did you look at pre-built like QNAP, Synology, etc. ? If you don’t want to get your hands dirty & for easy of maintenance.
If it’s for occasional use, you may want to look into a router which support HDD sharing, obviously both router & hdd are connected to UPS.
May be if you throw more light on your use case, you will get better recommendations. Like, how many users will be using? you need mobile backup/syncing? planning to host any apps? streaming? external access for times away from home?
Thanks for the response. I tried out the router thing but that doesn’t work too well.
The synology and other pre built solutions are way pricier. It is easier to create a single pc with MIcro ATX board and a small case for lesser than 40k with 6TB hdd.
My use case is sort of a hybrid use case. I want to use it as a data store for my personal items plus a regular use data store for my Data Science databases that I keep working on.
The second item is quite read write heavy so was even thinking if I can use a ssd as a cache for the hdd NAS.
I thought will use the rpi4 with Argon case but that is costing the same as a 3rd gen ryzen 3 pc.
Here is my build from pc price tracker for the pc that I think will become a NAS for me:
Current budget doesn’t allow me to do that maybe a few months down the line. I hope the single drive works without needing any fail overs for atleast 6 months
I was in the same boat. Scouted around and snagged a 4-bay synology. Pre-built solutions (syn, terra, qnap) are usually far more compact. The most compact m-atx board with 4+ bays would be something like node 804 i think - still larger than most 4-bays.
See if you can snag a mini pc (dell/lenovo) + a used 4-bay nas .. this should sort you out for home purposed. Building a NAS is better - but in curret scene RAM + HDD will kill you
Yeah the prices are through the roof. I’m thinking of rpi5 8GB, a 4 bay case from amazon, 2 4TB surveillance HDD, and will have to figure out a Sata hat for it as well.
My sense (and please feel free to correct me seniors) .. Pi based NAS is simply not worth it. For a little bit more, once can get a basic case + i3/i5 setup - which typically offers more upgrade paths and flexibility.
I recently moved from a rpi 4 (4gb, used for ~4 years) to an ATX and it’s been running great. While the pi 4 was sufficient as a basic file server and some lightweight services, the other components I required added cost (and mess) to the set up. The pi 5 is more powerful, but again, you need add-ons to build it into an ideal system.
The ATX I got was a refurbed Lenovo Thinkstation, for ~17k with an i3-9100 and 32GB memory, excluding drives. With a pulled 6TB drive (let’s say ~10k) you would still be well under 40k.
With an ATX you’d be able to throw in a better NIC, ECC memory (in workstation models), an extra SSD and what not. Just more flexibility with this form factor, so strongly recommend it over an SBC-based solution.
Before building this, I considered an Odroid H4, but that was also ~17-20k here, so just picked up one of these refurbed boxes.
You can put it in any matx, atx case, most of them would support itx boards.
we are also getting LGA1151 itx boards soon, With 8 sata (native), 2xM2 nvme and 4 x 2.5g lan (intel 226v), It can take 8th, 9th gen processor, and still cheaper thn refurb 8th/9th gen minis
Thanks gor this, I was looking into an ATX build as well and honestly with the HDDs it costs about the same even if I go with all new parts. The only problem with this is the sheer size and the lack of compact cases that do not turn the wallet into dust. I was really leaning towards mini itx builds for the compactness but those boards are cha-ching. As soon as I saw the price of the boards dropped sff from the plans altogether.
Then I came across a 4 bay compact NAS case on Amazon. The case is the perfect size and doesn’t look so bad that it would have to be thrown into a closet. I can display it rught in my living room connected directly to Lan.
This is beautiful. Though I doubt I would be able to change the processor. It will mostly be soldered to the board directly.
Is there also a nice tiny, flat-base case that I can use this with?
I do not want to use a Gaming PC case or some tall boy with a 100 USB ports in the front. Something sleek with 0 front panel I/O (will only need the power button) and rest all in the back
Yeah, love the ITX form factor but unfortunately heavy on the wallet. You could consider refurbed SFFs from Lenovo, HP, etc - usually they allow for a single 3.5” drive, and are fairly compact.
Since you’re looking at a 4-bay enclosure, I assume you expect to fill it with more drives in the future?
If so, you could consider something like this. Neat enough to sit in a living room I think.
