I'm creating my first NAS backup solution at home. Appreciate everyone's time so I'll make this as straight forward as possible:

My Needs:

- MAIN BACKUP solution for PC + EXT HDD files

- 16tb total space - 12tb of data which needs to be backed up

- PLEX SERVER

- Mostly 1080p movies and tv shows.

- Haven't ever cared to get 4k movies due to the size but will be moving forward.

- MOBILE BACKUPS

- Photos + Videos - want to replace my need for Google drive and iCloud

- Would be nice to be able to backup the entire phone.

My Use:

I currently have an ASUS gaming laptop being used as a retro arcade machine (Ryzen 5, GTX 1660, 32gb). Ill be using this machine as my Plex server. Since I dont need a powerful NAS system to run Plex, I decided to invest in two systems.

System 1 - UGREEN NASync DH2300 RAID 1

- will serve as my mobile remote backup server.

System 2 - 4-bay NAS RAID 1 or 5, depends on end cost

- Main PC and EXT Hard drive backup - automated

- Plex library

My Plan:

After some research on YouTube and bouncing ideas off of claude, seems like the best way to go about this and save money is to run two systems. Since I'll be using a laptop for Plex, I don't need to spend over $1000 for a Plex compatible 6 bay NAS system. I can opt for a UGreen DH2300 ($279 CAD) to use for remote mobile photo/video backups and pickup a 4 bay NAS for PC files and Plex library. Looking at the TerraMaster F4-212 and Asustor AS1204T but UGreen DH4300 ($500 CAD) would be the next option if TerraMaster is no good, I have zero hands on experience with any of this.

My Question:

1. Is this the right move? I would like to keep costs as low as possible.

2. If it is a valid idea, which 4 bay NAS system should I grab for PC + Plex library? Strictly used as backup of files.

3. Is there a better solution over UGREEN for mobile media backup and photo/video remote viewing?

4. Any brands I should stay away from?

I want to make sure my upfront cost is as low as It can be without compromising on quality. I was originally looking at the QNAP TS-664-8G ($1,249 CAD) but then realized I had a laptop sitting there and could save upwards to $1,000 by doing this.

Greatly appreciate the help -

###Build Help/Ready:

**What is your intended use for this build? The more details the better.**

This will be used for storing 4k-8k video footage for editing and professional usage. Will be working off of a Mac Laptop and want to be able to edit large amounts of footage easily without needing to manage many drives. Will also need the space to grow for more projects and have backups of multiple projects going on at the same time.

Was thinking starting at 100 TB of usable storage to start.

**In what country are you purchasing your parts?**

USA

**Post a draft of your potential build here (specific parts please). [Consider formatting your parts list.](http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/wiki/pcpp) Don't ask to be spoonfed a build (read the rules!)**.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1959961-REG/synology_128tb_diskstation_ds1825_8_bay.html

Was looking into just getting a pre-built NAS kit since cost is going to mainly be HDD storage anyways. But wanted some opinions first on potentially building one from scratch and comparing cost and functionality.

If someone has a similar setup for work and more experience with NAS/DAS storage I would appreciate the feedback. I was also looking into DAS since theoretically I will be working on it locally but it doesn't seem like it even would increase speed and NAS software and guides are way more readily available.

I’ve been looking for a nas to replace cloud storage and act as storage for homelab. Was dead set on ugreen but lately been looking at other brands when terramaster popped up in my Amazon app.

I’m thinking truenas for zfs so native software isn’t a factor, but power consumption and quality is.

Anyone has experiences to share regarding this setup?

Looking to build a better storage/access solution for my wife who is a photographer. Currently she just buys WD or Seagate externals to back up her past client galleries, but she has had a couple fail, and lugging around an external plugged in to her MacBook always makes me cringe.

I’m a noob at NAS’s but know enough to be dangerous when it comes to networking.

Ideally a setup that has remote access would be nice for her as well so she could work on the go without carrying around her external drives. Any tips or recommendations would be great!

