u/Additional-Week-8533

https://youtube.com/@dralbertdiy

I have been posting YouTube @dralbertdiy for a year and half now. Only recently I have settled my channel to me making electronic gadgets/gadgets with my cat, Sugar 😻 and high energy 🔥 cinematic story telling.

This combo is not commonly seen on YouTube and in the end, I'm just trying to be myself and finding a meaningful junction between my personal preferences and the market needs.

After a one year and half of trying, learning and making products and videos, I'm finally hitting (almost) 100 subs as of 08/11/2026. Exponential growth is indeed very painful in the beginning. 😖 Recently I made an expandable NAS that does not exist anywhere in the market. You can find my latest cross posts here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/s/Eue9uATlOr

https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/s/sS2ySDSHoG

If there is one thing I believed in is that I will never give up on delivering my visions and positive vibes to this world. Right now, I have chosen the path of making gadgets and products. Perhaps it's not an easy path, but this is my passion right now 🔥🔥🔥.

Please feel free to leave a comment down below. I'm open to any feedbacks and room for improvements. Criticism is always great to grow.

Peace

✌🏻✌🏻✌🏻

I have been shooting 4K footage of my cat, Sugar 🐱, and editing videos, and I soon realized my storage is running out quickly. While I could have just bought an off-the-shelf NAS, I wanted to solve two major issues with standard NAS in the market nowadays: scalability and cable clutter. Therefore, I ended up designing and building a modular, stackable NAS system (nickname: SUGAR CUBE NAS) engineered for high-speed wireless operation.

BTW: It's named after Sugar, my cat, plus the modules stack just like sugar cubes!

🎥 Check out the full build with cinematic editing here, I clarified a lot of the design concept and operations in the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBbPJsZJWWA

For the next video, I will focus on how I designed and assembled this NAS.

Key Specs & Highlights:

• Architecture: Custom modular stackable system designed for expandable storage slots (ideal for content creation and people/businesses with continuous need for storage expansion).
• Major Components:
  • Top Module (picture 3): ITX motherboard, Flex PSU, Two SATA HDD bays.
  • Bottom Module (picture 4): Four additional expansion HDD bays.
  • For future design iterations, this system can be expanded to multiple stacked modules.
• Custom Electronics (picture 6 and 7): Custom PCBs fabricated (via PCBWay, thankfully they sponsored my video) to handle high-speed SATA differential signals and data routing. The data is communicating through a custom proprietary high-speed socket. So you don't need any extra cable routing!
• Networking: Standard 10GbE LAN or high-speed Wi-Fi 7 wireless setup depending on ITX motherboard configuration.
• OS: Running Ubuntu + CasaOS + Cockpit.
• Case: PETG 3D print as prototype.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or any features/improvements you’d add to a modular stacking design like SUGAR CUBE NAS!

You are welcome to check out and leave comments at my other posts:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/1vi54lu/i_built_a_modular_stackable_nas_that_does_not/
https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/1vi5brg/i_built_a_modular_stackable_nas_that_does_not/

I have been shooting 4K footage of my cat, Sugar 🐱, and editing videos, and I soon realized my storage is running out quickly. While I could have just bought a off-the-shelf NAS, I wanted to solve two major issues with standard NAS in the market nowadays: scalability and cable clutter. Therefore, I ended up designing and building a modular, stackable NAS system (nickname: SUGAR CUBE NAS) engineered for high-speed wireless operation.

BTW: It's named after Sugar, my cat, plus the modules stack just like sugar cubes!

🎥 Check out the full build with cinematic editing here, I clarified a lot of the design concept and operations in the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBbPJsZJWWA

For the next video, I will focus on how I designed and assembled this NAS.

