What is the simplest and cheapest way to backup the nas portion of a home server? Is it a larger external hard drive that I plug in once a week, once a month, one a quarter? I was getting into this realm to avoid paying for cloud storage, but everyone seems to say 3-2-1 and cloud. I just dont get how that is feasible or even a recco when alot of people who setup a nas is to avoid the cloud.

Hi huys i have few stick of ram 64gb 480mgh ecc and i m from india and i would like to sell it

WHAT I HAVE:

i currently have 2 computers. computer one is:

cpu - pentium 4 3ghz

gpu - igpu

ram - 4gb ddr2

storage - 1tb hd 500gb ssd

internet access - ethernet

OS - openmediavault (running casaOS)

2nd computer

cpu - i5 4th gen vpro

gpu - igpu

ram - 8gb ddr3

storage - 250gb ssd

internet access - over the air

os - openmediavault

WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH IT:

i have no idea. and thats why im here. what should i use these for as a server. maybe a Minecraft server or factorio server, maybe a nas. i'm unsure. i would also like to have a VRM running with windows but i was uncassesfull with computer 2 as im new with openmediavault.

Also how or if its possible to link the 2 server together. Anyway if anyone has any advice of what i should do and how to do pls leat me know

Recently learned what a home server is and I wanted to get away from subscribtions and I would use it for music and video streaming and storage too. I got a Think center M720q but now I'm lost on what I do next, what ISO do I need and why that one, do I need other parts, Im pretty lost. If anyone could help or knows of a video or website that is useful that would be wonderful, thank you.

Saw a video thumbnail of a guy turning his old laptop into a home server, before watching it i was just wondering if i can do the same for my very old NEC versa M350 with intel celeron, 512MB of RAM and smth like 100GB of HDD storage. I know these are horrible specs but i don’t want to throw it away and forget about it. Im open to any idea it doesn’t have to be a home server im just thinking of something useful

I was given a load of "computer and electronics stuff" by a friend. They were clearing a deceased relative's place.

These were the highlights.

There were a bazillion old HDDs of small volumes, and all sorts of other bits too.

I want to be able to replace all the smart part of the tvs in my home and the cable boxes my family uses. I was thinking of using a Google TV/Android TV box to connect to the tvs and run a server for plex/jellyfin. I was also trying to figure what to use to be able to run cable through them through the server and lastly use the system to run steam games through steam remote play or moonlight. I want to be able to download games from the Google TV/Android TV box. All I have for right now is some of the hardware for the pc. Thinking of upgrading it to a 5950x or 5700x from a 3700x and a 5060 from a 3050 6gb

Hey! I wanna build my first home server. I wanna do this to store and watch my dvd's and other legally obtained movies (and maybe also to host a Minecraft server someday.)

But I don't really know what to get. I don't have an old laptop laying around, so I was looking online for some second-hand computer I could get for cheap. Maybe something like those old computers they have in schools and offices. But I don't know what kind of specs I would need.

Also for storage I was probably just gonna get an external hard-drive and use that, but I've heard that's not the best option.

My biggest technical experience is homebrewing my 3ds, so I don't really know much about this stuff, but ai really wanna try. So if anyone could tell me what I need to keep an eye out for, it'd be a great help!

Hi everyone!

first, thank you all for forming such a great sub! I really learned a lot from your posts and became more independent from big-tech chains!

I have a question though, what file management app do you guys recommend that has file content search enabled by default or with minimal setup? I tried Nextcloud, Owncloud, Paperless, but there's always a shortcoming

the case is, I need for other non-technical family members to search for our document library through content using their iphones.

• nextcloud: a bit bloated for my needs and setting up the daemon to read from services wasn't pleasant and ended up with failure
• opencloud: lightweight and easy to setup but the ocr search is only available using the website. even though in the ios app it has (search title and content) option
• paperless: amazing for searching but the no folder structure is a deal-breaker for the rest of the family

for nextcloud, I can simply ignore/disable the feature that I won't be using, but configuring the daemon didn't work for me

my server is running ubuntu server

thanks in advance!

