Jan 16, 2023 20:00:00

A college student who made his own open source cheap NAS for less than 8000 yen appears, the case is made by a 3D printer and the OS is also self-made

A

network attached storage (NAS) is a file server that can be connected to a network, allowing data to be saved and read over the network. Toby Chui , a university student in Hong Kong, reports on the procedure for making his own compact and sufficiently capable NAS for less than $ 60 (about 7600 yen).

DIY Raspberry / Orange Pi NAS That Really Looks Like a NAS - 2023 Edition : 15 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables
https://www.instructables.com/DIY-Raspberry-Orange-Pi-NAS-That-Really-Looks-Like/

Chui, a university student, used an unlimited cloud storage service provided by Google for university students, but since the cloud storage capacity was capped in 2021, files can be stored on NUCs , external hard disks, etc. said to have moved. After that, he said that he decided to make his own compact NAS with a large storage capacity because the NUC ran out of capacity.

The conditions set by Mr. Chui when making his own NAS are: ``Use small and efficient space in the device'' ``Maximize performance while using low-cost parts'' ``Compatibility that can be purchased all over the world'' 'At least 1080p video can be played by 1-2 people at the same time, and the upload/download speed is 100Mbps or higher.' With these conditions in mind, Mr. Chui selected the parts and decided to make the case with a 3D printer.

This time, Mr. Chui adopted Orange Pi Zero , an open source single board computer, and designed a 3D model of the NAS case accordingly. The purchase price of Orange Pi Zero at Ali Express is 2810 yen at the time of article creation.

Ender 3 was used for 3D printing of parts, the layer thickness was set to 0.2 mm, and the printing speed per second was set to the highest quality of 35 mm. It seems that it took about two days to print all the parts, but Mr. Chui says, 'Why do you need to rush to use NAS for a long time?'

The

printed circuit board (PCB) is ordered from PCBWay , which Mr. Chui says is 'one of the best PCB manufacturers.' I soldered parts such as a buck-boost converter and power supply LED, installed a SATA -USB conversion adapter, and wired the HDD power supply line.

Assemble the hard disk tray, insert it into the NAS case, and install the single board computer and power conversion board.

Connect a single board computer to the power control board. If you are using a single board computer that is not a Raspberry Pi, before closing the case, install the Armbian OS for single board computers, and if you are using a Raspberry Pi, install the Raspberry Pi OS on a 32GB or larger SD card. It is said that it is necessary to leave. In addition, Mr. Chui recommends using an SD card of 64 GB or more as storage for single board computers.

When you close the case it looks like this.

The OS installed in the NAS uses '

ArozOS ', which is a greatly improved version of the OS originally created by Mr. Chui. ArozOS is an OS that provides a full-fledged desktop experience in the browser, allowing access to music, videos, photos, and documents from one browser window, and it will work not only on PCs but also on mobiles. The hardware is also compatible with NAS OSes such as Open Media Vault and FreeNAS , so you can use them as well.

After ArozOS setup is complete, mount the HDD.

Now you can use a completely open source cheap self-made NAS with up to two 4TB hard disks. ArozOS also supports clustering and cross-mounting capabilities, providing scalability when more storage is needed.

Mr. Chui has released more detailed creation procedures, 3D model design drawings, details of parts, ArozOS setup methods, etc. for the NAS created this time so that anyone can make the same NAS by themselves.