Hello!
I’d like to share what I've been working on over the past two years: My Raspberry Pi-based NAS.![:D]( "Very Happy")
The project started as a simple experiment with some external hard drives connected to my router. I had recently bought a new laptop with space for only one SSD, and I needed more storage. The only solution was network-accessible storage. Being a DIY enthusiast who loves building things, I started researching how to create a NAS. After refining my setup with external hard drives, I eventually built what you see in the photo—a full-fledged NAS.
The actual NAS is housed in the larger case on the right, with space for three 3.5" HDDs. I currently have around 12TB of storage in it. The system is powered by a Raspberry Pi 4B with 2GB of RAM, and the hard drives are connected via USB 3.0 through a hub located in the smaller case in the front. I’m not using RAID configurations since I don’t need redundancy; I simply needed more storage. I also developed a Windows application to configure and adjust various operational parameters. It even has a backup feature that can be set to run automatically at specified intervals, so I don’t have to worry about losing data.
Since any serious NAS should be protected by a UPS, I built one myself. This UPS provides 12V DC power instead of the 230V AC that’s common in commercial models. The control board is built with a Raspberry Pi Pico, and it’s equipped with two MeanWell power supplies and a 5Ah lead-acid battery, which gives me about an hour of runtime during power outages. It also powers my router and fiber optic media converter. The total idle power consumption is around 25-27W.
You can find more pictures and details about this project on my website: https://marus-gradinaru.42web.io/. The site provides a clean, ad-free overview of the project, including schematics and wiring diagrams for anyone interested to buid it. I’m not selling anything—I just wanted to give something back to the community that’s helped me along the way. (Only the first 2 projects, with Raspberry Pi, are implemented for now, because I'm still working on the website)
This is my first Raspberry Pi project and the time spent building it, was the most beautiful part of my life. Thank you for this journey !
![Image]()
I’d like to share what I've been working on over the past two years: My Raspberry Pi-based NAS.
The project started as a simple experiment with some external hard drives connected to my router. I had recently bought a new laptop with space for only one SSD, and I needed more storage. The only solution was network-accessible storage. Being a DIY enthusiast who loves building things, I started researching how to create a NAS. After refining my setup with external hard drives, I eventually built what you see in the photo—a full-fledged NAS.
The actual NAS is housed in the larger case on the right, with space for three 3.5" HDDs. I currently have around 12TB of storage in it. The system is powered by a Raspberry Pi 4B with 2GB of RAM, and the hard drives are connected via USB 3.0 through a hub located in the smaller case in the front. I’m not using RAID configurations since I don’t need redundancy; I simply needed more storage. I also developed a Windows application to configure and adjust various operational parameters. It even has a backup feature that can be set to run automatically at specified intervals, so I don’t have to worry about losing data.
Since any serious NAS should be protected by a UPS, I built one myself. This UPS provides 12V DC power instead of the 230V AC that’s common in commercial models. The control board is built with a Raspberry Pi Pico, and it’s equipped with two MeanWell power supplies and a 5Ah lead-acid battery, which gives me about an hour of runtime during power outages. It also powers my router and fiber optic media converter. The total idle power consumption is around 25-27W.
You can find more pictures and details about this project on my website: https://marus-gradinaru.42web.io/. The site provides a clean, ad-free overview of the project, including schematics and wiring diagrams for anyone interested to buid it. I’m not selling anything—I just wanted to give something back to the community that’s helped me along the way. (Only the first 2 projects, with Raspberry Pi, are implemented for now, because I'm still working on the website)
This is my first Raspberry Pi project and the time spent building it, was the most beautiful part of my life. Thank you for this journey !
Statistics: Posted by Marus780 — Thu Nov 07, 2024 12:44 pm