I actually have a similar setup that started out just as janky!

This is an HP mini PC I found on Ebay, with an m.2 to 6x sata adapter, hole dremmeled through the top of the case with a custom printed I/o shield to stop the cables or my fingers getting sliced on the metal.

After about 2 years of it sitting in my cupboard (like the first pic), I decided to print myself a LabRax case for everything and make it cleaner, still the same setup inside though!

Before:

After:

Madness!! Great work

this is horrific, i love it so much and want to build one myself now

Ah yes. A DIWhy project. Love it.

It probably uses less power than a NAS, while having more CPU power and RAM

Plus nothing beats and upgrade using what you already have.

I did something similar awhile back. Since you already cut open the bottom of your laptop I would suggest you cutting another window over the CPU and adding a large plate of aluminum as a shelf between the laptop and you hard drives. Then add a shim so the CPU cooler and plate touch, then you will have a passively cool laptop server with an internal UPS battery.

Somewhat off-topic: How could I crosspost to more communities, like DIY on beehaw or 3D printing communities? Would I need to create a completely new post on them? Or just post the link to this post?

Do you use the laptop as a laptop? Or is it now just a laptop shaped NAS?

That looks hot!

My only worry really is the m.2 to multi sata adapters reliability.

But it doesnt seem like there are sata-usb adapters with data only, that allow a single power source like yours 🤔

I might do something very similar with a mini PC

Dude this is so sick

Do you have more photos of the actual connection process? Like before and after installing the adapter?

That's one nudge away from a disaster. I'd 3d print a shroud for the sata ports/connectors that uses the laptop base screws to hold it in place. That way the laptop could slide off the drive cage without every sata port snapping off.

I would probably add rubber/etc feet on the cage to keep it from vibrating around as they spin, and maybe a handle for carrying! It's a mobile laptop after all... :) What if someone tries to snatch-and-grab a HDD while you're getting a coffee, do we have an alarm system? Lo-jack?

Very cool looking project. I've been stripping motherboards from my busted old laptops recently, and am setting one up as a HiFi-ish HDD player at the moment. Next step would be some sort of NAS/homelab.

Since you're already 3D printing parts, is there any reason you didn't just pull the mobo, connect the drives and made a neat headless case for it all? Not that I don't appreciate that weird lapdozer you made! 😂

Is the battery still in the laptop?

Ok, why get a case if you can just screw em on?

Also, add a fan to the HDD tray (can double for the laptop).

very cool. wanted to do ~~exactly that~~ something similar with a Lenovo Ideapad I found. except, I don't want to buy the adapter board, I just wanna utilise the existing two SATA ports in the laptop; one HDD, one DVD. haven't figured a zerospend way to do that, as the SATA ports on the MB are female, as are the cables.

second, don't wanna use an external PSU, there's gotta be a way to get 12 V off the board somehow or use a step-down module from, say, backlight?

does acer have a power-on on AC setting in the setup or do you have to power it on manually?

I've considered this a few times, but having two separate power bricks seems like a bad idea to me.

Like, logically it should be perfectly fine, but it feels like it's creating a problem.

What happens if the laptop powers down, don't the hard drives keep running? Is that an issue?

What about sleep or just low power? It just feels like there's situations where you want the power supplies to be off.

I get that NAS devices are on 24/7, but still... Makes me hesitate.