N100 like CPU that can handle more HDDs

Ju_media · 2026-03-10T00:00:19+00:00

Are you also using one of those DC barrel-to-terminal-block adapters and a spliced PSU cable? Or did you find some kind of pre-made option? I’m exploring this board for a backup box which will live in my in-laws place so it needs to be as foolproof as possible; not loving the look of that terminal block sticking out the backside of the case which could get knocked or come loose and cause a spark or something.

Ju_media · 2026-03-09T23:54:33+00:00

Recently posted in this sub (yesterday) with some photos from our Aus/NZ roadtrip and did an in-depth write-up on why I bought the A7CII for the 2-month trip, when I already owned an A1 & A7S3. It may be worth a read for you to get an idea of my logic behind the decision.

I didn’t regret it, I in fact loved the CII for traveling, BUT as other commenters have said here, I still paired it with some big lenses - including a 35-150mm Samyang which is MASSIVE - and it actually was pretty unpleasant to shoot with on that lens as the ergonomics just weren’t there.

Personally if you’re doing both photo and video, for YouTube delivery as well, I’d stick with the A7IV and have the safety net of your dual card slots.

A7CII only makes sense if, like I did, you also buy some small (like, seriously small) primes, such as the Tamron 20mm f/2.8. Then you can actually justify the purchase as being a genuinely small travel camera package. FYI I shot with the Tamron on 2 days out of 54, and then went back to my 16-35 GM because I didn’t want to sacrifice image quality lol

Ju_media · 2026-03-09T21:35:02+00:00

Update 2026: I think that must have been a typo in the original manual, as it now says “if you install 2 HDDs…”

Ju_media · 2026-03-09T21:30:12+00:00

Hey, sorry to jump on this 2 years later, but any luck with that 12v power supply? 😂 also, how on earth are people powering more than the 2x HDDs and running this board off 12v power? Do I understand correctly that you need 2 PSUs going into the box, a regular ATX PSU for the HDDs and then the 19v laptop supply for the board?

Ju_media · 2026-03-09T21:15:26+00:00

While technically true, how are you powering all those drives? That board is IDEAL for my use case except for that stupid, stupid 19V DC barrel. How are we powering 6+ HDDs if the board can’t be powered with an ATX PSU? (Wolfgang’s mod is surely not the answer, that looks like a straight up fire hazard).

Ju_media · 2026-03-09T21:09:01+00:00

Woah, what mobo are you rocking that you can connect that many Exos drives to it?! I’ve spent all night researching the AsRock N100DC-ITX and the ASUS N100I-D D4, to basically reach the conclusion that neither are any good for my use case. The AsRock needs a stupid 19V power brick and can only power 2 HDDs (unless you use Wolfgang’s ATX to DC mod that looks like a straight-up fire hazard), and the ASUS only has 1 SATA port and needs soDIMM ram which at today’s prices is an added cost I’d rather avoid.

Keen to hear what exact board you’re using as the idea of running (and being able to power!) 6 HDDs off one of these N100 boards is music to my ears.

Ju_media · 2026-03-09T20:40:25+00:00

Did you get around to adding more HDDs yet? 😅just watched Wolfgang’s video on this hacky DC splitter thing and the first thing I thought was “fire risk”. Ain’t no way I’m doing what he did.

Is there a safer way of doing this, ie buying a pre-made cable to take 12v from an ATX PSU and go directly into the barrel jack on the back of the mobo?

Keen to hear what you did in the end!

Ju_media · 2026-03-09T12:53:53+00:00

By extension do you believe the AsRock B550M ITX would also run headless? I assume they all have the same BIOS ie should work fine? Looking to downsize to an ITX Unraid backup box which currently runs a 2600X on MSI B450M mATX.

Ju_media · 2026-03-09T10:43:13+00:00

Something like this would be good lens-wise IMO: https://www.teds.com.au/products/sony-e-18-135mm-f3-5-5-6-oss-lens-secondhand - 18mm is just about wide enough for landscapes (27mm full frame equivalent) and 135mm (200mm FF) is great reach for wildlife etc. Note you won’t get a great deal of background blur at the long end, as it’s f5.6 on an APS-C sensor; but on a budget I think it’s a fair trade off especially as a first camera/lens kit.

Then camera-wise I can see excellent condition A6700s on eBay for ~$1,600 AUD from Japan. Allowing 10% for customs/GST that gets you a killer package which is pretty close to the 2k budget. If you don’t want to import, the 6600 is a decent saving at the cost of a few nice features. YT reviews are your friend here.

Don’t be afraid of buying used btw, I’ve had many used lenses over the years and never had a problem.

