Media NAS and Game server

[DemoTSteam]

Hello, I am trying to start my home media NAS and I’m really new and inexperienced when it comes to home servers. I am using a slightly old gaming computer as the basis; specs: i7 6700k, Gigabyte z170 gaming 7, 2x8Gb G.skill trident z 3200Mt/s, AMD r9 270x (from a older build but I figure it’s enough, may be wrong), 2x2Tb SSD, 1x2Tb HDD, 2.5Gb networking card with a Intel I225v3 chip, 750 watt Corsair power supply. I am hoping to make this not only a home media server that I can access remotely but also use the excess power for a game server. Nothing too crazy just like a small terraria or Minecraft server. I am wondering if it’s possible to do this and if so what OS should I use? I set the current system up as a Unraid server but I have had a lot of difficulties with it so far and a lot of troubleshooting even to get unraid to recognize the trial key. I’m not inexperienced when it comes to computers and using the command console but unraid was just giving me a hard time and it was difficult to find forums with answers to my situation. I’m wondering if I should be looking into jellyfin or plex or even another NAS OS or if I should keep chugging forward with Unraid. Keep in mind I’m not entirely sure how some of these can be run together yet or if they even can be. I am willing to take the time to learn a lot of this as one of my favorite parts about computers is tinkering. I’m just new and don’t entirely know where to start. Any help is greatly appreciated!

[Blue4130]

11 minutes ago, DemoTSteam said:

Hello, I am trying to start my home media NAS and I’m really new and inexperienced when it comes to home servers. I am using a slightly old gaming computer as the basis; specs: i7 6700k, Gigabyte z170 gaming 7, 2x8Gb G.skill trident z 3200Mt/s, AMD r9 270x (from a older build but I figure it’s enough, may be wrong), 2x2Tb SSD, 1x2Tb HDD, 2.5Gb networking card with a Intel I225v3 chip, 750 watt Corsair power supply. I am hoping to make this not only a home media server that I can access remotely but also use the excess power for a game server. Nothing too crazy just like a small terraria or Minecraft server. I am wondering if it’s possible to do this and if so what OS should I use? I set the current system up as a Unraid server but I have had a lot of difficulties with it so far and a lot of troubleshooting even to get unraid to recognize the trial key. I’m not inexperienced when it comes to computers and using the command console but unraid was just giving me a hard time and it was difficult to find forums with answers to my situation. I’m wondering if I should be looking into jellyfin or plex or even another NAS OS or if I should keep chugging forward with Unraid. Keep in mind I’m not entirely sure how some of these can be run together yet or if they even can be. I am willing to take the time to learn a lot of this as one of my favorite parts about computers is tinkering. I’m just new and don’t entirely know where to start. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Jellyfin and Plex are not OS's, so you forget about those for now. For "easy to set up" NAS os's you have unraid and TrueNAS (Or windows, but that comes with it's own headaches)

 

What specific issues did you have with Unraid? The setup is pretty straight forward. After that, install docker and set up plex.

 

If you are using a mix of different drives and are wanting to add more drives one by one in the future, then unraid is currently the easiest *best* option for an OS. It can be done on windows or linux, but unraid makes it pretty simple.

[DemoTSteam]

I apologize for the wording I know that plex and jellyfin are not OS I was wondering if there is a media server application that would be more beneficial for running along side a game server resources wise. What I had meant was a different OS other than Unraid, I shouldn’t have stated that in the same sentence, my bad. The problem I had with unraid is that their system would not detect the trial key they installed and after manually installing it, it became very picky about my gigabit port on the motherboard over my 2.5Gb port on the network card for internet connection so they can monitor the trial period. It also had an issue where it kept forgetting the time and date when booting up so unraid would remove the trial key and try to install a new one which would force me to have to manually reinstall the key as their installer would post error 4 everytime. After I finally got it working I figured I shouldn’t have any more problems with it but I was curious if there was a different more preferable route. I’m not attached to the HDD so I would be fine removing it in favor of the 2 SSDs I just had an extra HDD lying around.

[tkitch]

So, here are your options:

1) Windows - If you use RUFUS you can bypass the security requirements, and install Win11 on the box.  This will give you the OS you're (probably) most comfortable with.  

