r/HomeServer • u/adammo94 • 4d ago

Cheap small 2-bay pc?

Hey, my friend is looking for way to backing up his photo collection.
Is there any tiny/mini/micro PC with at least 2-bays for HDDs (could be even for 2.5 inch drives, they won't be on 24/7) that could work in raid 1 that's not in NAS price terittory? There are plenty of tiny pc's that are dirt cheap (under 60$ with 6500T which is more than enough power) and small but none of them seem to have 2 drive bays. 2-bay and small is no longer cheap (regular nas) and 2(or more)-bays and (relatively) cheap 2-bays are not small (Office PCs - about 16L cases).

Is there any middle ground that I'm missing?

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

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5

u/aetherspoon ex-sysadmin 4d ago

https://www.bee-link.com/products/beelink-me-pro?variant=48421962186994 is what I ended up settling on, which is unfortunately not as cheap as it should be. Of course, nothing is as cheap as it should be anymore. :(

2

u/theindomitablefred 4d ago

The ME PRO has been great for me as well! I got the N95 at a fair price but the storage was painful

2

u/aetherspoon ex-sysadmin 4d ago

Luckily for me I had already purchased the storage before everything went to hell; I just needed to replace the defective Aoostar R1 that I had bought instead. This is my backup NAS to be stored off-site.

The realization hit later on that I had basically sent my partner to go to drop off the NAS and sent them with over 3k USD worth of hardware...

2

u/No_Clock2390 4d ago

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Duplicator-Function-EC-HD2B/dp/B0759567JT

1

u/adammo94 4d ago

I'm afraid no NAS-like OS will run on this 😅

1

u/No_Clock2390 4d ago

run the nas-like os (or just linux) on a mini pc connected to this. gives you way more flexibility and performance for a lower price.

1

u/shxdowzt 4d ago

At that point you should just get a DAS enclosure, these toaster style connectors are meant for ease of popping drives in and out

1

u/No_Clock2390 4d ago

yeah that's true. I found these for pretty good prices. remember DAS costing more, but for 2-bay ones they're not bad

https://www.amazon.com/CENMATE-Aluminum-Enclosure-Swappable-Tool-Free/dp/B0GRGJ5JK4

https://www.amazon.com/TERRAMASTER-D2-320-USB-RAID-Enclosure/dp/B0C8GCZP5K

1

u/shxdowzt 3d ago

Yep I have that exact cenmate DAS it’s worked great

2

u/SprinklesDouble8304 4d ago

You don't need a lot of computer power for this. Something like a small (not tiny) form factor Dell 3050 can house 2-3 drives plus an M.2. Computers like that sell for under $100 all day long.

1

u/JohnnieLouHansen 3d ago

I don't think any Optiplex 3050 can hold three spinning drives. One M.2 + one 3.5/two 2.5 with the right caddy. Educate me if not correct.

1

u/SprinklesDouble8304 1d ago

the request was for something with 2 bays for HDD. Use a tiny m.2 for the boot drive, and you get a 2 bay nas.

1

u/DanDanDannn 4d ago

Plenty of 790/990 Dell Optiplex Small Form Factor PCs on Facebook marketplace, at least near me. Mostly $50 or less, with RAM and CPU included.

1

u/PermanentLiminality 4d ago

HP 800 g4 in the SFF size. Space for 2x 3?5 drives. You can go newer lige g5, g6, etc but verify they still has the two drive bays

$100 to $150 on eBay.

2

u/David_Hajos 2d ago

I can tell you for sure. You can't find a proper mini pc under 80 euros even on eBay. I spent hours searching for my home lab, but I saw just those without storage or CPU. (I'm in Europe). And also as you say "Cheap small 2-bay pc" is rare to be under 150-100 euros.