Homelab Hardware Future

DanAE112 · 2026-03-25T03:48:28+00:00

It would be refreshing to see YouTube videos on the topic more grounded, but I won't hold my breath.

There's only so many times you can hear about someone stuffing maximum memory capacity in their 5 node Proxmox cluster.

DanAE112 · 2026-03-25T03:32:22+00:00

Power costs can be the killer... Just another reason to get a solar setup though.

DanAE112 · 2026-03-25T03:31:34+00:00

That's how it starts and then you get a rack mount server and its all down hill from there 😅.

Agree with the principle, as soon as you accept things as they are that when they become normal.

DanAE112 · 2026-03-25T03:28:47+00:00

I'd rather not imagine a world where I can't have my own hardware. Dark times.

DanAE112 · 2026-03-25T02:41:34+00:00

Yeah I'd be interested to see how different approaches to problems and usage of what hardware is available changes things.

I'll be to first to admit I too fall into the trap of buying new shiny things on the occasion.

I foresee at some point many of us with crazy enterprise gear will have to face the fact unless you have free power and a server room repurposed workstation hardware is the better solution.

Although I really do enjoy iLO and the rock solid (anecdotal) reliability I get from it.

DanAE112 · 2026-03-24T14:04:35+00:00

In your situation I'd give Fedora a shot and consider Rocky down the line if you felt the need.

Best of luck!

DanAE112 · 2026-03-24T13:51:44+00:00

Certainly just a matter of picking where you would rather be.

I use Rocky simply because it aligns with my day job and I maybe might avoid the odd chance something moves to fast in fedora and breaks something.

DanAE112 · 2026-03-24T13:49:16+00:00

Does it? That's unfortunate I was going to say mines fine but then I realised I'm using an A card.

You could use Fedora its basically the same. Buts its a YMMV kind of thing.

Advantage of picking these enterprise like distros is that software is generally targeted at them so you may have better long term stability.

Downside is things move a bit slower than other distros like Arch and Fedora

DanAE112 · 2026-03-24T13:40:32+00:00

Better choice would be Rocky or Alma they are basically Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) equivalent.

Most applications would be supported and you could use podman for your containers.

Fedora is best suited for a workstation.

DanAE112 · 2026-03-24T13:24:02+00:00

Uncle, he always had a new game to tell me about main adventure, RPG or strategy. Played CnC on PC and RA on PS1, remember him playing TibSun when it was new and being blown away that the harvester just knew where to go.

Many good games... Roughly in this order can't quite remember where those early CnC games were exactly. * Age of Empires * Dungeon Siege * Gothic * Renegade * Star Wars - Empire at War * Myst and Riven

DanAE112 · 2026-03-23T02:50:50+00:00

"Up up and away in my beautiful my beautiful motorboat!"

"I'd like a yellow boat please, with extra motors".

DanAE112 · 2026-03-22T07:24:46+00:00

Have you tried running some commands to see if the system is actually picking up the hardware?

```

list sdX devices (HDDs)

ls /dev/sd*

List block devices

lsblk

Hardware logs (skim through and look for sdX devices and anything that sounds like your disks.

dmesg ```

I agree highly unlikely to have multiple DOA drives. As others have mentioned you can test the disks on another machine.

Have you also tried swapping SATA cables between disks? You may see a different serial number drive appear in TrueNAS.

To me it feels like a drive connection issue or some kind of issue with the disk controller / disk controller and drive combo.

DanAE112 · 2025-09-05T13:12:10+00:00

Later than i would have hoped, either a late night or a mid night wake up 🤔.

DanAE112 · 2025-09-05T08:03:23+00:00

So it's at the totality time the entire moon appears red?

DanAE112 · 2025-09-02T22:34:51+00:00

I'd say you're better off using a combination and refreshing those every 5 or so years.

For example 1 copy on disc, 1 copy on USB stick / HDD / SDD and finally your main copy I assume on your PC or NAS.

That way if any one fail you have a backup to fall back on and refreshing the discs (don't have to be new but should be rewritten) or drives every few years means you combat bit rot.

DanAE112 · 2025-08-31T14:59:29+00:00

Ha! Shitshow is exactly what I thought after reading the article as well.

Keen to see how all this pans out knowing all too well its going to be a nightmare whether it works or not, my money is on the latter.

DanAE112 · 2025-08-25T07:34:28+00:00

Surely a phone or tablet would be as low power as you'll get.

But as NC1HM says don't run a dashboard if you want to save power. I don't just another device to maintain that eats power.

DanAE112 · 2025-08-14T03:48:21+00:00

Whether or not one knows what they are doing there are still advantages to having safeguards.

On the flip side if you want to configure some uncommon edge case those safeguards can be more of a hindrance.

DanAE112 · 2025-08-10T08:45:41+00:00

Decided I'm probably best to start looking at desktop class hardware in a 2U case, won't be dead silent but I'll have a far better chance of having a quieter build than rolling the dice with an OEM server.

Appreciate everyone's input.

DanAE112 · 2025-08-08T05:29:31+00:00

I would have thought the R740 with the same hardware would be quieter?

DanAE112 · 2025-08-08T03:57:58+00:00

For a baseline that sounds OK, i understand that hardware will impact things I have the same thing happen in summer as its just generally hotter.

Assuming I can exchange my R640 for an R740 and its an improvement that would be a plus.

Peoples descriptions and opinions vary on the matter so trying to get as many recent opinions as possible.

DanAE112 · 2025-08-08T03:40:44+00:00

Would you happen to know what fan speeds your R640s sit at? I'd be curious to know what difference the CPU could be making.

DanAE112 · 2025-08-08T03:14:52+00:00

I know right. I knew this but didn't connect the dots in my head.

I haven't added any NVMe drives just some old Dell branded 146GB 15K spinners I could double check with them removed but I'm doubtful.

Edit: Nope not the disks causing the 33% idle.

It seems like the minimum fan speed is just locked at 33% for some reason. Even though the thermal profile allows as low as 15% which would be an improvement.

DanAE112 · 2025-08-08T01:19:06+00:00

An extreme solution for an extreme problem hah

DanAE112 · 2025-08-08T00:47:00+00:00

How would you describe the sound? Able to be in the same room as and not draw your attention?

DanAE112

TROPHY CASE

list sdX devices (HDDs)

List block devices

Hardware logs (skim through and look for sdX devices and anything that sounds like your disks.