Click below for the audio version of this post
Background: Do It Yourself Computer Upgrade at Home My original aim was to use as many of the storage disks available in my home (and lying idle) for this project. Below is the outcome at the time of writing this post.Six Disks and counting

How it all began
When we began gaathastory in late 2015, I used aWorkplace was ready and (avail)able
Back in 2019 when we were doing the interiors for our new home, I had specifically asked for a two level workdesk- a standing desk at that. I leave you with a picture from back in the day to show you what I mean. So the workplace for the workstation was not an issue. Now, coming to the problem at hand:
>Not a sob story, but a lifelong experience! Last year, we moved audio files from Host A to Host B. Host A had programmatic ads embedded into our podcast files, which got pulled into Host B while migrating the RSS feeds. So now I am cleaning up over 1,000 podcast files, replacing them one by one on Host B. Host B does not support HTML codes in the episode description either, so I have to update the text metadata also :-).
Working on the custom rig built around Lenovo ThinkCentre M900 Tiny
I purchased a used Lenovo ThinkCentre M900 Tiny after much research and checking reviews on YouTube- particularly from the Server To Home Project. (Thanks Chris and Team!). The machine served the basic purpose well, and had slots for 2 hard disks- a SATA drive and an M.2 slot for either SSD or NVMe. After much R and D, one 500GB Crucial NVMe drive and one 480 GB Kingston SATA SSD drive made the core of the storage.Storage Disks= Problem of Plenty
Over the years, I had accumulated a few had drives of varying vintage, technology and capacity. I was really looking for a new computer without a hard drive. A new purchase meant more storage drives, and the problem of using the old drives remained. The ThinkCentre came with a drive as well (described below) but it has two slots for disk drives, and six USB 3.0 slots, which means there was a possibility of using some, if not all of the disks.My aim was to use as many of the above disks as possible. I succeeded in using all of the, excluding the last two MicroSD cards. And believe me, I did try to use them in the “Kitchen Sink.” The Vyas “Disk Collection” as on December 1st, 2021 was as follows:- – 1.5 TB Seagate External USB drive (used previously for backups)
- – 480 GB Kingston SATA M.2 Drive (formerly on my 2012 Macbook Pro, which is now used by a team member at gaathastory. Original disk has been reinserted)
- – 240 GB Kingston SATA M.2 Drive (formerly the main drive for the crappy Coconics laptop, topic and post for another day)
- –
500 GB Crucial NVMe M.2 Drive (Original drive has been reinserted). Update February 2022: This disk will be used in the Lenovo Thinkpad with Ryzen that I purchased in January. - – 300 GB Seagate USB Drive. Rather old, used for storage of really old files.
- – 250 GB SK Hynix M2 SATA Drive in a USB M.2 enclosure (This was formerly the OEM disk for my wife’s Dell Latitude laptop. Her Dell now has 1 TB Seagate Barracuda NVMe)
- – 500 GB Western Digital Hard Drive- this came with the ThinkCentre and had Windows 10 installed, now removed.
- – 128 GB MicroSD drive, now corrupted
- – 32 GB MicroSD card, which now powers the Raspberry Pi4
Challenges faced while doing a Do It Yourself Computer Upgrade at home
This lofty goal was not without its challenges.
Disks Aweigh!
First of all, installing so many disks in the computer means that the power draw would increase significantly. The stock 65W power adapter was woefully inadequate to handle the power draw from so many disk drivers. This was solved using two means:
– Purchasing a 90 W power supply from Lenovo’s OEM supplier. This helped power the Two disks on motherboard, as well as 3 external USB disks (the 1.5 TB Seagate, the 300 GB Seagate and the 500 GB WD SATA).
– Using a Dual power (AC + USB) 4 slot USB adapter. One SATA SSD disk (the 256 GB Hynix) is now powered using this.
Cable Management
Next came the issue of cable management, both internally and externally. With so many devices attached to the computer – 2 display monitors, USB adapter, power supply, USB Microphone, headphones… not to mention the USB disks, the ThinkCentre was bursting at seams with the cables. Concealing the cables in the acoustical foam or the wall was one option. The other was to stick everything into a desktop chassis. I chose the latter option.Most of the components you see in this image are now inside the Kitchen Sink Desktop!