NAS Functionality can be setup in Storage Spaces
Plex and other apps are easy enough to install in Windows

Game Server would be fine as well.

 

Windows will have a bit more overhead than other OSs, but it's also less strange for most users.

 

2) TrueNAS / UNRAID - this will require knowing how to setup things, and be more difficult than windows, but it (and other non-windows OSs) will be much less overhead.

 

NAS Functionality is easy

Adding things will require Docker / other plugin knowledge

 

3) Linux - do you wanna learn linux?  Great time to!

But if you fuckup in linux, you may also nuke all your data.  So proceed with caution.

[DemoTSteam]

1 hour ago, tkitch said:

So, here are your options:

1) Windows - If you use RUFUS you can bypass the security requirements, and install Win11 on the box.  This will give you the OS you're (probably) most comfortable with.  

NAS Functionality can be setup in Storage Spaces
Plex and other apps are easy enough to install in Windows

Game Server would be fine as well.

 

Windows will have a bit more overhead than other OSs, but it's also less strange for most users.

 

2) TrueNAS / UNRAID - this will require knowing how to setup things, and be more difficult than windows, but it (and other non-windows OSs) will be much less overhead.

 

NAS Functionality is easy

Adding things will require Docker / other plugin knowledge

 

3) Linux - do you wanna learn linux?  Great time to!

But if you fuckup in linux, you may also nuke all your data.  So proceed with caution.

I’ve actually been playing with Linux mint on an old dell Inspiron laptop I have. Only really been in Linux for a few months tho but I have been having quite a good time learning it. I’m curious how difficult a Linux server would be over unraid. Is there a version of Linux that is most ideal for running servers? Also any recommendations for channels or forums to learn more about docker and such? I want to become familiar with all of this eventually even if it takes a while I’m genuinely interested. 

[Blue4130]

2 minutes ago, DemoTSteam said:

I’ve actually been playing with Linux mint on an old dell Inspiron laptop I have. Only really been in Linux for a few months tho but I have been having quite a good time learning it. I’m curious how difficult a Linux server would be over unraid. Is there a version of Linux that is most ideal for running servers? Also any recommendations for channels or forums to learn more about docker and such? I want to become familiar with all of this eventually even if it takes a while I’m genuinely interested. 

I would not learn linux on this unless you are comfortable loosing your data (but that is why you have backups, right? :P)

 

A pure linux server will have you in the command line for pretty much everything. Unraid gives you a nice user interface with clickable things. Some people like that. Unraid is lunix based, it just gives it a pretty skin to make things easier and more intuitive.

 

If it was me, I'd use Unraid for this. Then get a second cheap PC to learn CLI linux on. In a year or so when you are more comfortable, then decide if you want to switch the unraid box to something else. For me, I just want my media nas to be sitting in a corner, working away, never to be tinkered with unless absolutely needed. Unraid and TrueNAS are good for this after the initial setup.

[tkitch]

just a note:  the stuff you did to your text there makes it literally unreadable on dark mode.  >.< 

[DemoTSteam]

2 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

I would not learn linux on this unless you are comfortable loosing your data (but that is why you have backups, right? :P)

 

A pure linux server will have you in the command line for pretty much everything. Unraid gives you a nice user interface with clickable things. Some people like that. Unraid is lunix based, it just gives it a pretty skin to make things easier and more intuitive.

 

If it was me, I'd use Unraid for this. Then get a second cheap PC to learn CLI linux on. In a year or so when you are more comfortable, then decide if you want to switch the unraid box to something else. For me, I just want my media nas to be sitting in a corner, working away, never to be tinkered with unless absolutely needed. Unraid and TrueNAS are good for this after the initial setup.

I appreciate the advice I think I’ve decided I’m going to stick with unraid for now like everyone has been saying it seems to be the easiest route for learning without loosing everything. Do you happen to know a good place to learn everything about using unraid and docker/other apps. I was worried about unraid at first but since I removed the HDD from the system and now I’m just using a 2tb parity ssd and a identical 2tb ssd for the main array it has been working relatively smoothly. Thankfully the ssds are relatively current and still easy to purchase moving forward. Should I maintain 2tb versions of the same ssd in the future? Or can I as I increase the array change the sizes of the ssds and/or brands?