I was thinking on buying a 2-4 bay HDD powered enclosure as a NAS for my mini pc, since I already have that, and buying or building a full-fledged diy NAS seems a bit expensive.

I want to hear some opinions from you guys, since it seems using this method is a mixed area from the selfhosted pros. I would be hoping that by using a powered enclosure, that would alleviate or solve the USB port overcharging issue, which have appeared in my mini pc when trying out an external HDD with a normal sata to usb converter.

Did you have any experiences with a setup like this one?

  • 2xsaiko
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    71 month ago

    I have the QNAP TL-D800S. It’s an 8 bay DAS but there is also a 4 bay variant. Works well for me. It uses SFF cables to connect to the PC and comes with the appropriate PCIe card which seems more robust to me than anything USB for this.

    • PrivateNoobOP
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      21 month ago

      Yeah this option seems like a more robust option than using an USB one. Unfortunately my mini PC doesn’t offer a sata connection, but thank you for the suggestion!

      • 2xsaiko
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        41 month ago

        It would need a PCIe slot, not a SATA connection. But I assume it doesn’t have that either then.

        • @PunkiBas
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          230 days ago

          Do you think that PCIe card would fit on a lenovo 1L PC? Those have a PCIe slot, but only small cards fit.

          • 2xsaiko
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            229 days ago

            Are you talking about these? They don’t look like they have a PCIe slot…

            In any case, the specifications say

            Form factor Low-profile 119.65 x 68.9 x 17.24 mm (Without bracket 119.65 x 68.9 x 12 mm)

            • @PunkiBas
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              229 days ago

              Yes, many of them have a PCIe slot, example. Thanks for the specifications

      • @[email protected]
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        31 month ago

        I use the usb version of the qnap 4 bay and never had an issue. Into a nuc holding all media. Boot and docker config all on the nuc nvme.