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Newbie NAS build

greeatzy
By greeatzy
in Servers, NAS, and Home Lab
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Hello all,

 

I'm looking into making my own NAS. It would be used to access media over VLC or similar media player platform. Also would like to have remote access while I'm not home (different country).

I looking for parts recommendation and software (user friendly if possible but willing to learn). For start maybe 2-4TB with option to upgrade.

 

To be an expert is to know more about less.

  • 2014 Build --> FX 8350 4.7GHz {} ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Killer {} Reference GTX 980 4GB {} 2x4GB 1866MHz HyperX {} Seagate 2TB 7200rpm {} 840 EVO 120GB {} XFX PRO850W {} Noctua NH D14 {} Fractal Define R4 White Windowed
  • 2018 Build --> Ryzen 7 2700X {} ASRock Fatal1ty X470 Gaming K4 {} Gigabyte RTX 2070 8GB {} 2x8GB HX Fury 3200MHz {} Toshiba P300 2TB {} Kingston 480GB A1000 {} Corsair RM750W {} Enermax LIQMAX II 240 {} Fractal Focus G
  • 2021 Build --> Ryzen 9 5900X {} ASUS ROG Strix X570-F GAMING {} ASUS GeForce RTX 3080Ti ROG STRIX OC {} Gigabyte AORUS RGB DDR4 32GB {} Kingston KC2500 M.2 2280 NVMe 2TB {} Seasonic FOCUS GX-1000 {} ASUS ROG Ryujin 240 AIO {} NYXT H710i
  • 2026 Build --> Ryzen 9 9950X3D {} ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR X870E HERO {} ASUS GeForce RTX 5090 32GB ASTRAL LC {} G.Skill TridentZ Royal Neo RGB Silver DDR5 CL28 6000MHz 2x16GB {} Samsung SSD 4TB 9100 PRO M.2 {} Seasonic 1600W PRIME TX Noctua Edition {} Fractal Lumen S36 V2 RGB 360mm AIO {} Fractal Design North XL Charcoal
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I use TrueNAS for my NAS. On that you can setup OpenVPN and Plex to get access to your media from anywhere.

 

You can also use Unraid but I have no experience of that.

 

what is your budget and country? (Helps with shopping for parts 🙂 )

I might be experienced, but I'm human and I do make mistakes. Trust but Verify! I edit my messages after sending them alot, please refresh before posting your reply. Please try to be clear and specific, you'll get a better answer. Please remember to mark solutions once you have the information you need. Expand this signature for common PC building advice, a short bio and a list of my components.

 

Common build advice:

1) Buy the cheapest (well reviewed) motherboard that has the features you need. Paying more typically only gets you features you won’t use. 2) only get as much RAM as you need, getting more won’t (typically) make your PC faster. 3) While I recommend getting an NVMe drive, you don’t need to splurge for an expensive drive with DRam cache, DRamless drives are fine for gamers. 4) paying for looks is fine, just don’t break the bank. 5) Tower coolers are usually good enough, unless you go top tier Intel or plan on OCing. 6) OCing is a dead meme, you probably shouldn’t bother. 7) "Bottlenecks" rarely matter and "Future-proofing" is a myth. 8) AIOs don't noticeably improve performance past 240mm and don't improve at all past 360mm. 9) RTFM.

 

Useful Websites:

https://www.productchart.com - helps compare monitors, https://uk.pcpartpicker.com - makes designing a PC easier.

 

Bio:

He/Him - I'm a PhD student working in the fields of reinforcement learning and traffic control. PCs are one of my hobbies and I've built many PCs and performed upgrades on a few laptops (for myself, friends and family). My personal computers include 4 windows (10/11) machines and a TrueNAS server (and I'm looking to move to dual booting Linux Mint on my main machine in future). Aside from computers, I also dabble in modding/homebrew retro consoles, support Southampton FC, and enjoy Scuba Diving and Skiing.

Fun Facts

1) When I was 3 years old my favourite toy was a scientific calculator. 2) My father is a British Champion ploughman in the Vintage Hydraulic Class. 3) On Speedrun.com, I'm the world record holder for the Dream Bobsleigh event on Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games 2010.