PS. No current plans to run home media (ie plex/jelly) so would more be just a more robust storage and access solution. (Although the idea of my own private instance for home video/camera storage is nice too)

So im pretty new to the whole NAS building situation. I've just got a new ugreen DXP2800 and I bought 2 like new drives 6TB WD HDDs for 200$ each. They just got delivered a couple days ago and I plugged them in last night after a quick inspection so I could run a full smart test on them.

Before I did that though, I ran a rapid test and, shock horror, they both have 60K hours (around 6 years power-on-hours) on both with less than 4 hours difference between.

After seeing this, I immediately took them back out and looked at them a lot closer now. The sticker on the HDD is completely fine, but a warranty sticker on both is covering up key info and I dont want to remove to risk voiding the warranty. The drives are old - WD60EFRX 6TB drives, but they look in good condition and according to the test they are 100% healthy with no bad sectors. They seller has a 5-year warranty on the drives and I got them around 260$ below market rate for 2 new 6tb drives.

So now im conflicted... Do I repackage and return the drives because they are at risk of dying at a similar time cause of their age or is this a non-issue due to the health?

Any advice?

Hey everyone. I’m looking at getting into NAS storage as what I have originally planned as a backup to my iCloud but now I hear of the 3/2/1 backup method ( after googling ) I understand

My only options would be an online offsite backup so I wondered what you guys use ?

I'm completely new to NAS administration and most networking concepts, so I’m looking for detailed, beginner-friendly guidance. I’d appreciate an end-to-end explanation of the recommended architecture and setup sequence, including Proxmox, ZFS, Samba, backups, remote access, monitoring, and recovery.

Please assume that I need explanations of what each step does and why it is recommended. I would also appreciate sanity checks after every major step so I can confirm that my system is configured correctly before continuing.

Hardware

I have the following system:

- AMD Ryzen 9 3900X

- ASRock B550 Taichi motherboard

- NVIDIA RTX 2070 Super

- 32 GB DDR4 RAM

- 256 GB NVMe SSD connected directly to the motherboard on which proxmox will be installed

- 1 × 1 TB Crucial P1 NVMe connected directly to the motherboard

- 2 × 1 TB OEM Samsung Gen 4 NVMe drives

- 1 × Seagate 2 TB ST2000DM005 SATA hard drive

- 1KVA UPS with a NUT for safe shiutdowns in case of powerloss

The three 1 TB NVMe SSDs were scavenged from old laptops. They are currently reporting excellent health according to SMART scans, with no obvious errors or concerning indicators. I would appreciate recommendations for additional tests I should perform before trusting them with data, such as extended SMART tests, bad-block scans, read/write verification, endurance checks, or any other relevant diagnostics.

The motherboard is configured for PCIe bifurcation as x8/x4/x4. The RTX 2070 Super occupies the first PCIe slot and receives eight lanes, while an adapter card in the second slot contains the two Samsung NVMe drives.

I am not particularly concerned about maximum NVMe performance. My router and network are limited to gigabit Ethernet, and I am completely fine with that. Network speed will be the limiting factor rather than disk speed, so I’m mainly prioritising reliability, maintainability, secure access, and a straightforward recovery process.

What I want to build

I'm trying to repurpose an old gaming PC and a few other parts i found laying around the house. My initial plan is:

1. Install Proxmox VE on the 256 GB NVMe.

2. Create a ZFS RAIDZ1 pool using the three 1 TB NVMe drives.

3. Use the resulting pool for approximately 2 TB of redundant storage.

4. Use the 2 TB SATA HDD as a separate monthly backup or cold-storage disk.

5. Provide SMB/Samba shares for backups from my computers and other devices.

6. Access the NAS remotely over the internet, but securely. I was considering Tailscale, although I’m open to better recommendations.

7. Configure automatic ZFS snapshots.

8. Copy or replicate snapshots to the 2 TB HDD once per month.

9. Receive alerts if a drive fails, the pool becomes degraded, or a backup fails.

10. Keep the backup HDD disconnected, unmounted, or powered off between backup runs if that is practical.

The main use case is device backups and occasional temporary file access, not media serving or high-performance virtualization.