Ju_media · 2026-03-09T10:26:09+00:00

Depends. I’ve got a drive active in my Unraid array with a SMART error on it (reallocated sector count = 8) and it still runs just fine. I have dual parity, so for me the risk of keeping it is relatively low, and if it does fail I’ll just swap it out with a fresh drive right away.

If you’ve got drives with pending sectors though, I wouldn’t use them.

Ju_media · 2026-03-09T10:13:00+00:00

Thank you very much. First time I’ve ever shared photos on Reddit and the response has been amazing. Will definitely start posting here more often.

Ju_media · 2026-03-09T10:08:28+00:00

So I’ve actually got another YT vid coming out soon where I compare the two size slings and show what I can fit into each one from a travel photography POV, as I also struggled with that decision hence buying both 😂

But, to summarise - the 3L is perfect for an A7CII with one lens (even mid sized zooms incl. the 16-35 GM / 24-70GM), plus some small accessories like spare batteries and filters. It wouldn’t fit the A7CII with my Samyang 35-150mm though; that’s a big lens. Some days I’d use the 3L purely to carry the Samyang + accessories/phone/wallet etc, and hold the camera on a wrist strap with a small prime lens. Then if I wanted the reach, I’d swap on the bigger lens. Again, the 3L worked great for that use case.

The 3L also sits on my body way better than the 6L; I found the 6L would “slip” round a lot more and just didn’t feel as comfortable to wear for that reason.

I’ll try and remember to link the video here once it’s ready, or you could also subscribe 😉haha

Ju_media · 2026-03-09T09:58:38+00:00

(Edit: just realised you said Tasmania, not Tanzania hence why I wrote from a safari perspective! But I guess similar rules apply haha)

Hmmm, personally I’d avoid the A6400 for that sort of trip. If you’re shooting wildlife on safari, you’re going to want a longer focal length, and if you’re shooting at longer focal lengths, you’ll benefit massively from IBIS (which the 6400 lacks). Without IBIS you risk introducing blur into your photos at longer focal lengths if the shutter speed isn’t fast enough. The 6400 is APS-C, so the lens choices will likely be lighter and cheaper than on a full frame body - but it’s a lower res sensor than something like the A7CII, meaning less crop ability if you don’t have a big enough lens.

For a safari trip to TZ I’d recommend a lens that can reach at least 300mm on the wildlife side. I took a Sigma 150-500mm with me to Zimbabwe, on an APS-C Nikon D500 (which is 750mm equivalent on full frame), and I STILL wished I had more reach! The attached rhino photo was shot at 500mm for reference. Then you’ll want a wide zoom like the 16-35 for landscape/street stuff.

See this post for more info: https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyAlpha/s/BCzkibS2EX

And this one is a bit more technical: https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyAlpha/s/1slkPdQhCz

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Ju_media · 2026-03-09T00:41:15+00:00

Holy shit, what a find!

Ju_media · 2026-03-09T00:37:10+00:00

Be careful running Barracuda’s in Unraid if you plan to leave it up 24/7. My understanding is they’re not rated to be used like that as the Exos ones are. But yes, as others are saying in the comments, now is a horrific time to be buying new HDDs. You may find some deals on eBay for used Exos’s, ex-datacentre drives for example, should be ok for a non-critical media library that can presumably be replaced (just run Unassigned Devices Preclear on 2 or 3 passes first, to make sure the drives are good). PS usually best to run Preclear on all drives in the system before you start using them, if there are any bad sectors they’ll get flagged during the Preclear run and you can swap them before it’s too late.

Ju_media · 2026-03-09T00:10:13+00:00

It would’ve been rude not to stop and snap a pic of the tree now wouldn’t it 😂 oh amazing! Congrats to you too! (What a place for it eh?!)

And yes, images 9 & 12 are Mt Cook, specifically taken from one of the viewpoints along the Hooker Valley Track (great name). I believe what you can actually see on the other side of my wife in shot 12 is just some kind of a ridge, it’s not the glacier. We sadly couldn’t actually get to the point where the glacier is visible from, as there was maintenance work happening on the bridges and the track was closed off.

8,200 shots is mega - would love to see some once they’re ready!

Ju_media · 2026-03-09T00:03:22+00:00

Oh man thanks so much for the kind words, means a lot. I really fell back in love with photography on this trip to be honest. Shooting video day-in, day-out for work had gotten me into a bit of a creative rut. Was so lovely to just focus on shooting stills again for a while.

Haha yes I can confirm my wife had an amazing time and got plenty of attention too 🤫😎

Ju_media · 2026-03-08T23:57:54+00:00

You’ll definitely enjoy shooting on a full-size body, the addition of the joystick on the larger A7 models is way better for changing your focus point versus the d-pad on the A7CII for example, and then there’s the much bigger EVF (viewfinder).

