Storage Putting a 2.5 inch HDD in a tiny cramped mini PC

[Bleepgat]

Hello, I want to have a 2.5 inch HDD backup in the mini. I’m trying to decide which mini to buy but very few can accept an HDD. Some have the connector but the HD would be jammed so tightly in the mini that I worry it will overheat.

The best one I found was ASRock Deskmini, which seems to have lots of room for not one but two HDDs. But other shortcomings of the Deskmini make me hesitate to buy it.

Should I worry about a HDD jammed tightly into one of these sub-1 liter minis? Will it get hotter than it would in the Deskmini? I think manufacturers are making the minis too small and this is going to cause a lot of problems.

I’d prefer not to have to use a USB hard drive because my experience with them is they often lose the connection to the USB port too easily.

I appreciate any advice.

 

[Gidilo]

those sub 1L mini PCs aren't meant to be a NAS so they mostly switched to ssds which can be a lot smaller (eg something like 2230). Though there are small NAS systems out there, for example aliExpress

 

[REVOCCASES]

Hello, I want to have a 2.5 inch HDD backup in the mini. I’m trying to decide which mini to buy but very few can accept an HDD. Some have the connector but the HD would be jammed so tightly in the mini that I worry it will overheat.

The best one I found was ASRock Deskmini, which seems to have lots of room for not one but two HDDs. But other shortcomings of the Deskmini make me hesitate to buy it.

Should I worry about a HDD jammed tightly into one of these sub-1 liter minis? Will it get hotter than it would in the Deskmini? I think manufacturers are making the minis too small and this is going to cause a lot of problems.

I’d prefer not to have to use a USB hard drive because my experience with them is they often lose the connection to the USB port too easily.

I appreciate any advice.

The AsRock Deskmini can even fit two 2.5 inch HDDs.

If one HDD is sufficient, the NUC (Tall) Kits come to mind.

ASUS NUC 14 Pro Review A Refined Mini PC - Page 2 of 4 - ServeTheHome

 

[Bleepgat]

Can you give me some examples of a NUC tall kit? Aren't all NUCs Intel? I really prefer Ryzen.

 

[Bleepgat]

I was thinking that the MSI Pro DP20Z SM is the perfect form factor for what I want, but it only supports outdated Ryzen 7 5700G

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[REVOCCASES]

If you prefer AMD, I'd go with the Deskmini.

Other alternatives:

ASUS ExpertCenter PN53-BBR575HD ab € 505,90 (2025) | Preisvergleich Geizhals Deutschland

Minisforum UM773 ab € 315,99 (2025) | Preisvergleich Geizhals Deutschland

 

[milesvw]

Lenovo Tiny, HP Mini, Dell Micro. Some can hold 2x NVMe and a 2.5" HDD. Prices can also be quite reasonable.

Example: $76 and free shipping 65w 2400G system w/16GB RAM and HDD caddy.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/276775878904

 

[PVC]

I want to have a 2.5 inch HDD backup in the mini. I’m trying to decide which mini to buy but very few can accept an HDD.

I faced a similar choice when searching for APU-Build cases that would accept a 2.5" SATA drive.

My solution (YMMV) was to scrap the SATA drive altogether, and use a "4TB" Gen4 M.2 NVMe (Speed up to 7400 / 6900MB/s) in the rear motherboard slot. That's way/way faster than SATA @500MB/s-or-so. Pfft!

Less wires (2-cables-each-for-SATA), way faster speed. Also, I was wondering about the future of (M.2 NVMe vs SATA) and which will prevail? But that's another whole story?

 

[milesvw]

I faced a similar choice when searching for APU-Build cases that would accept a 2.5" SATA drive.

My solution (YMMV) was to scrap the SATA drive altogether, and use a "4TB" Gen4 M.2 NVMe (Speed up to 7400 / 6900MB/s) . . .

I saw a sale on the Kingspec drive $190 for 4TB, so yes it's an option. Both SSD and hard drive have their strengths and weaknesses though.
PCIe 5.0 x2 lanes might be the sweet spot for consumers.

 

[PVC]

I saw a sale on the Kingspec drive $190 for 4TB

Oh, Kingspec is "Tier A (Upper High-end)" on this → SSD tier list. I'm not exactly sure what it means?

I just know that I am beginning to have a pessimistic view of 2.5" SATA drives. It seems like NVMe technology is surpassing SATA technology by leaps and bounds. Though I could be wrong

 

[milesvw]

Oh, Kingspec is "Tier A (Upper High-end)" on this → SSD tier list. I'm not exactly sure what it means?