 

My Favourite Games: World of Tanks, Runescape, Subnautica, Metroid (Fusion and Dread), Spyro: Year of the Dragon (Original and Reignited Trilogy), Crash Bash, Mario Kart Wii, Balatro

 

My Computers: Primary: My main gaming rig - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/will0hlep/saved/NByp3C Second: Hosts Discord bots as well as a Minecraft and Ark server, and also serves as a reinforcement learning sand box - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/will0hlep/saved/cc9K7P NAS: TrueNAS Scale NAS hosting SMB shares, DDNS updater, pi-hole, and a Jellyfin server - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/will0hlep/saved/m37w3C Foldatron: My folding@home and BOINC rig (partially donated to me by Folding Team Leader GOTSpectrum) - Mobile: Mini-ITX gaming rig for when I'm away from home -

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Thoughts on TrueNAS user friendliness: None of it seemed super user friendly when I started with TrueNAS but there are alot of tutorials on youtube and the documentation is decent, after a few attempts I got it all working.

I might be experienced, but I'm human and I do make mistakes. Trust but Verify! I edit my messages after sending them alot, please refresh before posting your reply. Please try to be clear and specific, you'll get a better answer. Please remember to mark solutions once you have the information you need. Expand this signature for common PC building advice, a short bio and a list of my components.

 

Common build advice:

1) Buy the cheapest (well reviewed) motherboard that has the features you need. Paying more typically only gets you features you won’t use. 2) only get as much RAM as you need, getting more won’t (typically) make your PC faster. 3) While I recommend getting an NVMe drive, you don’t need to splurge for an expensive drive with DRam cache, DRamless drives are fine for gamers. 4) paying for looks is fine, just don’t break the bank. 5) Tower coolers are usually good enough, unless you go top tier Intel or plan on OCing. 6) OCing is a dead meme, you probably shouldn’t bother. 7) "Bottlenecks" rarely matter and "Future-proofing" is a myth. 8) AIOs don't noticeably improve performance past 240mm and don't improve at all past 360mm. 9) RTFM.

 

Useful Websites:

https://www.productchart.com - helps compare monitors, https://uk.pcpartpicker.com - makes designing a PC easier.

 

Bio:

He/Him - I'm a PhD student working in the fields of reinforcement learning and traffic control. PCs are one of my hobbies and I've built many PCs and performed upgrades on a few laptops (for myself, friends and family). My personal computers include 4 windows (10/11) machines and a TrueNAS server (and I'm looking to move to dual booting Linux Mint on my main machine in future). Aside from computers, I also dabble in modding/homebrew retro consoles, support Southampton FC, and enjoy Scuba Diving and Skiing.

Fun Facts

1) When I was 3 years old my favourite toy was a scientific calculator. 2) My father is a British Champion ploughman in the Vintage Hydraulic Class. 3) On Speedrun.com, I'm the world record holder for the Dream Bobsleigh event on Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games 2010.

 

My Favourite Games: World of Tanks, Runescape, Subnautica, Metroid (Fusion and Dread), Spyro: Year of the Dragon (Original and Reignited Trilogy), Crash Bash, Mario Kart Wii, Balatro

 

My Computers: Primary: My main gaming rig - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/will0hlep/saved/NByp3C Second: Hosts Discord bots as well as a Minecraft and Ark server, and also serves as a reinforcement learning sand box - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/will0hlep/saved/cc9K7P NAS: TrueNAS Scale NAS hosting SMB shares, DDNS updater, pi-hole, and a Jellyfin server - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/will0hlep/saved/m37w3C Foldatron: My folding@home and BOINC rig (partially donated to me by Folding Team Leader GOTSpectrum) - Mobile: Mini-ITX gaming rig for when I'm away from home -

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Posted
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2 hours ago, will0hlep said:

I use TrueNAS for my NAS. On that you can setup OpenVPN and Plex to get access to your media from anywhere.

 

You can also use Unraid but I have no experience of that.

 

what is your budget and country? (Helps with shopping for parts 🙂 )

Budget: 500-700€

Country: Croatia

To be an expert is to know more about less.

