I intend to set up a NAS using high-capacity 3.5in SATA drives in some form of enclosure connected to my Lenovo M720Q. Currently I have Proxmox running on a 2.5in 256GB SATA SSD and I intend to add a 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD for running VMs/containers.
Since I likely don't want to use USB to connect the enclosure, I was considering adding a PCIe card (which unfortunately requires a proprietary riser but oh well) that allows a better type of connection. Regarding this, I have a few questions:
- What type of connection would be ideal? I was considering a PCIe HBA with two SAS connections, allowing four SATA drives each. Other options I have seen are eSATA ports and mini-SAS.
- Do you have any suggestions regarding good enclosures for the drives?
- Since a PCIe card would take up the space of the current 2.5in SATA SSD, if the enclosure I get is compatible would there be any practical difference in using said SSD to run Proxmox whilst in the enclosure (with the 3.5in drives in the enclosure's other slots)?
Thank you!