I’m new to this, and having a lot of fun.
I started with the Blackview MP80 running Ubuntu(Minecraft server on docker and Home Assistant in a VM)
Then I bought the BMAX for 82€ and moved HA on to it so I can wipe the MP80 and play around with Proxmox and Nextcloud erc without breaking my home automations.
Yesterday I got the Hardkernel H4+ with 16gb ram and 2x 6TB 2nd hand commercial grade HDD’s (testing them now, 3 month guarantee)
Looking forward to setting up ZFS pools for the first time, ans probably move my Nextcloud AIO over to the TrueNAS app
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Strap them onto a scrap piece of wooden board for stability. You could then hang the board vertically to save space.
This sort of metal strapping works great:
Hid a pc into a bar of my mobile home this way. All parts were either screwed into plywood or strapped with zip ties. I hated the wasted space. It had a 24x28" space with no door (Fixed with a scroll saw, magnetic close, and some hinges). I added a very small plywood shelf for DVDroms and usb drives, and just attached the board to the inner wall. Used a hole saw on the tabletop for I think 2" (just big enough for a VGA connector, and ran all the cords into the cabinet. Worked well, then I moved into an actual house. Still loved it more than apartment life. Coolest part was no one ever saw the door unless I showed them (which was great cause that cut was waaaaavy)
TBH what I saw first is that you connected a fan to some hard drives and called it a homelab.
It was pretty funny for the half second it lasted.
Just so you know, operating spinning drives this way is a bad idea. If the platters are spinning and the drive tips over, the rotation of the drives resists the movement. This gyroscopic force is enough for the platters to touch the heads which are flying a tiny distance above the platter. Obviously this is a bad thing and will damage the drives.
A quick fix is to just lay them flat or fix both of them together so they have a more stable base to stand on. Putting it in an enclosure is even better.
Yeah knocking them over while active would probably not be the best, you can even hear the stress on the spindle bearings if you rotate a running hard drive. However you should be free to mount them (securely) in almost any orientation given the discussion in this old post: https://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=21533&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
You gotta embrace the jank! Also, he’s got them in some kind of stand. That looks reasonably stable to me.
I love my janky temporarily solution.
I made a stand of old ikea plastic parts I had laying around, screwed them together and have both drives supported from both sides and connected together.
If I directly bump the drive hard enough they’d fall, but I’m pretty confident I can shake the table really hard and they’ll be fine.
I’m hoping to get a 3D printer to make a more permanent solution
Thanks for the feedback! I am doing the opposite right now funnily enough. Trying to move away from having everything on Truenas as an app because of the host-app communication limitations. I have a bridge network set up but it still has its issues.
I’ll need to get some hardware to make this happen. At least to have a PCIe SATA controller I can pass through to a TrueNas VM so I can have everything on one physical host.
Nextcloud is on the list to try. For now syncthing was fixed up for filesync from my shoddy implementation of it yeras ago.
I have recently moved adguard and home assistant to raspberry pi, same reason, though the hass I have moved into docker container with host network in the end. I also installed tailscale directly to have easy setup as an exit node.
Nice good luck!! I think I’m going to keep NextcloudAIO as is, not having everything in one place feels better and safer.
Nooooo! Don’t shake the table!
lol I won’t those HDD’s are like my babies, I’m very careful with them, that temporary stand while not foolproof is solid, but I have no plans of testing it out now that the drives are in there
wrap a nappy around them. that will help reduce any vibrations haha
Thanks this is a very temporary solution until I can 3D print a better solution or buy an better temporary solution.
It’s pretty stable I have a make shift stand, and I’d have to bump them pretty hard for them to fall over. If I shake the table hard they definitely won’t fall
2x 6TB 2nd hand commercial grade HDD’s
wow. I was wondering what these five inch tanks were. Haven’t seen one in a while.
Also spinning drives should be stored either horizntally or vertically for all their life.
Homelabbing is fun…stay curious
Watch out for the slippery slope!
Way too late, I’m down the rabbit hole
I started with something like what you have, and 8 years later I have an 18U cabinet that is completely full. Including 20 HDDs stuck all over the place with double-sided tape.
It’s a slippery slope
Give this man a rack, now!
I love nice racks
If he doesn’t want it, I’ll take it! 🤣
Have fun. :)
Side note: Never look at LXC/incus or home assistant or esp32 to attach. Rabbit holes everywhere.
This is the way
I have spoken
This looks so good! Nice job
How’s your Nextcloud holding up now? I am undecided between a separate host vs the Truenas app. I heard that the TN app likes to break on update but I didn’t have the time nor infrastructure to test it thoroughly yet.
Currently I have Nextcloud-AIO running on proxmox in a docker LXC and it’s been great, very stable and I like the setup. It’s also officially supported by Nextcloud.
I’m considering moving it over to TrueNAS but I need to look at the Pros and Cons, it would be nice to have everything in one place, but that also comes with drawbacks and risks.
@Ek-Hou-Van-Braai I absolutely love it.
