I've been reading up on these forums for a few months, researching a DIY NAS build. I've learned lots here and really like y'alls community!
I haven't build my own machine of any kind for many years at this point, last having built a gaming rig back in the early 2000s. So I have a few lingering questions that I thought you folks may be able to help me out with.
My needs for a NAS aren't too high. I will have at most one device streaming media from my NAS (via Jellyfin or miniDLNA) to my TV, a few IOT devices writing logs/images, and the occasional torrent download (although likely buffered to a dedicated external SBC before being moved to the NAS). For this purpose, I've decided on the SBC NanoPi M4 with SATA hat (partially based on comments by local mod tkaiser). I plan on running four drives once I figure out the right case and cooling situation.
Here are my remaining questions that I could use some help with:
- Suggestions for 12V PSU that can provide sufficient power to the M4 and to four 3.5" hard drives?
- What are the trade-offs of 2.5" vs 3.5" hard drives? I'm defaulting to 3.5" due to the cost difference?
- Fan / cooling suggestions/recommendations: I have the large M4 heatsink and have read I should switch to copper shims rather than the thermal pad that came with it. What are the drives likely to need?
- HDD mounting: I have a few old desktop cases around. But none have 4x 3.5 mounts. Any suggestions for a stand-alone cage to mount these that allows me to blow air through the drives?
- Cabling: the SATA hat came with an adapter from a 4-pin Molex connection to two SATA power connections. Should I get a 4x splitter, or should I worry about the board not being able to power four drives?
(Attached image of my smallest old mini-ATX dell desktop case with a test layout of the NAS)