like the criminal Ray Lucca said to the FBI men in the 1980s crime-drama "Crime Story" -- "I'm back; I'm bad; I'm on top --- You wing-tip bozos don' have nuthin' on me!"

I think I even have a brand new PSU, which I'd been saving to test a new 12th or 13th gen workstation I had in mind. But for that, I think I'll just buy one. And there's no hurry, either.

Many thanks to everyone, and particularly AigoMorla.

 

[mxnerd]

Unraid (newest version got ZFS support) for your ASUS Z170 workstation?

7 year old video but the principle still the same, Linus even has the same Z170 board

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'm going to take a closer look at that video. But this is the sort of thing I thought I was doing for the last 20 years: finding ways to multi-purpose my computers. So I'd set up a gaming rig that was also my HTPC.

So now, I'm just using an HTPC doing double-duty as a file server, or -- well, ah -- a media server.

I still feel sort of weird and disturbed, though. Moms stopped using her PC (which I'd built for her) before 2017. My brother still used his, but drifted more and more to his cell-phone -- until he died in January 2022. I got rid of two PCs last year, and I'll get rid of an old Sandy Bridge system (my current HTPC doubling as file server) soon. Too many changes in the household -- awash in aging hardware -- trying to plot a course for my digital future.

I'm also thinking that I myself am "running out of steam". I remember that my primary-care doctor asked me five or six years ago, concerning my PC building preoccupations, if "That was the way you keep yourself sharp?"

I don't know. I'm up to take my driver license renewal test in October. Watching Moms deteriorate these last seven years or so has eroded my own confidence. But I suppose this sort of discussion belongs over on the "Health and Fitness" thread. And, in a way, it's already there . . .

Well, signing off for now. Moms needs to have dinner.