0-20k Help me create a home server

bruhhh123

bruhhh123

Beginner
Thinking of creating a home server. I already have a big fat pc with lot of storage bays, but im thinking building a mini pc with 1 big ssd to keep it running 24 by 7. Open to suggestions on mini pc if available.
 
Big fat pc is good for a custom NAS and can act as a decent server provided you have a good cpu.
If you want power efficiency with decent storage then stick with mini pc with good quality SSD (preferably sata/nvme port not usb)
 
Just a note that if you've a good PSU that has low idle watt, then your big fat PC can also be a really efficient server.

Additionally, you could use SnapRAID + mergerfs to run the HDDs only when you use them and not all the time.
 
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bruhhh123 said:
mini pc with 1 big ssd
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OMV(open media vault) running on rpi 4/5 would be the most economical and efficient option for a basic 'set it and forget it' NAS server

For anything more, running TrueNAS is simply better
N97/N150 minipcs (imported) by GMKtech are popular and have better QC than other chinese brands.
 
KAKAN said:
Additionally, you could use SnapRAID + mergerfs to run the HDDs only when you use them and not all the time.
Click to expand...
Have you used this? What is the best way to run this - OMV or a Ubuntu Server + Cockpit? I want to run this in a proxmox mini pc with an external dual bay 3.5" hdd enclosure. Will it be ok?
 
DigitalDude said:
Have you used this? What is the best way to run this - OMV or a Ubuntu Server + Cockpit? I want to run this in a proxmox mini pc with an external dual bay 3.5" hdd enclosure. Will it be ok?
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I have a fedora server running that configuration with a bunch of 1TB drives. The config is very easy so I never really had issues.

I haven't tried it with OMV, or with external disks... Sorry.

bruhhh123 said:
I has no idea about this. Will check it out thanks.
Click to expand...
Check this out too btw, very helpful resource:

perfectmediaserver.com

Welcome to Perfect Media Server! - Perfect Media Server

None
perfectmediaserver.com perfectmediaserver.com
 
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The power draw btwn the atom, N100 or low power PC vs the Intel pentium at medium speed for atom and idle for pentium is not much of a difference . Unless a Small form factor is required , a low cost 6th or 7th gen pentium processor can be had for as low as 500 rupees . A full size board with the pentium processor will have more flexibility .
 
bruhhh123 said:
Thinking of creating a home server. I already have a big fat pc with lot of storage bays, but im thinking building a mini pc with 1 big ssd to keep it running 24 by 7. Open to suggestions on mini pc if available.
Click to expand...
I bought gmktec n100 minipc. As it have two slots I set it in mirror raid and using it for a server. It draws 7W idle and does the job.
 
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I'm also in the same boat as you, having a large tower server running unraid.

I've bought a dell optiplex 5080 mini with 10th gen I5 and will be upgrading ram to 64GB DDR4 and already installed 256GB m.2ssd for os and installed 1TB HDD for data. looking for higher capacity drive to replace.

Also planning to get an external DAS enclosure which will be connected over USB or m.2 to sas.

for os thinking of using CasaOS for its simplicity.

using something like this - HP SAS Cage
 
bruhhh123 said:
Thinking of creating a home server. I already have a big fat pc with lot of storage bays, but im thinking building a mini pc with 1 big ssd to keep it running 24 by 7. Open to suggestions on mini pc if available.
Click to expand...
Mini PC is the right way to go about starting your homelab journey. Any decent mini pc (even with 4/5/6th gen cpu) is way better than any raspberry pi or N100 (just that keep in mind). Just throw at least 32gig RAM, SATA SSD as boot drive, flash proxmox onto it and you are good to host your services. I've been using lenovo M710q and M720, both running proxmox for the past year with no issues. Idle power draw is around 9-10watt for each.

Now the storage, well it's subjective. You can go for DIY TrueNAS/unRAID box, Off the shelf NAS, or DAS enclosure. Of all of them, I'd recommend truenas even for beginner, because that'd be helpful if you ever want to grow your storage (which you will eventually). Also make sure to have redundancy and not just yolo with 1 drive, if that drive ever fails then you obviously lose everything on it. Although 1 drive is enough if u wanna play with TrueNAS, OMV, or even unraid, just don't use it as your primary storage. Personally, I am running TrueNAS on a HP Prodesk SFF with 2x 4TB Seagate Exos Drives (in a ZFS Mirror setup) which is serving me well but i'm thinking of expanding the storage in next year or so.
 
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