This looks like a solid build to me, also cat proof and so on I guess. My cat once bit jumper wires so my electronics test circuit failed. I currently have my ARM (test) NAS all separate components in a small cabinet. I do not have a 3D printer, but enough old PC cases. Disadvantage is they amplify the the noise and head movements of HDDs. So I use stack-able rubber enclosures and put a thick stone underneath.
HDDs that generate too much heat I only use in old PCs with multiple SATA ports on motherboard and as cold storage. For 24/7 NAS I switched from Intel J1900 based to RK3568 based (is about between Pi3 and Pi4). I moved the SATA_SSD + SATA_HDD(3.5inch) from the Intel to the Arm, with Debian12 configs copied from Intel VM to Arm VM. It worked, but easy to max-out w.r.t. performance. Now I have replaced the SATA_SSD with a NVMe Samsung970+ on PCIe3x2 M.2 M-key slot and less stalls if stressed a lot. The cache is fresh and is starting to fill up, so that takes time, a week or so. This is still with a PCIe-SATA chip because 2x SATA needed initially. I also have this https://aliexpress.com/item/1005007054550648.html , but I will measure/test idle power-consumption first with this setup. The extra JMB582 PCIe-SATA chip has a cooling metal on it, so maybe using the on-SoC SATA multi-PHY saves a bit power although might be in-significant. Current idle power is at least lower than the J1900 board. Power is 12V car battery possible, so 1 cable. 5V is coming from on-board DC/DC converter.The cost is about 50Euros (10 for package delivery). I have plenty of SATA cables, wires, PSUs, etc. Storage (NVMe, SSD, HDD) I had already, no reformat of filesystems, except caching object (LVMcache). The NVMe has still no screw, it is just plugged in like an SD-card and resting on a flat piece of plastic and also the CPU has too small heat-sink, easy throttle when 400% usage, so quite some metal/mechanics work is needed.
HDDs that generate too much heat I only use in old PCs with multiple SATA ports on motherboard and as cold storage. For 24/7 NAS I switched from Intel J1900 based to RK3568 based (is about between Pi3 and Pi4). I moved the SATA_SSD + SATA_HDD(3.5inch) from the Intel to the Arm, with Debian12 configs copied from Intel VM to Arm VM. It worked, but easy to max-out w.r.t. performance. Now I have replaced the SATA_SSD with a NVMe Samsung970+ on PCIe3x2 M.2 M-key slot and less stalls if stressed a lot. The cache is fresh and is starting to fill up, so that takes time, a week or so. This is still with a PCIe-SATA chip because 2x SATA needed initially. I also have this https://aliexpress.com/item/1005007054550648.html , but I will measure/test idle power-consumption first with this setup. The extra JMB582 PCIe-SATA chip has a cooling metal on it, so maybe using the on-SoC SATA multi-PHY saves a bit power although might be in-significant. Current idle power is at least lower than the J1900 board. Power is 12V car battery possible, so 1 cable. 5V is coming from on-board DC/DC converter.
Statistics: Posted by redvli — Sun Mar 02, 2025 9:40 am