this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2024
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I want a NAS solution to back up my PC and host media files, but prebuilt NAS solutions are incredibly expensive and underwhelming and so I'm planning to build one. Does anyone have recommendations for a NAS interface?

I'm brand new to server management and would prefer something user friendly. I have used linux mint, but currently use windows as my daily driver (planning to switch to mint soon). I'd be fine with a dedicated NAS OS or with something I could run on mint since I'm already familiar with that distro.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

OpenMediaVault (OMV) is a Debian server with a very user-friendly web interface. It also has solid documentation and a robust community. I've been running it for 6 years, and I am very happy with it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I would just use the CLI. The web interface is a bit confusing and doesn't allow directory services.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

I would agree. But for the very basics starting and learning, the UI isn't that intimidating.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago
[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Is it going to be just a NAS? If so go TrueNAS with lots of ram. (ZFS likes its ram)

If you want to run VMs use Proxmox

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Honestly, I run my TrueNAS with obly 8GiB and it does great. That said, I'm not doing any deduplication or anything, and my pool is only 3 drives at a total of ~15TB iirc

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Not for me. Runs fine with minimal if any latency. Transfer speeds are not blazing fast, but typically sit in the 50MB/s or so range over samba

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Is that read or write? Also is sustained long term and if not how long does it take to run out of cache?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
  1. Both
  2. I've done writes and reads that are in excess of a TB at a time. No real issues.

I'm sure I'm missing a touch of performance here or there, but I can't notice, so who cares. It means I don't have to go spend money on new RAM when I'm too broke to even eat most days lol

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Interesting. What RPM are your disks running at?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

7200rpm. CMR, obviously with ZFS.

[–] pastermil 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

It depends on how much data. I would say 128Gib is a safe bet.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

Perhaps a safe bet but crazy . Anything over 8 GB will work and 16 gigs or more will work well. The more the better but don’t get the wrong idea from Mr. 128 GB.

[–] pastermil 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

That's a lot of RAM for a NAS...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

It is needed as spinning rust is slow. It also depends on what you are using it for. 128gb is a safe bet but depending on your needs you could go lower.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

🤣 My TrueNAS server with 16GB servers files just fine.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

TrueNAS is fine but the dead-simplest I've ever seen is CasaOS which has one-click network file sharing.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Unraid is as simple as they come and it has some features that don’t exist in normal RAID setups.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It's paid and partly proprietary though. Not an issue for me, but might be an issue for some other people.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

Meh, features and support aren’t free. I get your, though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Synology and Qnap cheaper solutions would work just fine for what you need, and are only ~$200-300. Cheaper then building an entire box, but if not...

Fract Node 804 Case (space for 8 3.5" HDDs, AMD lower wattage CPU, whatever mobo with an SFP module.

Run TrueNAS or Unraid on it, and you'll be ready to go.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

You might be right. The Synology products look really good. I didn't see that they actually have a sub-$400 4-bay NAS... DS423. Not sure if it'll meet my performance needs. But the $600 4 bay doesn't look too bad either really.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Do you really need a 4 bay unit though? HDD are cheap right now. You can get a Synology DS-2XX for ~$200, and 2x14TB Refurb WDC for $200. That's 14TB of Raid 1 protected storage right there for $400.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I didn't realize how cheap the big hdds had gotten. Definitely looking into 2 bays.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, definitely explore it. You can get more service-level things out of a build or higher disk array, but if you don't need the compute, just go cheap and be satisfied your stuff is safe. Synology has a great ecosystem in my experience.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

I'd honestly just go Ubuntu server LTS and learn to configure it through the terminal. It's not too difficult to setup. NFS and Samba shares.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

HexOS is built on TrueNAS and looks promising as a simplified version. Looks like it isn't available yet but I think you're who the kind of user they are building it for.

https://hexos.com/

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

I like TrueNAS Scale. If you don't mind paying for a server OS and parts of it being proprietary, check out Unraid.