How it started:
I bought a MiniPC (Blackview MP-80) to run Home Assistant and some lights etc. to go with it.
It's now exactly one year later this is what my setup looks like now:
BMAX B2 Pro --> Home Assistant OS
Blackview MP-80 --> Proxmox --> Nextcloud-AIO & Immich
ODROID H4+ --> Proxmox --> TrueNAS
How it's going:
With the heatwave in Europe I've now installed cooling to keep my HDD's from heating up.
I know it's Janky as hell, but I love it. The plan going forward is to buy a 3D Printer so that I can 3D Print a custom 10" rack, and I'll build my own cooling and temperature monitoring system with ESP32 and create a dashboard for it in Home Assistant and sorting out networking.
It's a work in progress, having a lot of fun learning and adding new things.
Yeah, it's fine ... wait, IronWolves in a living space? Paired with that acoustic desk it must be like a train yard, but with more vibrations :D.
Edit: wrote this before I saw your comment acknowledging the same.
Well, with HDD there is the noise of the drive itself (the constant one & the searches, spin-ups), and the vibrations which can get acoustically amplified. For the former you need a case, any case, maybe a case in a case (ventilated ofc), for the latter I've always (since late 90s) had my HDD on full rubber, no non-rubber connection to the case.
My current NASies all use these (in desktop cases, I don't like server hardware if it isn't necessary, like with disks):
(They cost like 2 monies with shipping.)
So if going the 3D-print way, as you mentioned, I would def add the suggestion of incorporating thicc rubber pads or rubber straps into your design, like these ones (I've used them a lot decades ago, the only commercial option for silent PC enthusiasts at the time, but I've built then myself too):
(It's rigid, the disks won't fall out.)
Ooo. That hdd solution looks like a mic shock mount. That's brilliant.