Log Case for 2x 3.5" NAS

[ditop]

I was very surprised to discovery recently how small the pre-built 2-bay NAS machines are from Synology or QNAP. They're about 4 liters. How do they do it? I'd like to move over parts I already have into a new case around this size. Are recommendations on what would work? I know U-NAS has a couple of 2-bay models, but there is very little information I've seen about those cases.

The parts I have already are:
Intel i7 3770
ITX motherboard
2.5" SSD
2 x 3.5" HDD

 

[dmitrybask]

I have a Synology LAS - a single bay DS118, 2.6L volume, 9W power consumption. Very very good model.
If you build one yourself - keep in mind, it will be larger, will take more time to configure, and consumer more power. But of course it is always more interesting to build something yourself, I totally understand this.

I recommend you to go with cheap low TDP Intel processors like Celerons. It is more than enough for this. Why do you need i7 3770 in NAS?

Some time ago, Chenbro produced very good chasis for NAS. Not sure for now. The main point - this is not a typical goal to make a 2-bay NAS chasis, because RAID 0/1 is not a best option. Typically professional systems use RAID5, which gives both good performance and redundancy

Chenbro ES30068 - 2 bay model
Chenbro ES34169 - 4 bay model

 

[ditop]

Thanks, I will look at Chenbro cases. I want to use the i7 3770 because I already have it. Otherwise I have to get a new CPU for the same motherboard (1155 socket) or replace both the CPU and motherboard. Seems better to reuse what I have, right?

Yes, it does seem like 2-bay NAS is uncommon. However, it works well for me. I can have 2x14TB drives. 14TB of available storage is plenty for me now and I can add another drive later on.