Motherboard max storage support

[Lion1997]

Hello everybody!

Ok I have a few questions and google doesn't wanna help this time.

I wanna build a file server that can support up to 40tb+. This server is gonna be a Ryzen 5 1400 with a Asus prime B350 Plus. But I found that certain motherboards only support a certain max(like 16tb).

I would like to know what is the max storage space a motherboard can support? Or particularly this Asus mb.

What I found was that if your system still uses BIOS then you would be limited to 2.3tb(or something like that), but with UEFI there is basically no limit, is this the truth?

Thanks everyone!

 

[Barty1884]

Where did you read any mention of max support? Modern boards should only be 'limited' by the number of available SATA+M.2 ports, and the max available drive sizes.

Considering most consumer boards provide 6 SATA III ports, and the max available drive size on SATA II to a consumer is 10TB
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/MGL7YJ/seagate-enterprise-capacity-10tb-35-7200rpm-internal-hard-drive-st10000nm0016

With 8TB more 'common;
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/4fvZxr/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd80efzx

You're only limited by whats available.
6x Ports x 8TB = 48TB of storage over SATA III.
6x Ports x 10TB = 60TB

+Populating an M.2 slot (assuming using all SATA ports doesn't disable it....it shouldn't on B350), say a 1TB SSD for arguments sake...

49 or 61TB of storage.

Use GPT for formatting oposed to MBR if you're using drives >2TB each (and ensure UEFI is selected in the BIOS if you want to boot from one).

 

[Lion1997]

Where did you read any mention of max support? Modern boards should only be 'limited' by the number of available SATA+M.2 ports, and the max available drive sizes.

-I found this on different servers motherboards and some more old motherboards.

Considering most consumer boards provide 6 SATA III ports, and the max available drive size on SATA II to a consumer is 10TB
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/MGL7YJ/seagate-enterprise-capacity-10tb-35-7200rpm-internal-hard-drive-st10000nm0016

With 8TB more 'common;
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/4fvZxr/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd80efzx

You're only limited by whats available.
6x Ports x 8TB = 48TB of storage over SATA III.
6x Ports x 10TB = 60TB

+Populating an M.2 slot (assuming using all SATA ports doesn't disable it....it shouldn't on B350), say a 1TB SSD for arguments sake...

-Thanks, I will not be using M.2 for this system but I appreciate this.

49 or 61TB of storage.

Use GPT for formatting oposed to MBR if you're using drives >2TB each (and ensure UEFI is selected in the BIOS if you want to boot from one).

-Thank you for confirming my knowledge.


-Okay so if I buy 4X8tb = 32tb this motherboard will support this amount of hard drives?

-Sorry for asking kinda dumb questions.
😉

 

[USAFRet]

It should see those drives just fine.
But that's a lot of CPU horsepower to waste on a simple file server.

 

[Barty1884]

-Thank you for confirming my knowledge.


-Okay so if I buy 4X8tb = 32tb this motherboard will support this amount of hard drives?

-Sorry for asking kinda dumb questions.
😉

Yes, the motherboard will support that just fine.

Don't worry about "dumb" questions......we'd rather you ask beforehand than try to fix something incompatible beforehand - we don't want to see anybody spending money needlessly.

On that note, USAFRet makes a great point above. An R5 1400 is excessive for what you want to do with it.

 

[Lion1997]

It should see those drives just fine. But that's a lot of CPU horsepower to waste on a simple file server.

-Yes I know,😀 This would later be expanded to do more complex tasks. (I kinda future proofing.)

 

[Barty1884]

How much "later" are we talking here?

You're looking at a $250 CPU/Mobo combo for a file server.

Unless you intend to repurpose within.....say 6 months, you might be better served getting something more "fit for purpose" now, and build something to do whatever else you want when the time comes.

For example, compared to the R5 + B350 build, a G4560 and B250 board can be done for ~$130
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($74.89 @ B&H)
Motherboard: ASRock - B250M-HDV Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($62.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $137.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-27 14:42 EDT-0400

And realistically, should be lower. The G4560 should be in the $60 range.

Even that would be arguably overkill for what you want.

 

[Lion1997]

It would be within 6 months.

One of the reasons I chose this setup is because there will be about 13 active users that would edit and work on autocad and other big formats. We would also like to expand this server later on to act like a tipe of render-box.

But I see your point and I agree this is overkill. I will redo my spec sheet.

I just wanna say thanks for all you help so far, I really appreciate it!

 

[USAFRet]

It would be within 6 months.

One of the reasons I chose this setup is because there will be about 13 active users that would edit and work on autocad and other big formats. We would also like to expand this server later on to act like a tipe of render-box.

But I see your point and I agree this is overkill. I will redo my spec sheet.

I just wanna say thanks for all you help so far, I really appreciate it!

Well....that's a whole different thing.
You're barking up the wrong trees.

13 active users? I hope you mean 13 workstations, all talking to some shared storage.

A true NAS box (linux based), and then a render box, and then 13 individual workstations.
Oh, and a good backup situation.


This is why 'requirements' need to be specified up front, rather than "how many drives".
What is your workflow, what are the real business needs, what is the budget, what is the workload...
Then and only then do you start on looking at parts.

 

[Lion1997]

Well....that's a whole different thing. You're barking up the wrong trees.

-Why do you say so?

13 active users? I hope you mean 13 workstations, all talking to some shared storage. A true NAS box (linux based), and then a render box, and then 13 individual workstations. Oh, and a good backup situation.

- Yes I meant 13 workstations.
-This system would run openMediaVault or freenas.
-I am emplementing a few backup systems. One being the drives would be running in RAID 10.

This is why 'requirements' need to be specified up front, rather than "how many drives".

-This was never the problem, the problem was the physical total amount of data size (of the harddrives) the motherboard would be able to support.

What is your workflow, what are the real business needs, what is the budget, what is the workload... Then and only then do you start on looking at parts.

-I understand that. I have a diagram of how the workflow. And all the needs the business has. Thats why I chose those parts.


Thanks for all your help I really appreciate it.

 

[USAFRet]

I'm just saying...that chosen CPU is both overkill and underkill.

Overkill for a file server, and underkill for the eventual render box to be shared with multiple people.

 

[Lion1997]

I agree with that.

This system is build around a budget so somethings will be upgraded later on.

Do you have any other suggestions?