Ideas, recommendation for a DIY NAS Build

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Hi everyone,

I wanted to dip my toes into DIY NAS because:

  1. I have a few HDDs lying around
  2. Wanted to improve my NAS/Backing up situations
  3. Learn about RAID

I currently have x4 4 TB and x2 8 TB HDDs at my disposal.

So the initial idea I had was to stripe the matching hard drives and mirror (So x4 to RAID 0 as 16 TB and the x2 RAID 0 to match the 16 then mirror each other) but is this even a good idea?

I believe this really only gives me a partially redundancy but probably not good on the long term because it doesn’t have a parry drive?

Also would the setup as above even be an expandable setup (which I’m guessing it’s not)?

I didn’t really know where to start for advice and help, so thought asking here might be a great place to start.

First will be around the hardware I’d need.

I’m either thinking about a secondhand PC, or one of those weird Laptop CPU embedded motherboards on aliexpress (for power efficiency), but wanted some recommendations around that.

The second would be around what OS I should choose.

I thought Trunas initially as it’s free and give me the most option to expand/learn. But at the same time if there are other paid options that are easy to use/learn and also a good price I wouldn’t mind recommendations there.

Lastly, it’ll be around how I should setup my hard drives.

Key would be expandability first and redundancy second as I’m planning to actually copy the contents over to a different NAS anyways. Potentially even setting on up at my relatives’ so I can achieve a 123 backup rule.

Sorry if the post is a little vague as I’m trying to figure out a way towards my goal and I think this would be the first step if anything :slight_smile:

Thanks for any help in advance.

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Good morning! It sounds like you’re on the right path. Here are some things to consider.

For the OS, TrueNAS is good and free. There’s a learning curve but if you like tinkering and stuff, it’s a fun adventure. Plus, ZFS is really good for the mirroring you want to do.

You don’t need an amazing cpu, but you may need pcie lanes. Especially if your motherboard lacks enough sata ports and you end up with some kind of hba board.

TrueNAS loves memory. You’ll find that it reserves a lot of system memory for itself. More is always better.

If you plan to run apps on your device like Plex, Immich, etc. you’ll want a good network interface. And you’ll want either an Intel cpu for transcoding, or a used gpu. This gets you in trouble with pcie lanes. Make sure your mobo has enough slots and electrically connected slots.

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I’d suggest going straight to an HBA anyway, when (not if) your chosen mainboard dies you won’t be able to replace it, supply life for mainboards is often measured in months :roll_eyes: Using said HBA it’s easy to replace the mainboard as it only needs a PCIe slot.

With the amount of drives you have, I’d suggest the following:

  • 4x 4TB in RAID6 (effective 8TB storage) as array md0
  • Array md1 with md0+8TB+8TB in RAID5

This gives you 16TB storage with one drive redundancy, or 2 if md0 fails. As upgrade path you can buy a 16TB drive and put that with array md1 in RAID1 (md2). Beyond that, 2 more 16TB drives allow you to disband md2 and create a new RAID5 array (md2”) with just the 16TB drives. Copy your data from md1 onto md2” then convert md2” to RAID6 using md1 as the new “drive“.

By this time you’d be so hooked as data-hoarder you’ll already bought a disk shelf :wink: :rofl:

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