Rock64 and Nextcloud

[gleech]

Hi,

I just want to get some opinion on my build. I'm planning to build my own cloud using Nextcloud and Rock64, and using hardware raid for redundancy.

I'm hoping for the community to comment on my hardware selection.

Option A:

Rock64
USB to SATA cable (link)
Icy dock Hard Drive Cage with RAID (link)
250gb SSD (x2)
6A or 8A Power Supply (Link)
5.5mm to 3.5mm Power plug adapter (link)

Option B:

Rock64
USB 3.0 Type A to Type B (Link)
Oodelay USB 3.0 to 2x SATA with hardware RAID (Link)
250gb SSD (x2)
6A or 8A Power Supply (Link)
5.5mm to 3.5mm Power plug adapter (link)


Could anyone comment on the hardware selection. I'm leaning against option A but the Icy dock is more money than the Oodelay, and I'm trying to find out how to power the two SSD if I go with Option B. Can I power the two SSD using the USB 2.0 to SATA power adapter or can I use this splitter (link) and power the Rock64 and the two SSD's, I'm not sure if this is safe.

Hopefully someone could give me some advice.

Thanks

[fire219]

There's a couple things to be aware of:

1) You need to make sure that the USB-SATA adapter, whether it is in the cable or the enclosure, supports Linux. Many of them do not. Neither one you linked has any indication of being supported on Linux, so there is a fair chance that it does not. My recommendation would be to find one that uses the JMS578 chip (use "JMS578" in your search terms).

2) RAID is not a backup. There's a distinction to be made here. Are you looking for maximum availability (data will always be accessible), or maximum data safety (least chance of losing data)? These are not the same thing, and often achieving one means taking compromises on the other. RAID will give you availability of data, but it's not so good at keeping the data safe. RAID controllers (especially cheap ones like you'll find in those two devices you're debating) often have a tendency to break and corrupt all the drives.

My recommendation would be to just use the Rock64 (with a high quality 3A or 4A power supply -- no need for the big ones you have in mind) with a JMS578 adapter hooked up to just one SSD, and use the other SSD as an offline backup (connect with a similar adapter on one of the USB2 ports when you want to backup). This will be safer than cheap RAID and there is less to go wrong.

[pfeerick]

My recommendation would be to just use the Rock64 (with a high quality 3A or 4A power supply -- no need for the big ones you have in mind) with a JMS578 adapter hooked up to just one SSD, and use the other SSD as an offline backup (connect with a similar adapter on one of the USB2 ports when you want to backup). This will be safer than cheap RAID and there is less to go wrong.

I second that! Offline backup is the best way to go... no power spikes to fry primary and backups, no software raid to ruin your day. Do an image of your OS separately, and then do a backup of the SSDs with rsync, syncthing, etc.

[jl_678]

My recommendation would be to just use the Rock64 (with a high quality 3A or 4A power supply -- no need for the big ones you have in mind) with a JMS578 adapter hooked up to just one SSD, and use the other SSD as an offline backup (connect with a similar adapter on one of the USB2 ports when you want to backup). This will be safer than cheap RAID and there is less to go wrong.

I second that! Offline backup is the best way to go... no power spikes to fry primary and backups, no software raid to ruin your day. Do an image of your OS separately, and then do a backup of the SSDs with rsync, syncthing, etc.

I agree with the previous two suggestions and have an alternative backup option.  I run Duplicacy on a Rock64 and use it to backup a local NAS to Backblaze B2.  It works really well and provides the benefit of an offline copy AND a geographically separate copy as well.  The nice thing is that I store all my critical data on the NAS box and so the Rock64 backs them all up in the middle of the night.

From a process standpoint, my script mounts the NAS, backs it up and then unmounts it.

[gleech]

wow, thanks guys for all the inputs, I really appreciate it, I knew I will get a better setup for asking for help.