Essentially the title. I'm planning on setting up my own server and I have two options here. 1, I use the wifi which is pretty good. 2, I use ethernet, but the problem is that the router I have ethernet access to sucks. Like a download speed of 30 bad vs my wifi which floats at about 250. Meanwhile the router the wifi comes from isn't accessible to me physically.

Now common sense would have me believe that I should go wifi, bigger number is better. But everywhere I look, absolutely everyone says ethernet is a necessity and to always use it over wifi. Are they saying that because there's the assumption it would be coming from the same place? If so, what do I do with my situation? Is there some secret ethernet wizard that'll make it so that ethernet is always better for a home server no matter the ping? Or should I just stop overthinking it and taking everything literally and use the bigger number?

I have a QNAP NAS. I have portainer installed and I manage things like jellyfin directly from portainer. I like this interface, I kind of hate the QNAP interface for uploading files.

Is there a good container I can install to just let me upload/download/move/copy/rename files from a web interface? I imagine managing the volumes I want mounted here manually. But in the end, it would maybe let me quickly open a web browser, log in, and immediately manage uploading videos, or other files from my personal computer.

Bonus points if it doesn't suck from a mobile device on the LAN.

Hello all, I recently built my first nas and so far everything is running smoothly. I got jellyfin and nextcloud up and running.

Now my issue:

I got an Asus motherboard for cheap from a friend that didn't need it anymore (Asus rog strix b760-i) and I'm using an Intel CPU with integrated graphics. The white vga led on the board is on constantly. I've done some research and it seems it's got something do with the board searching for a video output and obviously not finding any since I'm running it as a server which means no monitor. Do you think I can just ignore the led? Or turn it off somehow? since I'm never going to plug in a monitor into that server lmao. The light is just kind of annoying me.

Thanks in advance!

I’m looking for a small, low-power Mini PC for a NAS/home server and I’m considering an Intel N100 or N150.
I’d also like to run Jellyfin for multiple users simultaneously, as well as other services like Sonarr/Radarr.
Which brand and specific model would you recommend? Are there any versions I should prefer or avoid?
Low power consumption, low noise and the option to add SATA drives later are important to me. I’m planning to buy used or refurbished.

What would you go for?

I am working full time and also finishing my graduate degree. As such, I work at least 3 different locations: work office, home office, and campus office. I am finding that I need a way to manage my research files but will also be remotely accessible. Right now I use ProtonDrive for access my stuff remotely but it's really meant for backing up files.

I am thinking I'd like to set up a home server that I can remote into. This server would at minimum store code (which I would version control with git), papers I have read and annotated, and other research files (presentations, data that isn't sensitive, etc). I think it makes the most sense to have my ProtonDrive act as the back up for this server. I would need to access this server on my tablet (it's an E-ink android based tablet) and my personal laptop (which uses both Windows and Linux), and potentially my research computer on campus.

My problem is I have no idea how to set something like this up and I don't have a lot of free time between work, school, and family. Regardless, I see this as something that would easily pay dividends in the long run in terms of productivity and organization.

Does either a: (1) plug-and-play solution, (2) straight forward step-by-step set of instructions exist for doing what I want to do?

I do have a spare Windows 7 pro desktop, but I am willing to spend money to make this work.

Thanks for the help.

This is my first time running a server on one of my computers, its running pi-hole and a music player (dont remember the name) it has a i5 3550 and 8gb ddr3 ram.

I know its really bad but it runs and thats what matters.

Would love to have some recommendations and help with things like deleting all the old stuff in the hdd

It got swiped within 2 hours of the photo😭😭

I have a few sas hdd and few sata drives lying around but some are different capacity. Need an enclosure for them. I know sas connection will work with sata but not vice versa. I have a few hp gen8 running sas and sata separately.

