0-20k Need help in Home Server PC

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nsas02

nsas02

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One of my friends is looking to build a cheap home server NAS. So, mostly the usage would be to run a Plex server (1 stream 99%, no transcoding needed), run few applications on docker (like bitwarden, piHole etc,).
Now, below is the list of items I suggested him to look for now and I need suggestions from you awsome guys on this and point me if anything else would be needed.
Note: What OS he is going to run? No idea at the moment. Suggestion on this is also welcome.

1. Small PC Case (Mini ITX cases are costly, so settling for a Micro ITX sized case, a cheap one with 4-5 HDD storage drive support)
2. A mobo + processor Combo (I'm going to help him in getting this from our classified section; I'm looking at a 1st gen Ryzen with a supporting Mobo (or an equivalent blue combo), with gigabit ethernet support)
3. RAM - Plan is to get a 8GB one
4. HDDs (Current plan is to get 1 HDD and then expand as he proceeds. Since it is only media cosumption mostly, he is not bothered about Raid and all now)
5. SDD for OS (He aready owns a 120GB WD Green, guess this is sufficient)
7. Power supply (He was looking at PC cases with powersupply, the cheap ones [from Dell/Zebronics/Circle etc,] but I was suggesing to get a atleast 450W branded one, any thoughts)
7. Though his apartment has a Gen-set support, it takes 3-5 seconds for it to turn ON, so a small UPS/Power backup that can run this setup for 5-10 seconds max, till gen-set is back.

Am I missing anything else here? Any guidance on this is appreciated. And the strict budget at the moment is 15k.
 
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  1. CPU fan seems missing from your list.
  2. If possible, avoid motherboards with Realtek LAN.
  3. OpenMediaVault should fit your needs.

Suggestions for OS:
TrueNAS Scale
unRAID
OpenMediaVault
 
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I run 2-3 home NAS machines myself. I have some extra parts lying around let me know if you might be interested (I will open an FS thread if you are)

1. CPU/Athlon 3000G: Bought it brand new 2.5 months back (3 years warranty) for a NAS box I built for my brother. I have since replaced it with Ryzen 2600 I got a good deal on. Keeping it as a backup just in case. No GPU is needed for this, that's why I bought it in the first place. I have another backup CPU for my other build (r5 3500x) but I won't recommend it because it would need a dedicated GPU and is out of warranty.
2. PSU/Gigabyte GP-450B: Bought this used (2 months back) from an FM for the same NAS. Replaced the PSU with my 550W backup PSU just today (after I bought a 650W from an FM). Buy a good, branded 450-550W PSU, I don't have to explain the importance of a good PSU on a machine that is supposed to run 24x7.
3. RAM: Prefer quantity over quality for NAS build. Get at least 16G
4. Mobo: Get a Full ATX mobo with 6 Sata ports and possibly an NVME slot (for OS install); nvme is not mandatory but that way you get to use all SATA ports.
5. Case: This is critical, more critical than CPU/mobo/RAM etc. Buy one of those old-school cases from Cooler Master/Corsair with the front of the case all dedicated to HDDs (7 HDD + 3-4 5.25" bays). Just makes life easier, you will be able to get a brand new for 3-4k. For your reference, https://mdcomputers.in/cooler-master-mid-tower-rc-k380-kwn1.html?sort=p.price&order=ASC

Remember for NAS think long term and the possibility of someone else having to work on it than yourself. If you won't be crossing 20-25TB stay with OMV, Bare Linux, or even Windows for that matter.
 
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Thanks guys for the suggestions.
Went ahead and ordered these for my friend.
 

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dvader said:
Remember for NAS think long term and the possibility of someone else having to work on it than yourself. If you won't be crossing 20-25TB stay with OMV, Bare Linux, or even Windows for that matter.
Click to expand...

Curious why your suggesting OS/software based on storage capacity. Most people choose what they run based on their needs/preferences.
 
Decadent_Spectre said:
Curious why your suggesting OS/software based on storage capacity. Most people choose what they run based on their needs/preferences.
Click to expand...

Because using ZFS, TrueNAS, BSDs etc for a 15-25 TB would be like cutting your nails with a chain saw. For low storage use cases It's enough to setup LVM (Linux) or Storage Spaces (Win) and go about your day. Your disk will fail once in 5 year and you can rebuild easily once that happens. You can even teach your parents/spouse/kids to create new shares in case you are not home. They can download new stuff easily too in case they need it.

