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Self-hosted CM4 NAS - I have questions; sources, ideas and answers appreciated (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

8 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So I'm looking to build my own CM4-based NAS appliance. I figure that I've got the time to build it, and it'll be cheaper, more powerful and more capable than an off-the-shelf appliance (such as a QNAP or Synology device).

I'm looking to use it for self-hosting, probably 2 - 4 SSD's to run it (Happy to spend the money on the drives, as I can spread that out over time)... will likely start with a relatively cheap 2tib 2.5" SSD like the Crucial BX500 and scale up as I go...

I'd like a relatively neat box - something like the Argon EON. I'd like to use the CM4 because it's got the PCI-E so you can use a relatively full-speed ACPI interface to the SATA ports, which rules out the Argon EON (Except, possibly, as a donor case). I don't have a 3D Printer, but I'd be happy to purchase a printed model from a makers group or similar. I'm happy to actually build up a unit (setting up fans, etc.) but I've no soldering experience whatsoever.

Software-wise, I've already got a RPI4 which I've been playing around with... Seems pretty good, and I had pi-hole running on it for a while (until SD card unreliability took it down).

Does anyone have any experience with a build like this? Any advice on what cases to use, what hats for the PCIE-to-SATA work best? Anything at all, really, that you'd advise?

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

If you're going to be basing this on a pi4, I wouldn't spend the money on SSDs. The pi is going to be your bottleneck, not the drives.

The IO board only has a PCIe 2.0 x1 which has a max speed of 500MB/s.

You'd honestly be better off building an itx system or buying a cheap one and upgrading stuff like RAM. Hell, even a Beelink would be better than a pi

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Those are fair pointers, but I suppose in the back of my mind I'm also thinking about power draw as well... Speed isn't a massive retirement, it's going to be hooked up to a poe network, if I wanted speed I'd first be putting in cat 6 or something...

Not heard of a beelink, time to research, thanks.

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

Beelink is just an inexpensive brand of mini PCs like the Intel NUC. The one I have for my office draws 25W max, but has a 12th gen i3 in it, 16gb ddr5 ram, wifi6, and dual 2.5gb/s ethernet for like $300

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's... Pretty nice, and once you've sourced everything, not that much more than a cm4 with good specifications...

Are they available in the UK easily? I realise that's probably a Google-it answer, but I've not had chance to research yet

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah, and there are plenty for $100-150 with lower specs that might be suitable. I haven't cracked mine open yet, but there's a data connector that they advertise for a 2.5" ssd, as well as an included m.2 ssd. But even if you just got a usb-c drive enclosure it would be faster than a pi.

Pis are great for small applications, so if your goal is just to have drive failure tolerance, it would work. If you want to run something like plex off of the data there you'll have a bad time.

Personally, I'd just buy a synology 2-3 drive box and call it good. I love my 5x5 setup, and a lot of my local services run off it in docker containers.