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Looking for suggestions between NAS vs DIY (cost vs usage) (alien.top)
submitted 1 year ago by Version_Specific@alien.top to c/homelab@selfhosted.forum
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Hey fellas,

Been back and forth on my backup need decision and hope to get some insights from anyone.

My needs:

  • Local backup of household devices (laptops, PC, phones)
  • Have the local backup as a self hosted cloud for the household users
  • Streaming content. Probably plex but without transcoding or Kodi
  • VPN
  • Occasional servers/containers for pet projects

What I've been comparing so far:

Synology DS1621+

Saw someone selling one with 20gb ram, 2 cache SSDs and 5x8TB drives for around 1000$ on marketplace.

Pros:

  • Ready setup + drives.
  • Comfort of Synology infra
  • Plug and play with limited to no tinkering

Cons:

  • Limited to Synology OS
  • Not the most capable specs
  • No options to repurpose the device come End of Life time

Total cost for now = around 1000$

Mini PC + enclosure

  • Used Optiplex micro 7070 with 512GB NVMe 16GB Ram for 160$ on Ebay
  • Sabrent USB 3.2 5-Bay enclosure 215$ new or find some used one cheaper
  • In case of using Unraid - 129$ for OS + 10$ for a flash drive
  • Starting with 2 20TB drives from Serverpartdeals or similar, netting roughly 500$

Pros:

  • Almost plug and play
  • Freedom to choose any OS
  • Ability to repurpose the machine later if needed and use the enclosure just as a DAS
  • Ability to chain the enclosure later via 10gbps USB-C
  • Powerful machine compared to synology
  • PC + enclosure would be using USB-C 10gbps speeds, and the HDDs won't be saturating it
  • Can add the drives later with ease (if going with Unraid)

Cons:

  • Enclosure doesn't turn on automatically in case of power outtages
  • More tinkering to do. While a con, still relatively comfortable with this amount
  • Stuck with USB. Seen both good and bad comments about this usage
  • Possible noise issues

Total cost for now = around 1014

DIY PC

I'd just follow something like NAS Killer V6 from serverbuilds.

Total cost for now = around 800 (with 2x20TB drives)

Pros:

  • All the pros of Mini PC
  • More possibilities to extend/customize compared to Mini PC (better NIC, more drives, etc). Basically every single item can be upgraded and changed as needed in the future

Cons:

  • Too much tinkering. While I have built PCs before, I haven't done so in a long while and don't know if I'd want to deal with all that again
  • Bigger overall form factor

Personally, I'm leaning towards Mini PC + enclosure for now. Anyone has this setup working reliably for some time? I like the form factor, enough freedom and cost/time spent seems reasonable.

That synology offer is a one off thing on marketplace and might be gone anytime. If I would want to get just the synology nas, the second hand deals on ebay start at 1000$ without RAM, SSD or drives. Too steep of a price to pay imho.

DIY PC feels like too much work for the cost and I don't think I want to spend that much time and energy on working on it and end up in the constant spec improving wormhole.

Maybe I'm missing something. Right now I'm budgeting around $1000 for the ordeal with as least headaches as possible with the setup while having some sort of future proofing and freedom.

Any suggestions are welcome.

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[-] NC1HM@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Please elaborate on VPN. How fast do you want it and what kind is it? This will have meaningful implications for the choice of the processor.

Given your stated need for VPN, it would appear that Synology is out. Factory-built NAS devices are in most cases relatively weak in the processor department, so virtualization and computationally intensive things like VPN tend to bog them down.

Same logic applies to mini-PCs. VPNs can generate sustained high loads, for which passively cooled mini-PCs are often not prepared. So choose carefully if you decide to go that route.

But do you really have to virtualize your router?

[-] Version_Specific@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

VPN would be very occasional thing tbh. Something on OpenVPN, maybe with Cloak plugged in and/or WireGuard. It's more of a nice to have rather than a requirement tbh.

[-] giocos@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

buy a dc version of asrock cpu on board ( i have 3 Q1900DC-ITX that i bought 8 years ago and run 24h and still working ) on aliexpress you can found used for like 30euro

  • you need a dc (you can found for like 10 or 20euro)
  • you need ram (can found for 10 euro)
  • you need a hd or ssd ( 10 euro )
  • you need a cable that give power to your sata hd (3 euro on aliexpress)
  • you need a cable for power on the mobo ( 1 euro )

ok now you have everything you need for your server. fanless, 20 times more powerful than a rasberry.

I use arch linux and i have fun

[-] Wdrussell1@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

So this is one of those "You have $5 build a XXXXX" situations. You can build a monster for the full budget and put work into it and it work forever with plenty of power. You can spend a smaller portion of the budget and it requires less setup but maybe is lighter on power. You get the idea.

My thought process here is to understand what exactly you do need. You said you like the form factor of the mini PC. But then also the DIY PC ? So what are the requirements here? The Synology would be near identical to this in form factor so I am confused.

I am going to give two types of advice. The build I went with and its cost, and the honest truth.

  1. My build is an HP DL380 G9 rack mounted server. It has dual Xeon CPUs and 100+ GB of RAM. I then also have a Tesla M40 GPU in the system. All together with 2 brand new 2TB SSDs it cost me about $800. The server was about $300 on ebay shipped. The GPU was about $100 including the cable for power. The extra RAM was about $100 for 64+ GB DDR 3 ECC. The SSDs were $260. Granted, you would have to use 2.5 inch drives in this setup, it is very much a powerful machine that can handle most anything.

  2. For your setup. You are the only person who can determine what is best for you. I can tell you specs, I can tell you my experience, I can tell you about features of systems and OSes. What I can't tell you is what is going to fill your needs the most both in terms of hardware and its design in the space you have chosen.

The only piece of advice I will give you is this: If you plan on running a plex server, you will want a CPU that can use quick sync. Intel's new ARC GPU should be able to as well if you went with a GPU option but I cannot speak to this as I have not tested.

this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2023
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