I just know that I am beginning to have a pessimistic view of 2.5" SATA drives. It seems like NVMe technology is surpassing SATA technology by leaps and bounds. Though I could be wrong

Uh, I guess the joke is leaving me. A good entry level NVMe like the Silicon Power US75 is rated at 7,000MB/s, so almost 14 times faster than SATA can transfer. It will hold 2,000MB/s or more if you try to write to the whole entire drive.

However. . . NVMe is based on flash cells that hold an electrical charge which fades over time. So leave the computer on regularly so that the drive can re-write the old data and keep it safe.

HDD shouldn't fade that way, but they also should be spinning so they don't get the heads stuck to the platter or the bearings lock up.

 

[Bleepgat]

If you prefer AMD, I'd go with the Deskmini.

Other alternatives:

ASUS ExpertCenter PN53-BBR575HD ab € 505,90 (2025) | Preisvergleich Geizhals Deutschland

Minisforum UM773 ab € 315,99 (2025) | Preisvergleich Geizhals Deutschland

Thanks. I checked out Asus PN53 but some reviews said it's very difficult to install the HDD. You have to take apart the whole PC. I wish I could find a 3 liter PC just because I am wary of the very small form factor and the heat problem it causes. PN53 is very small, I think less than 1 liter..

I'm not a techy and don't have any confidence in my ability to take apart a whole PC to install a HDD.

Minisforum UM773 is also pretty small. I would even consider Deskmeet but it's really too big. But I want the heat factor minimized. I've also read bad things about minisforum support, but I think I could buy the brand locally, then maybe I wouldn't have to go to Minisforum if I have a problem.

 

[Bleepgat]

The reason I want a HDD is because I think they are less likely to lose all my data than a SSD. I want the SSD to run programs but the HDD to store files.

 

[REVOCCASES]

Thanks. I checked out Asus PN53 but some reviews said it's very difficult to install the HDD. You have to take apart the whole PC. I wish I could find a 3 liter PC just because I am wary of the very small form factor and the heat problem it causes. PN53 is very small, I think less than 1 liter..

I'm not a techy and don't have any confidence in my ability to take apart a whole PC to install a HDD.

Minisforum UM773 is also pretty small. I would even consider Deskmeet but it's really too big. But I want the heat factor minimized. I've also read bad things about minisforum support, but I think I could buy the brand locally, then maybe I wouldn't have to go to Minisforum if I have a problem.

As already mentioned above ... Lenovo, HP and DELL also make some 1L PCs with 2.5" HDD support. But they usually come pre configured, not as Barebone. Concerning support, those big brands are also not much better from my experience

 

[PVC]

ETA/Edit To Add; I meant to reply to this following Clip; Sorry.
The reason I want a HDD is because I think they are less likely to lose all my data than a SSD. I want the SSD to run programs but the HDD to store files.

OIC/Oh I see; I use image backups for my boot drive and extra/redundant copies of my data files. So I never worry about failure of a drive. Also, because the NVMe's are so fast, backup is easy (for me), even for large HTTP data files.

I have had drive failures in the past, but only on spinning HDDs and never on NVMe's (yet?). The failure rates seem to have an age related component, though I don't keep using old computers, so maybe that's another reason I don't worry about drive failures.

I am not saying my viewpoint is right. I'm just saying I don't worry about drive failure anymore.

 

[Bleepgat]

ETA/Edit To Add; I meant to reply to this following Clip; Sorry.
The reason I want a HDD is because I think they are less likely to lose all my data than a SSD. I want the SSD to run programs but the HDD to store files.

OIC/Oh I see; I use image backups for my boot drive and extra/redundant copies of my data files. So I never worry about failure of a drive. Also, because the NVMe's are so fast, backup is easy (for me), even for large HTTP data files.

I have had drive failures in the past, but only on spinning HDDs and never on NVMe's (yet?). The failure rates seem to have an age related component, though I don't keep using old computers, so maybe that's another reason I don't worry about drive failures.

I am not saying my viewpoint is right. I'm just saying I don't worry about drive failure anymore.

You make a good point. If I just save a few backups to flash drives, maybe I don't have to have a HDD. I always backup manually, which is time consuming, because I haven't found a good backup program that is easy to use and knows to replace older versions of files, not make new ones. But I haven't looked hard either.