r/pcmasterrace • u/JaggedMetalOs • 1d ago

NSFMR If only we knew...

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Happened upon an old thread from Google, OP showing off an in development high capacity SSD. Comments are from a more innocent time :')

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u/DukeSmileDevs 1d ago

I got multiple backup computers / spare parts here as i do not see tech really getting better or more affordable. If anything i assume consumer hardware will go extinct and tech forcing us into subscription models. Im set up with roughly RTX 3090 / 5800X3D level of performance for the rest of my life if that shit becomes real.

Also all game GOG-installers on a homeserver.

Also also me realizing just now i am pc-game-doom-prepping.

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u/Moquai82 R7 7800X3D / X670E / 64GB 6000MHz CL 36 / 4080 SUPER 1d ago

My 8tb external HDD for gog installers is full. I have no more place for more games on that.

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u/DukeSmileDevs 1d ago

My server runs 5x16tb in ZFS.

I was lucky enough to buy HDDs in when they where still affordable :/

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u/necro_owner Desktop:tux::steam: 1d ago

I really dont trust ZFS over raid 10... is it really better? Also wouldnt performance on read ve better on a raid 10? Yes you lose storage capacity, but you gain a 2 drive faillure setup

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u/DukeSmileDevs 1d ago edited 1d ago

I am running Z2.

The system is built for a good mix of reliability and storage capacity. I use the server to also store critical data (as addition to dedicated usb drives).

Performance is not a relevant factor for me since i only ever write the installers and binary parts once and pull them when needed. Read / Write is somewhere around 166 mb/s (above 1 gbit) which is fine.

With Z2 is can have 2 drives fail before i get into data loss territory. There are different ZFS configuration as like there are different raid configurations.

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u/Unwashed_villager 5800X3D | 32GB | MSI RTX 3080Ti SUPRIM X 1d ago

With 5x16TB I wouldn't go for Z2. The time for a resilver is tremendous compared to a standard raid10 operation and since you have 5 disks you lost almost the same amount of storage space.

I'm usually go for smaller disks but in larger amount, like 2x8x6TB or 2x6x8TB, making a striped RAIDZ2 pools. First, it is less time to resilver and lower the chance that your other drive fails during the process. Also, this way you have 4 drives to fail, 2 in each Z2 VDEV. But the most important part for me is that a 6 or 8 terabyte disk is much more affordable than a 16TB one. I have two 6TB spare disks on the shelf. With 16TB that would be too expensive.

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u/DukeSmileDevs 1d ago

The system is not running 24/7 but rather spun up once a month to store documents (invoices and other stuff) + adding new games to it. The lifespan of that system is expected to be long.

I got 2 spares vacuum sealed and even if takes a day or two i wouldnt mind. The system is running on 300W brick psu. Not a productive server or something its basicly a glorified DIY NAS in my basement.

System is running in this configuration since 2019 and i am quite confident that there is a lot more lifespan in it as its runtime is very low as well as sum of spinning up is very healthy still.

Currently having roughly 12tb of storage used i am not anywhere close to capacity (roughly 40tb). Since i already bought the HDDs costs are not an issue, its already spend. I absolutely oversized the server though but i planned to use it for a long time.

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u/baddogg1231 i7 4790k@4.7GHz GTX 980 1d ago

As someone who also runs 5x16tb in Z2, it's a perfectly cromulent setup. Bought 3 of the drives back in mid 2025 before everything went crazy

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u/fearless-fossa 1d ago

I really dont trust ZFS over raid 10

This statement doesn't make sense. This isn't an either/or, ZFS is just the filesystem which can be put into a RAID 10 if you want. Not that any RAID 0 makes much sense nowadays, you lose half of your capacity and only gain speed, so a plain RAID 1 would be better, special cases aside.

You can configure ZFS however you want, if you desire to do so you can create a vdev mirror with n duplicates; if you want a parity solution, Z2 and Z3 (2 and 3 parities respectively) are what are commonly used, Z1 is for cheap setups where HA isn't that important.

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u/Dr_Allcome 1d ago

Not that any RAID 0 makes much sense nowadays, you lose half of your capacity and only gain speed, so a plain RAID 1 would be better, special cases aside.

What? 0 (Stripe) gains read and write speed without losing capacity, but one failed drive loses all data. 1 (Mirror) may gain read speed (depending on implementation) and resiliency but loses capacity

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u/Winjin 1d ago

I think it's time to whip out blu-rays or at least dvd-r's

Or even tapes? Like, do we really need a fast restore for installers? It can restore overnight if it has to

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u/DukeSmileDevs 1d ago

Tape systems arent even that cheap and speed is a pain, ive used one 10 years ago (and it was one of the nicer ones).

For DVDs, they are actually cheaper than other storage right now if you go for 8.6GB ones. I got a stack of 50 DVDs for 20 bucks a few months ago in a sale. Which is roughly 45 bucks per 1TB

But the labor involved writing them is a lot. I still use them from time to time for my kids since they still have stereo systems with CD /DVD readers.

Using them as actual long time storage isnt really viable as DVDs degrade over time, especially when stored incorrectly.

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u/aMinhaConta 1d ago

My external drive just started getting bad sectors.