Hey everyone! I'm in the process of building a replacement (home) backup server for an old rpi3 I had around: it was running arch + (native) encrypted ZFS. Disks were connected through a USB hard-drive bay. It worked, but it was clumsy and slow.
When I learned about the rockpro64, I figured that would work great for a replacement of that server.
Here are the specs:
- RockPro64 4GB
- 2x1Tb HDD WD Blue (will upgrade to 4x2Tb if this works well)
- Qnine 4 port SATA PCIe card
- Norco ITX-S4 Black mini-ITX case
- Solid Gear FLEX 320W power supply
- Debian stretch (last version available on ayufan's github)
I first installed debian + the (testing) dkms modules for ZFS: this was a super pain-free process.
After I got all the parts (case, power supply, some extra cables) I test-mounted it:
![[Image: B4240E6B-D9FD-48B8-8CD1-6EE96409753A.jpeg]](http://www.blogwith.org/random/B4240E6B-D9FD-48B8-8CD1-6EE96409753A.jpeg)
This is still all super messy as I'm waiting for some extra connectors to properly get power from the power supply (I want to avoid soldering as much as possible).
After rebooting with the SATA card, it was immediately recognized, as well as the zpool that I had in those drives. A full scrub took less than 20 min as opposed to the 9 hours in the rpi!
![[Image: 9DF1F0A1-5F58-4943-9BEB-BA577316E1BB.jpeg]](http://www.blogwith.org/random/9DF1F0A1-5F58-4943-9BEB-BA577316E1BB.jpeg)
Next steps for this:
- Add some extra holes/mounting points that will fit the rockpro64
- Make wiring better
Some further steps
- Figure out how to fwd the USB ports to make the ports at front useful
- Figure out how to control some of the LED lights at the front of the case, as well as the power/reset button
I'll update this thread as I make progress
oh, if anyone's interested, the sata card has a Marvell 9215 chipset. It was recognized out of the box on debian stretch (latest ayufan)
When I learned about the rockpro64, I figured that would work great for a replacement of that server.
Here are the specs:
- RockPro64 4GB
- 2x1Tb HDD WD Blue (will upgrade to 4x2Tb if this works well)
- Qnine 4 port SATA PCIe card
- Norco ITX-S4 Black mini-ITX case
- Solid Gear FLEX 320W power supply
- Debian stretch (last version available on ayufan's github)
I first installed debian + the (testing) dkms modules for ZFS: this was a super pain-free process.
After I got all the parts (case, power supply, some extra cables) I test-mounted it:
This is still all super messy as I'm waiting for some extra connectors to properly get power from the power supply (I want to avoid soldering as much as possible).
After rebooting with the SATA card, it was immediately recognized, as well as the zpool that I had in those drives. A full scrub took less than 20 min as opposed to the 9 hours in the rpi!
Next steps for this:
- Add some extra holes/mounting points that will fit the rockpro64
- Make wiring better
Some further steps
- Figure out how to fwd the USB ports to make the ports at front useful
- Figure out how to control some of the LED lights at the front of the case, as well as the power/reset button
I'll update this thread as I make progress
oh, if anyone's interested, the sata card has a Marvell 9215 chipset. It was recognized out of the box on debian stretch (latest ayufan)
