The Zimacube NAS - Your Questions Answered (Price, PCIe, 10GbE, ECC and more)

Video Chapters
00:00 - The Start
00:28 - Where The Questions Come From?
01:32 - Zimacube NAS Price?
04:34 - Where is the ECC Memory?
06:47 - What Can You Do With the Thunderbolt 4 Ports?
09:38 - What Speed Are the M.2 NVMe SSD Bays?
12:04 - Can This Use TrueNAS / UnRAID instead of Casa OS?
14:24 - What About Cooling and Ventilation on the ZimaCube NAS?
17:32 - Why is 10GbE Connectivity Absent?
19:15 - Is This Just Using the Jonsbo N2 / N3 Case?
21:40 - Why is the ZimaCube Using an External PSU?
25:57 - PCIe Compatibility? Length, Height, Width?
27:52 - Prototype Sample Unit (Possibly) Coming
28:38 - When Will It Launch On Kickstarter?

The NAScompares Podcast - Let's Talk Data

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[marklewus]

I like the external PSU. Power supplies are a common failure point, and having a external one removes the need for disassembly and cable routing during replacement. In addition to saving space in the box, they remove a large source of heat.

[alphenit]

Would definitely like to know how much power the Zimacuba consumes with and without drives and running TrueNAS instead of CasaOS

[zyghom]

thanks to you, I just built DIY NAS, based on Jonsbo N3 and Topton N6005. Added 2x32GB RAM and 4x 6TB WD Plus. Added 5 Noctua fans (including replacement of CPU one). Total cost: 930GBP

[jimcallahan]

CASAOS Questions (setting up my ZimaBoard)
1. Update: Does the "CasaOS update" update the underlying Debian operating system? My natural instinct when seeing a Debian or Ubuntu command line is to run sudo apt update. When I ran apt update with --yes it seemed to override some hand crafted CasaOS settings and wanted to update the firmware. If CasaOS does not update Debian and Debian update is not recommended then how does one deal with the evolving threat environment CVEs?
2. Admin / Admin vulnerability -- By default Port 22 is left open with default userid, password and host name. This is similar to Admin/Admin on a router or Raspberry Pi where the default user with admin privileges is Pi with a password of Raspberry. At least Raspberry Pi encourages users to change the password.
3. Terminal -- the default web based terminal seemed to lag and it was not recommended for command line "curl" command updates. Windows 10 has an OpenSSH client built in (and an optional OpenSSH server). In the Raspberry Pi documentation I saw instructions for connecting to Raspberry Pi using Windows Terminal with SSH using an SSH Key rather than a password. Also in Raspberry Pi documentation I saw connecting to Raspberry Pi using VS Code on Windows which would be similar to using VS Code to connect to WSL on Windows for Docker. This is mostly a documentation issue, so I would suggest looking at the Raspberry Pi documentation to get a model for security and connectivity documentation. You don't have to reinvent the wheel you just have to make sure it works with CasaOS.
I have shutdown and unplugged my ZimaBoard because I do not want to leave it on in an unprotected and potentially unsafe state.

[kwinders]

Got an email today that the Kick Starter is Live.
The prices are pretty high as expected for a high spec unit.

[praetorxyn]

Still leaning DIY with that pricing but thanks for keeping an eye on this. I'm not a fan of the external PSU either, as the one on my Synology comes unplugged very easily compared to an ATX plug.

[RogerDeSalis]

Most interesting broadcast. 10Gbe is a showstopper (alternative product is Asustor FS6712X). If 6 x Rotating Rust, and 4 x NVME, then correctly using NVME as a fast file system cache would be a win for all

[DerekGreen]

The Kickstarter page is available on preview from a few hours ago.
- Goes LIVE at 17:00 (London Time) on Fri 03 Nov 2023 ✅

Assuming they don't change the details, from the preview page...
- ZimaCube: 3905 HKD / 499 USD / 410 GBP (NO Quad NVMe adapter!)
- ZimaCubePro: 7035 HKD / 899 USD / 740 GBP
- Delivery: March 2024 delivery!

Prices above for those who paid the $1 to get access to the 'Early-Bird' pricing (Max-500 backers), everyone else is $100 more.
This Kickstarter is said to close around 12-Dec-2023

[martijnholthaus]

Hi, the Zimacube NAS seems like a very interesting device!
I have just finished a power efficient unraid build on a topton
I have a few questions before i'll crouwdfund the pro (i5) version.
1. Whats the idle power usage when the server is doing nothing (with something like Unraid running) and all disks spun down?
2. Does the bios have an option to always power on the system when power is provided to the system no matter if the system is cut off power abrubtply or a propper shutdown (i like to shut down my server unraid after midnight and start it by activating a smart plug when i need it and my topton mobo )
3. Are there really 2 DDR5 SoDimm slots in the i5 version and do they support 64Gb of (non eec) memory because i have 2 dims on the shelf.
Thanks in advance!
Rgds,
Mart

[yrek]

Been thinking if I should wait for this one, or build a custom one based on i3 12th gen (dont really need 4x eth ports in pro version, while N100 not sure if its not too slow)..

[briccimn]

Prices seem to be very much higher than anticipations, and about 600 for the base and over 1000 for the higher model.
Or have I misunderstood this very confused campaign?

[jordipalet]

I think the mayor missing features is using an i7 which allows AMT support, together with 2x10GbE

[Bytional]

N100 only has 9 PCIE lane(gen 3.0), 1235U has 20 PCIE lane(gen 4.0).

For anyone considering an N100 NAS either DIY or pre-build, it's a good choice on paper, but with very limited PCIE lanes, and poor E-core performances, you will have a decent NAS but with nothing fancy.

[aisback]

Just for an email to “reserve a place” so it’s going live in a few days on kickstarter

[aerobrain]

Signed up with the $1 reservation fee today (both standard and pro), purely as it’s piqued my interest. More than anything, the question about 3rd party RAID OS is what I’d like confirmed if you do get a unit. Started playing with UnRAID and quite like it, and for my needs this hardware should be ideal (and convenient!)

[zazelskycrest]

Hi, just a short question unrelated to Zima Cube. What do you think of using the intel datacenter U.2 SSD instead of M.2 NVME for storage or cache. Recently Ive seen a lot of second hand Intel U.2 SSD in the used market therefore I'm interested to know what do you think?

[brucesearl]

This looks really interesting. I'm looking to replace my dead Drobo 5 bay Direct Attached 5D box. I've got about 16 TB of data on 5 drives (currently backed up onto a single 18TB USB drive which scares me.

Does anyone know if A) Can the CasaOS mix and match drive sizes like the Drobo does so elegantly so that I can upgrade from the 14TB drives I have to put in the ZimaCube to get going with 18TB or 22TB drives as they become affordable and my 14TB drives age out or fail?

B) any possibility of just putting my old Drobo Drives in and having CasaOS recognize them and use them so that I can just start slowly swapping them out one at a time for the newer 14TB drives I have? (saving me tons of copy time) and keeping lots of folders and installed software working maybe.

Thanks in advance and thanks for the videos!

[Platini]

Someone know when it will be released and shipped?

[Platini]

hello someone know what is creator pack?

[whyandaccount]

Why answer straight forward questions with bloated vague responses filled with "wank words". Whatever happened to "Yes" or "No"?
If they can't commit to simple answers, I can't commit $.