I would like to setup a dirty cheap NAS for my local network. I want to spend near the price of no money. I have multiple 3.5' HDD sata drives and I want to access them from my network. I could place them in my desktop, but it is not on 24/7, and power usage would be too high for this use case. I have RPI Zero W, Radxa Zero 1 (although no idea how am I supposed to put firmware in this thing), and Odroid C2.
3D print clamps for a tower of disks, use USB to SATA and build a Frankenstein NAS.
Better option Wyse 5070 Extended (100€) with LSI 8e (50€) used SAS controller to connect maximum of 8 disks and 3d printed tower. Something like https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2939751
Reminds me of that joke about looking for a quarter you dropped where the light is better even though you dropped it in the dark. What you need is a miracle. You have 3.5 inch drives and some SBC devices. How do you plan to hook them together without buying some hardware? Your options are slim and next to none as far as I can see. What kind of suggestions are you looking for?
I am in the same boat as OP — can you share any advice on where to look, and any examples of different brands, models, or specs to look for to make sure I’m not buying crap?