I built myself a little NAS drive (using OMV which has so far been excellent). My main use is archive storage for 2-3 decades of personal creative work and client work. I don't leave it running, I usually only need it on a couple of times per week, as all active projects are on my desktop.
I built to a basic spec for cost reasons, the main focus was on high quality storage rather than media serving which I really have no need for. Thus, power consumption is higher than ideal. But its pretty quiet and sits under my work desk.
Having said that I set up docker and have played with Jellyfin, a music server and some other applications. Just learning.
That's an excellent way to learn, I think. I haven't done anything like that but is something that is more and more appealing as alternative to popular services. I do miss having something like that the most while I'm travelling, so that I can still connect home and watch my own videos, music, etc.
An excellent channel that I've been following for a while to get some good ideas:
That looks like a decent resource. I watched a few similar when I was first setting up my system.
We might need to move this to a different thread, but I have been motivated mainly by the desire to move away from Google etc. Here's what I have so far:
Docker running in OMV
SMB share to my windows and Linux PC and laptop of all my data archive. Jellyfin for shows (a few favourites I've ripped from the DVDs I own). Also does music.
I settled on navidrome for music - I like it. They have an online demo you can try.
Immich, which I'd been reading about for ages, for a google-photos-ish replacement. It works really, really well. I'm very impressed. Not so straightforward to set up, fine once I understood how it needed to be done. They have updates available all the time, which sometimes change how you need its config set up, which has caught me out.
I am semi-professional in photography, mainly using photography to illustrate aspects of my work (and selling a few landscape). Its a frequent thing that I need to create an online selection of images to share with clients, so now I do that directly on my own server knowing that nothing is being used by Google for its AI. Its a much faster process also. You can also set up your phone to back up to it, instead of to Google.
I set up Nextcloud on one of my CPanel servers a couple of years ago (I have a reseller account for hosting web clients), as a subdomain of one of my own websites. I've been using that as a Google Docs/OneDrive replacement. As i live and work between 2 different PCs and 2 different physical locations, I rely upon it.
Nextcloud also has a built-in Zoom-like video-chat, which I use for client and friend chats. Its good not having that Zoom 40-minute limit, and, usually, a decent connection.
I should really put in the time and just do it myself on a spare computer, instead of watching so many videos about how to do it
Nextcloud and Immich are two of the big ones that I've also kept an eye on for a long time. I also recently learned about Stirling PDF, thanks to a user who posted about it here, and it looks like a really good tool to have.
In that thread... well, it was my fault. I completely ignored that it would also include the localhost domain in the VPN tunnel, and I dragged the issue longer than I should've.
But it really isn't that difficult to use, at its core anyway. I found that the hardest part is to maintain things like secrets and configurations well organized, rather.
I also have a few good videos on that topic, hold on
This is one of the best step-by-step ones that I've seen:
And to use Docker Swarm instead, watch these. It's essentially the same as Docker Compose, but you can span the deployment over multiple machines. It's a bit more involved, but quite manageable (I've only tested this with VMs though):
PSU: SFX Series Strider Series Essential v3.0 450W SFX PSU
PSUs seemed to be in real shortage when I built, but this seemed like decent quality. Never skimp on the PSU!
I have a 1TB WD Blue SSD in there to run the system. This is a mistake, as OMV takes all the system disk - if you have a partition, it'll wipe it and take over the whole drive (which will be an issue when upgrading version). However, I have partitioned it after OMV installation, so only 150MB or so is set aside for the system. OMV can run from a USB stick, which is often recommended.
Powered by an intel core i3 which is fine for my purposes at a decent price-point (when I built). I am unlikely to need more than one user streaming simultaneously.
Its a very tight build in the N2 case, but worth it for neatness. So long as you are methodical and neat, no problem.
I figured I'd learn from this, and build an SSD version if I need in the future, however I'm more than happy with this build and can see it lasting many years. As I say, my main purpose is simple file storage. Not having my archive spread across multiple plug-in USB drives any more.
I too was very mindful of electricity cost, so didn't plan on leaving it on all the time. The more you use other applications from it, then it becomes something to leave on. balanced against better long-term reliability by being left on.
OMV includes plugins so you can leave it on, but it'll go to sleep, wakeable by wake-on-lan from PC or phone from within the local network. As a lighter option you can leave it on, but set the disks to spin down after a period of inactivity.
I built mine in august 2024 and its by far the best decision i have made in a long time. I use mine for uh... cough! Some stuff, and hosting game servers, teampeak etc.
I started learning docker around that time too, its a godsend.
And to use Docker Swarm instead, watch these. It's essentially the same as Docker Compose, but you can span the deployment over multiple machines.
I've been wanting to dig into this as well, for that exact reason. I'm about the point where i am already using two VMs to spread the resources a bit.
I've been pondering the best way to store my nearly 8 TB of data somewhere in the cloud. While most people would suggest setting up a NAS with perhaps an offsite backup, I'd like to keep this in the cloud mostly because I travel around a lot. I'm also in the process of moving countries, so, for the time being, you can treat me like a nomad with no "home base" to set up servers in.
The ~8 TB data consists of raw photos and videos from years of travel. I have a ton of ideas for making videos, but I haven't gotten the time to do it yet. I want to keep them until at least all my ideas have been executed. When that'll happen is another story, though.
