NAS Server OS/Software Suggestions

ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml to Linux@lemmy.ml – 40 points –

I want a NAS solution to back up my PC and host media files, but prebuilt NAS solutions are incredibly expensive and underwhelming and so I'm planning to build one. Does anyone have recommendations for a NAS interface?

I'm brand new to server management and would prefer something user friendly. I have used linux mint, but currently use windows as my daily driver (planning to switch to mint soon). I'd be fine with a dedicated NAS OS or with something I could run on mint since I'm already familiar with that distro.

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Is it going to be just a NAS? If so go TrueNAS with lots of ram. (ZFS likes its ram)

If you want to run VMs use Proxmox

Honestly, I run my TrueNAS with obly 8GiB and it does great. That said, I'm not doing any deduplication or anything, and my pool is only 3 drives at a total of ~15TB iirc

Isn't it slow?

Not for me. Runs fine with minimal if any latency. Transfer speeds are not blazing fast, but typically sit in the 50MB/s or so range over samba

Is that read or write? Also is sustained long term and if not how long does it take to run out of cache?

  1. Both
  2. I've done writes and reads that are in excess of a TB at a time. No real issues.

I'm sure I'm missing a touch of performance here or there, but I can't notice, so who cares. It means I don't have to go spend money on new RAM when I'm too broke to even eat most days lol

Like... How much RAM?

It depends on how much data. I would say 128Gib is a safe bet.

Perhaps a safe bet but crazy . Anything over 8 GB will work and 16 gigs or more will work well. The more the better but don’t get the wrong idea from Mr. 128 GB.

That's a lot of RAM for a NAS...

It is needed as spinning rust is slow. It also depends on what you are using it for. 128gb is a safe bet but depending on your needs you could go lower.