Cloud backup services are relatively cheap to use, but it’s nice to have access to network-attached storage (NAS) at home, too. The problem is, it can be quite expensive to purchase the NAS box, let alone the drives to fit inside. Hardkernel is coming to the rescue, though, with a simple NAS solution for just $65.

In PCMag’s round-up of the best NAS devices this year, the prices range from $250 up to $700, so in terms of price the Hardkernel ODROID-HC4(Opens in a new window) at $65 is an absolute steal. But what are you actually getting for such little cash? Hardkernel refers to it as a “toaster form factor” because you literally slot two drives into the HC4 vertically, just like inserting slices of bread into a toaster.

The HC4 is minimal in both size and features, measuring 84-by-90.5-by-25mm and weighing 280 grams. It will accept two 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch SATA mechanical hard drives, but you can also slot in one or two 2.5-inch SATA SSDs. Powering the NAS is a 12nm Amlogic S905X3 1.8GHz Cortex-A55 quad-core processor with Mali-G31 MP2 GPU and 4GB of DDR4 RAM. There’s also a 16MB flash chip for storing the Petitboot bootloader and the Ubuntu 20.04 operating system. On the rear of the casing is a 5.5mm DC power jack, microSD card slot, USB 2.0 port, HDMI 2.0 port, and a Gigabit Ethernet port. Power consumption can reach just under 16 watts when active, under six watts when idle, and 0.29 watts when suspended.

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If you spend $75 for the ODROID-HC4-Plus, you also get a real-time clock integrated circuit and a 1-inch OLED panel for displaying the system status. As it only costs an extra $10, the Plus version is sure to prove popular. The only other cost is the storage drives. The HC4 and HC4-Plus are both set to become available on Oct. 27, however, as CNX Software discovered(Opens in a new window), pre-orders are already being taken for the NAS on the AmeriDroid website(Opens in a new window).