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Opinions about using a mini PC with a HDD enclosure as NAS (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I was thinking on buying a 2-4 bay HDD powered enclosure as a NAS for my mini pc, since I already have that, and buying or building a full-fledged diy NAS seems a bit expensive.

I want to hear some opinions from you guys, since it seems using this method is a mixed area from the selfhosted pros. I would be hoping that by using a powered enclosure, that would alleviate or solve the USB port overcharging issue, which have appeared in my mini pc when trying out an external HDD with a normal sata to usb converter.

Did you have any experiences with a setup like this one?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Reviews on that page are kind of dodgy, but they are for all 3 products listed which makes it difficult to tell which review is for what.

Have you had any of the listed issues? Heat, unrecognized success, etc?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

None.

I think the unrecognized issues are because people think it will behave like a device with a controller vs just USB pass-through. Every disk I've plugged in just shows up fine on the host. I also have only used it with linux.

As for heat, my drives go to sleep when not in use, but even for long stints of backups it wasn't an issue.

Reviews for just the 4-bay: https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B078YQHWYW/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_viewopt_smt?formatType=current_format&pageNumber=1

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Thanks for the reply! I have a couple USB 3.0 2-drive docks that just sit out in the open - consolidating in to a single, enclosed unit with a fan would be nice (since mine or open, you really hear the HD spin up/click when accessing it).

What do you use to adjust your drives' spin down? hdparm? hd-idle? I have one drive that is constantly spinning/accessed so the thermal concerns with the unit do weigh on me.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Oh man it's been a while, but I think I used hdparm. They basically show up as individual USB drives and were SMART capable.

The DAS is disconnected now for a road test (this system will eventually live in a van), but once I reconnect it I could check if you would like.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

If it crosses your mind once it's all hooked up :⁠-⁠)