this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2024
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32
Suggestion for buying drive (feddit.nl)
submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/selfhosted
16 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Recently, my 10-year old drive that I pulled out of an old computer died. I want to buy another one now. The machine will run Jellyfin (I have an existing collection that I will be transferring from another drive), Immich, and the *arr stack.

I have this motherboard which has one SATA port and one PCIe x1 port. For this reason, I won't be able to add a second drive for redudancy, unless I add a PCIe to SATA card.

My biggest concern is that I want the drive to last. I don't want much capacity, I think 1-2 TB is enough. My budget is from 0€ (of course) to 65-70€.

So I have a couple of questions:

  • Should I buy an SSD or an HDD?
  • I live in Greece and ServerPartDeals is not an option because shipping is really high. Do you know a place where I could purchase it? (Preferably in Greece, but not necessary)
  • Do you have any specific drive suggestions?
  • Is there any other way (except for buying a PCIe to SATA card) to add more drives in the motherboard?

Thank you.

top 16 comments
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[–] turkelton 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

If it's only 2 TB I'd go ssd.

And don't get a super cheap one, but something from like Samsung or Sandisk or WD or sth.

You can go PCIe to m.2 pcie nvme.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I've been happy with Crucial's MX500 SSDs.

Is there any other way (except for buying a PCIe to SATA card) to add more drives in the motherboard?

The site does say "1 x M.2".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

This. OP, get an M.2 NVME SSD in 2280 or 2260 size. Then you can add a SATA drive later, when/if you need it.

[–] Bluefruit 5 points 4 months ago

If you dont need the drive to be fast and want best bang for your buck storage capacity, HDD is the way to go.

If you want speed and are ok with a higher price, SSD is best. Used enterprise HDD are usually a good value. Im in the US so not sure about where to purchase exactly.

Something to consider is if the drive you are storing the os and files on are the same, using am HDD will make it slower on start up.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

If ambient noise is a concern, I'd go with an SSD. If money is tight, an HDD will give you the best value.

My server is in an otherwise quiet home office/sitting room, so I went with an 8TB SSD (870 QVO). Spinning disks make a fair bit of noise just waking up, let alone the actual file operations.

[–] eager_eagle 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

As someone who had jellyfin running on HDD and moved it to a solid state: it's a night and day difference when loading things. The reduced storage capacity for the same cost is very much worth it IMO.

[–] raldone01 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I have a ~40TB HDD array and jellyfin is super fast. Just put the database and cache files on a SSD.

For bulk storage of 4k videos with high bitrates HDDs are way cheaper.

[–] eager_eagle 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I have a ~40TB HDD array and jellyfin is super fast

I hope it is. But OP has a single drive.

[–] raldone01 1 points 4 months ago

True multiple drives speed up reads significantly. As long as the videos are sequential read speeds can be very fast (600MB/s) even on one drive though. Results may vary.

[–] just_another_person 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Going in a different direction here:

Buy a stable SSD with your budget to host your OS. Then call around to computer repair places, or E-Waste recycling joints, and ask if they have any old HDD drives laying around that can be recycled to use. Use these older HDDs to store your media and things that can be replaced. You may even get lucky enough to have a few larger HDDs where you can make a backup of your SATA HDD over USB every so often.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago

Why use SSD OS (unless he is using windows ). System can do to USB stick and rest od data to disk, and SSD may be a good option.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters More Letters
PCIe Peripheral Component Interconnect Express
SATA Serial AT Attachment interface for mass storage
SSD Solid State Drive mass storage

3 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 10 acronyms.

[Thread #881 for this sub, first seen 23rd Jul 2024, 23:45] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

At that capacity, I'll cast another vote for SSD if at all possible, but you can certainly get small HDDs pretty cheap now.

If you want the easiest and cheapest way to add more drives, do a search for "sata port multiplier". These cards go for around $25US on Amazon or Ebay. They are NOT fast! It uses a single SATA port to run up to five drives, so all the drives split the bandwidth, but long ago I ran some of them for a few years without any problems. You simply run a sata and power cable from your motherboard to the card, then plug in your drives, it doesn't even require a slot on your motherboard.

[–] TheBigBrother -2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

My recommendation would be buying a used HDD at a local online marketplace, if you want bang for the buck, if you don't, then buy a SSD from AliExpress(important to check reviews)

[–] eager_eagle 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

OP wants it to last, so I wouldn't consider used hardware an option

[–] TheBigBrother 0 points 4 months ago

I have bought several used hardware at local marketplaces which are working like a charm, it depends if you know about what are you looking for when you buy.