Blackmagic Cloud Store Mini Internal Hardware Overview
Removing a few screws allows us to get inside the system. Under the cover in the front of the chassis, we get an internal power supply for doing AC to DC conversion internally.
In one corner, we get a single fan next to the SoC and memory for the unit. You can see that the SoC heatsink and the heatsink for the SSD package is aligned for the airflow of this fan.
Here is a quick look at the SSD package with its heatsink and the AC input with wiring that goes from the rear outlet to the internal front AC to DC power solution.
The four M.2 SSDs are in this small package with a BMDPC8884A label on the PCB.
Here is a quick cross-section where we can see the PCIe riser, heatsinks, and the M.2 SSDs.
Blackmagic made a four SSD sandwich with cooling built in. The idea is that if you want, you can unscrew this and service the SSDs. If you are wondering, yes, you can install new or larger capacity SSDs. Today’s price is $990 for the 4x 2TB or 8TB model, and $3295 for the 4x 4TB 16TB model. A Crucial P3 Plus 4TB SSD that we use in this class of NAS is $219 or so. That makes it $880 for 16TB of NVMe SSDs, and $990 for this unit for 16TB (plus four 2TB M.2 SSDs extra) or $3295 for the 16TB model. You can see where we are going with this. Here is an Amazon affiliate link to the Crucial SSDs we would use if you want to price this out yourself. Of course, your results and pricing may vary.
There is another heatsink below the SSD package for the NICs.
You can also see the riser slot here and the NAND package for the embedded firmware.
Other features folks might notice is that there is what looks like a recovery and USB boot toggle button inside. There appears to be a Sanmina logo on the PCB. We also spotted what looks like a CYPD3125-40LQXI USB interface chip.
Next, let us get to the setup and performance.
8TB Raw for $990, which includes the hardware and software? This seems like an excellent deal for anyone looking for NAS-lite or DAS style system.
If you aren’t in video prod, you may not know them, but BMD is a big US co so this isn’t some fly by night Chinese NAS. I’d want more, but the user and shares is a huge factor now
18W at idle? That’s way too much for a tiny SoC, 4 SSDs, even with 10GbE. Either they didn’t bother with proper power management or the components are extremely old (like Intel X520 which doesn’t support EEE). It’s a shame you didn’t take off the heatsinks to check which components are used.
Are there screwholes and room for rack ears for a 10″ or even a 19″ rack?
Paul – to rack mount you need BMD’s shelf which can be split to house several different bits of their kit on the same shelf. The thermal design is designed to pass the heat sideways through all the devices on the shelf. BMD kit is known for running hot though, so I’d probably put the NAS as the first one in the chain.
Also Reed – BMD is Australian.
BMD a huge US company? You obviously don’t work in video production! A fantastic AUSTRALIAN company, always has been
I looked at the manufacturer’s website. The four SSDs are configured as RAID0.
May issue with BMD gear is reliability. I’ve had 21 of 22 pieces of a product have their internal power supplies fail over the course of a few years. The warranty process for them was a pain and in the end it was simply easier to mod their gear to use external 12V power supplies which permitted them to run cooler and surprisingly more reliable.
Outside of that one major blip, they’ve been decent. What has gotten me excited is that they have a video production focused 10 Gbit switch out.