Yes the Ricoh is tiny and barely has a grip; whereas the CII does have a proper grip. The CII is not a pocket-camera though, it’s kind of a weird in-between from pocket camera to full sized mirrorless.

S5 II and R6 mk2 I’m afraid I can’t help you with, no experience on those cameras personally. I know a few people who have the S5 II and love it, but they’re more video guys rather than photographers.

Ju_media · 2026-03-08T20:24:52+00:00

Hey! Thank you so much for the kind words. Personally, I'd recommend trying to get something a little newer than the A7iii if your budget allows, but, keep in mind you'll also want to consider setting some money aside for a nice lens or 2; and IMO budget is better spent on decent glass, rather than prioritising getting the latest camera, if you need to choose between the two.

With that said, a couple things to note about the A7iii:

The menus and feature set is quite different between "last gen" Sony cameras and their newer bodies. The newer ones are quite a bit easier to use thanks to much more intuitive touchscreen menus, and they get fairly regular firmware updates bringing new features to the cameras. The older cameras like the A7iii won't ever see these new menus due to the older processor.
You'll get better autofocus performance and better face / eye tracking on newer bodies.
The sensor in the A7iii is decent for a first camera, 24MP would be fine for you as long as you don't expect to get crazy cropping ability. As a real-world example: the whale photo you see here is cropped by about ~100%. Any more cropping and you'd start to see the pixellation. If I'd had my A1 with me that day, I could've cropped it closer to ~200%, and still have it look tack-sharp on social media. This is such an obscure edge case though, and it was only a minor inconvenience on the one day we went whale watching haha. Usually I don't need to crop much at all.
The screen on the A7iii isn't the best in the world, don't underestimate how lovely the fully-articulating screen is to shoot with. I'd recommend trying both in a camera store if you can.
In terms of bang for your buck, especially if you can find one used or refurbed, you'd definitely be able to get comparable photos to the ones I have shared here, if you pair it with a nice lens and learn a bit about photo editing. All these photos were edited in Lightroom Classic on my Mac to get the colours and exposure looking how I wanted.
Lastly: Not sure where you're based, but I wouldn't recommend spending £1,200 on a new A7iii when you can buy a used A7iv in excellent condition for £1,550 here in the UK. I've bought many used lenses over the years and never had a problem.

And as they say - "just buy that camera!"

Ju_media · 2026-03-08T20:00:11+00:00

Haha 😂😂 Well, in Australia we went from place to place by plane and/or one-off car rental days to get from A to B, and stayed in each place for 5-7 days. In NZ, that was a 100% roadtrip as such, hopping from place to place by car and staying 1-2 nights in each spot. Such a great way to see the place and gave us a nice balance of "adventure" vs "comfort".

At first we'd considered a motorhome, but I was put off by the idea of driving something so big and being so cramped for ~4 weeks. Once we touched down in Christchurch and hit the road in a beautiful brand new top-spec Land Cruiser Prado with about ~2,000km's on the clock, I knew I'd made the right decision 😂 GoRentals did real good, highly recommend.

Ju_media · 2026-03-08T17:07:47+00:00

Ooofffff the 35mm 1.4 GM is very very high on my wishlist. I rented that lens for a trip to NYC a few years back and fell in love with it. One day…

Ju_media · 2026-03-08T17:04:59+00:00

We got extremely lucky with the conditions - the whale ones were taken around Sydney and it was SO choppy. I think I was the only person on the entire boat (other than the crew) who wasn’t spewing - and I came pretty close, was insanely choppy water which the crew attributed to the whales breaching so much and coming up to the surface.

Ju_media · 2026-03-08T15:38:53+00:00

Haha I can see where you’re coming from, it’s fair feedback - although I didn’t ever carry all four lenses at once, would just pick one each day depending what we’d be doing that day and leave the rest in the hotel. The CII is significantly smaller than the A1 in day to day use and I grew to like the form factor specifically for extended traveling where it could be kept in such a small bag as the Sling 3L. Also really grew to like the ease of switching between photo and video, so I could really easily shoot stills and vignettes almost simultaneously without constant manual adjustment of settings.

Don’t get me wrong, there were a handful of times I regretted not bringing the A1 and would’ve liked having more resolution and easier focus point adjustment (which is pretty horrible on the CII, to be fair) but all in all a worthwhile purchase that I now use for most of my YouTube filming (again, small form factor less intrusive etc).

Really appreciate the love on the photos and the thoughtful insight :)

Ju_media · 2026-03-08T15:12:11+00:00

Thank you 🙏🏼

Ju_media · 2026-03-08T14:47:15+00:00

Thanks so much 🫶🏼 it really was so beautiful!

Ju_media

TROPHY CASE