Right now, the data is spread around different SSDs, LaCie drives, and a SanDisk 12 TB HDD. I thought of storing the data in Blackblaze B2 or something similar, but that can be expensive. Another option is to make use of OneDrive's 6 TB of storage that comes with MS 365, but that means I will need to have 6 different accounts. That's too much work I'd like to avoid.
The personal computer backup by Backblaze is also a solid option, but it requires one computer to have access to all the data in a drive. As I said, considering that I "don't have a home base," that seems kinda tricky.
I tried out BackBlaze B2. My issue was that at my local Broadband speed I calculated it would take something like 3 years constant to upload my data. Assuming no errors, and in practice I found upload errors with B2, due to poor connections. I'm pretty sure that was at my end. Plus it gets expensive, whoever is your cloud provider.
Hence the personal storage route.
2 ideas:
Build a small NAS and have a (good) friend host it at their place. This is actually a good practice anyway, consider it as off-site storage. It needs to be a duplicate though in case of disaster.
Build an NUC-style or perhaps a Pi in a minimal case with whatever capacity SSD you can fit in it. Expensive, but if its small enough you can carry it with you? The thing is, you still need the cloud solution as a backup.
I know what you mean. The only reason I even considered uploading them to the cloud is because I happen to have fast broadband at "home." I only need to upload them once, as downloads tend to be good in most places.
I also happen to have a tech-savvy friend (and we use the same ISP, so up/down speeds are quite good as well). Since it's all just raw photos and videos, there are no privacy concerns either.
The issue here is figuring out the best way to build the NAS in a cost-effective way. Maybe just a laptop with Linux + a couple of large hard drives is the most straightforward way. But then again, these things are enormous timesuck, as I'm sure you know. It doesn't help that I like to tinker LOL.
The amount of time I already sunk into researching these...if I spent half as much actually making those videos and editing the photos, I'd probably be done already.
This might actually be a good option. I was looking into Beelink SER6 and a few others. A Mac Mini with external SSDs isn't a bad idea, either. But the problem is, if they fail (or I lose them), it's game over. So, whatever I do, I need to have a cloud backup.
Personally I'd want everything safely inside the box. For years I carried a clutch of portable HDDs with me, plugging them in as required (I've lived and worked between 2 locations for the last near 20 years). Too many weak points.
I know Isn't that why we are on linux? I'm an engineer, I like to come up with solutions. And I'd rather it be in the service of a creative end-goal.
No thanks to you I just spent $$$ ordering a couple of 4 TB SSDs and a Beelink EQR6.
Any suggestions on the setup aspect? It will come with Win 11 which I’ll delete. Should I go with a server setup (Like Ubuntu Server or Fedora Workstation Server) or would you say a regular desktop distro is good?
I would appreciate any tips for making the files available in the network as well. I know of the built in methods but perhaps you have wisdom to share.
You're welcome!
My (Linux) experience is limited here, hopefully somebody with more wisdom than I have can chip in.
Question: does your Beelink have capacity for a separate drive for the OS, in addition to the 2 SSDs?
I built my NAS with OMV, which is a NAS OS built from Debian, but it needs its own drive to work from (you can't use a partition, well you can, but its more tricky). Its main purpose is a file server.
Having files on the network will surely be the only way to get data in and out of it? short of using a USB drive to transfer to and from your PC, which rather defeats the point.
In theory, any desktop distro would allow you to set up the share, but my feeling would be to go with a server specific OS, perhaps Ubuntu server - which I haven't used other than a quick test of it in a VM last week, as it happens. Especially as you won't be using this PC for anything else, will you?
Nope. I was thinking about whether to create a small partition for the OS or install the OS into a USB drive that's always plugged into it (not sure if that's even possible without some bottleneck). With a desktop OS, that would work just fine. I have limited experience with server setups, so I'm not sure if there's a downside to it.
I'm not too strict on this. I don't foresee needing to transfer files often, so it's fine if I have to use a USB drive and transfer data into a portable SSD to edit on a Mac. Having access to the files via the network would mainly be a plus. I assume it wouldn't be too much hassle to connect to it via FTP anyway.
Correct. I mean, I might set up a Jellyfin server to stream media off of it, but that's about it.
One thing to keep in mind is that we get frequent power cuts (blackouts). I have UPS that has about an hour or so backup, but when the power cuts get too frequent, even the UPS doesn't have enough juice.
I say that because this is another reason I won't be setting it up as a server or NAS. I can just boot it up when I need to transfer files. Of course, I understand dedicated server OSes have their own benefits.
That will work, you really don't have to overthink it. However, for the amount of data that you're talking about, and your particular situation, I'd say that your best option would be one of the major cloud storage providers.
This might cost you some money but it will free you from the burden of having to set that up, and keep it running smoothly overtime (often an overlooked factor). The time that you'll save in learning how to do this will be worth it by itself, and if the data is important to you then it's just a no-brainer.
Since you'll probably have to pay for a whole year, that should give you plenty of time to get settled after you move and take the time to do things properly on your own, if you're still interested (and have the time).
For that amount of storage, I'd recommend looking into ZFS — and yes, I have just the right video to give you a good idea how it'd looked like
You could also just buy a bunch of high capacity SSDs (since they are less fragile), copy all the data to them, and have your friend ship the entire lot later. It's riskier, but it'll probably be much cheaper since it's not like the drives will be super heavy and bulky. But, this will also give time to your friend to make additional copies just in case (you'll owe them a nice meal, though!).
Isn't that why we are on linux? I'm an engineer, I like to come up with solutions. And I'd rather it be in the service of a creative end-goal.
