Odroid HC2 : Home Cloud Two

Ovierview

ODROID-HC2 is a mini PC which can be an affordable solution for a network attached storage (NAS) server. This home cloud-server centralizes data and enables users to share and stream multimedia files to phones, tablets and other devices on a network. Ideal for a single user on many devices, sharing between family members, developers or a group. Tailor the ODROID-HC2 to your specific needs. Plenty of software is available with only simple configuration. Determine the storage capacity of your server with a higher HDD/SSD. Depending on your needs, the frame is made to be stackable.

The HC2 is based on the very powerful ODROID-XU4 platform and it can run Samba, FTP, NFS, SSH, NGINX, Apache, SQL, Docker, WordPress and other server software smoothly with full Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Debian, Arch and OMV. Available and ready-to-go OS distributions are on our WiKi. Any OS for XU4 is fully compatible with the HC2.

Installed with a high performance SATA port and a Gigabit Ethernet port, to build a faster network storage device. Engineered metal frame body is designed to store a 2.5 inch HDD/SSD or 3.5inch HDD with great heat dissipation.

Key features

* Samsung Exynos5422 Cortex-A15 2Ghz and Cortex-A7 Octa core CPUs
* 2Gbyte LPDDR3 RAM PoP stacked
* SATA-3 port for 3.5inch or 2.5inch HDD/SSD  storage up to 27mm thickness
* Gigabit Ethernet port
* USB 2.0 Host
* UHS-1 capable micro-SD card slot for boot media
* Size : 197 x 115 x 42 mm approx.(Aluminium cooling frame size)
* Linux server OS images based on modern Kernel 4.14 LTS


* We guarantee the production of ODROID-HC2 to the middle of 2020, but expect to continue production long after. 

Example of setup:

The basic setup requires additional items as below. 

- 1 x 8GB microSD card for OS installation
- 1 x 3.5inch HDD 
- 1 x 12V/2A Power Supply
- 1 x Router
- 1 x Ethernet cable
- 1 x ODROID-HC2 Case  

CPU/RAM PERFORMANCE
We ran several benchmarks to measure the computing power on the HC2/XU4. The same tests were performed on the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, ODROID-C1+, ODROID-C2 and ODROID-HC2/XU4. 
The values of the test results were scaled uniformly for comparison purposes. The computing power of the HC2/XU4 was measured to be ~7 times faster than the latest Raspberry Pi 3 thanks to the 2Ghz Cortex-A15 cores and much higher 64bit-wide memory bandwidth. Using the HC2/XU4 as a computer provides a "professional server like" experience, unlike the sluggish performance of most single-board computers! 
Particularly for developers, compiling code on the HC2/XU4 is super fast. The high-performance 2GB DDR3 RAM is an additional advantage allowing most programs to be compiled directly on the HC2/XU4.

SPECIFICATIONS

3.5inch HDD mounting holes mechanical compatibility issue.
There are 3 screw holes on the HC2 metal frame for mounting 3.5" HDD.
But a few HDD models have different positions of mechanical mounting holes. 
In that case, you can fasten only one screw.

We found two models have the issue so far.
- HGST 10TB Deskstar NAS HDN721010ALE604
- WD 8TB WD80EMAZ NAS

One screw seems to be fine for general use cases.
If you need more reliable HDD mounting, refer this guide to add more mount holes.