Opinion/Advice for my NAS Configuration

[Yaron2334]

Okay, so I would like to build a NAS. The purpose mainly is to have an additional storage solution, that relies not on the a typical cloud solution (atm I mainly use the iCloud). 

I would also share it with my family, so they have a option to have offsite backups and/or storage.

 

This List is, what I currently think might be a good solution for my purposes and my allow me to try and test other things in the future. I tried to build nothing too crazy and have a reasonable low power consumption when it is running 24/7.

 

As I am completely new to this I hope you could point at anything you think is wrong with it. If I am wrong here just say so and I will search for better place to ask these basic questions.

 

Thank you in advance!

 

https://www.amazon.de/hz/wishlist/ls/2R808PHU3I3QH?ref_=wl_share

Edited January 4 by Yaron2334
missing link

[Electronics Wizardy]

What os do you plan on using?

 

Just warning you if you want to use this for family that your gonna have to support it if theres issues. Also iCloud integrates with phones much better.

 

'd be temptd to go Synology here as there apps are pretty good.

 

Otherwise hardware looks fine. Probably get 2 drives for raid 1. Also I don't see a case.

[TargetDron3]

I would go with the ASRock N100DC-ITX. The CPU on it is worlds better than what you linked.  

Or the ASRock J5040-itx. If you are looking to save money. 

How much drive space do you need?

 If you want to go fairly inexpensive, small and very low power usage 

Something like this Mini PC with the N100 CPU, 16gb ram, put in a bigger nvme SSD and a 2.5" SATA drive and it won't use more than 20w-25w. I use a Beelink branded one of these as my proxmox host running a Windows Server 2019 vm that runs all of the updates and TVM scans on all devices in my network, a docker container running pihole, one running uptime Kuma, and one running Vaultwarden. I don't know how they can sell these so cheap, but if you are looking for power efficient, quiet and cheap look no further than an N100 based system. 

I was looking at building a new server to replace my existing file server and was going down the rabbit hole of used xeons or erying CPU integrated motherboards from AliExpress, but these little machines caught my eye and are so much cheaper and efficient than any "server". They even come with 2.5gb nic, sometimes 2 of them. 

 

Also if you are planning on this saving other people's data you need a backup solution. So an external hard drive that you have a backup job running to it daily. 

 

[Bersella AI]

It seems that you wish to have a server running as just a self-hosted cloud storage. In such context, a pre-built NAS would seem to be a better option as it comes with plenty of pre-installed, user-friendly apps & services with just a little configurations. You may search for used NAS'es from Synology, or better valued brands like QNAP & Terramaster, with heavy discounts in local market. Cheaper models often have an ARM processor equipped, which might avoid further customization but would consume only a little bit of power.

As for the hard drives, IronWolf would undoubtedly be a solid choice, but it might tax more in services like duty-free data recovery. If the services make no matter for you, consider a pair of SkyHawk or WD Purple to make a mirrored (RAID 1) array.