My main NAS runs zfs on FreeBSD, I started it as a fun project but in time more and more disks got added and now it will be FreeBSD for life. Other two NAS; my brother's and parents' runs Linux and windows respectively. They have learnt to create shares and when a disk failed on my parents' NAS I just had to remote in and voila storage spaces didn't take any extra effort.

Also a reminder to fellow NAS builders to not buy multiple HDDs of same brand and similer manufacturing month.
 
Not exactly what you wanted OP, but I would recommend getting a refurbished Tiny PC. I have a Lenovo M900 which I got for around 9k refurbished, and I run Plex with transcodes, and a bunch of docker containers, all on top of Ubuntu Server with absolutely no issues
 
ash110 said:
Not exactly what you wanted OP, but I would recommend getting a refurbished Tiny PC. I have a Lenovo M900 which I got for around 9k refurbished, and I run Plex with transcodes, and a bunch of docker containers, all on top of Ubuntu Server with absolutely no issues
Click to expand...
Could you share the specifications and where did you get it from?
 
ash110 said:
Not exactly what you wanted OP, but I would recommend getting a refurbished Tiny PC. I have a Lenovo M900 which I got for around 9k refurbished, and I run Plex with transcodes, and a bunch of docker containers, all on top of Ubuntu Server with absolutely no issues
Click to expand...
Tiny PC? Does it have provisions to install HDDs? I saw few tiny PCs from Lenovo and Dell, dropped them as couldn't install HDDs. Don't want to use external storage and don't want a single drive for OS and data...
 
dvader said:
Because using ZFS, TrueNAS, BSDs etc for a 15-25 TB would be like cutting your nails with a chain saw. For low storage use cases It's enough to setup LVM (Linux) or Storage Spaces (Win) and go about your day. Your disk will fail once in 5 year and you can rebuild easily once that happens. You can even teach your parents/spouse/kids to create new shares in case you are not home. They can download new stuff easily too in case they need it.

My main NAS runs zfs on FreeBSD, I started it as a fun project but in time more and more disks got added and now it will be FreeBSD for life. Other two NAS; my brother's and parents' runs Linux and windows respectively. They have learnt to create shares and when a disk failed on my parents' NAS I just had to remote in and voila storage spaces didn't take any extra effort.

Also a reminder to fellow NAS builders to not buy multiple HDDs of same brand and similer manufacturing month.
Click to expand...

Can't say I agree with you but I suppose everyone has their approach. Do you have recommendations for stuff similar to FLEXRaid?
 
Decadent_Spectre said:
Not nerd enough for snapraid command line, the GUI version won't work, no way to install or maybe I did something wrong. What does mergefs do?
Click to expand...
I used them via Omv and they worked well -
blog.sakuragawa.moe

Better Home Storage: MergerFS + SnapRAID on OpenMediaVault

There is a way to enjoy some benefits from RAID without "real RAID" - and a supplement to scheduled cold backup for home data storage.
blog.sakuragawa.moe blog.sakuragawa.moe
Mergerfs is for filesystem/drive pooling.
I suppose this might be more up your alley but its paid -

StableBit - The home of StableBit CloudDrive, StableBit DrivePool and the StableBit Scanner

stablebit.com stablebit.com
 
navinbhatia said:
Could you share the specifications and where did you get it from?
Click to expand...
Intel Core i5-6500T, 16 GB RAM, 512GB HDD
Got it from a seller near SP road in Bangalore, many refurbished sellers have this model or dell optiplex, you can find them on OLX or FB Marketplace

nsas02 said:
Tiny PC? Does it have provisions to install HDDs? I saw few tiny PCs from Lenovo and Dell, dropped them as couldn't install HDDs. Don't want to use external storage and don't want a single drive for OS and data...
Click to expand...
Mine has only an HDD, I've seen some with only SSD, but I'm not sure if the motherboard supports both. Haven't opened mine yet to make any upgrades.
 
ash110 said:
many refurbished sellers have this model or dell optiplex, you can find them on OLX or FB Marketplace
Click to expand...
Yup, even I saw so many Optiplex available for sale in my city as well
ash110 said:
Mine has only an HDD, I've seen some with only SSD, but I'm not sure if the motherboard supports both. Haven't opened mine yet to make any upgrades.
Click to expand...
This was a bummer for me to skip these. In case of Optiplex towers I think you have option to add one HDD in the place of the CD drive. Other than that, I don't think there's anyway to expand storage.
 