Key Specs & Highlights:

• Architecture: Custom modular stackable system designed for expandable storage slots (ideal for content creation and people/businesses with continuous need for storage expansion).
• Major Components:
  • Top Module (picture 3): ITX motherboard, Flex PSU, Two SATA HDD bays.
  • Bottom Module (picture 4): Four additional expansion HDD bays.
  • For future design iterations, this system can be expanded to multiple stacked modules.
• Custom Electronics (picture 6 and 7): Custom PCBs fabricated (via PCBWay, thankfully they sponsored my video) to handle high-speed SATA differential signals and data routing. The data is communicating through a custom proprietary high-speed socket. So you don't need any extra cable routing!
• Networking: Standard 10GbE LAN or high-speed Wi-Fi 7 wireless setup depending on ITX motherboard configuration.
• OS: Running Ubuntu + CasaOS + Cockpit.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or any features/improvements you’d add to a modular stacking design like SUGAR CUBE NAS!

You are welcome to leave comments at my other posts: https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/1vi3fyn/i_built_a_modular_stackable_nas_that_does_not/

I have been shooting 4K footage of my cat, Sugar 🐱, and editing videos, and I soon realized my storage is running out quickly. While I could have just bought a off-the-shelf NAS, I wanted to solve two major issues with standard NAS in the market nowadays: scalability and cable clutter. Therefore, I ended up designing and building a modular, stackable NAS system (nickname: SUGAR CUBE NAS) engineered for high-speed wireless operation.

BTW: It's named after Sugar, my cat, plus the modules stack just like sugar cubes!

🎥 Check out the full build with cinematic editing here, I clarified a lot of the design concept and operations in the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBbPJsZJWWA

For the next video, I will focus on how I designed and assembled this NAS.

Key Specs & Highlights:

• Architecture: Custom modular stackable system designed for expandable storage slots (ideal for content creation and people/businesses with continuous need for storage expansion).
• Major Components:
  • Top Module (picture 3): ITX motherboard, Flex PSU, Two SATA HDD bays.
  • Bottom Module (picture 4): Four additional expansion HDD bays.
  • For future design iterations, this system can be expanded to multiple stacked modules.
• Custom Electronics (picture 6 and 7): Custom PCBs fabricated (via PCBWay, thankfully they sponsored my video) to handle high-speed SATA differential signals and data routing. The data is communicating through a custom proprietary high-speed socket. So you don't need any extra cable routing!
• Networking: Standard 10GbE LAN or high-speed Wi-Fi 7 wireless setup depending on ITX motherboard configuration.
• OS: Running Ubuntu + CasaOS + Cockpit.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or any features/improvements you’d add to a modular stacking design like SUGAR CUBE NAS!

You are welcome to leave comments at my other posts: https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/1vi3fyn/i_built_a_modular_stackable_nas_that_does_not/

I have been shooting 4K footage of my cat, Sugar 🐱, and editing videos, and I soon realized my storage is running out quickly. While I could have just bought a off-the-shelf NAS, I wanted to solve two major issues with standard NAS in the market nowadays: scalability and cable clutter. Therefore, I ended up designing and building a modular, stackable NAS system (nickname: SUGAR CUBE NAS) engineered for high-speed wireless operation.

BTW: It's named after Sugar, my cat, plus the modules stack just like sugar cubes!

🎥 Check out the full build with cinematic editing here, I clarified a lot of the design concept and operations in the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBbPJsZJWWA

I will make more videos on how I designed and assembled this NAS.

Key Specs & Highlights:

• Architecture: Custom modular stackable system designed for expandable storage slots (ideal for content creation and people/businesses with continuous need for storage expansion).
• Major Components:
  • Top Module (picture 3): ITX motherboard, Flex PSU, Two SATA HDD bays.
  • Bottom Module (picture 4): Four additional expansion HDD bays.
  • For future design iterations, this system can be expanded to multiple stacked modules.
• Custom Electronics: Custom PCBs fabricated (via PCBWay, thankfully they sponsored my video) to handle high-speed SATA differential signals and data routing. The data is communicating through a custom proprietary high-speed socket.
• Networking: Standard 10GbE LAN or high-speed Wi-Fi 7 wireless setup depending on ITX motherboard configuration.
• OS: Running Ubuntu + CasaOS + Cockpit.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or any features/improvements you’d add to a modular stacking design like SUGAR CUBE NAS!

Note: I added a picture down below to show the two custom PCB that allow highspeed SATA/SAS signals to pass through as well as the 12V and 5V power.

Sorry forgot to include that in the main post. Got too many cool photos to share. 😂