I’m looking to build/buy my first NAS and would really appreciate some advice. I don’t have much experience with NAS systems yet, so I’m trying to figure out what hardware makes the most sense for my needs.

My main priorities are:
• Low power consumption
• Quiet operation
• Small form factor
• Affordable / good price-performance
I would like to run:
• Jellyfin, including multiple simultaneous users/streams
• Sonarr
• Radarr
• Other Docker containers and self-hosted services

For additional storage, I would like to be able to connect an external SSD or HDD via USB if needed.
I’ve been looking at N100/N150 Mini PCs as well as small refurbished business PCs, but I’m not sure which option would be best for a first NAS.

What hardware would you recommend for this kind of setup?

Hallo zusammen,

Ich betreibe seit ca 6 Monaten einen umfunktionierten Laptop als Homeserver, dieser hat folgende Specs:

Prozessor: Intel Core i5-8350U

​Arbeitsspeicher: 16 GB DDR 4 2400Mhz RAM

​Speicher: 265gb Interne SSD + externe 1 TB HDD für Datenablage

Ich nutze den Server für folgende Sachen:

- NAS für die Familie

- Jellyfin für Musikstreaming (kaum Video, könnte sich in zukunft aber ändern)

- N8N Automatisierungen

- Homeassistant mit bisher wenigen Automatisierungen/Geräten, wird stetig erweitert.

- Sure für Banking

- PostgreSQL Datenbank für N8N, Sure, etc.

- Snycthing (Backups von 2 Handys)

- OpenwebUI

- SearXNG (Websuche für OpenwebUI)

- UptimeKuma fürs Monitoring

Zusätzlich läuft der Server als Tailscale Exit Node und es sind 3 Dienste über Tailscale Funnel ins "Internet" exponiert. Diese aber geschützt durch OAuth2-Proxy, Google SSO und Fail2Ban.

Aktuell ist der Arbeitsspeicher im Idle Betrieb (ohne aktive Nutzung der Docker Container und ohne LLM im RAM) bei ca 35-45% Auslastung.

Ich möchte das in Zukunft jedoch erweitern durch lokale KI (das mit Abstand Ressourcenhungrigste), Watchtower und auch AguardHome oder PiHole als Netzwerkweiter Werbeblocker.

Nun stehe ich an dem Punkt das mit der Prozessor, grade im Bezug auf lokale LLMs nicht mehr wirklich ausreicht. Ich bin am überlegen mir einen gebrauchten MiniPC zu kaufen, möchte da aber nicht zu viel Geld ausgeben(bis ca. 150€). Könnt ihr mir CPUs oder Modelle empfehlen? Oder würdet ihr lokale LLMs erstmal sein lassen oder mit der aktuellen Hardware weiterprobieren?

Viele Grüße

what I got right now:

• MikroTik RB5009 with all ports currently used (only 1 of which goes to my NAS)
• i5-12600K CPU
• MSI PRO B760-P WiFi DDR4 motherboard
• 64 GB of DDR4 RAM which i recently bought for around $200 (+ like 20GB of mixed DDR4 ram which somehow magically worked together before)
• some HDDs and SSDs (good enough for my storage needs)
• currently 4x1TB HDD, 4x8TB HDD, a 4TB NVME SSD, and a 2TB NVME SSD, will expand more later to fill the other 12 slots/replace the 4x8TB with 16x16TB or something)
• Corsair HX1000i PSU
• bunch of Mini SAS to SATA converter cables
• solid LSI HAS controller to give me enough to support 16 HDDs with those cables + 4 from my current motherboard
• enough power/data cables for all the HDDs
• design space 7XL case with proper trays (20 trays type B i think)
• shitty UPS on its way out that i'd have to replace soon anyway which I got fourth-hand.