  • 2014 Build --> FX 8350 4.7GHz {} ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Killer {} Reference GTX 980 4GB {} 2x4GB 1866MHz HyperX {} Seagate 2TB 7200rpm {} 840 EVO 120GB {} XFX PRO850W {} Noctua NH D14 {} Fractal Define R4 White Windowed
  • 2018 Build --> Ryzen 7 2700X {} ASRock Fatal1ty X470 Gaming K4 {} Gigabyte RTX 2070 8GB {} 2x8GB HX Fury 3200MHz {} Toshiba P300 2TB {} Kingston 480GB A1000 {} Corsair RM750W {} Enermax LIQMAX II 240 {} Fractal Focus G
  • 2021 Build --> Ryzen 9 5900X {} ASUS ROG Strix X570-F GAMING {} ASUS GeForce RTX 3080Ti ROG STRIX OC {} Gigabyte AORUS RGB DDR4 32GB {} Kingston KC2500 M.2 2280 NVMe 2TB {} Seasonic FOCUS GX-1000 {} ASUS ROG Ryujin 240 AIO {} NYXT H710i
  • 2026 Build --> Ryzen 9 9950X3D {} ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR X870E HERO {} ASUS GeForce RTX 5090 32GB ASTRAL LC {} G.Skill TridentZ Royal Neo RGB Silver DDR5 CL28 6000MHz 2x16GB {} Samsung SSD 4TB 9100 PRO M.2 {} Seasonic 1600W PRIME TX Noctua Edition {} Fractal Lumen S36 V2 RGB 360mm AIO {} Fractal Design North XL Charcoal
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Posted

Fairly simple requisitions.

  1. Just purchase a used computer with a 4~7th gen Core (or Pentium) processor, at least 4 GB of memory, 4 SATA ports (certainly for future proof), and Gigabit ethernet connectivity.
  2. Install TrueNAS Scale or Unraid (may require royalty for license) on either a USB drive or a tiny SSD (that is, 16~128 GB).
  3. Prepare 2 drives in 4 TB, set up RAID 1 for basic protection.
  4. Set up Samba & a VPN service then all done!🥳
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16 hours ago, Bersella AI said:

Fairly simple requisitions.

  1. Just purchase a used computer with a 4~7th gen Core (or Pentium) processor, at least 4 GB of memory, 4 SATA ports (certainly for future proof), and Gigabit ethernet connectivity.
  2. Install TrueNAS Scale or Unraid (may require royalty for license) on either a USB drive or a tiny SSD (that is, 16~128 GB).
  3. Prepare 2 drives in 4 TB, set up RAID 1 for basic protection.
  4. Set up Samba & a VPN service then all done!🥳

First one is 252€ (E5 2620v3, 8GB DDR4, GTX 1060 the storage I plan to buy new)

Second one is 250€ (4770, 24GB DDR4)

Third one is 270€ (i5 9400F, 1050, 8GB DDR4)

1132724492_2023-01-1306_38_07-Gamingpcraunalo.png.44da138007334ef8a616a10be5d62328.png62223792_2023-01-1306_37_44-i7-477024gbram500gbssd1tbhdd.png.21609c2f347de55dc08059ae8f7b12a3.png1689968923_2023-01-1306_46_40-HPGAMING-INTELi5-9400FGTX10508GBDDR4NVMe256GB1TBHDD.png.5e53de6a06291197ab34e6b2c144f219.png

To be an expert is to know more about less.

  • 2014 Build --> FX 8350 4.7GHz {} ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Killer {} Reference GTX 980 4GB {} 2x4GB 1866MHz HyperX {} Seagate 2TB 7200rpm {} 840 EVO 120GB {} XFX PRO850W {} Noctua NH D14 {} Fractal Define R4 White Windowed
  • 2018 Build --> Ryzen 7 2700X {} ASRock Fatal1ty X470 Gaming K4 {} Gigabyte RTX 2070 8GB {} 2x8GB HX Fury 3200MHz {} Toshiba P300 2TB {} Kingston 480GB A1000 {} Corsair RM750W {} Enermax LIQMAX II 240 {} Fractal Focus G
  • 2021 Build --> Ryzen 9 5900X {} ASUS ROG Strix X570-F GAMING {} ASUS GeForce RTX 3080Ti ROG STRIX OC {} Gigabyte AORUS RGB DDR4 32GB {} Kingston KC2500 M.2 2280 NVMe 2TB {} Seasonic FOCUS GX-1000 {} ASUS ROG Ryujin 240 AIO {} NYXT H710i
  • 2026 Build --> Ryzen 9 9950X3D {} ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR X870E HERO {} ASUS GeForce RTX 5090 32GB ASTRAL LC {} G.Skill TridentZ Royal Neo RGB Silver DDR5 CL28 6000MHz 2x16GB {} Samsung SSD 4TB 9100 PRO M.2 {} Seasonic 1600W PRIME TX Noctua Edition {} Fractal Lumen S36 V2 RGB 360mm AIO {} Fractal Design North XL Charcoal
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8 hours ago, greeatzy said:

First one is 252€ (E5 2620v3, 8GB DDR4, GTX 1060 the storage I plan to buy new)

Second one is 250€ (4770, 24GB DDR4)

Third one is 270€ (i5 9400F, 1050, 8GB DDR4)

Well, let's take a look...

