I have multiple remote locations where I currently use OpenWrt combo router/APs for purposes like connecting to network, running VPNs, extending LANs to these VPNs, adding Wi-Fi APs - you know, normal router stuff.

I recently came into possession of multiple 3.5" HDDs and was looking for ways to utilize them best. My servers run on NVMEs and I have plenty of storage already, so I was thinking that I’d like to replace the routers with something that can take the HDDs to have a more distributed backup infrastructure.

The requirements are:

1. Be a normal PC with UEFI. I prefer ARM, but this is not realistic, so probably x64. I came to the conclusion that I hate OpenWrt and everything not normal GNU/systemd software.
2. Have at least two Ethernet ports, preferably 2.5 gigabit - I intend to keep using the existing routers as Wi-Fi APs and those have 2.5G ports.
3. Have a small physical footprint and be quiet, ideally something like the AirPort Extreme of the olden days - people are less likely to unplug something that looks more like a router than a server. The routers are extremely remote (think 3 days travel time), people who live nearby are elderly (more blinking lights must mean more expensive), Wi-Fi provided by my hardware is their only connection, no cellular or anything, they’d get completely cut off from the world, so calling them and saying they need to do some maintenance is not an option.
4. Have two 3.5" bays - my normal servers reside on RAIDZ as root filesystem, here I’m thinking of mirroring the drives to have at least some hardware redundancy. Having more than two is bad due to the reason above.
5. Be decently powerful - routing sounds like an easy task, but I need to keep a convoluted VPN setup (plus syncoid backups!) and that overwhelms 2 core celerons pretty quickly. Since I’m adding storage I also wanted to add some local mirrors for services as well, but that’s low priority.
6. Be in the 200-300€ range. I need to buy at least 5 of these. Blowing through my entire 2027 hardware budget before the year even starts sounds a bit painful.

Web search gave me an AOOSTAR R7 small PC that looks like a perfect match (the ports, the bays, Ryzen 7 5825U and DDR4 RAM! for about 300€), but sadly I can’t find it in stock anywhere.

Small note about the Ethernet ports: one to the upstream network (an option to have more than 1 gigabit exists in some places), one to the AP, that is 2.5G. If there’s an option to have more ports, that would be mad, I’d replace even the hardware at my home.

I also kinda dislike the idea of having SFP ports, I can’t go pure fiber (the upstream networks use proprietary connectors that are a pain to source and setup, I just use the bridges provided by them; the AP has copper Ethernet) and had a bad experience with the SFP to copper adapters.

I’m sure someone in this community has already solved this problem, so hoping this discussion will be useful for someone else as well.