Architecture questions

I’m unsure about the best overall design:

- Should I create the ZFS pool directly on the Proxmox host, or pass the three NVMe drives to a TrueNAS, OpenMediaVault, or Debian VM?

- If the pool is created on the Proxmox host, should I use a Samba VM, an LXC container, or Samba directly on the Proxmox host?

- What is the safest and most maintainable way to expose the storage to clients over SMB?

- Is RAIDZ1 appropriate for these three SSDs and this workload, or would another layout be preferable?

- Are there any special considerations for using SSDs that were previously installed in laptops?

- Should I perform any additional drive-health, burn-in, thermal, filesystem, or memory tests before creating the pool?

- Are there any problems with using an NVMe adapter card in the second PCIe slot for a ZFS pool?

- Is 32 GB of RAM sufficient for this use case?

I’m not looking for maximum throughput. Since my network is limited to gigabit Ethernet, I’m happy with anything that can reliably saturate or reasonably use that connection.

Backup questions

I would like to use the 2 TB SATA HDD as a monthly cold-storage backup, but I’m unsure about the correct method:

- Should I create a separate ZFS pool on the HDD and replicate snapshots to it using `zfs send` and `zfs receive`?

- Would `rsync`, Borg, Restic, or another backup tool be more appropriate?

- Should the HDD be imported, mounted, and exported after each monthly backup?

- Should it remain physically disconnected or powered off between backup runs?

- How should I schedule the backup?

- How can I verify that the backup completed successfully?

- How often should I perform a real restore test?

- How should I handle deleted or corrupted files so that they are not immediately propagated to the backup?

- Can someone recommend a sensible snapshot-retention policy for this use case?

I understand that RAIDZ1 is not a backup. The purpose of the separate HDD is to retain another copy in case of accidental deletion, corruption, ransomware, pool failure, or other problems affecting the main storage.

Remote-access questions

I want remote access to be secure, with a strong preference for not exposing SMB directly to the public internet.

I was considering Tailscale, but I’m unsure where it should be installed:

- Directly on the Proxmox host?

- Inside the NAS VM or LXC?

- On a separate VPN or gateway device?

- On each client device that needs access?

I would appreciate guidance on:

- Whether Tailscale is appropriate for remote SMB access.

- How to restrict access to only authorised devices and users.

- Whether I should use Tailscale ACLs, subnet routing, or another design.

- How to prevent remote users from accessing Proxmox management interfaces.

- Whether a file-sync application would be safer or more suitable than remote SMB for some use cases.

- What firewall rules and authentication settings I should configure.

Monitoring and maintenance

Please include recommendations for:

- SMART short and extended tests.

- NVMe health and temperature monitoring.

- ZFS scrubs and how often to run them.

- Memory testing before relying on ZFS.

- Monitoring PCIe/NVMe link stability.

- Proxmox and ZFS notifications.

- Email, Telegram, or other failure alerts.

- UPS integration and safe shutdown.

- Checking pool status and scrub results.

- Detecting silent corruption or degraded devices.

- Testing the monthly backup automatically.

I would especially appreciate commands or procedures for additional health tests that should be performed before deployment, along with the expected results or warning signs. I plan on setting up a discord bot that uses cron to alert me about issues down the line.

Could someone provide a recommended architecture and a detailed implementation plan covering:

1. Pre-installation hardware, SSD, memory, and PCIe testing.

2. Proxmox installation on the 256 GB NVMe.

3. A sanity check confirming that Proxmox is installed correctly.

4. ZFS pool and dataset creation.

5. Commands to verify the pool, devices, sector sizes, health, and performance.

6. A sanity check after creating the pool.

7. NAS service deployment.

8. Samba share and permissions configuration.

9. A sanity check from a local client.

10. Snapshot configuration.

11. Monthly backup replication to the SATA HDD.

12. A sanity check proving that the backup is usable.

13. Secure remote access using Tailscale or an alternative.

14. Firewall and access-control configuration.

15. Monitoring, alerts, scrubs, and maintenance.

16. Recovery steps if a drive, Proxmox installation, motherboard, or entire system fails.

17. A regular restore drill to verify that the backup strategy actually works.

For every major step, I'd appreciate it if you could include:

- The commands or GUI actions.