 

  • First of all, all of these may be way more than sufficient...
  • The chassis used in the first was a custom model, which could have 2 bays for 3.5-inch drives. The others were pre-built models, and they could have 1 or 2 bays & a few (maybe 2, 3 or 4) SATA ports already. All of them came without further proofs for more drives (an external bay can be considered of course).
    It would be better for checking out the model of pre-built ones and pictures of inside.
  • The RAM (24 GB) bundled with the second seems to be too much for your requisitions.
  • Bundled with the first & the third, the discrete GPUs could do nothing but transcoding, and they may waste electricity when not working, then make you disappointed for the deal.

Personally I bought a pre-built system (HP 800 G3 SFF) without the processor, memory & hard drives, then I could install anything I wanted onto it. Although having only 2 bays, it perfectly fitted my need. Specs & pictures can be seen here (written in Chinese). Hope you can get inspired about choices of hardware.

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1 hour ago, Bersella AI said:

Well, let's take a look...

 

  • First of all, all of these may be way more than sufficient...
  • The chassis used in the first was a custom model, which could have 2 bays for 3.5-inch drives. The others were pre-built models, and they could have 1 or 2 bays & a few (maybe 2, 3 or 4) SATA ports already. All of them came without further proofs for more drives (an external bay can be considered of course).
    It would be better for checking out the model of pre-built ones and pictures of inside.
  • The RAM (24 GB) bundled with the second seems to be too much for your requisitions.
  • Bundled with the first & the third, the discrete GPUs could do nothing but transcoding, and they may waste electricity when not working, then make you disappointed for the deal.

Personally I bought a pre-built system (HP 800 G3 SFF) without the processor, memory & hard drives, then I could install anything I wanted onto it. Although having only 2 bays, it perfectly fitted my need. Specs & pictures can be seen here (written in Chinese). Hope you can get inspired about choices of hardware.

Found this one for 150€ is this a good deal? Win 10 PRO 64bit included. 1669749292_2023-01-1317_22_50-HPEliteDesk800G3SFF_IntelCorei5-6500_8GBRAM_256GBSSD_JAMSTVO.png.f953a5bd933b26543967431a900aa938.png

To be an expert is to know more about less.

  • 2014 Build --> FX 8350 4.7GHz {} ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Killer {} Reference GTX 980 4GB {} 2x4GB 1866MHz HyperX {} Seagate 2TB 7200rpm {} 840 EVO 120GB {} XFX PRO850W {} Noctua NH D14 {} Fractal Define R4 White Windowed
  • 2018 Build --> Ryzen 7 2700X {} ASRock Fatal1ty X470 Gaming K4 {} Gigabyte RTX 2070 8GB {} 2x8GB HX Fury 3200MHz {} Toshiba P300 2TB {} Kingston 480GB A1000 {} Corsair RM750W {} Enermax LIQMAX II 240 {} Fractal Focus G
  • 2021 Build --> Ryzen 9 5900X {} ASUS ROG Strix X570-F GAMING {} ASUS GeForce RTX 3080Ti ROG STRIX OC {} Gigabyte AORUS RGB DDR4 32GB {} Kingston KC2500 M.2 2280 NVMe 2TB {} Seasonic FOCUS GX-1000 {} ASUS ROG Ryujin 240 AIO {} NYXT H710i
  • 2026 Build --> Ryzen 9 9950X3D {} ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR X870E HERO {} ASUS GeForce RTX 5090 32GB ASTRAL LC {} G.Skill TridentZ Royal Neo RGB Silver DDR5 CL28 6000MHz 2x16GB {} Samsung SSD 4TB 9100 PRO M.2 {} Seasonic 1600W PRIME TX Noctua Edition {} Fractal Lumen S36 V2 RGB 360mm AIO {} Fractal Design North XL Charcoal
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8 minutes ago, greeatzy said:

Found this one for 150€ is this a good deal? Win 10 PRO 64bit included.

Yep this configuration would be sufficient enough. Treat that SSD as a boot drive, then you have another 2 SATA ports & bays for massive storage, with upgrading proof such as 7th gen Core (mostly for its iGPU for better transcoding), PCIe & M.2 slots.

Another major advantage is that this stuff consumes incredibly low power compared to the three above (with a power supply marked 80 PLUS Platinum!), saving electricity bills.

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22 minutes ago, greeatzy said:

Found this one for 150€ is this a good deal? Win 10 PRO 64bit included. 