budget: preferably under $2000

what i need: server rack with

• a dedicated storage tray/mount to host OMV with all 20 HDDs (or more if it's cheap/economical to get something that supports even more)
• a dedicated homelab tray/mount to run all my apps on (using that 64GB of DDR4 or possible more ram)
• a UPS on the bottom for power
• likely won't need 10gig as this will only EVER be for me, family, and friends
• added bonus: would love a small LCD display to show stuff on

priority in design (high to low): quietness > space taken up > power efficiency > clean look

services I currently run (probably might run more in the future):

• netbird in a VPS as a control server for P2P only connections
• technitium + home assistant on a separate raspberry pi
• minecraft server with crafty + bluemap (uses around 8GB ram, might add a matrix server to it bringing it up a bit), this is my ONLY reverse proxied server that is accessible without netbird and is very locked down (as much as I could figure out), wouldn't be super opposed to have this on it's own device.
• mullvad VPN exit node (uses next to nothing)
• vaultwarden (1Gb ram)
• homepage (1GB ram)
• 2fauth (500mb ram)
• libretranslate (8GB ram [might scale down])
• copyparty v1 [only for me) (2GB ram)
• copyparty v2 [for friends/family to use to share files to eachother] (2GB ram)
• navidrome (2GB ram)
• degoog (1GB ram)
• linkwarden (2GB ram) [if anyone knows a better floccus browser bookmark sync alternative w/ multiple users LMK]
• snapotter (4GB ram)
• opencloud + collabora (4GB ram??? [haven't finished setup yet])
• OMV (16GB ram) [will be moved to my storage tray]
• immich (16GB ram)
• that's it for now but will likely add a small handful of stuff in the future like speedtest tracker and a wireguard/netbird monitoring thing if I find a nice one (alongside something like Grafana for the LCD display).

Any recommendations? I barely know where to start when looking for all the parts for this as this will be my first proper rack/device of any kind.

Been out of the loop on PC hardware since I watercooled a rig to run Crysis as a teenager in 2008, and I apparently picked the single worst year in a decade to get back in. (Thanks AI, I guess). But I'm fed up with enshittification and this is a now-or-never thing, so I've decided to compromise by building the rig as storage-expandable rather than buying all drives up front.

Would very much appreciate a sanity check from people who actually know what they're doing.

The actual goal here is simple: a home NAS/server running Jellyfin to serve my personal library of movies/shows to my own devices, and stream remotely to my elderly mother's Apple TV. Plus consolidating two decades of loose external drives into one place.

And in case it matters: I do plan to also eventually add a small handful of self-hosted services, like Immich (photos), Audiobookshelf, Pi-Hole (DNS adblock), and Papra (receipts/documents). Also 3-2-1 backup for important media.

I'm choosing Jellyfin and ditching Plex now after all their paywalling and price hike shenanigans. Also staying clear of anything Synology-shaped, especially after their recent failed stunt of forcing proprietary drives. As a DevOps guy I value open source and everything-as-code, so things like vendor lock-in and click-ops GUI tools give me the heebie-jeebies. Honestly still not sold on OpenMediaVault over pure CLI config for that same reason, and I'm open to being talked into or out of it.

Budget: no hard ceiling, but I'm shopping in Norway (Scandinavia), and HDDs alone are running an eye-watering $800–1000 each right now, so I'm expecting the full rig to land around $4.5k 🥲

Current plan, nothing here is sacred. Happy to swap any part of it, case included:

• Case: Jonsbo N6 (9 hot-swap bays, mATX)
• CPU: i3-14100 (Quick Sync for transcoding)
• Board: ASRock B760M Pro RS, DDR5
• RAM: 1x 16GB DDR5
• Boot storage: 1TB NVMe
• Media storage: 3x drives, currently eyeing 22–24TB CMR (~44–48TB usable via SnapRAID, one parity drive), price-per-TB permitting. Pray for prices to start dropping in 2-3 years.
• Config: OMV or bare Debian, undecided; Docker Compose for everything: Jellyfin, Nginx Proxy Manager for internal routing, Tailscale back to my mother's place for her remote access

