Having a separate machine as a NAS is good, running TrueNAS or XigmaNAS. You can segregate your backups from your daily use, you can have automated tasks run, etc.

Machine wise, I’m gonna try out a Beelink with nvme slots. Right now I’m using a Proliant microserver. Don’t get one with a hardware RAID card as you want to be able to use zfs. But otherwise they sell pretty cheap on Ebay.