this post was submitted on 22 May 2025
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240
My First Homelab (media.piefed.social)
submitted 17 hours ago by Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
33 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I'm new to this, and having a lot of fun.

I started with the Blackview MP80 running Ubuntu(Minecraft server on docker and Home Assistant in a VM)

Then I bought the BMAX for 82€ and moved HA on to it so I can wipe the MP80 and play around with Proxmox and Nextcloud erc without breaking my home automations.

Yesterday I got the Hardkernel H4+ with 16gb ram and 2x 6TB 2nd hand commercial grade HDD's (testing them now, 3 month guarantee)

Looking forward to setting up ZFS pools for the first time, ans probably move my Nextcloud AIO over to the TrueNAS app

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[–] irmadlad@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Welcome to the most frustratingly satisfying journey you'll ever untertake. Next thing we'll see is the lights dimming when you reboot your server(s).

[–] Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social 3 points 1 hour ago

I can't imagine why anyone would put themselves through the insane amount of effort it takes to figure this stuff out and set everything up. Yet I love it, just want to keep tinkering and doing more

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Strap them onto a scrap piece of wooden board for stability. You could then hang the board vertically to save space.

This sort of metal strapping works great:

[–] unphazed@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Hid a pc into a bar of my mobile home this way. All parts were either screwed into plywood or strapped with zip ties. I hated the wasted space. It had a 24x28" space with no door (Fixed with a scroll saw, magnetic close, and some hinges). I added a very small plywood shelf for DVDroms and usb drives, and just attached the board to the inner wall. Used a hole saw on the tabletop for I think 2" (just big enough for a VGA connector, and ran all the cords into the cabinet. Worked well, then I moved into an actual house. Still loved it more than apartment life. Coolest part was no one ever saw the door unless I showed them (which was great cause that cut was waaaaavy)

[–] sxan@midwest.social 18 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

TBH what I saw first is that you connected a fan to some hard drives and called it a homelab.

It was pretty funny for the half second it lasted.

[–] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

I thought that was a modified power supply

[–] Thorry84@feddit.nl 36 points 15 hours ago (3 children)

Just so you know, operating spinning drives this way is a bad idea. If the platters are spinning and the drive tips over, the rotation of the drives resists the movement. This gyroscopic force is enough for the platters to touch the heads which are flying a tiny distance above the platter. Obviously this is a bad thing and will damage the drives.

A quick fix is to just lay them flat or fix both of them together so they have a more stable base to stand on. Putting it in an enclosure is even better.

[–] ashaman2007@lemm.ee 4 points 8 hours ago

Yeah knocking them over while active would probably not be the best, you can even hear the stress on the spindle bearings if you rotate a running hard drive. However you should be free to mount them (securely) in almost any orientation given the discussion in this old post: https://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=21533&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 8 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

You gotta embrace the jank! Also, he's got them in some kind of stand. That looks reasonably stable to me.

[–] Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social 7 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

I love my janky temporarily solution.

I made a stand of old ikea plastic parts I had laying around, screwed them together and have both drives supported from both sides and connected together.

If I directly bump the drive hard enough they'd fall, but I'm pretty confident I can shake the table really hard and they'll be fine.

I'm hoping to get a 3D printer to make a more permanent solution

[–] GetAwayWithThis@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Thanks for the feedback! I am doing the opposite right now funnily enough. Trying to move away from having everything on Truenas as an app because of the host-app communication limitations. I have a bridge network set up but it still has its issues.

I'll need to get some hardware to make this happen. At least to have a PCIe SATA controller I can pass through to a TrueNas VM so I can have everything on one physical host.

Nextcloud is on the list to try. For now syncthing was fixed up for filesync from my shoddy implementation of it yeras ago.

[–] dieTasse@feddit.org 2 points 7 hours ago

I have recently moved adguard and home assistant to raspberry pi, same reason, though the hass I have moved into docker container with host network in the end. I also installed tailscale directly to have easy setup as an exit node.

[–] Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social 2 points 13 hours ago

Nice good luck!! I think I'm going to keep NextcloudAIO as is, not having everything in one place feels better and safer.

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Nooooo! Don't shake the table!

[–] Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social 1 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

lol I won't those HDD's are like my babies, I'm very careful with them, that temporary stand while not foolproof is solid, but I have no plans of testing it out now that the drives are in there

[–] 4k93n2@lemmy.zip 2 points 5 hours ago

wrap a nappy around them. that will help reduce any vibrations haha

[–] Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social 4 points 13 hours ago

Thanks this is a very temporary solution until I can 3D print a better solution or buy an better temporary solution.

It's pretty stable I have a make shift stand, and I'd have to bump them pretty hard for them to fall over. If I shake the table hard they definitely won't fall

[–] dash_jackson@lemmy.ca 12 points 16 hours ago

Homelabbing is fun..stay curious

[–] Damage@feddit.it 8 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Watch out for the slippery slope!

[–] Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social 3 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Way too late, I'm down the rabbit hole

[–] Cargon@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I started with something like what you have, and 8 years later I have an 18U cabinet that is completely full. Including 20 HDDs stuck all over the place with double-sided tape.

[–] Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social 1 points 6 hours ago

It's a slippery slope

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 4 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

Give this man a rack, now!

[–] bathing_in_bismuth@sh.itjust.works 2 points 12 hours ago

I love nice racks

[–] HiTekRedNek@lemm.ee 2 points 12 hours ago

If he doesn't want it, I'll take it! 🤣

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 2 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

2x 6TB 2nd hand commercial grade HDD’s

wow. I was wondering what these five inch tanks were. Haven't seen one in a while.

Also spinning drives should be stored either horizntally or vertically for all their life.

[–] hsdkfr734r@feddit.nl 4 points 15 hours ago

Have fun. :)

Side note: Never look at LXC/incus or home assistant or esp32 to attach. Rabbit holes everywhere.

[–] justpassingby@sh.itjust.works 4 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

This is the way

[–] dieTasse@feddit.org 2 points 7 hours ago

I have spoken

[–] generaldenmark@programming.dev 4 points 16 hours ago

This looks so good! Nice job

[–] GetAwayWithThis@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

How's your Nextcloud holding up now? I am undecided between a separate host vs the Truenas app. I heard that the TN app likes to break on update but I didn't have the time nor infrastructure to test it thoroughly yet.

[–] Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social 1 points 13 hours ago

Currently I have Nextcloud-AIO running on proxmox in a docker LXC and it's been great, very stable and I like the setup. It's also officially supported by Nextcloud.

I'm considering moving it over to TrueNAS but I need to look at the Pros and Cons, it would be nice to have everything in one place, but that also comes with drawbacks and risks.

[–] imakestupidjokes@mastodon.nu 1 points 15 hours ago

@Ek-Hou-Van-Braai I absolutely love it.