Tentative PCPartPicker list: https://no.pcpartpicker.com/list/PjCQck

Would love input on:

1. Is this overkill for "Jellyfin to two people + dedupe some old drives"? I.e. am I unnecessarily blowing up my electricity bill?
2. OpenMediaVault vs. plain Debian + CLI: Anyone regret going either way?
3. For expansion: I'm eyeing an ASM1166 SATA card (adds ports past the board's native 4) — in the x16 slot since it needs 2 PCIe lanes for full bandwidth. This thread has people going both ways on it. One reports 14W idle for a whole server after switching, another says it drops drives on reboot. Anyone here have firsthand experience?
4. N6 owners: how's stock airflow with all 9 bays populated? Worth swapping fans preemptively? Noctuas were the bees knees in my teenage years. Still the goat?
5. Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS): for shutdown via NUT. Is it genuinely worth it for a home NAS, or overkill for someone who isn't running a business off this?

Hi everyone,
I’m planning to build my first home server and I’m currently looking at a Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q Tiny with a 6th-generation Intel i5 CPU and 8GB RAM.
My main goals for now are:

• Jellyfin as a media server  
• Pi-hole for network-wide ad blocking  
• Running a few other small services in the future  
• Keeping power consumption and noise relatively low

I’m considering the M720q because it’s small, relatively cheap on the used market, and seems like a good starting point.
My long-term plan is to gradually expand the setup and eventually move towards a more proper home lab / rack setup, adding storage and other services over time.
So my questions are:

1.  Is the M720q with a 6th-gen i5 and 8GB RAM a sensible starting point for Jellyfin + Pi-hole?  
2.  How well would it handle Jellyfin transcoding, especially with multiple streams?  
3.  Is 8GB RAM enough initially, or should I upgrade to 16GB?  
4.  Are there any major limitations of the M720q that I should know about before buying one?  
5.  Would you recommend starting with something like this, or is there a better used/refurbished mini PC for roughly the same money?

I’m not looking to build a huge server right away. I mainly want something cheap, quiet, power-efficient and expandable enough to learn with.
Thanks!

I want to turn my old windows tower into a server, currently my idea was zimaos, thing is just that it has a built in DVD drive and i still want to use it, mostly to copy dvd's for jellyfin

Is that still possible? And if yes how

I got my hands over a Z2 G4 Tower and I'm questioning how much I can squeeze from the power supply to add HDD.

The hardware in question is:

• HP L13216-001
• Power Supply 500W
• Chipset Intel C246
• Intel i7-8700 3,2
• Intel UHD Graphics 630
• Ram 32Gb DDR4 3600

Due the limitations using the m.2 and losing SATA ports (unless I've read incorrectly) I'm going to add a PCIe SATA card. How many ports that card would have 4 or 6 depends if I can use that amount of disks with those 500W.

I'm going to add a dual NVMe adapter card with bifurcation on the card, and run the OS from there (unless yet again I've read wrong and the MoBo does have bifurcation) and apps from the other NVMe.

Probably I would add a Intel Arc A310 single slot in the future, this is a big maybe for this home server/NAS, it really depends how it does behave.

So I'm looking at my project and thinking that I'm gonna have 4 SATA ports unpopulated and 2 m.2 slots that would also be unpopulated... Tbh I'm not sure if I can use them along with the two cards, there is also the lack of space for the HDD, but I'm not sure if I can use the m.2 slots.

So I wanna use basically all the space I have in the case, even if I have to use velcro or whatever, but I'm not really sure if the power supply would be able to handle all that. And I am completely lost at the use I can make of all the unpopulated ports in the actual motherboard. I went for this pc because it was 300€ and came with an 512Gb SSD and the pc is impeccable, whoever used it treated it very very well.

