Marky's Network Attached Storage (NAS) 2024 Build Series
So far I have two entries to my new NAS 2024 Build Series, this is part three. You can check out the previous posts above. You can also check out the twelve part 2019 NAS Build Series if you want to see that.
This entry will focus on case selection. While this seems fairly simple, it kind of sucks for diy NAS builds. There are a lot NAS cases but they all have issues, and most of them are far larger and clunkier than commercial NAS products.
For example, check out this Synology NAS.
Source: Amazon
The case itself is not much larger than the eight drives it holds. While the drives are heavy, the case is very small. Then have a look at a typical case used with a diy NAS.
Source: Amazon
This thing is huge, probably ten times larger than the Synology option. It's a tough price to pay to be able run your own operating system (OS). Unfortunately, that's a deal breaker for me.
There are some decent diy NAS case options out there though, take the Jonsbro cases like this N3 case.
Source: Amazon
I would go with this case if it wasn't for the limitation of one PCI-E card, specialized power supply, and limited motherboard choices due to only supporting ITX. That being said, they just announced the N5 which solves these three problems specifically making it a very attractive choice with an unknown release date. Still these cases are over two times as large as a typical eight drive Synology case. They are also crazy expensive at almost $200.
One case I really like is the new HL15 (Home Lab 15 Drive) from 45 Drives. A very well know enterprise storage company.
Source: 45 Drives Product Page
This case is amazing, supporting 15 drives without any carriages and a hot swap backplane. Unfortunately, it is also $2,000 if you want it complete, or $900 for the case and power supply. That's quite the premium for a little bit of bent steel and backplane. I do love hot swap backplanes, not as much for the hot swap but the lack of cable nightmare.
So what did I go with? I already had a Fractal Design R5 case on hand which is a very popular medium tower with room for around ten 3.5" hard drives and lined with sound dampening.
Source: Amazon
I am making two NAS, a primary and backup. If the N5 releases soon, I might go that route.
I really hate that these are my options, the commercial cases are so amazingly compact it is mind blowing no one has tried to capture this market.
While using my own software is a big factor to why I chose to build my own NAS, I can't really justify spending $2,000 for a commercial NAS without drives that still only has 4GB or 8GB of ram and without 10gbit networking.
With my own build, I can load it with as much ram as I want as well as 10gbit or even 40gbit networking.
In my next post, I am going to go over the hardware choices and the final build of the NAS and then start looking at performance.
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