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The original was posted on /r/homelab by /u/MorgothTheBauglir on 2025-08-01 20:09:59+00:00.
TLDR;
Wanted to validate the concept of building a DIY NAS using mini pc's and SFF/MFF desktop cases, trying to focus on power efficiency and easily available and cheap materials plus re-utilizing a lot of the stuff I already had - eg. fans, hdd's, IO shields, etc. It turned out pretty good, met all of my personal requirements and couldn't be happier:
- 10x HDD + 2x 256GB SSD
- N150 + 16GB RAM + 512GB NVME
- Deepcool CH160 mesh case
- Combined HDD throughput is around 2GB/s
- Idle power consumptions fluctuates around 120W
- HDD temp averages at 35C
- CPU temp averages at 60C
- No RGB whatsoever
- Wife doesn't know because it's dead silent lol
Context and build log
I've been using my gaming rig as a 24x7 Torrent + PleX server at home for a few years now, had 10x 3.5" HDDs across two 5-bay USB 3.0 enclosures which worked fine with DrivePool and Snapraid but the power consumption was crazy 24x7 for not much demand. Decided to go offload that task to an Alder Lake mini PC and get rid of the USB overhead when moving data around or running backups.
Got the SOYO M4 Plus with 16gb of RAM and 512g SSD for pretty cheap in Aliexpress, replaced the generic SSD with WD's SN5000S 512gb with 2230 and placed it into the WiFi card M.2 slot with the A/E to M key adapter, slapped a couple of ASM1166 M.2 to 6xSATA adapter too and thought it was good (each M.2 is PCIE 3.0 x1 so that's 1GB/s per adapter). However, converting the A/E key to M key added some height to the slot and it started preventing one of the M.2 to SATA adapters from latching completely into the slot.
SN5000S on the M.2 A/E key slot for WiFI, notice how it gets higher due to the adapter
The 2nd M.2 to SATA adapter gets way too high up to the point it can't be completely screwed down to place without bending the PCB.
Since I just wanted to test the system out it actually worked out alright, however, the NVME temperatures were peaking at 79C (due to bad airflow and lack of space between both M.2 slots) and clearly need to have this fixed. The solution was to use an A/E key extender adapter which allowed me to route the NVME under the M.2 to SATA adapter and would give me space to install a proper heatsink and some thermal pads. Temperature went down to 50C and all the adapters were now 100% lined up as they should. The best piece of advice I can give is: always replace the included generic SSD! By doing it so the CPU usage dropped dramatically from thermal throttling non-stop in idle to fluctuating between 60~70C.
"Perfectly balanced as all things should be" - Darth Vader
CPU usage: (1) Included generic SSD, (2) with SN5000S creating some torrents and (3) SN5000S idle. LPT Always get a quality NVMe with chinese mini PC's.
The CH160 case supports both ATX and SFX power supplies but any of those would completely prevent me from installing all 10x HDD's + 2x SSD's so I really had to go smaller and gave it a shot with a Flex PSU and an ATX/SFX conversion bracket. This is by far the most critical component to build this NAS like I wanted, otherwise I would have to rely on power bricks and shady DC to SATA converters - "Fire is the devil's only friend" - nope, just nope. Managed to hide the 24-pin cables nicely behind it along with coupling the ATX power switch.
Flex PSU with ATX/SFX adapter bracket
Another angle, showing how much clearance there is now
Ok, hard drives were next. Managed to screw both 5xHDD cages together as they lined up perfectly and would be treated a single piece from now on. The SATA power cables were perfect for the job as I've had them cherry picked since they had 4cm spacing between each SATA plug which turned out to be precise for a snug fit and leaving no slack around. I've also "painted" the HDD cages with a few permanent black markers I've had laying around as the steel would contrast with the black CH160 a bit too much for my taste, just wanted to tone down the colors a bit for stealth purposes and it went like a charm. Also installed one of the 200W PCIE to SATA power breakout converters (also swapped the 10mm's standoffs with 4mm's), connected the SATA cables and had the mini PC case dremel'd to open way for the SATA connectors. The idea would be to toy around with it all and try to find the best fit and assess the possibilities.
Power cables with 4cm spacing worked out perfectly.
HDD's being thrown into position.
4mm standoffs vs 10mm ones - squeezing every possible clearance we can get
Test fitting chaos.
Settled on the overall position and started routing cables left and right and putting each piece on their final position. Place 2x60mm's close the PSU as they would be intaking cool air towards the mini PC and I've also managed to double tape the SSD's in there as there would be clearance for the mini PC too. I decided to remove the mini PC cover altogether as it wasn't helping the cables nicely so it made my life a bit easier, since the PC case is fully meshed I wouldn't worry about dust anyways plus it would also help with the overall cooling too.
Slowly looking less like a pile of tech garbage - which it is..?
Easy there cowboy, the worse is yet to come.
It's FML time now: cable management. Went with the basics of using Velcro's, fold and compressing cables. Some ~~cheating too~~ zip ties were used but just to fix unmovable things such as fan molex connectors and stubborn hard wires. Speaking of hard wires, untying the flat cable wires and bundling them up with cloth insulation tape did wonders to facilitate the work and remove the excess cables and connectors. I just cut them off and had the bare wires covered with liquid insulation tape. Clean and easy. The fact that I've placed the fan controller just by the rear I/O should opening helped me tremendously to route all the fan connectors to a common point and route them accordingly as well.
Still a rat's nest.
Untying flat power cable wirings.
Cloth insulation tape doing its magic, much better now.
Far from perfect but will definitely do the job.
Fan controller double taped by the I/O shield.
Since there wouldn't be any I/O shield I decided to 3d print one that I would open just the necessary holes for the build and also to allow the air to pass through. Basically the DC power connector of the mini PC goes through it along with the LAN cable and a USB 3.2 10Gbps hub that I've had laying around to facilitate doing cold storage backups via USB with my former HDD enclosures. I've managed to also punch a perfect hole for the ATX power switch to easily shutdown and on the system, the mini PC power is flawlessly managed via Wake-on-LAN, cool beans.
Rearview - PSU power cord, mini PC DC cable, LAN cable and USB 3.2 10G hub. 3D printed I/O shield with manually cut holes for the cables and power switch.
And I guess that's it, the build is complete. Booted perfectly, recognized all the drives, ran several throughput tests and I'm very satisfied with the overall result as I'm not running any VDEV's, VM's or big workloads. Went with Windows 11 IoT LTSC (non-bloated and solid version, highly recommend it) with good old DrivePool and Snapraid as it's basically for Torrent and PleX/Jellyfin.
[Final product.](https://preview.redd.it/oxzvmtv6tggf1.jpg?wid...
Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/1mf6vo1/poor_mans_80tb_diy_nas_project_with_n150_mini_pc/
