The original post: /r/homelab by /u/skynetarray on 2025-03-11 23:27:40.

Currently I have a Dell PowerEdge R530 using Unraid as OS. Installed are 8x 16 TB 3,5“ SATA HDDs, two of them are parity. Furthermore there are 2x 2TB NVMe in RAID 1 as Cache in two PCIe to M.2 adapter card.

I‘m planning to get more storage and I see two possibilities.

Solution 1: Buy a new server

I could just buy a new server and sell the old one, but I want it to be a Dell PowerEdge again.

I only saw ones with 12x 3,5“ drive slots, so this would be the easiest solution, but it would also mean that I can only fit 4 more drives in it. Better than nothing, but really not ideal. If I want more, then I‘d have to take solution 2 anyways.

Solution 2: Buy a Direct Attached Storage (DAS)

With a DAS I would be more flexible to expand my array to more than 12 drives. One of the big problems is that I would need to decide if I get a tiny DAS that looks more like a Synology NAS or a Tower PC, or a 19“ rack mounted DAS enclosure.

If I’d go for the 19“ one, for example a Dell MD1200 or MD1220, it would fit to my existing 19“ R530 and I can fit many more drives. On the other hand it would need much more power than a tiny DAS or a Tower (I think). Unfortunately I can‘t afford the power consumption that’s like a second server. If it was just a little more than a tiny DAS, then I would consider this, but my R530 draws like 150W in idle and I really can‘t do another 150W.

So now I‘m stuck and I don‘t know how to decide. What are your thoughts? How did you or how would you decide?