DIY vs pre-build NAS for home use
DIY vs pre-build NAS for home use
What do you have, what do you recommend, and why?
Asking as I've got a lot of spare components lying around that I'm planning on turning into a NAS. If it doesn't work out I'll buy a pre-built enclosure and reuse the drives.
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I usually DIY and repurpose my old PC into a server when I upgrade. My current NAS is running on a ~10 year old i5 2500k in a (large) mid tower case packed with drives. It runs Unraid and also hosts a bunch of Docker containers for Plex, etc.
It's definitely more work to set up than a pre-built and also more power hungry, so that's the trade-off for the additional flexibility and lower cost of entry (at least in my case since it was mostly parts I already had). I am running low on expansion room since the 6 HDDs and 2 SSDs have about maxed out my case, but you'll run into that same problem with pre-builts depending on how you size it.