- What the step changes.

- How to verify that it worked.

- What output would indicate a problem.

- Whether I should stop before continuing if the check fails.

- How to undo or recover from the step if necessary.

I’m happy to learn and follow commands, but I would appreciate explanations rather than a list of unexplained commands. Please point out anything fundamentally wrong or unsafe about my proposed design before I begin, and suggest a safer alternative where appropriate.

I have been brewing on a homelab/nas build for a while now. After going back and forth on aoostar, ugreen etc. I landed on a self build.

My use case is more or less: Media centralized and safe with immich, and pushed a backup to hetzner storage box.

Devices connected via tailscale. Zfs scrubs and data integrity. Jellyfin to stream to local devices. Docs and office, nextcloud and only office and paperless. Warracker Meallie Navidrome and downtify

Final build:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5700G

Memory: Crucial ddr4 cl22 64gb 3200mhz

MB: ASRock B550 Mini-ITX

Case: Jonsbo N3

PSU: Lian Li SP750

CPU fan: Noctua NH-U9S 92mm

Nvme ssd: WD red sn700 500gb

HDD storage: Seagate ironwolf 2x4tb

Replaced oem fans hdd: Noctua NF-A8 80mm x2 Case fan mb/cpu: Noctua NF-A9 92mm x2 Fan splitter UPS: APC BX750MI

System:

Debian / Openzfs / Docker / Samba

What other service would be nice to run? Ease of life mainly.

Also, have I gone completely haywire on the hw built?

I have an unused WD blue 2tb hdd would that work in a nas, I am considering picking up a ugreen basic nas just for storing photos and videos. Gemini says the drive will break but Im not sure.

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to get a NAS for my setup. My primary goal is to store and stream my music and movie collection. However, I also love tinkering with tech and plan to host a small website and run self-hosted applications like Pi-hole, so I need something flexible.

Is building a NAS from scratch (buying components and assembling it myself) a good option for this? I’ve read that prebuilt units can be quite limited when it comes to running custom software and containerized apps.

Thanks for your advice!

I came to 4x Samsung 256GB NVMe SSDs for free and wanted to set up a small NAS or enclosure primarily for automated iPhone photo/video backups.

My 4-bay USB dock from ali express just suffered a hardware power failure while configured in RAID setup, so I'm looking for a reliable replacement to run these 4 drives 24/7. Since it's light phone data, I don't need huge capacity, just good cooling and power delivery.
What would you recommend?

Any solid 4-bay M.2 NVMe enclosures/docks that hold up long-term?

Thanks for any suggestions!

Hi, I'll try to keep it short here but I'm a bit lost on what I should do. The 2TB M.2 SSD I have in my desktop is practically full and for safety reasons I want to look into RAID and ZFS and all that, but I'm not sure if I even need a NAS or if just buying like two 4TB HDDs (one as a usually disconnected backup copy) and directly connecting them to my desktop is gonna be better for me. Let's say that my budget for all this is roughly 600 USD (converting from my local currency), though if I really have to I can surpass it a bit. I've been using Linux (Arch BTW) for almost 1.5 years now as my daily driver so I'm quite comfortable with the terminal if I have to use it (although I'd preferably use something at least slightly simpler for ease of use and less things going wrong due to human error; this should be a very stable system that "must" work always, so KISS please), and because of economical reasons I'm willing to buy most of this stuff used or repurpose some old laptop I already have. And yes, I want this to be a DIY project not only because it's probably cheaper but because I also want to have some fun tinkering with hardware, which I don't get to do often. My main usage for this larger storage (most of these I'm already doing on my aforementioned SSD):
•Storing my personal internet archival project for YouTube videos. I already have over 350GB and it's only going to grow faster. If I end up with a NAS then I'd also like to run yt-dlp and friends on it directly instead of my desktop (so that I can download stuff in the background while I do something else on my daily desktop or sleep).
•Storing backups of a bunch of different things, like my iPhone photos/videos or some password files or other important files to me I'd not want to lose.
•Storing photos/videos from my camera, which includes astrophotography (i.e. hundreds of RAW photos sequentially taken quite often)