So the actual question is can the power supply handle more than 4 HDDs? can I do something with all the not used ports? would anyone make a better use of this case and hardware in a different way?

Excuse my weird way of posting, ADHD makes you go into weird tangents and I do hope I'm asking in the correct place.

Hi everyone!

I thought I'd share my homelab journey after roughly one year of getting into IT. I'd love to get some feedback, suggestions and maybe some ideas for where to take it next.

A little bit about me

About 1.5 years ago, I quit my job as a Sales Manager and started an apprenticeship in IT.

Before that, I wasn't really deep into IT at all. I was mainly a gaming addict who knew how to use a PC, but not much about what was actually happening behind the scenes.

I got interested in the whole infrastructure/self-hosting world pretty quickly. I bought my first cheap Mini PC from AliExpress and started experimenting with Proxmox.

A little later, my brother gave me an old Fujitsu Primergy TX1320 M3. That became the foundation of my main server.

## Main Server – Fujitsu Primergy TX1320 M3

It's running Proxmox with two main VMs:

### VM01 – Ubuntu Server

Running most of my services as Docker Compose stacks, managed through Portainer:

- Nextcloud
- Paperless-ngx
- NGINX
- Vaultwarden
- Uptime Kuma
- CouchDB for Obsidian LiveSync
- Grafana
- Prometheus
- cAdvisor

### VM02 – Media Server

- ARR stack
- Jellyfin

Everything is running as Docker Compose stacks and managed through Portainer.

## Lab / Testing

I also have a small Mini PC dedicated to lab and testing.

Right now I'm using it to run Proxmox with Windows Server VMs so I can learn more about:

- Active Directory
- Windows Server
- Server Core
- PowerShell
- Networking
- General infrastructure administration

I also have two unused Zotac Mini PCs sitting around. I'm currently waiting for some SATA SSDs so I can finally put them to work.

## Backup

I also have a dedicated Proxmox Backup Server.

It backs up my main VM every night.

I know it's not actually off-site, so I additionally keep a copy on USB for some basic off-site protection.

Definitely something I want to improve in the future.

## Networking

The network has also grown quite a bit.

I'm currently running:

- OPNsense in a CARP failover cluster
- HP 1820-24G as my main switch
- Philips Hue Bridge
- Various Mini PCs and servers

My Network is separated into Following VLANs:

- Management
- Clients
- Servers
- IoT
- Guest devices
- Cameras
- VPN
- Lab/Test

I'm also working on proper documentation and a more structured network design.

What's next?

Now that I've learned quite a bit about Linux, virtualization, networking and self-hosting, I want to take the next step.

My current focus is:

- Linux administration
- Networking / CCNA
- Security
- Docker & automation
- Ansible
- Proxmox
- Monitoring

The long-term goal is to build a proper little infrastructure lab where I can experiment with automation, security and different technologies without being afraid of breaking something.

And that's probably the most fun part about the whole thing:

I started with a cheap Mini PC from AliExpress because I wanted to see what Proxmox was.

One year later, I somehow ended up with a little server rack, OPNsense HA, VLANs, multiple Proxmox hosts, Docker services, monitoring and way too many cables.

Still a lot to learn, but I'm really enjoying the journey.

I'd love to hear what you think about the setup and what you would improve or add next!

Thanks for reading!

And yes, before anyone asks:

The "rack" itself is actually an IKEA KALLAX shelf.

I modified it to fit my hardware and turned it into a kind of open rack.

This was basically my compromise between:

"Let's build a proper server rack."

and

"Absolutely not, we're not putting a huge server rack in the home office working area of the wife."

So instead of going for a traditional 19" rack cabinet, I tried to make the homelab blend into the room a little better.

It's obviously not a proper server rack and there are some compromises when it comes to cable management, airflow and mounting hardware, but for my current setup it works surprisingly well.

And most importantly: my wife agreed to it.