I read this article and I now want to build an NAS. https://www.androidauthority.com/goodbye-subscriptions-hello-nas-3494976/

For anyone who has an NAS would you please point me in the direction to get started?

What to buy?
What to avoid?
Any tips and tricks you've learned along the way would be greatly appreciated.

About a .1% chance you will end up saving money in the long run with a NAS and the time you spend fiddling with it is going to be slave wage territory even if you do.

I have one, but the payback period on it would be years and that's assuming you actually cancel your other services rather than the NAS becoming an add-on hobby.

I have one. I mostly use it for data storage (not big on photos, mostly files and TV Shows/Movies).

Bought a Terramaster F-424
Bought a GMKtech G3 to be a Plex media server (Intel is better for transcoding because of Quick Sync hardware transcoding)
Serverpartsdeals for hard drives
Buy used Movies from EBay/Movie Trading Company
Buy TV shows new, because I've bought used ones that were missing discs/not all used discs are in good enough shape to rip.
Use MakeMKV to rip discs to MKV files
Use Handbrake to transcode/reduce file sizes
Plex Media Server to host for myself and others
Unfaid to replace Terrmaster software on the NAS.

How do you download movies locally?

YouTube will be your best resource. Lots of good accounts out there:

Techno Tim
Raid Owl
Hardware Haven
Christian Lempa

I use TrueNAS, mostly because it's free, but there's going to be a bit of learning curve. HexOS just launched which aims to make TrueNAS more user/beginner friendly, but it's pretty pricey. Unraid is another user-friendly option, but it's not super cheap either.

I buy pretty much all of my drives refurbished from goHardDrive on eBay.

Don't go into it expecting a plug and play situation. It will take research, time, money, etc.

I went into it with experience building a PC, so that helped. But I had zero experience with the software side of it, so that's been an education in itself.

It's a hobby I deeply enjoy, and I have learned a LOT that benefits other areas of my life and other hobbies. But there is no doubt that using a cloud service like Google Drive is way more convenient up front. This is definitely a hobby.

As far as cost-effectiveness, I would make the argument that you could definitely save money on monthly subscriptions. Currently, with what I use my server for, I would need a subscription to Netflix, HBO Max, Google Drive, and Google Photos to start. There are other services I use that would not be free if they were not self-hosted. I've had my server for about 3 years and it's definitely paid off monetarily.

Like I said, I've spent a lot of time on it, but it's been rewarding and my family benefits from it as well. Be patient and educate yourself.

How does the NAS server save money on Netflix and HBO?

fav13andac1)c said:

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It's a hobby I deeply enjoy, and I have learned a LOT that benefits other areas of my life and other hobbies. But there is no doubt that using a cloud service like Google Drive is way more convenient up front. This is definitely a hobby.

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This is important to remember. I do it because I like to tinker. For me, it is a hobby MUCH more than it is a utility or cost-saving measure.

I went the easy route with a basic 4 bay Synology I use as my Plex server. Easy peasy.

I did make sure I went with Synology device that had the horsepower to allow me to stream 4K movies.

Can you backup iPhones on a nas automatically? Or iCloud to nas so I can at least drop down iCloud needs because it's stored locally? Have too many photos/vids

I don't know about iCloud as a whole, but I know there are apps on TrueNAS to sync your photos and videos.

https://immich.app/

fav13andac1)c said:

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Jabin said:

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How does the NAS server save money on Netflix and HBO?

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Nice try, FBI.

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Not FBI as even a quick check of my posting history will show.

Regardless, I still don't understand. All the NAS does is allow you to store videos from those services. It doesn't give you access to the videos in the first place, does it? Again, how does it save money?

Jabin said:

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fav13andac1)c said:

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Jabin said:

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How does the NAS server save money on Netflix and HBO?

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Nice try, FBI.

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Not FBI as even a quick check of my posting history will show.

Regardless, I still don't understand. All the NAS does is allow you to store videos from those services. It doesn't give you access to the videos in the first place, does it? Again, how does it save money?

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I understand now. Just being facetious. You can view the media you own and store on your server by using a service to stream it locally over the internet. One of those services is called Jellyfin. Another, more popular service is called Plex.

They organize this media in a similar way a streaming service such as Netflix or HBO would. They have apps available on most smart TV OS's that you download and connect to your server on.

There are many services available for hosting all of your media; music, books, audiobooks, etc.

boy09 said:

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I don't know about iCloud as a whole, but I know there are apps on TrueNAS to sync your photos and videos.

https://immich.app/

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Yep I use Immich on UNRAID and love it. Best self-hosted photo backup I've found. It will backup iCloud as well, but I recommend getting a zip link from Apple and then upload to Immich that way. I've read that it saves the original full quality file that way.

Thank you for the feedback, everyone.

This could be a fun project and it is great to know from y'alls first hand feedback what to expect as far as price vs expectations compared to online streaming/storage.

https://texags.com/forums/30/topics/3441987/replies/66896501

I started this thread about a year ago with some other discussion that might be helpful. I've already changed my server config about 3 times and now have my truenas box and to mini-pcs to handle jellyfin, pi-hole, and a debian vm for things. I've enjoyed the hobby and have learned a lot but linux gets to be frustrating at times.

Maybe I am missing something, but adding a dedicated NAS sounds like extra steps just to have separate data storage. Why not add a new hard drive to an existing PC, use that for data storage, and run jellyfin/plex off the PC? You'd have to turn on the PC to stream to your TV, sure, but way cheaper to add a hard drive to an existing PC than build/buy a completely different NAS machine to do the same thing. I get NAS can have the benefits raid/unraid offers but still. When I went down this road it seemed overly complicated, plus I prefer manually managing my drives anyway.

ElGatoBill said:

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Maybe I am missing something, but adding a dedicated NAS sounds like extra steps just to have separate data storage. Why not add a new hard drive to an existing PC, use that for data storage, and run jellyfin/plex off the PC? You'd have to turn on the PC to stream to your TV, sure, but way cheaper to add a hard drive to an existing PC than build/buy a completely different NAS machine to do the same thing. I get NAS can have the benefits raid/unraid offers but still. When I went down this road it seemed overly complicated, plus I prefer manually managing my drives anyway.

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Many reasons, but I'll provide a few.

I love the always-on aspect. Being able to access my services away from home is huge. Don't have to worry about waiting to back up photos until I get home and turn my PC on.

Data redundancy. UNRAID and others provide ways to rebuild your data in case a drive fails that a PC running windows doesn't inherently offer.

Power consumption. I have my server on 24/7 using power efficient parts. Adding an extra hard drive to a gaming PC and accessing that naturally uses a lot more power.

Scalability. Adding an extra hard drive is okay in the short-term, but media tends to take up space pretty quickly. Having several extra bays available to grow your storage isn't typical of a normal PC enclosure.

Performance optimization. A NAS will use software/hardware designed specifically for storage processes, backups, data streaming, etc. An extra hard drive can compete with PC processes and cause bottlenecks if the PC is under heavy load.

Flexibility. A NAS provides features that a PC just won't offer. Again, when you are running multiple services and need them to be available, a NAS will provide that. The convenience is simply unmatched.

Reduced wear and tear on your PC. If you use your main PC for 24/7 tasks, you are reducing its life.

Data security. Being my own self-contained cloud service means I have don't have to rely on say, Google to keep my data safe/not sell it.

There are many others, but those are the most important reasons for me.