30 Comments

1. 

   @thehomelawnaficionado

   October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

   I recently bought the Mediasonic Probox enclosure after seeing this video, it works ok, but I have hit a hurdle that I haven't been able to get over. On Proxmox it does not seem to want to expose the serial numbers (or the full model number) of the hard drives to Proxmox (instead it shows them as 0000000000000001, 0000000000000002, 0000000000000003 and 0000000000000004 – the models are listed as: N000-3AK101) This makes it hard to reliably pass them through to a VM (it my case TrueNAS) and know that they will always mount in the correct order. Anyone have a solution to this?

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2. 

   @gee7092

   October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

   This setup wont work well with Unraid. It will work but you will see disconnected drives from time to time.

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3. 

   @masaharumorimoto4761

   October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

   Thanks, I was looking at that exact Mediasonic model, I feel like Alice down the rabbit hole, I just want 4 extra drives for my laptop.

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4. 

   @Jad2410

   October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

   lol, this is my setup I have two of those DASs one connected by type-c and one by type-a USB, to a Beelink SER mini PC.

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5. 

   @cosmolotov

   October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

   I was so keen to try something like this out myself that I bought a (what I thought) was a good looking 5-bay enclosure to try and use it with a mini PC I had. Problem was that the enclosure abstracted away the serial numbers of the connected hard drives, which meant that using software raid would have been very risky since it wouldn't be able to reliably distinguish between the different hard drives in order to maintain the raid configuration.

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6. 

   @xani666

   October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

   my NAS uses i3-3250 which is 11 years old CPU, you don't need more for just serving files, unless you're a video editor or something

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7. 

   @stephengentle2815

   October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

   I’m looking at the Terramaster D6-320 for this kind of setup. I had an Intel NUC 11th Gen, replaced it with a 13th Gen and the 11 will become my new home server.

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8. 

   @camberwellcarrot420

   October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

   I bought this exact Mediasonic about a month ago, mostly based on Wendell's lukewarm approval of it, and have it connected to an old HP Prodesk on which I installed Openmediavault (new to me), sharing out 4 hard drives which I moved out of an old tower PC, mostly for Plex which I have running on an N95 mini PC (running LMDE) which was dirt cheap and works great for Plex. It's been a solid solution, running the drives in the Mediasonic, and I also connected two WD Elements external drives to the Prodesk. S.M.A.R.T all works and the drives themselves are identified properly with serial numbers and everything else. I'm pretty happy with it so far. Thanks for the info and half-hearted recommendation Wendell! 😉 I'm glad I didn't spend more.

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9. 

   @stalbaum

   October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

   Old towers, maybe upgrade to a MB with 6 sata slots, a spare pcie slot and TrueNas? You can figure this out for $200 ish. I have.

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10. 

    @lifeHacker42

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    Looks like this is available outside the US but for huge shipping markups. I'd love to see a follow up with more options that are more available overseas

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11. 

    @purplepioneer5644

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    I actually did something similar but using an entry level M1 Mac Mini that has served me well for a few years now. With a 4 bay OWC enclosure I picked up cheap (way cheaper than normal, like $150-200 iirc). Before anyone piles on about the price of a Mac Mini, I was working for Apple at the time and was on my way out. Used my employee discount and a $300 employee credit to lower the price of the Mac Mini to $250 or something after tax. Might have been even cheaper.

    It replaced a 2008 dual xeon Mac Pro i’d got on ebay for $200 back in 2016. Lightyears ahead in terms of speed and it sips power compared to the dual xeon beast!

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12. 

    @Mishanw

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    What’s do you think is the best deal for 2024? That’s great for power and potential for running multiple VMs on proxmox ideally with ECc?

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13. 

    @20quid

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    4:08 Wolfgang's Channel did a similar build with a LattePanda but found that the USB connection was preventing the CPU from entering its lowest power states. Was that your experience with these mini PC's or are they still able to idle at their lowest wattage?

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14. 

    @sonictech1000

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    I hope this new generation of enclosures turns out to be reliable. In the past I've tried all sorts and they always seem to find some way to fail.

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15. 

    @laughingvampire7555

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    you choose to pay with money or time, if you pay with money you can have fun doing other stuff, if you pay with time, you can have setting up everything

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16. 

    @OtakuboyT

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    I use a few decommissioned SSF 2nd and 3rd Gen Optiplexes I got for free from one of the libraries I work at. I have dozen 2nd/3rd gens (all i3/i5). Then I got 4x 4th gen i7's I use those as Steam Machines.

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17. 

    @SeentySeen

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    @Level1Techs can you run a miniforum UN100D for a small micro business just to access files for the business on laptop or remotely on mobile for simple file storage? Instead of using Dropbox for example?

    Thanks

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18. 

    @iFireender

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    Just looked for the Mediasonic thing in Switzerland – and could only find overpriced stuff. I found that the Icy Box IB-3740-C31 seems to be more or less the same unit in the same case, with different name. Just a heads up for any european watching 🙂

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19. 

    @ThomasVernonJr

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    hi, I'm new to your channel and I'm really enjoying your content and it makes me fell like at home, thanks for the content and sharing your knowledge

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20. 