The whole experiment began with cable management, which is still not achieved to 100 percent satisfaction
Putting it all together
I purchased a small-ish Silverstone computer case and literally put everything in there that I could. I did a trial run with connecting all the pieces together, and using masking tape and a temporary adhesive tape (the hideous white tape you may see in some of the images)Drilling hole in the chassis
Stabilizing the internal frame
An old chess piece put to good use!
Experimenting with internal light
I have never used lights inside a desktop chassis: The last time I had used a desktop was in 2009, and it was the typical white box case with no custom mods, etc. Over the years, I have seen people get really creative with their desktop chassis. And foe this custom rig, I thought of giving it a try. Went with a vanilla white LED instead of colours- and I thought it worked well. But not to my linking. I prefer a dark case. Or down the line I might install a coloured LED. Time will tell.Final Act- Dual Screen Monitors
This is how the setup looked like in December, now it has been superceded.
Update February 2022
As of end of January 2022, I have moved the setup back to a single screen, the 21 inch Lenovo Monitor. During the next upgrade (read about the Processor in the FAQ Below) I might add one more monitor identical to the Lenovo’s 21 incher. The difference in display resolution between the two monitors was becoming a pain in the rear end.A rather boring FAQ for the Do It Yourself Computer Upgrade at Home:
Why do I call it the Kitchen Sink Edition? – Because almost every storage disk in the household that was lying spare has been used up. Except maybe a MicroSD or two 🙂 Here’s an example.


sensors coretemp-isa-0000 Adapter: ISA adapter Package id 0: +44.0°C (high = +84.0°C, crit = +100.0°C) Core 0: +41.0°C (high = +84.0°C, crit = +100.0°C) Core 1: +42.0°C (high = +84.0°C, crit = +100.0°C) Core 2: +41.0°C (high = +84.0°C, crit = +100.0°C) Core 3: +40.0°C (high = +84.0°C, crit = +100.0°C) acpitz-acpi-0 Adapter: ACPI interface temp1: +27.8°C (crit = +119.0°C) temp2: +29.8°C (crit = +119.0°C) nvme-pci-0100 Adapter: PCI adapter Composite: +50.9°C (low = -0.1°C, high = +86.8°C) (crit = +89.8°C) Sensor 1: +50.9°C (low = -273.1°C, high = +65261.8°C)Disk Temps
sudo hddtemp /dev/sda /dev/sda: KINGSTON SA400M8480G: 37°CTemperatures for other disks not available. In particular I am interested in checking temperatures for the hard drives. The 1.5 TB, the 300 GB (both Seagates) and the 500 GB Western Digital. During summer as temperatures cross 30 Deg Celsius, heating might become an issue. But I will work on a cooling system by then.
Trial of additional fans for cooling
The Lenovo Thinkcentre cost @ US$ 225 RAM @ US $ 75 Disks (purchased at different times) - US $ 400 Chassis US $ 50 Power adapter and USB adapter - US $ 40 Other parts (fan, Keyboard, etc.) - US$ 50 Monitors - US $ 100How long did it take to set this up? – Short answer: Too long. Since i Was trying this for the first time, I went into the “iterate and optimize spiral”. Setup, moving data around, experimenting with RAID… overall took nearly 40 hours over a month. – End to end you can finish the work in less than 20 hours or over a weekend. Depending on your stage / phase of life. What operating system do I use? Linux for the wider world, Manjaro for those in the know. The Lenovo came with Windows 10 installed, so I can always make this machine a dual boot. What about noise and dust control? – I have installed dust filters inside the chassis. Noise control is on the To Do. Depends mostly on what setup I use for cooling. Thanks for reading!Note: A live version of this document will be available at https://app.simplenote.com/p/RCHT9c
Cost of an assembled mini PC Items Required:Monitor Keyboard Mouse RAM SATA SSD Wifi card USB adapterDIYCrucial Ballistics RAM 2 x 16 GB = INR 14,000 (amazon) Cooler Master PSU = INR 3,400 (amazon) Processor Ryzen 5 3600 = INR 17,000 (amazon) Case Silver Stone PS12 = INR 4,700 (amazon) MSI Motherboard = INR 4,700 (amazon) --------------------------------------------------- Subtotal 16 GB = 39,000 --------------------------------------------------- Subtotal 32 GB = 45,000 ---------------------------------------------------Optional CPU Fan Thermaltake = INR 1,500 (amazon)
This post was updated on 2022-02-18