Build a Server or rely on a prebuild NAS?

[Federico7]

Hi, right now i' m at a point where i have too many hard drives and it's been difficult to track where is everything... so i decided it was time to start using a NAS or build one...i' m an architect and also a tech enthusiast from Italy, the main purposes of the solution would be:

PERSONAL STUFF

- storing foto, with face recognition and all other ways to classifying them automatically, (and also without manually updating everyone),  so a services like google photos, amazon photos, DS photo but locally...  

- storing video

- ability to create different users with different privileges (so that my parents can't mess up anything and have access only of what they should)

- media server, movies, music, tv show, anime (i have a lot of media) i still don't know if Plex, Jellyfin or watherver synology uses... (jellyfin as far as i know should also have something for books/pdf witch i guess would be nice for my comic/manga collection) anyway, 1-3 steams max, probably 1 user for 90% of the time...

- backup of devices i use...

- steam shared library (totally optional but it would be cool B| ) 

 

PROFESSIONAL STUFF

- storage of personal projects, clients stuff

- organize a library of object and materials for render programs, so that i can have my library on every machine in my house.

 

- i plan on going to live in another house soon, so i was wondering if i should use this machine also for managing some security cameras or if would be best to set a dedicated one for that task with maybe Home Assistant since for all the upper tasks the machine could be set to sleep during night or even waken up at request... while for security camera everything sould be always on.

 

The plan was to decide a low energy configuration (since i' m basically the only user) and start with some hard disk in a defined configuration and then add others when needed more space...

1 - So what do you suggest? Should i go for a Synology or build a machine..?

2 - if the second one. What system install on it? FreeNAS, Unraid, others..? 

3 - Hardware configuration ? (i don't have any spare hardware to reuse beside a raspberry pi witch is not fit for the task)

 

 

Budget: For the Synology solution i was oriented towards the 1821+, and planned to start with 2 12tb iron wolf and 2 500gb nvme SSD for cache so around 1000-1500€...

The machine will be placed in a separate room witch is near the bedroom so it should be quiet, and energy efficient with possibly the ability to start up on request. For my needs a small wait at the beginning is not a big deal as far as, when properly on, it's snappy...

 

Sorry for the long post ù.ù

[firestronk]

For storing photos, PhotoPrism or NextCloud may be good solutions for you. PhotoPrism is still in development, but it may check more boxes for you compared to NextCloud which is a general cloud server that you can host. As for your other personal and professional needs, most NAS solutions will be capable of doing all that.

 

Synology is a reputable brand for NAS, but they do get pretty costly compared to if you built your own. It is far more convenient and easier if you purchased a pre-built NAS, but it does limit your upgradability and customization options.

 

I only have experience with Unraid as I built my own server over a month ago. I did have to spend a bit of time on setting it up and troubleshooting some of the issues with it (many of which were my own fault for being paying attention), but it saved me a lot of money compared to buying a pre-built. FreeNAS is also a very solid choice if you were to build your own system albeit it's not as simple as Unraid.

 

In regards to security cameras, you can set-up a VM on either Unraid or FreeNAS and run some sort of camera software on it like Blue Iris or Frigate. I'm not sure how that is managed on Synology.