NAS + ​Pine64 ROCK64 = Few Important Questions

[FilipWozniak]

Hello,

Recently, I thought that I would really like to setup a personal NAS. However, I also thought that it will be a way more interesting to create a storage by myself. Here are a few reasons. Firstly, prices of pre-determined solutions (e.g. Synology) are probably too high for my needs. Secondly, I have a background in IT, so I consider this as an interesting experience with electronics and SBC. What's more, I have two unused drives that will probably meet my space needs.

I really need something with a USB 3.0 interface because I want fast communication via local and global network. My first thought - Raspberry PI. However, I was very disappointed, when I read that Raspberry does not have USB 3.0. What a shame!   So I've started looking for SBC, which is both inexpensive and has at least one USB 3.0.
I found Pine64. I've read a lot, but I have some questions that may turn out to be crucial during choosing SBC or a cheap NAS device. I decided that it would be much easier to show what I want to create with the help of a chart, so I put one below.



SOFTWARE: 

1. Can all of the above functionalities be achieved using OMV? 
   
2. Does OMV work well with a Pine64? Should I rather think about a stronger version that has 4GB or more USB 3.0 ports? 
   
3. Is OMV enough for my needs, or do I need something like FreeNAS? I've read about FreeNAS, but I'm terrified that NAS software may require as much as 8 GB of RAM! 
   

FUTURE PLANS: 

1. Ideally, it will be possible to purchase several IP cameras (no more than five) in the future and have a live-preview via OMV. What's more, I would like to achieve the recording functionality from the selected camera to the given folder. Perhaps this is trivial, but I imagine a situation when I am not at home and I want to set the recording for the next few hours or simply enable it when I forget about it (via Android Phone). 
   
2. I also saw the equivalent of OMV application, but for Android. It was probably OMV Remote Free. Does it contain all functionalities (or at least the most important ones) that OMV offers in Web Panel?
   
3. I have an old, unnecessary tablet. I wonder if there is a possibility to use it in any way in connection with the NAS? I was thinking about a simple frame that will show disk resources, temperature etc. If not that, then maybe someone has an idea for something more interesting?
   

HARDWARE:

1. The main bottleneck here is HUB. As I mentioned, it should be rather a NAS, which is very cheap and is based on elements that have been left from previous computers. Will there be any problems to use the USB 3.0 HUB to expand the number of USB ports and connect more hard drives? 
   I would like to add that the two main disks will use the SATA / IDE Adapter - USB 3.0 with external power supply (at least one of them will have external power supply). If all of them will be using USB power (or even more in the future), could there be a problem? Can the bandwidth be reduced?
2. I would like to keep the Multimedia (Movies, TV Series) on the external disk, but in such a way that after unplugging and attaching again, there will be no errors and PLEX will guess that it should use the right files automatically.
   

REQUIREMENTS:

1. On YouTube, I saw that PS3 can be connected to a PLEX, but from what I remember from a few years ago, while playing multimedia from USB there were still problems with subtitles (TXT, SRT). Do I have to take care of the video format and subtitles using PLEX?
   
2. Dropbox Connection - absolutely necessary function. I have a folder with photos - about 50GB. Priceless. I can imagine situations that someone steals my computer - that's why I have NAS and backup at home. I can also imagine the situation that there is a fire (or whatever) and I also lose the NAS. I would like data from several folders (Photos, Private Files) to be sent to my Dropbox account (1 TB) immediately. Is it possible? In the simplest terms, I want to implement a few simple schemes, e.g. 
   

• Upload New Photos -> Send Them to the NAS -> NAS Sends Data to Dropbox
  
• Take a Photo using Phone (not necessarily being connected to my own network) -> Send Photo to the NAS -> NAS Sends Photo to Dropbox
  

• Of course, I'm talking here about really necessary data, not about FULL HD movies 

I do not have any questions related to the FOLDERS, because I've read that ACL is very extensive, so it will certainly manage to implement such a simple scheme with division into three roles and several folders.

