What I have
I have an old Acer Aspire A515-51G and I also have a desire to have a home server. In combination this creates a need for the laptop to carry more HDDs than it can from factory. Usually it can take one M.2 SSD and one 2.5" SATA drive.
What I want
I want to make the laptop able to run at least 4 HDDs in RAID 5 for storage and have one SSD as boot drive.
What I did
The buying phase
- 4 HDDs
- M.2 to SATA adapter
- 12V/5V SATA power converter
- 12V 10A power supply
The designing phase
I needed space to hold the HDDs, so I designed a 3D printed a cage to attach to the bottom of my laptop. Two 80mm fans can be attach to it. You can see it on printables. Also I remixed a tray (here is the original) so the HDDs can slide in and out of the cage.
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The assembly phase
A cutout at the bottom of the laptop was needed to give access to the SATA ports of the adapter.
I put a 2.5" SSD into the already present place for it in the laptop.
Then the cage was attached to the laptop, the HDDs were put in their trays, the trays inside the cage and the cables attached to the adapter and HDDs.
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I actually have a similar setup that started out just as janky!
This is an HP mini PC I found on Ebay, with an m.2 to 6x sata adapter, hole dremmeled through the top of the case with a custom printed I/o shield to stop the cables or my fingers getting sliced on the metal.
After about 2 years of it sitting in my cupboard (like the first pic), I decided to print myself a LabRax case for everything and make it cleaner, still the same setup inside though!
Before:
After:
That looks very clean. Though I wouls describe my setup as middle ground between your first and second pricture. I have a defines place for everything, just a few open cables.
What do you use to provide power to your drives?
I found some usb to sata power cables on Aliexpress. They can be a bit difficult to come across because there a so many usb to combined sata data/power connectors out there. I like your solution better, I was planning on buying a powered usb hub when I got more drives
Madness!! Great work
this is horrific, i love it so much and want to build one myself now
I have so much joy looking at my abomination.
Ah yes. A DIWhy project. Love it.
Isn’t “DIWhy” used to suggest its a pointless or stupid end result? This thing is awesome.
Eh. I’m my mind, it’s more about the insanity of it, not pointlessness.
I did something similar awhile back. Since you already cut open the bottom of your laptop I would suggest you cutting another window over the CPU and adding a large plate of aluminum as a shelf between the laptop and you hard drives. Then add a shim so the CPU cooler and plate touch, then you will have a passively cool laptop server with an internal UPS battery.
I am not worried about cooling. The system will be in a cool place, the HDDs are cooled by the 80mm fans and the laptop has its own cooling system that I just de-dusted.
Its more that laptop fans are not designed for 24/7 usage, it will wear out quickly. Plus I hated hearing it.
Fair, however, I have run this laptop in a different 24/7 setup for years and it was fine. Also the laptop lives in a place where noone needs to hear it.
Any issues with the M.2 to SATA adapter? I’ve heard rumors to stay away from them, as the SATA controllers tend to overheat. Just wondering how the M.2 card behaves under load while trapped beneath the laptop.
It probably uses less power than a NAS, while having more CPU power and RAM
Plus nothing beats and upgrade using what you already have.
Somewhat off-topic: How could I crosspost to more communities, like DIY on beehaw or 3D printing communities? Would I need to create a completely new post on them? Or just post the link to this post?
At the top of the Lemmy UI underneath your title is a row of option icons; the icon to the left of the last icon with the three vertical dots - looks like maybe the Copy icon, sorta - is the Crosspost option. Click it and follow your nose, the new community dropdown is at the bottom of that next screen.
Thanks, found it.
Do you use the laptop as a laptop? Or is it now just a laptop shaped NAS?
Just as a NAS.
Thats a relief, I was worried you were completely deranged. :D
What NAS software? Does the nvme to sata thing properly pass through the disk serial numbers? Truenas gets very pissy if the disk serial numbers aren’t passed in properly.
I am running fedora server, and yes. Serialnumbers, SMART data, all seems well. Am a bit surprised by that as well.
what made you choose that distro?
Up to date packets, podman built in, well known and therefore easy to find help, sensible defaults.
My only worry really is the m.2 to multi sata adapters reliability.
But it doesnt seem like there are sata-usb adapters with data only, that allow a single power source like yours 🤔
I might do something very similar with a mini PC
These m2 adapters are known to overheat, but otherwise they are much more reliable than usb to sata adapters.
I’ve had a 5x version (op has the 6x) in my fileserver for easily 12+ months. Never given me an issue, just chugs along attached to an itx motherboard. I’ll probably need to get another one at some stage to keep up with the collection of content.
Using a pcie to 4x nvme riser, luckily this motherboard supports bifurcation so its single 16x pcie could become 24 sata drives if I ever required.
USB is far more unreliable compared to these M.2 to data adaptors from my experience.
Oh crazy, good to know! In that case I should have probably gone with that…
That looks hot!
Dude this is so sick
That’s one nudge away from a disaster. I’d 3d print a shroud for the sata ports/connectors that uses the laptop base screws to hold it in place. That way the laptop could slide off the drive cage without every sata port snapping off.
Cage and laptop are screwed to each other.
Do you have more photos of the actual connection process? Like before and after installing the adapter?
No, but installing the adapter itself is exactly the same as installing an M.2 SSD. Afterwards you treat it the same as regular SATA ports in a PC. You connect the SATA data cables to the HDDs and the adapter, and provide power to the HDDs. Power is not handled by the adapter, this is what the DC 12V/5V converter is for.
Does this help you?
It’s a good explanation. I don’t have a spare laptop to attempt such engineering madness, lol.
I would probably add rubber/etc feet on the cage to keep it from vibrating around as they spin, and maybe a handle for carrying! It’s a mobile laptop after all… :) What if someone tries to snatch-and-grab a HDD while you’re getting a coffee, do we have an alarm system? Lo-jack?
This reminds me of the homeless guy I saw walk away from his shopping cart, spin 180 while clicking his imaginary FOB, then mouthing “Boop Boop”.
Needless to say I lost it, core memory.
I do not want to carry it around. I will put it in a corner as a stationary NAS.
…it… it was a joke. but OK thanks for letting us know.
