On the off chance anyone owns a QM2-2S

[dcrdev 255]

So the boot drive recently bit the bucket on my server box - a 256gb nvme ssd. I suspect due to inadequate cooling / the Frankenstein cable I concocted to break out the only 2230 m.2 connector on my motherboard to a 2280.

 

Although it was relatively simple to replace due to me utilising zfs to create snapshots and push them to my storage pool, which is a mirror of RAIDZ2 vdevs It was still quite time consuming because I had to:

 

• Re-create the partition table
• Install the bootloader
• Re-create the pool
• Send the snapshots to the new pool
• Rebuild the initramfs

So this made me come to the conclusion that I want to:

• Transition to a mirrored pool for my boot drive, so I can swap in replacements with little/no downtime.
• Stop using the Frankenstein cable, but still utilise nvme.
• Improve cooling

But my motherboard is limited in the following ways:

• Mini-itx - only 1 pcie slot
• Only 1 m.2 slot - which only supports 2230 and there are no 2230 nvme ssds on the market.
• Pretty much no room in the case - full to the brim with 3.5" disks.

Then I came across this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/expansion-Low-profile-pre-loaded-Full-height-included/dp/B071NY2Y55/ref=pd_sbs_147_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=JRGRKS0022TNYP3M61FJ - which solves the problem of having 2xNVME drives, adds a hefty heat-sink/fan to solve cooling issues. Granted performance will be reduced on each drive due to pcie bandwidth restrictions, but it'll still be significantly faster than a sata ssd.

 

Only trouble is it's manufactured specifically for QNap embedded NAS systems, there have been reports of it working under Windows 10 though. I am obviously running Linux and the only way I can find out if it's going to be supported, is if I know the chipset - QNap doesn't publish this.

 

Therefore on the off chance that someone has one of these cards - is there any chance you could have a look for a model/part number?

 

Cheers

[PenkethBoy 2068]

i would ask on the QNAP forums - iirc i read something onlong these lines a few weeks back

 

also much more likely to find somebody that already has one