At first, it seemed to me that my NAS doesn't have to be very complex, but after a few days of thinking, the idea grew, that's why I'm asking if a cheap SBC with 2 GB of RAM is enough. More specifically, I'm asking about Pine64 ROCK64 - Rockchip RK3328 Cortex A53 Quad-Core 1.2GHz + 2GB RAM  The best alternative (not much more expensive) I've found is Odroid XU4Q - Samsung Exynos5422 Octa-Core 2,0GHz / 1,4GHz + 2GB RAM. However, the only difference is an additional USB 3.0 port.

Thanks in advance,
Filip

[Luke]

Hi Filip,

I think that you can probably achieve all you want and need with the Rock64. However, since you wish to use multiple drives I'd probably suggest using a RockPro64 with a PCIe->SATA adapter. This also leaves plenty of room for all sorts of expansion possible (since you'll still have USB 3 and C available).

There is also a nice case to fit it all if you want to.

[FilipWozniak]

Hi Filip,

I think that you can probably achieve all you want and need with the Rock64. However, since you wish to use multiple drives I'd probably suggest using a RockPro64 with a PCIe->SATA adapter. This also leaves plenty of room for all sorts of expansion possible (since you'll still have USB 3 and C available).

There is also a nice case to fit it all if you want to.

My brilliant idea for a better disks performance is Power Supply Adapter 15W (5V/3A) for USB 3.0 HUB I'm not sure if it really will have a real impact on performance. What do you think?

Literally today, before you wrote, I thought about the same solution. The problem is that only one of my hard drives has a SATA interface. Next two are IDE to USB 3.0 and ordinary USB 3.0 (Verbatim 750GB Store 'n' Go USB 3.0 2.5 Inch External Hard Drive Silver), respectively. I must, however, mention that for the past two days, I've read a lot about Rock64's incompatibility with USB 3.0 HUB (even with an additional power supply). Basically, through 'incompatibility' I mean many errors and a reduced performance. Well, I do not expect speed close to 640MBps. I am realist. After all, it would be much better to be able to operate at speeds closer to half that value than only at 20-30MBps  

What's more, very nice OMV forum users told me that RAM in the NAS is not as important as I suspected, so I thought it would be better to buy Pine64 ROCKPro64 - Rockchip RK3399 Cortex A72 / A53 + 2GB RAM, rather than Pine64 ROCK64 - Rockchip RK3328 Cortex A53 Quad-Core 1.2GHz + 4GB RAM.

Have you got experience with connecting multiple hard drives to a RockPro64 and using simultaneously so many plugins & services? I prefer to find everything out earlier and invest in a different solution (e.g. Synology) rather than lose money.

[default_user8]

Hi Filip,

I think that you can probably achieve all you want and need with the Rock64. However, since you wish to use multiple drives I'd probably suggest using a RockPro64 with a PCIe->SATA adapter. This also leaves plenty of room for all sorts of expansion possible (since you'll still have USB 3 and C available).

There is also a nice case to fit it all if you want to.

My brilliant idea for a better disks performance is Power Supply Adapter 15W (5V/3A) for USB 3.0 HUB I'm not sure if it really will have a real impact on per[formance. What do you think?

Literally today, before you wrote, I thought about the same solution. The problem is that only one of my hard drives has a SATA interface. Next two are IDE to USB 3.0 and ordinary USB 3.0 (Verbatim 750GB Store 'n' Go USB 3.0 2.5 Inch External Hard Drive Silver), respectively. I must, however, mention that for the past two days, I've read a lot about Rock64's incompatibility with USB 3.0 HUB (even with an additional power supply). Basically, through 'incompatibility' I mean many errors and a reduced performance. Well, I do not expect speed close to 640MBps. I am realist. After all, it would be much better to be able to operate at speeds closer to half that value than only at 20-30MBps  

What's more, very nice OMV forum users told me that RAM in the NAS is not as important as I suspected, so I thought it would be better to buy Pine64 ROCKPro64 - Rockchip RK3399 Cortex A72 / A53 + 2GB RAM, rather than Pine64 ROCK64 - Rockchip RK3328 Cortex A53 Quad-Core 1.2GHz + 4GB RAM.