Decadent_Spectre said:
Can't say I agree with you but I suppose everyone has their approach. Do you have recommendations for stuff similar to FLEXRaid?
Click to expand...

Well you dont have to agree, with so many technologies to play with.....It's about looking at others' experience and trying to see if you should avoid their pitfalls.

Regarding FlexRAID...unraid, snapraid all come to mind. However, Btrfs has RAID just like ZFS and it's linux Native. It's an enterprise product (Suse Enterprise Linux) and has a development path integrated with kernel development itself. Linux native SSD cache support. But it's just CLI.

Get OMV or TrueNAS (if u really really want ZFS) and be done with it. If you just wanna tinker well there is no end to tech you can try. Happy storing.....
 
nsas02 said:
One of my friends is looking to build a cheap home server NAS. So, mostly the usage would be to run a Plex server (1 stream 99%, no transcoding needed), run few applications on docker (like bitwarden, piHole etc,).
Now, below is the list of items I suggested him to look for now and I need suggestions from you awsome guys on this and point me if anything else would be needed.
Note: What OS he is going to run? No idea at the moment. Suggestion on this is also welcome.

1. Small PC Case (Mini ITX cases are costly, so settling for a Micro ITX sized case, a cheap one with 4-5 HDD storage drive support)
2. A mobo + processor Combo (I'm going to help him in getting this from our classified section; I'm looking at a 1st gen Ryzen with a supporting Mobo (or an equivalent blue combo), with gigabit ethernet support)
3. RAM - Plan is to get a 8GB one
4. HDDs (Current plan is to get 1 HDD and then expand as he proceeds. Since it is only media cosumption mostly, he is not bothered about Raid and all now)
5. SDD for OS (He aready owns a 120GB WD Green, guess this is sufficient)
7. Power supply (He was looking at PC cases with powersupply, the cheap ones [from Dell/Zebronics/Circle etc,] but I was suggesing to get a atleast 450W branded one, any thoughts)
7. Though his apartment has a Gen-set support, it takes 3-5 seconds for it to turn ON, so a small UPS/Power backup that can run this setup for 5-10 seconds max, till gen-set is back.

Am I missing anything else here? Any guidance on this is appreciated. And the strict budget at the moment is 15k.
Click to expand...
I recently gave new life to my 12 year old Intel Dual Core PC by turning it into a NAS !
Here's what I can suggest keeping cost cutting and my personal research

1. Case: Go for Cooler Master K380, it has decent cable mgmt, comes with a pre installed fan, has support for 7+ hard drives. I went for this only because of the extra HDD, my minm requirement was 4 and I could not find any decent cases with 4 HDD, most had 3
2. Mobo + Processor: Agreed
3. RAM: Good Enough
4. HDD - Recommend to add atleast 1 as mirror, not much cost and can serve as backup now, extended storage later. No loss right ?
5. SSD not really needed, I run my setup off a USB 3 pen drive. No performance issues
6. PSU: As you said, I also went for a 450 one, specifically PF450 from Deepcool
7. I have inverter in my home, so can't really say anything about this.

Feel free to reach out for more info !
 
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ibose said:
I used them via Omv and they worked well -
blog.sakuragawa.moe

Better Home Storage: MergerFS + SnapRAID on OpenMediaVault

There is a way to enjoy some benefits from RAID without "real RAID" - and a supplement to scheduled cold backup for home data storage.
blog.sakuragawa.moe blog.sakuragawa.moe
Mergerfs is for filesystem/drive pooling.
I suppose this might be more up your alley but its paid -

StableBit - The home of StableBit CloudDrive, StableBit DrivePool and the StableBit Scanner

stablebit.com stablebit.com
Click to expand...

I'll have a look thanks.

dvader said:
Well you dont have to agree, with so many technologies to play with.....It's about looking at others' experience and trying to see if you should avoid their pitfalls.

Regarding FlexRAID...unraid, snapraid all come to mind. However, Btrfs has RAID just like ZFS and it's linux Native. It's an enterprise product (Suse Enterprise Linux) and has a development path integrated with kernel development itself. Linux native SSD cache support. But it's just CLI.

Get OMV or TrueNAS (if u really really want ZFS) and be done with it. If you just wanna tinker well there is no end to tech you can try. Happy storing.....
Click to expand...

I think it's about finding what works for your needs. Happy storing for sure.
 
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