NAS Server: v0.1

This is a simplistic initial design, made using standard (slightly modified) parts from Google 3D Warehouse (apart from the outer case, which is self-modeled).

Motherboard: VIA NAS 7800
Power Supply (PSU): Seasonic SS-200SU
Hard Disk Drives (HDDs): Western Digital Caviar Green

You can tell this is definitely an early model; no holes for the motherboard backports and PSU power socket, and lots of features not included yet. But the important design features are in place; small footprint (the initial design has a horizontal cross-section dimension of 250X250mm) and low power consumption. The HDD arrangement was selected for optimal cooling and more even heat spread*.

Drive SATA connectors were initially positioned at the bottom for close proximity to the motherboard, but I later decided to design it for easier access with minimal disassembly by the user. This will be achieved with top-loading drives, via backplane PCB-mounted integrated SATA connectors (see the later posts for more details).

---

*Some case history: I am currently using a Synology CS-407 4-bay NAS (see photo from earlier post), which has the drives horizontally oriented, vertically stacked. While that is a convenient and compact arrangement, it causes the top drive to be cooled less efficiently. During typical operation the CS-407 reports HDD temperatures (in degrees Celsius, from top to bottom) of 42, 42, 40, 38. For this design I decided to go with only 1 layer of hard drives, with sufficient spacing between them; Despite the small footprint, I believe it's still possible to design an optimal HDD layout that isn't confusing or inconvenient.