What do you plan on using as your OS? Do you plan on your NAS being virtualized? How do you plan on implementing the redundancy of your array? If possible I would recommend using ZFS but you don’t have quite a lot of ram.
Is there any reason you’re going with the HE disks? You can get non HE disks for almost half the cost.
If you know where to get 8TB+ drives for $110 LMK… 512e drives are also a tad cheaper, but I don’t need the emulation step in between and I’m concerned 512e will eventually phase out by the time i need to replace them. I went with the He because they aren’t much more than the regular ones, are quieter, cheaper to run, and I don’t have to keep the server immaculate with them as they are sealed. I could certainly be talked out of them if you know of 8+TB 4kn non-helium drives that are $110 tho!
I was planning on CentOS/BTRFS in RAID10 as I’ve got some experience with it and it isn’t as ram intensive as ZFS, but that’s not set in stone. If I run CentOS the NAS won’t be virtualized, you can actually run Rockstor right over it as it functions on the same kernel if you’re lazy and want a net-based interface (it’s kind of sloppy but it works haha)…
I’ll expand the RAM later to 32, it’s just kind of ridiculous expensive right now… that will certainly be the first upgrade
but yea, haven’t bought anything yet… just have my old Fractal case sitting in the closet… so suggestions are welcome…
There was a Best buy sale on 8tb disks, But amazon has them for about 160, Except you have to shuck some external enclosures. I also stumbled upon refurbed 8tb he disks for 180