this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2023
15 points (94.1% liked)

Selfhosted

40382 readers
608 users here now

A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

Rules:

  1. Be civil: we're here to support and learn from one another. Insults won't be tolerated. Flame wars are frowned upon.

  2. No spam posting.

  3. Posts have to be centered around self-hosting. There are other communities for discussing hardware or home computing. If it's not obvious why your post topic revolves around selfhosting, please include details to make it clear.

  4. Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or github here. Just post the link for folks to click.

  5. Submission headline should match the article title (don’t cherry-pick information from the title to fit your agenda).

  6. No trolling.

Resources:

Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.

Questions? DM the mods!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [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.