Pironman 5: This kit turns the Raspberry Pi 5 into a proper NAS with 2.5GbE

We have reported on several Raspberry Pi 5 projects in the past, as the popular single-board computer is suitable for many different applications. Now, a new kit from SunFounder makes it easy to turn the SBC (8GB version from $83 on Amazon) into a network storage, and there's already a detailed review and a corresponding YouTube video from "The DIY Life".

Rather unsurprisingly, the Pironman 5 NAS kit includes an enclosure that measures 4.3 x 4.3 x 8.5 inches. It has space for both conventional HDDs and M.2 SSDs. Specifically, users can install up to two 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch hard drives, which means that this device can store a lot of data for a relatively low price point.

While a purely SSD-based NAS can be more compact, the price per gigabyte is significantly higher. However, SSDs also offer other advantages, such as faster access times. The two drives in the Pironman 5 NAS can be used in RAID 0 or RAID 1 setups, but it should be noted that a backup separate from the NAS is always advisable.

That said, this DIY NAS has a single 90mm fan, and the Raspberry Pi 5's existing Gigabit Ethernet port remains usable. Additionally, there’s an additional LAN port with a higher bandwidth of 2.5 Gbps. An OLED screen is also included, as are two HDMI outputs for direct media playback. Moreover, There’s a microSD card for the operating system, and the 40-pin GPIO header for connecting sensors and actuators remains accessible. Unfortunately, no official price details for the Pironman 5 NAS kit are available at the time of writing.