NAS and mediaserver! Where do I start? (mostly software/setup)

[Krydolph]

Budget (including currency): na

Country: DK

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: NAS and mediaserver (plex?) for starters, but might add more later

Other details

i5 6600

16gb ram

 

I am pretty good with all the hardware, and windows. But I never touched Linux or set up a server. Is there some good setup guides? The closer to "for dummies" the better.

I do have some more "personal" questions about my project

Is 16gb enough?

Is no GPU ok? (I have an older AMD, but its my understanding it isn't really needed?)

I have a 4 and 6tb "old" disks, and then I probably buy some more, will different disks be a problem?

Can I add more later? (I would like to just start with that, and do a test setup, and then get the extra disks when I have an idea about what I am doing)

What kind of raid should I use? (Enough so a disk can die without I am getting in too much trouble)

(I also have a 320gb drive I plan to use for system, as I understood it was best for a separate for this)

I know there is stuff like jellyfin, but plex has apps on almost anything, and unless there is really good reasons for something else, I plan to use that, just for the more "plug and play" aspect of it.

 

tldr, most important, where do I find some good guides I can follow step by step to get this project off the ground?

[Theguywhobea]

I recently started using Unraid and I see why so many people like it. I would recommend giving it a shot. Since the default setup is JBOD you can always add another drive whenever you want. It's really easy to add a parity drive, and a cache drive. VM and app management has been really good as well.

 

I had previously been using Xpenology for a few years and Unraid is miles better IMO.

[HanZie82]

Linux route is surely advisdable as noted above.

But i've personally had great succes just using Windows (Enterprise) Storage Spaces, with an array of 5x 4TB drives and 1 be redundant.
On the other hand, a friend of a friend did it with 2x 1TB drives and his system hangs/pauzes when copying lots of smaller files (phone-pictures).

[Krydolph]

I was thinking Linux, and that is what kind of scares me, because as I said, I never tried it.

So I have one vote for Unraid so far... Do people agree that is the best route?