Have you got experience with connecting multiple hard drives to a RockPro64 and using simultaneously so many plugins & services? I prefer to find everything out earlier and invest in a different solution (e.g. Synology) rather than lose money.

Flip, I have been running nextcloudpi and plexmediaserver on a raspi 3b for some time now without much difficulty, except for the slow throughput.  I had been having some issues with nextcloud and after chatting with nacho about them he suggested i rebuild and start from scratch.  My previous setup was booting from an 80gb hard drive with a usb 2 enclosure and running 2 1tb drives as my NAS, one as the active device and the second as a mirror of the first via rsync every Monday morning at 3am.  Since i was starting from scratch i did some reading and found the rock64 had faster memory, ethernet, and usb3 which put it ahead of any raspberry pi.  I bought my 1gb rock 64 off ebay with a 16gb sd card and a 3amp power supply for $30USD.  Now my setup is booting the rock64 from the sd, my active drive on the usb 3, and my backup drive is on usb 2.  I did this as a test platform to see if i needed to get the 4gb board and then i would retask the 1gb board as my pihole, and pivpn server.  However, with nextcloud, plex media server, and raspi moniter running i have rarely seen memory use go over 600mb.  Hope this info helps, looking forward to hearing your thoughts on my setup.

[FilipWozniak]

Flip, I have been running nextcloudpi and plexmediaserver on a raspi 3b for some time now without much difficulty, except for the slow throughput.  I had been having some issues with nextcloud and after chatting with nacho about them he suggested i rebuild and start from scratch.  My previous setup was booting from an 80gb hard drive with a usb 2 enclosure and running 2 1tb drives as my NAS, one as the active device and the second as a mirror of the first via rsync every Monday morning at 3am.  Since i was starting from scratch i did some reading and found the rock64 had faster memory, ethernet, and usb3 which put it ahead of any raspberry pi.  I bought my 1gb rock 64 off ebay with a 16gb sd card and a 3amp power supply for $30USD.  Now my setup is booting the rock64 from the sd, my active drive on the usb 3, and my backup drive is on usb 2.  I did this as a test platform to see if i needed to get the 4gb board and then i would retask the 1gb board as my pihole, and pivpn server.  However, with nextcloud, plex media server, and raspi moniter running i have rarely seen memory use go over 600mb.  Hope this info helps, looking forward to hearing your thoughts on my setup.

Thank you for your reply!  It is much more valuable because it is based on your real experience with various SBCs. I'm getting closer to buy Rock64 or RockPro64, especially when I looked again at the prices of NAS (Synology, Western Digital) that meet the above requirements. 

Unfortunately, as far as I understood correctly, you use Rock64 + 1GB RAM, but without USB HUB, right? Basically, Rock64 users scared me, saying that the rule is simple. The more disks, the more trouble. I will wait a few more days. If no one answers, I will probably buy RockPro64, because better communication with disks through ROCKPro64 PCI-E To Dual SATA-II Interface Card is a fine argument 

I was so relieved to hear that you rarely see more than 600 MB of RAM consumption. However, 2 GB of RAM is not much more, whereas I have plans for more complex services. Finally, probably the easiest way will be to test it by myself. 

Do you recommend any alternative solutions? Recently I read about WD My Cloud Home 4TB. It is not much more expensive than building own NAS is. After all, when I saw Dashboard and available services, I quickly gave up this idea. Synology, on the other hand, looks very interesting, but NAS prices (even without any hard drives) are overwhelming 

Probably the last question. Do you recommend any cases? I would like to buy PINE64 NAS Case, but it is not available in my country. Is there a chance that someone used any alternatives in the form of Mini-ITX?

[g_t_j]

Very interesting write-up and oddly enough I'm in the same position as you, considering setting up a NAS based on Rockpro64 and the related NAS kit.

I, like you, want to run a few plugins such as Plex, Owncloud, Transmission, Domoticz, Uniquiti controller etc and have been wondering if the horsepower of this board would be adequate.

