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[Enquiries]

Hi!

I am tech enthustiastic and I love trying to do tech-things on my own (f.e. built all my computers, modded router etc. so I know something) but after 5 - 10 hours of research, I still find myself blown away about DIY-NAS.

I would like to build NAS myself because I want customizibility and freedom of "turn-key"-companies and their softwares, especially if they discontinue. End goal is cost-effective, maybe high-upfront cost with low uptime cost (low idle/use power consumption etc). Jellyfin/TrueNas/Unraid undecided.


Ideally my dream DIY-NAS would include 12 - 24 TB storage and I've been looking into Seagate Ironwolf-HDD's. I am fond of Fractal cases and I am thinking to use Fractal Node 304. Power Supply I am looking to buy Corsair or Seanonic platinum/titanium PSU. Are these ok or do you guys suggest to change something?

Biggest thing to think about is CPU/Motherboard/RAM. I've read much about i3-N305 but also read it lacks 2 PCIe-ports. Is it still ok? What about i3-13100F?

[ed]

It's great to hear you're taking on the challenge of building your own NAS! Based on your requirements and preferences, here's a detailed recommendation for building a DIY NAS that will be both cost-effective and powerful enough for your needs.

Case and Power Supply
Case: The Fractal Node 304 is an excellent choice for a compact NAS build. It's known for good airflow and build quality.
Power Supply: Corsair and Seasonic are both reputable brands. Opt for a platinum or titanium-rated PSU for better efficiency and reliability, especially since you're looking to keep idle power consumption low.
Storage
Hard Drives: Seagate Ironwolf drives are a solid choice for NAS due to their reliability and performance. Considering your storage needs (12-24TB), going for 3 x 8TB Ironwolf drives would give you 16TB of usable space in a RAID5 configuration, balancing performance and redundancy.
CPU, Motherboard, and RAM
CPU:

Intel i3-N305: While it's an energy-efficient option, its limitation of 2 PCIe lanes might restrict future expandability.
Intel i3-13100F: A more powerful choice with 4 cores and better PCIe support, making it suitable for a NAS that might also handle tasks like media streaming with Jellyfin or running VMs.
Motherboard:

Look for a motherboard with enough SATA ports for your drives, good PCIe expandability, and support for ECC RAM if possible (for data integrity). Examples include the ASRock Rack E3C246D4U (for Intel i3-13100F) or other similar boards that support your CPU choice.
RAM:

16GB DDR4 ECC RAM: ECC (Error-Correcting Code) RAM is preferable for NAS systems as it helps prevent data corruption. 16GB should be more than sufficient for typical NAS duties and even some VM or Docker container workloads.
Operating System
TrueNAS: Known for its robust features and ZFS file system, which is excellent for data integrity and snapshots.
Unraid: Offers great flexibility with drive pooling and Docker/VM support, making it user-friendly for media servers like Jellyfin.
Jellyfin: Ideal for media streaming, it can be run on top of TrueNAS or Unraid.