Comment on Non-Win-11 PCs to keep my eyes out for to convert into a NAS?
JASN_DE@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
While any machine that provides storage through the network can be a NAS, you’ll probably want at least some level of extendability. Your biggest problem with OEM machines (think Dell, HP, Lenovo) will be s lack of SATA ports, in combination with not enough power outlets and not enough space to put the actual disks in the case.
That’s the reason I usually build my own machines for those purposes, and depending on what’s needed you don’t even need high-end parts, at least for a “NAS-only NAS”. My NAS works on a 2 core/ 4 thread Intel i3, which will be enough for the foreseeable future. But it also only provides storage, all the rest (self hosting my services) happens on another machine.
TrueNAS works well for me as a NAS OS. AS far as I’ve seen it also provides direct container support or virtual machines. It you want an all-in-one machine, that might be worth looking into.
hakase@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Gotcha, yeah, physical space was the main thing I was worried about picking up one of these used corpo boxes.
Would something like the HP DeskMini mentioned in another comment be a good enough choice for a service hosting machine?
I have an old, pretty big Antec tower from like 10 years ago that should have plenty of space for drives - I suppose I could reuse that for the NAS and just upgrade my main PC case to something more modern like I already wanted to do anyway.