A New Home Server - AOOSTAR WTR PRO N100

As a homelab enthusiast 😉, I selfhost many services like Home Assistant and Immich. However, my current home server with a 2TB SSD is almost full. I need a solution to expand my storage capacity. So in this post, I will you tell my journey of how I find a new home server, enjoy!

My Old Home Server

My current home server is a used Dell Optiplex 3050 which only had one M.2 NVME slot and one 2.5" SATA slot. The 2TB M.2 SSD I was using is almost full, leaving me with these options:

• Buy a new 2.5" HDD to supplement my SSD
• Buy a JBOD chassis and connect it to my home server
• Replace the system completely

Option 1: A new 2.5" HDD

The most straightforward solution is to fill the currently empty 2.5" HDD slot. The largest 2.5" HDD available is 5TB in size, which would have been adequate for my needs. However, this option has two problems:

1. A single drive meant no redundancy for my data
2. These 2.5" 5TB drives use SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) technology, which performs poorly for NAS use cases with frequent random read/write operations

I decided to not pursue this option, because I need the redundancy. Therefore, I must use at least 2x 3.5" CMR (Conventional Magnetic Recording) HDDs, preferably enterprise-grade models for even more reliability.

Option 2: JBOD Chassis

A JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) chassis initially seemed promising. I can have multiples 3.5" HDD added to my current home server. However, this option also has 2 problems:

• Most JBOD chassis use USB connections to the host and my old server only had USB 3.0 (5 Gbit/s), which would bottleneck the HDDs
• The cost was relatively high. For example, the Icy Box IB-RD3640SU3 was around €140 on eBay, which costs more than my Optiplex server (€130)

My current home server is simply too old to efficiently use JBOD chassis, which should be used with high speed external connection like thunderbolt or USB4.

Option 3: System Replacement

Since option 1 & 2 was a no go for me, option 3, where I replace the system entirely seems as the most viable option. My criteria for a new home server are:

• Energy efficient
• Powerful enough to run my homelab services
• Equipped with at least 2x 3.5" drive bays for redundancy
• Cost-effective

My Choice: AOOSTAR WTR PRO N100

After researching extensively, I found a server that fits all my criteria: AOOSTAR WTR PRO N100. At $299 (includes shipping), it was competitively priced and met all my requirements.

The closest competitor, the UGREEN NASync DXP4800, also uses an Intel N100 processor and has four 3.5" bays but costs around €500 on Amazon, roughly €200 more than the AOOSTAR. The UGREEN NAS offers its own NAS operating system, which probably added the cost, but I am familiar enough with TrueNAS, so I don't really even want to use another OS. If you want an easy to use NAS, the UGREEN NAS is probably better for you!

Setup and Configuration

The server arrived in perfect condition and it was shipped with good protection. After opening the box, I immediately installed:

• 32GB of RAM
• A 512GB SSD for the operating system
• 2x 16TB Seagate Exos X24 enterprise drives for storage

I installed Proxmox on the SSD, which booted without issues. All drives were accessible in Proxmox. I then virtualized TrueNAS to handle my NAS needs. Passing the ASMedia SATA controller to the TrueNAS VM worked perfectly, allowing TrueNAS to access the individual drives directly.

Limitations and Downsides

While the AOOSTAR WTR PRO N100 offers excellent value, it does have some technical limitations worth considering:

SATA Controller Bottleneck

The server uses an ASM1064 as the SATA controller, which only utilizes PCIe Gen3 x1. This interface maxes out at approximately 1GB/s, which is adequate for normal hard drives with individual speeds around 250MB/s. However, this becomes a significant limitation when using high-performance drives.

For example, dual actuators drives like the Exos 2X18 can achieve speeds exceeding 500MB/s. If you were to install four of these high-performance drives, you would ideally need at least PCIe Gen3 x2 to avoid bottlenecking. With the current controller, you'll never be able to fully utilize the potential of these advanced drives simultaneously.

Limited M.2 SSD Performance

Another limitation is that the m.2 slot only supports PCIe Gen3 x2 speeds rather than the full 4 lanes. This effectively cuts the potential bandwidth in half for NVMe drives. While this won't be noticeable for many workloads, it does mean you won't be able to achieve the maximum speeds that PCIe Gen3 NVMe drives are capable of. For my current casual NAS usage, these limitations aren't deal-breakers, but they're important considerations for anyone requiring maximum throughput.

Troubleshooting: The Vibration Problem

I notice one issue quickly: the server vibrated considerably. This was my first time using enterprise drives, which are known for their vibration and noise levels. At first, I assumed this was normal behavior.

However, since the server sits in my living room, the vibration noise became unbearable during quiet nighttime. After a quick Google search, I found that some people add velcro strips to their NAS to reduce vibration.

I tried another simple solution: adding furniture feet from IKEA to the sides of the drive bays. This modification practically eliminated the vibration! When the drives are spinning but not being actively accessed, the server is now nearly inaudible.

Final Thoughts

This new system has significantly improved my home server setup. The total cost came to roughly:

• $299 for the AOOSTAR WTR PRO N100
• €64 for 32GB RAM (Kingston FURY Impact DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM CL20)
• €25 for a 512GB NVME SSD
• €346 for two 16TB X24 Exos drives (manufacturer recertified)

For approximately €700, I now have a capable system with 32TB of raw storage (16TB usable space with RAIDZ1), plenty of room for expansion with two additional drive bays, and enough processing power to run all my homelab services. The system is quiet, efficient, and should serve my home lab needs for years to come.