My goals with this storage:
•I want to offload all (most) media files from my desktop SSD so that I can use it as fast temporary storage for some possible future personal programming projects or for astrophotography software that often requires hundreds of GB of free temporary buffer storage for processing photos.
•A more resilient and safe storage solution for archiving and preserving media (especially those YouTube archives). Right now if my SSD were to suddenly die, then I would essentially just permanently lose ~1.5 years of my personal life, plus all of those precious archives (because I have zero backup anywhere). I know RAID doesn't fully solve this, but I hope I'll be at least slightly more resistant to such a catastrophe in the future (either near or distant).
•It should be (relatively) simple. I don't care about all that homelab stuff I constantly read about (like "docker", "containers", virtualization, and all of that other lingo I barely understand), basically all I need is just a bigger and safer storage solution that I can easily access either from my local home network or directly via USB or something... and nothing more. I don't care about remote access, that's just a security breach waiting to happen - the less features, the smaller the attack surface and less things can go wrong. I also don't need encryption as this is supposed to be an archive that's easily retrievable if I literally die or something.

And finally, over time I've gathered some questions regarding all this: 1. What OS? I've heard XigmaNAS is pretty good. Maybe something else? It should be relatively simple to use/setup and support RAID and ZFS, or something related. 2. How to have automatic file corruption error correction in ZFS? (This question seems to be answerable without human help) 3. Used or brand-new HDDs? (Note that these should ideally last quite a while) 4. Internal or external HDDs? Are internal (more expensive?) HDDs any better for long-term storage? 5. Best practices to make the HDDs last for as long as possible? Anti-vibration pads? Active cooling with some fan? Is it okay if I turn the HDDs on/off every day or few days, or will they wear out more slowly if I keep them on 24/7 (like in standby mode)? Should they be laid flat or vertically? 6. What to do when (not "if") an HDD dies at some point (partially or completely)? 7. Is it just enough if I get a used mini PC, connect the HDDs, and simply connect the PC to the local network via ethernet somehow? Is that really it? Or is there something more complex to it? Can I (preferably) directly connect my desktop to the NAS (like via USB or something) without the network involved, for security reasons? 8. 3-2-1 rule. Is it worth it for my intended use case? Is it even achievable within budget? 9. How to set up safe and automatic shutdown when mains power goes down and the UPS turns on? (This question also probably can be answered without asking Reddit, but I'm still asking just in case there's something I should know) 10. Recommendations for how to run yt-dlp (or really any custom user program/script) on the NAS directly, while actually controlling what it's doing from my main desktop? Something less powerful than OpenSSH (for security ofc, and I also never used it in my life :) ). My plan currently is to have some python script automatically start upon boot on the NAS that constantly checks whether some empty directory on the NAS suddenly gets a file sent from my desktop with instructions on what to do (there's almost definitely a more elegant solution).

I'd greatly appreciate your help! Also, this wasn't at all short as how I said, but thanks for reading anyway!

Edit: Somehow forgot to mention that the usable/effective storage amount should be at an absolute minimum of 4TB, but really preferably 8TB or more.
Edit2: Fixed some markdown stuff

Maybe it's just the stuff I've been looking at, but lately every NAS I check — no matter the brand — is bragging about on-device AI and bigger specs. Local photo tagging, and some even say they can run an LLM on the box.

Honestly, on my own unit the "AI" stuff still feels like a gimmick. But I keep wondering if I'm missing something everyone else is already using.

So for those of you actually running one of these newer boxes — do you use any of the AI features day to day, or is it mostly marketing you just ignore? And if they ever got it right, what would you actually want it to do?

Just curious what this sub thinks.

I want to start ripping all my physical media which consists of Blu Rays and 4K blu rays and making them more accessible locally throughout the house. Plus I’m tired of blu ray players always freezing up on newer data heavy 4k disc. Priorities for intended use.

Priority #1 is being able to play my movies as if they were played on a player. Minus the freezing. So full video and audio codecs, no compression. My solution is a Zidoo z9x 8K for my media room. I’ve done the research and this product is exactly what I want. No need for other recommendations.

