Question about replacing/expanding a disk
I have a small mini pc as server similar to [1], which has a super nice small form and has an internal slot for a 2.5" ssd disk. Currently I have a 2TB SSD, but it is filling up rapidly.
My options are:
- Buy a way more expensive 8TB SSD and replace the existing one
- Buy a much cheaper 8TB HDD + enclosure and connect it via USB.
I wonder what are the pros and cons of each option. I like 1 more because the form factor of the homelab is maintained and I don’t need to plug yet another thing. OTOH I’m allergic to spending money 😆 so a cheaper solution (about 4 times cheaper) is always welcome.
Maybe I’m missing a third alternative? Opinions?
I have experienced everything said here about USB drives failing.
What I do now is I have a pair of identical 6TB USB drives set up as a mirrored RAID.
So far so good. It has been a couple of years.
Storage expansion options are the one thing mini-pcs are bad for, so not really any great options there.
You could get a m2 to SATA adapter board, but getting the additional drives powered if you don’t have a ATX PSU isn’t fun.
And yes, use USB only for rarely accessed data.
Says on the product page that that Beelink supports a maximum 2TB SSD, so I wouldn’t go buying another unless you’re sure it can.
As others have said, no USB drives as I’ve had a failure with one too hence me now having a NAS. I know you said you’re allergic to spending money but saving up for one was the best thing I’ve bought for a while.
@ladfrombrad@lemdro.id I wonder if these type of devices will reduce the risk for usb?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KWQ8WFG?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Neither of those options is particularly appealing to me. I’d look at building a more respectable file server, with 4 or more SATA ports. I’d have a relatively tiny SSD to host the OS, and any number of HDDs in some variety of RAID array
If this is for 24/7 use, don’t do USB drives. The problem, typically, is that the SATA->USB chipsets will, at some point, shit themselves and you’ll have random things crashing or even data loss.
They’re really just not designed for constant load, and a server-esque workload is just asking for shit to break at random and data to be lost.
And yes, I know lots of people use them like this, but this is very much a case of it’s perfectly fine until it’s not.
