Projects that turn the Raspberry Pi into a low-cost Network Attached Storage (NAS) solution are very common; all you need is the right software, the Pi itself, and some USB storage devices. But unless you particularly like the “Medusa” look, with loose cables running all over the place, you’ll probably want to put the hardware into a suitable enclosure. Unfortunately, that’s where the somewhat unusual layout of the Pi can make things tricky.
Which is why [AraymBox] came up with this unique “capsule” enclosure for the Raspberry Pi and two USB-attached hard drives. Every effort has been made to keep the outside of this design as clean and streamlined as possible. The asymmetrical loops of wires that we so often see on other projects are gone, with everything been brought inside thanks to some clever wiring. This enclosure looks like a professional product, and if you’re willing to put in the effort, you can have one to call your own.
The good news is that the 3D printed enclosure only has four parts, albeit rather large ones, and none of which require support material. So it should be an easy print even on a relatively low-end machine. Of course, you’re not going to get that futuristic metallic look without a little work. You’ll need to do a considerable amount of sanding, filling, and paint work to get that kind of a surface finish. Then again, that rough “just printed” look has a certain cyberpunk appeal to it as well.
But the printed enclosure is only half the battle. Inside, [AraymBox] has soldered the USB to SATA adapter cables directly to the Raspberry Pi to keep things tight and compact. A micro USB breakout board was then used to add a power connector on the back of the device where the Ethernet and USB ports are, solving the issue of having one lonely USB cable coming out of the side of the case.
In the past we’ve seen other attempts to create a 3D printable enclosure for Pi servers, with varying levels of success. While some would argue that the better solution is to just throw the Pi and the drives in a large enough enclosure that it doesn’t matter what the wiring looks like, we appreciate the effort that some hackers are willing to put in to make something custom.
I wonder if heat is a problem on this one.
yeah, really should have considered using SSDs. less heat, and the heat they do make is somewhat good for the NAND. all the heat that spinning rust makes is detrimental to its health.
Yeah, if it is actually going to be used for valuable data and not just movies, it could really benefit from a fan or, at least, some way for the air to cool the HDDs passively. These HDDs aren’t all that reliable anyway, and high temperatures just make the life expectancy worse.
In my experience, drives don’t so much hate higher temperatures, but constantly thermal cycling up to those temperatures and back down again. So they’ll run years at a constant 50 or even 60c, but 20-50-20-50-20 on the daily and they’ll barf on your bits.
Only if it’s turned on. ;) Can this be done with OrangePi and BananaPi and Odroid and all the other SBC? ;)
Its Dumb design. Put a disk on either side enclose it with a cooler around the PI , all problems solved in one stting!!!
the thingiverse entry includes multiple options including ssd mounts, and fan ducts.
If this can be expanded to a 4 drive model, then you really have my attention.
https://wiki.radxa.com/Dual_Quad_SATA_HAT
Look for the radxia dual or quad sata hat for pi 4. Can come as a set with casing and fan.
The name of the project is gold! Raspi + NAS = pinas. Or as my inner teen reads it, it becomes something much funnier :D. “Are you gonna show me your pinas? I heard its small”.
I didn’t catch that. That’s pretty good.
My association with the word “pinas” is a bit different. For me it’s a type of ship so it would seem a bit less lude.. Or so I thought because it is a type of junk rigged schooner and “are you gonna show me your yunk” does not make it any better…
Yep Got it …singularly the best part of the build where someone puts USB 2 SATA adapters on a RPI …Yawning uncontrollably
Yeah my first reaction was “WAIT WAT?”
Best Pi NAS I have seen so far:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eix0PCB0byQ
The only drawback to me is, if you are using it for Plex and share, the device will suck for transcoding.
That is really tidy. Though if you are going though that much effort for a NAS I think there are probably better options. IF there are better options for all combinations of price, storage capacity and power consumption however is another story. Will be great if you don’t need super high performance NAS though, and its nice to have relatively open and self administered system.
Why is the comment count on this article going backwards? I saw nothing spammy or unwanted.
Unfortunate name
Pi sucks a lot as NAS..
get some real SBC