Building Your Own NAS: Custom Enclosure and Data Migration

In this second part of the series, we tackle two major challenges: designing and 3D-printing a custom NAS enclosure, and migrating data from the original QNAP RAID to the new ZFS-based storage.

This is part 2 of the “Building Your Own NAS” series, originally published on root.cz. S1: Hardware & OS · S2: Custom Case & Data Migration · S3: Service Configuration · S4: Monitoring · S5: Security & Firewall

Custom Enclosure Design and 3D Printing

I chose a standard Mini-ITX motherboard and decided on a DIY approach using 3D printing, though commercial solutions exist. For high-performance systems with demanding cooling requirements, traditional metal enclosures are recommended.

Choosing Modeling Software

Software selection depends on personal preference — try multiple options:

• OnShape — Cloud-based, no installation required
• SketchUp — Simple and intuitive
• FreeCAD — Open-source but less suitable for parametric mechanical design
• Blender — Versatile but requires patience for technical modeling
• Fusion 360 — Powerful tool with a free hobby license for non-commercial use

I ultimately chose Fusion 360 for its intuitive interface and compatibility with technical thinking.

Important: The hobby license prohibits commercial use and limits annual income to $1,000.

First Prototype

Before printing the final enclosure, I created a test prototype to verify hardware functionality and identify design issues. Key measurements recorded:

The external 90 W power supply proved stable throughout a ~4-hour stress test, maintaining consistent temperatures. Temperature management was a primary concern for the 3D-printed design.

(First prototype — primarily for hardware testing and data migration)

3D Printing Materials

Different materials were selected for different components:

Kapton tape was applied under the base board as thermal protection — capable of withstanding 260°C continuously and 400°C briefly.

The final enclosed design achieved approximately 10–15°C lower temperatures compared to the original QNAP solution, maintaining around 40°C under load and 35°C during normal operation. The complete 3D model is available on Printables.com.

Design evolution — from the bare “naked” frame, through a clean functional structure, to the final tuned version:

Build Gallery

Storage Preparation and Data Migration

Detecting the Original RAID

The original QNAP system used Linux software RAID (MD-RAID). Ubuntu Server automatically detected and assembled the original array without any issues:

cat /proc/mdstat

Manual Array Assembly

If automatic assembly fails, use these commands step by step:

# 1. Check current RAID devices
cat /proc/mdstat

# 2. Attempt manual assembly
mdadm --assemble --scan

# 3. Scan for LVM devices
pvscan
vgscan

# 4. Display volume groups
vgdisplay

# 5. Activate all LVM partitions
vgchange -a y

# 6. List logical volumes
lvscan

The original QNAP volume group was named vg1 containing DataVol1 (7.27 TiB). Mount it:

mkdir -p /mnt/qnap-data
mount /dev/vg1/DataVol1 /mnt/qnap-data

Data Transfer to New Storage

A new ZFS pool was created for the archive:

# Install ZFS utilities
apt install zfsutils-linux

# Create ZFS pool with 4K block alignment
zpool create -o ashift=12 backup /dev/sde

# Create dataset with LZ4 compression
zfs create -o compression=lz4 backup/olddata

Data transfer achieved approximately 280 MB/s:

rsync -av --numeric-ids --progress --stats /mnt/qnap-data/ /backup/olddata/

Key rsync options:

• -av — Archive mode with verbosity
• --numeric-ids — Preserve UID/GID numerically without name mapping
• --progress --stats — Display transfer progress and final statistics

The complete transfer took 6–7 hours with disk temperatures around 38°C.

Cleaning the Old Array

After confirming the backup, carefully remove the original RAID configuration:

# Unmount original data
umount /mnt/qnap-data

# Deactivate volume group
vgchange -a n vg1

# Remove volume group
vgremove /dev/vg1

# Remove physical volume from RAID
pvremove /dev/mdXYZ

# Stop the specific array
mdadm --stop /dev/mdXYZ

# Or stop all arrays at once
mdadm --stop --scan

# Clear superblocks on all disks — proceed with caution!
mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdX

Creating the New ZFS Pool

With the disks cleared, create the production ZFS pool:

# Create pool with single-disk parity (similar to RAID 5)
zpool create -o ashift=12 nas raidz1 /dev/sda /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd

# Create datasets with appropriate record sizes
zfs create -o compression=lz4 -o recordsize=1M nas/multimedia
zfs create -o compression=lz4 -o recordsize=128k nas/data

# Create encrypted dataset for user home directories
zfs create -o compression=lz4 -o recordsize=128k \
    -o encryption=on -o keyformat=passphrase nas/homes

Notable parameters:

• ashift=12 — 4K block alignment for modern drives
• Larger recordsize for multimedia files improves sequential performance
• Encryption applied to home directories only, keeping media accessible while protecting personal data

Next: Service Configuration

In the next chapter, we’ll configure Samba, ownCloud, Nginx reverse proxy, and WireGuard VPN to make the NAS accessible from anywhere.