Want to Get/Build a NAS, Don't Know Where to Start

[rojobahr]

I've been wanting to build or get a NAS for a while and I may be able to now that my taxes are filed and I'm getting a tax refund. I already have a 2TB hard drive (about 4-5 years old) and a 4TB hard drive (about 1-2 years old) in my PC, both are about 3/4ths full. My intentions are to use it as a simple file storage server for my large library of games and other stuff. I don't want to run games on it, just to hold files as a more "write once, read many" type deal.

How I have things set up now, I compress everything that's put into my storage drives with 7zip. Then, when I'm ready to pull it out of storage, I unzip directly to my main drive. How bad is this method of doing things?

Movies and videos are some of what I'm going to be putting on there, but I don't think I need anything Plex. I imagine I could just stream it directly with VLC, If that wouldn't have any adverse effects and even if I can't, it doesn't matter that much. I'm not planning on using it as a dedicated streaming server.

 

Here is my list of what I want:

At least 10TB of storage after parity.

Storage be preferably solid state cause I don't want to have to buy hard drives too often and not from companies that replace parts without telling people.

No idea of a price ceiling now. I'm not sure what is considered cheap or expensive for a NAS.

I'm hoping to get parity software that's free/open-source.

Speeds about on par with good HDDs.

 

Additionally, my dad owns a small business and would probably benefit from using it as well to store forms and stuff. One potential problem I foresee is that I have a Windows 10 PC and he does his stuff on the family computer, which is a Mac. 

 

I'm not sure if I should build my own or if it's cheaper/better to buy a basic pre-built NAS that fulfills my wants. Any recommendations?

 

Thank you.