Give us your list of parts you have selected so far so we know what else you need, or if you have everything.

Main "Rig"=HP 11A G6 EE

Android Tablet

Raspberry PI Zero W 2

If you have any fun ideas for things for me to do with my PI, send me a direct message. 

I plan to upgrade within a few months to a proper computer.

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3 hours ago, Bersella AI said:

Yep this configuration would be sufficient enough. Treat that SSD as a boot drive, then you have another 2 SATA ports & bays for massive storage, with upgrading proof such as 7th gen Core (mostly for its iGPU for better transcoding), PCIe & M.2 slots.

Another major advantage is that this stuff consumes incredibly low power compared to the three above (with a power supply marked 80 PLUS Platinum!), saving electricity bills.

Okay, 

Thanks for the feedback!

3 hours ago, Peter_The_Ent said:

Give us your list of parts you have selected so far so we know what else you need, or if you have everything.

I think Ill go with the aforementioned elitedesk g3 sff spec. Im ariving home from ship in one week so have to buy it still. 
HDD recommendation?

I was thinking WD Red 2-4TB for start maybe 2TB and see how it goes. For software TrueNAS and can you please explain what is Samba. For the VPN I have PIA membership if this mean anything or if its good at all.

To be an expert is to know more about less.

  • 2014 Build --> FX 8350 4.7GHz {} ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Killer {} Reference GTX 980 4GB {} 2x4GB 1866MHz HyperX {} Seagate 2TB 7200rpm {} 840 EVO 120GB {} XFX PRO850W {} Noctua NH D14 {} Fractal Define R4 White Windowed
  • 2018 Build --> Ryzen 7 2700X {} ASRock Fatal1ty X470 Gaming K4 {} Gigabyte RTX 2070 8GB {} 2x8GB HX Fury 3200MHz {} Toshiba P300 2TB {} Kingston 480GB A1000 {} Corsair RM750W {} Enermax LIQMAX II 240 {} Fractal Focus G
  • 2021 Build --> Ryzen 9 5900X {} ASUS ROG Strix X570-F GAMING {} ASUS GeForce RTX 3080Ti ROG STRIX OC {} Gigabyte AORUS RGB DDR4 32GB {} Kingston KC2500 M.2 2280 NVMe 2TB {} Seasonic FOCUS GX-1000 {} ASUS ROG Ryujin 240 AIO {} NYXT H710i
  • 2026 Build --> Ryzen 9 9950X3D {} ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR X870E HERO {} ASUS GeForce RTX 5090 32GB ASTRAL LC {} G.Skill TridentZ Royal Neo RGB Silver DDR5 CL28 6000MHz 2x16GB {} Samsung SSD 4TB 9100 PRO M.2 {} Seasonic 1600W PRIME TX Noctua Edition {} Fractal Lumen S36 V2 RGB 360mm AIO {} Fractal Design North XL Charcoal
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4 hours ago, greeatzy said:

Okay, 

Thanks for the feedback!

I think Ill go with the aforementioned elitedesk g3 sff spec. Im ariving home from ship in one week so have to buy it still. 
HDD recommendation?

I was thinking WD Red 2-4TB for start maybe 2TB and see how it goes. For software TrueNAS and can you please explain what is Samba. For the VPN I have PIA membership if this mean anything or if its good at all.

I'd honestly look at bigger drives. With only 2 bays, once you run out of disk space, your only option is to completely replace the drives. And it's 2023, media takes lots of space these days.

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7 hours ago, greeatzy said:

Okay, 

Thanks for the feedback!

I think Ill go with the aforementioned elitedesk g3 sff spec. Im ariving home from ship in one week so have to buy it still. 
HDD recommendation?

I was thinking WD Red 2-4TB for start maybe 2TB and see how it goes. For software TrueNAS and can you please explain what is Samba. For the VPN I have PIA membership if this mean anything or if its good at all.

You should check out seagate ironwolf and seagate exos.

https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-256MB-3-5-Inch-Enterprise-ST16000NM001G/dp/B07T63FDJQ?th=1

https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-IronWolf-16TB-Internal-Drive/dp/B084ZV1DN6?th=1

Exos is an upgraded version of ironwolf by the way. I do not know what Sambia is.

Main "Rig"=HP 11A G6 EE

Android Tablet

Raspberry PI Zero W 2

If you have any fun ideas for things for me to do with my PI, send me a direct message. 

I plan to upgrade within a few months to a proper computer.

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