NAS

[Enquiries]

Hi i have followed your channel on YT for a while, and before that i was sold on unraid, but then i started to look att synology, but for the pricepoint AND their plans to go more enterprise i think maybe a "custom NAS is the right way to go,.

However before i just looked att unraid but now truenas looks kinda tempting too, but my deep knowledge is to low for me to deside , my goal for the NAS is of course backup files on my computer AND pictures from my phone, but also to digitize my movie collection, and maybe run a viritual machine (windows) for lighter workloads.

ia have been buildning my own computers in the past but when it comes tos NAS i don´t really know what hardware to get, i have seen your chinese MOBOs but for some reason i´m a bit sceptical for chinese boards, i do have a Intel Core i7-4790K laying around from 2015 but i guess thats to old to use?

i live in sweden and i hope you understand what i´m wrinting, best regards Björn, love your channel

[ed]

Thanks for following the channel and for your kind words!

It sounds like you’re leaning towards building a custom NAS, which is a great choice if you want flexibility. If you’re concerned about using Chinese motherboards, there are definitely other options. The Intel Core i7-4790K you have is still a solid CPU, but it might be a bit old for heavy virtual machine usage or 4K media transcoding. You could still use it for lighter workloads and as a starting point, but if you're planning to run more demanding tasks in the future, you might want to look into something a little more modern, like a Ryzen or newer Intel CPU.

For hardware, a good balance would be:

Motherboard: A reliable one from brands like ASUS, ASRock, or Gigabyte. Look for one with enough SATA ports (if you’re planning to use multiple drives) and possibly an M.2 slot for caching SSDs.

RAM: 16GB or 32GB, depending on what kind of workloads you plan to run. More RAM helps with virtual machines and caching.

Storage: Since you want 12-20TB, start with a couple of 8TB or 10TB drives (maybe Seagate IronWolf or WD Red) in a RAID configuration for redundancy.

Power Supply: Get one with a bit of headroom (80+ Gold or better).

As for TrueNAS vs Unraid, both are excellent choices, but TrueNAS offers ZFS, which is great for redundancy and performance, especially with large file systems. If you’re comfortable with a bit of learning and want a solid, reliable system, TrueNAS is great. Unraid offers more flexibility and might be easier to set up, but it can be a bit more "manual" when it comes to expansion and configuration.

If you’re unsure about the hardware, you could also look at pre-built NAS options like Synology or QNAP for a more user-friendly experience, though they may not offer the same customization options as building your own.