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And I sent a question, again, about how and where to install the OS disk. For you who didn’t follow this from the start, I sent several questions earlier to the ipc.net support team., since I couldn’t get all information from the user manual. I told them all the time I write about this mini PC in a forum, and wanted to get correct information to pass on to others interested in this Pocket NAS. A miniature PC like this, is very different from your normal one with a regular motherboard . In this small scale, there are many custom solutions, and it isn’t always apparent where things should go.

As I said, the full picture is only apparent when the OS disk is in place, together with the four NVMe drives,. And I guess the four NVMe ones are the heat creating disks in this setup. Still having a bit of struggle with the (Hex)OS drive, but working on it. Any temperature numbers now wouldn’t be meaningful. So again, I will be back.

Just a comment about the internal fan, in my latest post. A standard computer fan it may be, but it would have to be a thin one. Otherwise it would be a like fan with a computer board attached to it.

The internal fan is like one of the layers when you go from top to bottom, so it’s ”format filling”, I would guess it’s a standard 92x92 mm computer fan, or possibly an 80x80 mm one.

Well there IS a fan inside, and an optional external fan you could mount on the top cover. I got it with my Pocket NAS, even though on their website they say it’s an optional thing. I would need to have it all ready before I can tell you more about it. The four screw holes on the top are meant for the external one. Best thing is, I’ve never heard the internal fan, and the external one seems very quiet also, when I tested it. When I’ve built computers I’ve used Noctua fans, so I’m quite spoiled, in this regard. By the way, all the metal of the box itself seems aimed at dissipating heat. I will be back.

A last picture from today. This is how it looks inside under the layer I lifted out.

Here we are as a result (first picture) and to be honest I expected my SATA SSD chip to have its connection on the underside of the layer I just lifted up. Like in the second picture I’ve shown before, from the ipc.net support team. I would have to stop here for now to investigate a little more. I need to watch this video before I can continue. To my memory it showed even more of the inner parts of the Pocket NAS.

The four screws in this position in each corner are removed to lift the next layer up. For the following step I chose a wooden tool as opposed to a metal one. To continue I put the butter knife in the small openings left and right in the first picture, and gently pulled it downwards to lift the metal thingy. Apparently you undo a connection to do with the four drive slots , when you do this.

So with the top off, you can see the four NVMe slots, very easy to get to.

Now is also the time to try installing my chip-only Samsung SSD, before the four, admittedly also Samsung, NVMe drives. A very petite SATA cable was part of the StoneStorm Pocket NAS package.

Sorry for my confusing quote; No 2 is the appropriate one in this case. Today I found the time to do this. But I would need some help from @Dylan or @DomSmith with the interpretation of the shown result when using the lspci command. If only you can read it, A little blurry…

Just a point about dealing with electronic parts like this. I always hold them by the edges. Very often on videos you see the person putting fingers all over it. Before I start I try to get rid of static electricity, by putting my hands on a heating radiator. I’ve built five or six computers since 2008, and never had a problem with static charge buildup.

When you know what to do, thanks to the video I linked to in an earlier post, it was a straight road to the inner part of the Samsung. With the three torx screws away, it meant the chip was easy to get out. Finally I put it in an anti-static bag, waiting for the opening up of my Pocket NAS. That would be for another day, but now I’m finally getting somewhere. On the horizon I can spot the HexOS ISO coming to use. Bye for now.

I forgot to say that I did a little checkup of the SSD in preparation for this operation, to verify it was alive and well, before I literally screwed up the warranty. Maybe I could have done more, but I wanted to get going.

With label pulled off the three torx screws are visible, and I finally found the correct bit to use

Better late, than never as they say, reality has a way of being in the way. Here comes my little operation on the Samsung 870 EVO SSD, to get to the inner chip as needed in my case (!) the ”Pocket NAS”.

So, I’ve noticed several members here using HexOS in a VM. I have to ask this question, as a novice. I’ve built my own computers since 2008, and some to relatives, so I’m quite into computers. I also tried various tastes of Linux in VirtualBox under Windows. I know this means you need to have RAM enough to cope with the host OS and the one in the VM. But what’s the advantage of using HexOS in a VM? What’s the downside?

Talking about hifi components and burn-in, The tubes in my (tube 😉) amplifier need a burn-in, before they have reached their optimum performance. They even need a warm up after start, to reach working temperatures. In hifi circles there’s talk of a psychological burn-in also, so it would take some time for your brain to adapt to the sound. I don’t think that would apply to hard drives in any way, though.

Now we’re getting into hifi/audiophile territory 😉 In those circles burn-in is a serious thing, The ”truth” there is, it always takes time for electronic products, cables and speaker cones to sound their best, They need sometimes a couple hundred hours to settle in, from new. So, with hard drives as this topic by @Dylan deals with, is there a standardized method to do this burn-in? Hard drives are kind of mechanical devices, so could make sense. I guess all this isn’t just ”tongue-in-cheek”?!

So, this is why I believed the videos could be of interest. For those intrigued by this ”Pocket NAS” for themselves, and would want to get one ”now”, before I’ve got the time to show my own road to NAS-areth.

@Dylan Yes, that’s what I intended to do, all the time. The videos I’ve had here is like the story from the outside. Nothing’s like the story told about your own little gadget, with pictures - and words. That would have to wait a little though, ’til I’ve got time to sit down for a while.

For those who might think, how can you buy an SSD for like US$91 without knowing it would work? Well I’m also in the HiFi/audiophile community, and in those circles 91USD are like coffee money. I’m hardened.

For (Hex)OS it seemed I would have to go with what is referred to as an industrial SSD. So, like the chip only, with no outer casing. These are not easy to get on the consumer market. But thanks to @Starshock2002 and @DomSmith I now know it’s not that exotic. In my topic ”What type of SSD is this?” under Hardware user Starshock2002 said that this industrial SSD looked to be the thing inside most 2,5” SSDs, and so did user DomSmith in this topic. Both had a picture to show. SO what did I do? I got me a Samsung SSD!. Somehow I’ve stuck with Samsung for 2,5” SSDs. In the shop I told the guy I would immediately void the warranty, because I only need ”this” and showed him a photo of the inside chip.. Then I found a video on YT showing how to get inside the casing. The operation on my own SSD would have to wait a couple of days. Only then I will know if it fits inside my ”Pocket NAS”. But for those interested, here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5Wf2q2kAnI

As you might have noticed, I haven’t talked much about HexOS itself, in this topic. I don’t have a panic about that. Let HexOS slowly evolve, I will get there in due time. For now, I’m content with exploring this ”Pocket NAS”. More will come!

Thank you @Dylanfor assistance with the new headline for this topic of mine.