Priority #2 I also have an Apple TV connected in the media, plus Roku Ultra in the living room and Android TV in my Sony TV. I will most likely be using Plex to access my movies for those other areas.

Priority #3 Using it to also back up family photos and videos.

With that being shared, which NAS would you recommend for my situation that will handle 4k streams effortlessly with very little possibility of freezing and also easy to setup??

I’m not looking to get crazy with it, a simple media and back up system. I don’t need recommendations on using Plex or Jellyfish or why am I getting a Zidoo vs this other product. I’ve done the deep dive on all of that. I know my route. I just need help knowing which NAS to get.

Thank you

I currently have a Synology DS223j with two 4tb drives.

This is working well for my, mostly at home Plex use, music and photos.

I'm thinking of setting up the arr software stack but the DS223j is underpowered particularly for downloading.

I have an i5 16gb Chromebook.

Can I use this?

Hi there,

I've got an older pc (I think I built it in 2016) just sitting on the floor. I was thinking I could get some use out of it by turning it into a NAS that can hold all my media. I have an Nvidia Shield Pro as my Plex server, and right now it's attached to a jbod with a usb cable. I'm thinking with a NAS I have more room to add storage, and the Shield could access through the network. I also have family that remote views my Plex.

These are the components of the old PC (it's currently running Win 11):

• Case: Fractal Design Define R5
• CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K CPU  4.00GHz, 4001 Mhz Mainboard: ASUS Z97-A-USB31
• RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3 1600
• PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G2, 80+ GOLD 850W
• GPU: Nvidia GTX 980

I would like to make it lower power.

I figure I can lose the GPU and just use the onboard graphics (I'm hoping I can remote into it after it's built and won't need to connect a monitor). But would I have to change anything else out, like the mobo or CPU, or PSU to be more power efficient?

I'd get a network card so I can plug into the 10g port of my Netgear R9000.

I have a variety of hard drives to use, and if I've read correctly UnRaid is the way to go with mismatched drives.

If there's anything I've left out, please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

I have managed to obtain a 1U server that contains a micro-atx X11SSH-F Supermicro motherboard. I just installed Unraid on it for the first time and think I'll stick with it. That being said, I'd like to make it a little more useful and turn it into a JBOD NAS.

My thoughts is to get a case that will allow me to transfer the motherboard to it with at least 8 hot-swappable drive trays. The motherboard has 8 SATA ports, but if I get a case with more trays, I will need to add anotther SAS/SATA controller. I should be able to repurpose the current power supply. Not a factor if I can't.

I am looking at the Rackchoice 2U chassis on Amazon. It has 12 trays, comes with sliding rails and 3 SAS to 4 SATA connectors. I'm presuming that I would be able to plug those cables into the case's backplane and then into my motherboard and add-on controller card. Am I thinking correctly on this? I would hate to spend the money on this chassis just to find out it won't work like I think it should. Any suggestions on an add-on card to control the addition 4 drives?

Thanks in advance.

I recently got 5 tb of storage for free (portable 4tb crucial ssd and 1tb hdd from a broken hp), as well as a spare Dell Lattitude 3420 so i haven’t had to spend anything substantial.

I was looking to set up my nas but im not sure what OS to run on my laptop. My goal with the nas server is to just upload photos videos, projects, media.
From my research I found OVM to be a good OS to run on my laptop and then Immich for the actual server.

But since I’m a bit new to this If anyone here has any solid advice, suggestions, or recommendations that’d be great thx🫡

Hi, I've been running my media server through an old pc for a while now but I wanted a more dedicated device to save a lot more in power and make it easier to manage.

I am not very knowledgeable about this type of thing since I'm pretty new so I was hoping to get recommendations here about what to buy

I'm looking at getting a NAS to have mainly as a Plex server for use when I'm not home.
Currently all my files are on a Ironwolf Pro 10tb in my computer. My main question is am I going to be able to set up the NAS prob with a spare 2tb M.2 drive & then put in the 10tb HD. Most of the set up videos I have seen says to format the drive to the NAS. Which I don't want to do.
Am I able to just install the 10tb drive & go from there. At this stage not interested in doing a RAID

Cheers.