However, I'm leaning towards the 4GB version as the 20$ difference is not a big deal inreturn of future-proofing the build but I would like to ask you, why were you thinking of buying the XU4?
I have the XU4 and been thinking about the Rockpro64 as an upgrade as I had a lot of under-powering issues running 2x 2.5 USB 3.0 SATA drives.

[FilipWozniak]

Very interesting write-up and oddly enough I'm in the same position as you, considering setting up a NAS based on Rockpro64 and the related NAS kit.

I, like you, want to run a few plugins such as Plex, Owncloud, Transmission, Domoticz, Uniquiti controller etc and have been wondering if the horsepower of this board would be adequate.

However, I'm leaning towards the 4GB version as the 20$ difference is not a big deal inreturn of future-proofing the build but I would like to ask you, why were you thinking of buying the XU4?
I have the XU4 and been thinking about the Rockpro64 as an upgrade as I had a lot of under-powering issues running 2x 2.5 USB 3.0 SATA drives.

I was thinking about it, because for a few dollars more, I would get an extra USB 3.0  At this price it is very difficult to find SBC with at least one. I was also thinking that I could somehow avoid the under-powering issues you've mentioned and I will not have to use USB 3.0 HUB somehow. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

Furthermore, for a few days, I'm constantly thinking about RockPro64, because something tells me that Rock64 will have exactly the same issues. Besides, I've spent some time looking through OMV forum and literally no one recommends connecting several hard drives with Rock64 through HUB. Mainly, due to the huge number of problems. Not only with lack of power, but also with a lack of desired performance.

I would like to buy RockPro64 with 4GB RAM, but for the last week the investment in the NAS has become much more expensive than I expected it could be. RockPro64 with 4 GB RAM is pretty costly, especially when I look back and see that I planned to buy Rock64 with 2 GB RAM a few days ago. Not to mention cost of the fan and the ROCKPro64 PCI-E To Dual SATA-II Interface Card. I will probably have to believe deeply that RAM does not count as much as the overall stability of the whole platform. 

When do you plan on buying your SBC?

[g_t_j]

Very interesting write-up and oddly enough I'm in the same position as you, considering setting up a NAS based on Rockpro64 and the related NAS kit.

I, like you, want to run a few plugins such as Plex, Owncloud, Transmission, Domoticz, Uniquiti controller etc and have been wondering if the horsepower of this board would be adequate.

However, I'm leaning towards the 4GB version as the 20$ difference is not a big deal inreturn of future-proofing the build but I would like to ask you, why were you thinking of buying the XU4?
I have the XU4 and been thinking about the Rockpro64 as an upgrade as I had a lot of under-powering issues running 2x 2.5 USB 3.0 SATA drives.

I was thinking about it, because for a few dollars more, I would get an extra USB 3.0  At this price it is very difficult to find SBC with at least one. I was also thinking that I could somehow avoid the under-powering issues you've mentioned and I will not have to use USB 3.0 HUB somehow. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

Furthermore, for a few days, I'm constantly thinking about RockPro64, because something tells me that Rock64 will have exactly the same issues. Besides, I've spent some time looking through OMV forum and literally no one recommends connecting several hard drives with Rock64 through HUB. Mainly, due to the huge number of problems. Not only with lack of power, but also with a lack of desired performance.

I would like to buy RockPro64 with 4GB RAM, but for the last week the investment in the NAS has become much more expensive than I expected it could be. RockPro64 with 4 GB RAM is pretty costly, especially when I look back and see that I planned to buy Rock64 with 2 GB RAM a few days ago. Not to mention cost of the fan and the ROCKPro64 PCI-E To Dual SATA-II Interface Card. I will probably have to believe deeply that RAM does not count as much as the overall stability of the whole platform. 

When do you plan on buying your SBC?

With regards to Odroid XU4, it is a very good SBC. However it's seriously dated these days, runs hot and noisy (if you have the fan version of the board) plus the filesystems of OMV over USB is not an advisable practice, even hooked to a powered hub. 