    @levifig

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    I’m with you: how do we not have cheap and accessible 10Gbps USB Ethernet adapters?? Even 5Gbps!!

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21. 

    @ZenRebel33

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    I think you are forgetting the option of adding a JBOD to that unit. Yottamaster makes an inexpensive 5 bay JBOD. Which allows you to accomplish what you are looking for. If that unit goes for $200, you are looking at $118 for the Yottamaster. For $318 you are only getting a 2-bay Synology. That does not come with drives. The other thing to consider is those small form factor pc's sip energy. Where a full on server is going to suck down energy. I guess it's all perspective and what you are looking to do with SFF computer.

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22. 

    @InfamousInternetVillainJackSix

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    I have been doing a lot of independent testing in the last two years on Lenovo Thinkcentre Mini workstations. More Specifically, the M75Q-1 Mini. They are about the same size as their SoC counterparts, but actually have a true desktop AM4 socket, and certain models are even capable of running AM4 APU's all the way up to the 5700G.

    I haven’t finished fully testing the first generation, but plan on doing that very soon. One thing I can confirm, is that the 1st Gen [Version 1] only supports A-Series APUs, Athlon 200/2000, and Ryzen 2200G/E, 2400G/E. Whereas the 1st Gen [Version 2] has a completely different motherboard that I haven’t tested yet, but I suspect it has the exact same motherboard as the 2nd Gen [Version 1], which I have tested.

    Lenovo would like you to think that this is a proprietary board that will only support the CPU’s on their supported CPU list, however, I did have a 2nd Gen M75Q that originally came with a 5350GE, and I was able to successfully transplant a 5700G into it. It was capable of getting about 95% of its maximum performance , before throttling with the internal blower fan set to max, and was able to get about 80 to 85% of its maximum performance with the fan set at normal speed. It literally sounds like a leaf blower at max speed, but when I say "Max Performance", I'm not just talking about the CPU cores. I was able to get those results while gaming on the Vega 8 APU cores, utilizing both CPU and GPU cores simultaniously.

    But my point in all this, is this… if I am correct that the 1st Gen [Version 2] has the exact same B350 AM4 motherboard that comes in the 2nd Gen [Version 1]? That means you can get on eBay and buy one with the Athlon 3000G, Ryzen 3200GE, or barebones for around $30-$60 USD shipped.. and upgrade it to any AM4 (G-Series) desktop CPU on the market. That's for both the 35W GE and 45-65W G.

    … but even if I turn out to be wrong? You can get a 2nd Gen [Version 1] with the 4350GE for around $130, and it will for sure run everything all the way up to 5700G. The only trick is, you have to buy a square tip power supply from one of the X-Series laptops, so that you can provide the machine with at least 90W of power. I personally reccomend the 130W version, as they tend to only cost about $2-$3 more than the 90W equivilent.

    This is another thing I have tested on both First and Second Gen M75Q Thinkcentres, which is there is no limit as to how big of a power supply you can plug into it. I was running that 5700G on a 130W X-Series PSU that I picked up for $15 shipped on eBay. This also seems to be true for the M715Q, however these have a downgraded version of the M75Q 1st Gen [Version 1] motherboard, which means they aren't upgradable beyond the 2400G.

    I don't know who you held at gunpoint to get that UM560 for $200, but no one else can get one that cheap. The cheapest one on eBay right now is $400 used, and they are still going for $600 on Amazon new. I actually spit my drink out when you said $200, because I knew for a fact that number was VERY wrong.

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23. 

    @NelsonMinar

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    Really helpful video, I'm trying to build this exact thing but am having a hard time finding a reliable USB enclosure. Unfortunately the Mediasonic Probox you talk about seems to not turn itself on again if power is cut and restored. Some enclosures have physical rocker switches and will turn back on.

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24. 

    @jolly1039

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    In short dont do it.. run it on sata in an appropriate computer.. what a waste of my time

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25. 

    @pixelpop9365

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    Given that a home server doesn't really need high performance as even a 4 core CPU will gladly stream media to an average family household, I fail to see the need to use a mini pc and then a NAS box, it all seems like a giant waste of money. While they may have a use in a larger environment, the keywords continually used throughout this video are HOME SERVER. Repurpose an old desktop, add some large drives, add a 2.5gb ethernet card, or 10gb if you're so inclined with matching switch…and job done. Tired of these videos touting mini pc's as the perfect home server, they are not.

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26. 

    @eddyrc7

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    wow this video talked about everything and about nothing.

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27. 

    @m4nc1n1

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    Mediasonic HF7-SU31C 👍

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28. 

    @hankhulator5007

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    Hi, you forgot an important thing, buy HDDz from different suppliers or from a professional one in order to make sure each drive is not from the same batch as others to lessen the odds of two drives dying at almost the same time.

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29. 

    @maharbatc

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    I'm building an orange pi 5 max server using the 2 nvme hat pcie and two nvme to sata adapters 6 discs each, so 12 discs and to power hdd's Ill use usb to sata power cable using two 268w chargers with 8 usb ports each with minimum 18w each port, I think it's gonna be very low consumption system

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30. 

    @Alan-yg6gv

    October 16, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    This was incredibly useful thank you!!!

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