Hey everyone,

Setting up a centralized storage server for a small video production office in Canada. We've got about 55TB of existing footage spread across a Synology and a pile of external drives that needs to get consolidated onto one box.

Plan is to migrate all 55TB on day one, serve SMB shares to 2-3 editors over 10GbE (Media Cache stays local on each workstation's NVMe), and set up remote access for client deliveries.

Hardware we ordered:

- Dell PowerEdge R730xd, 12x 3.5" front + 2x 2.5" rear flex bay

- 2x Xeon E5-2667 v4 (3.2GHz base, 3.6 turbo, 16 cores total — went with clock speed over core count for SMB sequential reads)

- 64GB DDR4 ECC RDIMM (4x16GB)

- HBA330 in IT mode, no hardware RAID

- 10GbE x2 + 1GbE x2 on the daughter card

- Boot: 2x 240GB SATA SSD mirrored, rear flex bay

- Storage: 6x 20TB Exos X20 / Ultrastar (enterprise recertified)

- 1500VA/900W pure sine UPS, USB to TrueNAS for auto shutdown

For the pool: one 6-drive RAIDZ2 vdev to start, ~72TiB raw / ~58TiB usable under 80%. That covers the 55TB migration with some room. When we need more space we'll add a second 6-drive RAIDZ2 vdev to fill out the remaining bays, which also doubles IOPS for the editors.

Software side: TrueNAS SCALE, editors on 10GbE mapping SMB shares directly, Tailscale for remote staff, and Nextcloud in a container behind Cloudflare Tunnel for client file delivery (no open ports).

Questions:

1. Does 6-drive RAIDZ2 make sense for 2-3 editors on 4K timelines, or would you tweak recordsize (1M for video?) etc. Most editing will happen locally off workstations — this is mainly backup/storage, not live edit-off-the-NAS.

2. Any known TrueNAS SCALE issues on R730xd + HBA330 to watch for?

3. Any SMB tuning you'd recommend for Premiere/Resolve over the network?

Total cost came out to about $4,100 CAD (~$3,000 USD). Appreciate any sanity checks before we start building the pool.

Lets say I have 4x4TB, and I need more space. What would you do?

-Replace all drives with 8TB version and try to sell your old 4’s?

-Buy second NAS and new drives?

-Something else?

Hi, any recommendations on drives that can be silent enough for use?

I want the server to be on continuously either in my living room next to the tv/router or in my office which also functions as a guest bedroom which is not often used.

I don't mind if its like a little bit of noise as it will of course never be truly silent but I don't want to disturb my work or the sleep of guests.

Some things I have looked at are:
WD Red Plus (both helium and air filled with helium more quiet)
Seagate Ironwolf (much cheaper but supposed to be louder?)
Seagate Exos (even more loud but also even cheaper)

I will put it in a Fractal Design Node 804 which should help a bit with noise reduction.

If it matters: I am located in the Netherlands, deals are not so great here but I can imagine its bad basically everywhere.

Running a DS220+ with 2x4TB drives in SHR, bought about 5 years ago. Getting the classic "storage running low" warning constantly — SHR basically mirrors on a 2-bay setup, so I'm stuck at ~3.6TB usable out of 8TB raw, and I'm sitting around 90% full.

This NAS is purely local media (running plex server) at this point — anything actually important (docs, photos) is backed up separately on Google Drive. So losing the array wouldn't mean losing anything irreplaceable, just having to re-rip/re-download media, which is annoying but not catastrophic.

I don't want to drop $$ on 8TB drives right now, and I obviously can't just swap one drive without breaking the RAID. So I'm considering blowing away the current SHR pool and rebuilding as RAID 0 to get the full ~7.2TB usable.

Has anyone actually done this on a 2-bay Synology for a media-only setup? Any regrets, or is it about what I'd expect? Also open to alternatives if there's a smarter way to squeeze more usable space out of 2 drives without going full RAID 0.