Not only I have had under-powering problems with certain USB 3.0 drives but the new OMV 4.0 won't allow you to set any RAID instances at all. I had to learn that the hard way! The older OMV version didn't have this limitation but the newer one as a measure of precaution and apparently with the main argument being reliability,leaves you no choice but to use rsync to backup your files to a second USB drive.

My main concern with these boards is if they can handle multiple OMV plugins and services. If someone could answer that from experience, that would make me buy all  accessories and proceed to building the NAS. And yes unfortunately if you buy all the necessary parts you nearly reach the 200$ mark and that of course with the drives excluded... but from where I sit, better safe than sorry - better buy something futureproof than regretting it a while later. If the NAS is gong to work well and reliably it's still a viable option compared to other off the shelf solutions. 

I saw someone recommending Qnap 251 which is supposed to be a customizable device that can run OMV. However, if you go buying that bare-bones, it's still substantially more pricey than the RockPro64+NAS kit.

All in all, if I can get some definite answers on how this NAS performs with the plugins I need and a couple of 2.5 SATA HDDs and also how fast and reliable in day-today use, I'd buy it instantly. 

[default_user8]

Flip, I have been running nextcloudpi and plexmediaserver on a raspi 3b for some time now without much difficulty, except for the slow throughput.  I had been having some issues with nextcloud and after chatting with nacho about them he suggested i rebuild and start from scratch.  My previous setup was booting from an 80gb hard drive with a usb 2 enclosure and running 2 1tb drives as my NAS, one as the active device and the second as a mirror of the first via rsync every Monday morning at 3am.  Since i was starting from scratch i did some reading and found the rock64 had faster memory, ethernet, and usb3 which put it ahead of any raspberry pi.  I bought my 1gb rock 64 off ebay with a 16gb sd card and a 3amp power supply for $30USD.  Now my setup is booting the rock64 from the sd, my active drive on the usb 3, and my backup drive is on usb 2.  I did this as a test platform to see if i needed to get the 4gb board and then i would retask the 1gb board as my pihole, and pivpn server.  However, with nextcloud, plex media server, and raspi moniter running i have rarely seen memory use go over 600mb.  Hope this info helps, looking forward to hearing your thoughts on my setup.

Thank you for your reply!  It is much more valuable because it is based on your real experience with various SBCs. I'm getting closer to buy Rock64 or RockPro64, especially when I looked again at the prices of NAS (Synology, Western Digital) that meet the above requirements. 

Unfortunately, as far as I understood correctly, you use Rock64 + 1GB RAM, but without USB HUB, right? Basically, Rock64 users scared me, saying that the rule is simple. The more disks, the more trouble. I will wait a few more days. If no one answers, I will probably buy RockPro64, because better communication with disks through ROCKPro64 PCI-E To Dual SATA-II Interface Card is a fine argument 

I was so relieved to hear that you rarely see more than 600 MB of RAM consumption. However, 2 GB of RAM is not much more, whereas I have plans for more complex services. Finally, probably the easiest way will be to test it by myself. 

Do you recommend any alternative solutions? Recently I read about WD My Cloud Home 4TB. It is not much more expensive than building own NAS is. After all, when I saw Dashboard and available services, I quickly gave up this idea. Synology, on the other hand, looks very interesting, but NAS prices (even without any hard drives) are overwhelming 

Probably the last question. Do you recommend any cases? I would like to buy PINE64 NAS Case, but it is not available in my country. Is there a chance that someone used any alternatives in the form of Mini-ITX?

That is correct I was able to do away with my USB hub that i was using with my raspberry pi setup.  As for which board to go with I would at least get the 2gb rockpro for the setup you are considering.  As for the caae, I built my own.  I built a 4 shelf cube out of plexi glass  just big enough to hold each drive and the board. As for reliability any issues i had with my NAS setup over the years have been self inflicted. I ran on the raspi for 3-4 years and switched over to the rock64 laat week. So far no issues with the rock64 I just need to learn to not tinker so much and just let it do it's job.