Barebone PC as NAS?

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A while ago I switched from a Lacie Big2 to a WD EX4 because my video collection became so big that I ran out of disk space. 

Ever since that upgrade I've been having terrible spool-up lag, causing my music to hang at the end of every song and making LibreOffice and Paintshop load documents in read-only mode or even not at all.

I'd like to eliminate this lag completely by using a second NAS with an SSD for my regular data.  Already tried connecting an SSD to the NAS via USB, but that didn't solve the problem.  As soon as the NAS had to spool up its own HDDs, the SSD would stop responding until the PC loaded whatever HDD-based file I tried to access.

 

Would one of those miniature barebone PCs do the trick?  Does anyone have experience with using one as a NAS ? 

I'm thinking about getting a Shuttle XS35V2 or a Minix HD PC, putting my SSD in there and running FreeNas or similar OS from SD or USB.

Feel free to suggest other barebones if you know any that would suit my use better, but passive cooling is a must.  This one will need to be underneath my desk so I need it to be silent.

[TheKDub]

Probably would work, most barebones I know of come with pretty much everything but storage and ram.

[Firearm2112]

I dont see why not.