How it started: mp80
I bought a MiniPC (Blackview MP-80) to run Home Assistant and some lights etc. to go with it.

It’s now exactly one year later this is what my setup looks like now:
BMAX B2 Pro --> Home Assistant OS Blackview MP-80 --> Proxmox --> Nextcloud-AIO & Immich
ODROID H4+ --> Proxmox --> TrueNAS

How it’s going: odroid
With the heatwave in Europe I’ve now installed cooling to keep my HDD’s from heating up.

I know it’s Janky as hell, but I love it. The plan going forward is to buy a 3D Printer so that I can 3D Print a custom 10" rack, and I’ll build my own cooling and temperature monitoring system with ESP32 and create a dashboard for it in Home Assistant and sorting out networking.

It’s a work in progress, having a lot of fun learning and adding new things.

Update: https://piefed.social/post/1356740

    • Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      0·
      4 months ago

      Thanks <3

      I’m going to go with the Sovol SV06 Plus ACE , I’m a big advocate for Open Source, so anything that requires proprietary software isn’t really an option for me.

      I live in a tiny apartment, so my biggest hurdle with getting a 3D printer right now is space.

      • rumba@lemmy.zipEnglish
        1·
        4 months ago

        but, think of it… RACING STRIPES!!! or FLAMES!!!

        You use bamboo skewers to mount the things off the bottom and dampen vibration. mabey use an internal flap and bent the disks out the front and the PSU out the back. If you have enough cardboard, you could even bend it a bit and do like a jet engine with the fan sticking out the front.

        cardboard papercraft homelab… I almost want to get rid of my 42 U rand and make a voltron now.

        • SilentKnightOwl@slrpnk.netEnglish
          1·
          4 months ago

          There would definitely be flames if you forgot the proper holes!

          Lol a jet engine shaped cardboard case held together with bamboo skewers would actually be pretty rad

  • Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zipEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    Yeah, it’s fine … wait, IronWolves in a living space? Paired with that acoustic desk it must be like a train yard, but with more vibrations :D.

    Edit: wrote this before I saw your comment acknowledging the same.
    Well, with HDD there is the noise of the drive itself (the constant one & the searches, spin-ups), and the vibrations which can get acoustically amplified. For the former you need a case, any case, maybe a case in a case (ventilated ofc), for the latter I’ve always (since late 90s) had my HDD on full rubber, no non-rubber connection to the case.

    My current NASies all use these (in desktop cases, I don’t like server hardware if it isn’t necessary, like with disks):

    (They cost like 2 monies with shipping.)

    So if going the 3D-print way, as you mentioned, I would def add the suggestion of incorporating thicc rubber pads or rubber straps into your design, like these ones (I’ve used them a lot decades ago, the only commercial option for silent PC enthusiasts at the time, but I’ve built then myself too):

    (It’s rigid, the disks won’t fall out.)

    • Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      1·
      4 months ago

      The one is a Iron Wolf, the other is a WD Gold, both of which are ~5 years old, they were LOUD when I had a database running on them. They are now a lot quieter than my work laptop so they don’t bug me anymore.

      Thanks for the advice, I really like these solutions I’ll definitely look into them

    • toketin@feddit.itEnglish
      1·
      4 months ago

      Hi, which is the name of this kind of cases? I’m looking a similar way in order to add an external HDD on my local server which is a Lenovo Thinkcentre SFF, so with 3 disks of space (1 hdd 3.5" + 1 2.5" + 1 nvme). Thanks!

  • justme@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    Nice setup. I also started with a mini PC but couldn’t find a reasonable way to add drives, how are yours attached? In general I would love to find some reasonable prices DAS/JBOD options

  • dis_honestfamiliar@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    That’s beautiful but I don’t understand why two pair of cables go into the fan (is that a PSU?) and only one yellow wire comes out. Also where the motherboard. Need answer

  • tiramichu@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    Lol, brilliant.

    At first you are thinking “this is going to be so nice and compact and tidy” and then…

    Love it though

  • bigboitricky@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    I adore every piece of this

    My OG system had the whole side panel on the case ripped out where I stuck a fan because the CPU fan died, that was over a decade ago I love your setup <3

  • Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.socialOPEnglish
    0·
    4 months ago

    A lesson I learnt along the way:

    HDD’s on your desk are loud AF when you’re constantly writing to a database
    Solution: Everything except backups and Media run on SSD’s

    • JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nlEnglish
      1·
      4 months ago

      Some drives are worse than others and higher capacities get worse and worse, in my experience, Seagate drives are extremely loud.

      If you get helium drives (like wd red plus > 8TB i think),or 2nd hand hgst/ WD enterprise drives) they are significantly quieter.

      But, having an ssd is cheaper probably. I have an SSD for the boot drive and all databases, configuration folders, etc… In docker so general IO is fast, then media, documents, pictures, etc… On the big HDDs.

    • Ptsf@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      4 months ago

      Depends on the drive too, I have some insanely loud Ironwolf drives and you would never guess they’re from the same manufacturer as my practically silent Exos X18s.

      • Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.socialOPEnglish
        1·
        4 months ago

        The other HDD I have is a WD Gold, it’s definitely the louder of the two, both of them are ~5 years old. Now that I moved the databases off of them, they are quieter than my work laptop, so they don’t bug me.

        But oh boy, it really did sound like a train yard at one point.