What's your recommendation for a small NAS?
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For the easy way I would just grab a Synology DS224+.
For the DIY something like Jonsbo N2 case + a N100/6xSATA mitx board from china should do the trick. The N100 is great for low power builds.wrote on last edited by [email protected]The N100 really is a great option, I'm running like 40 services on mine. However, some N100 boards from China don't have the best power management and BIOS. Instead you can also get an N100 board from an established brand and combine it with an M.2 to 6x SATA splitter (those other boards use splitters anyway) for the same (or better) price compared to those Chinese NAS boards.
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Lil Nas X totally sounds like it would be a valid answer here.
Get an old optiplex SFF off Craigslist for $200 and be done with it. Those things last so long, and since it's commodity hardware you can replace individual components that break for not much money.
What does the rapper have to with this? /s
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@possum @kuroshido small PSA for lower power consumption:
Thanks for the share.
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For the easy way I would just grab a Synology DS224+.
For the DIY something like Jonsbo N2 case + a N100/6xSATA mitx board from china should do the trick. The N100 is great for low power builds.I second this proposition of DIY build. My current build is an older version of this using an ASRock motherboard with integrated Intel j5040. It's already very capable! I run Jellyfin with HW transcoding and a dozen other containers and there is still plenty of headroom.
The Jonsbo N2 case is pricey but good quality, nice looking and nice to build with ! Cheaper options are there but not as nice in terms of looks and usability.
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For the easy way I would just grab a Synology DS224+.
For the DIY something like Jonsbo N2 case + a N100/6xSATA mitx board from china should do the trick. The N100 is great for low power builds.I second the N100. It's what I use and it's ridiculously powerful for the small amount of power it drains. And barely needs refrigeration.
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Which model? I ordered one reliable one for a customer and another one that turned out to be a lemon.
I’ve been using the DS620slim for 4.5 years now without any issues. It’s small (2.5” drives) and produces little noise (with SSDs).
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The N100 really is a great option, I'm running like 40 services on mine. However, some N100 boards from China don't have the best power management and BIOS. Instead you can also get an N100 board from an established brand and combine it with an M.2 to 6x SATA splitter (those other boards use splitters anyway) for the same (or better) price compared to those Chinese NAS boards.
That's very true, I'd rather by an ASUS or other known brand N100 MB + an M.2 to SATA splitter too, if the price is equal (or better).
Last time I looked at it I was looking for hw for an opnsense router so I wanted the multiple intel i226 nics that most china-brands add on, so my mind went that way right away. -
Which model? I ordered one reliable one for a customer and another one that turned out to be a lemon.
I had a 212j for about 10 years before I got a 720+.
The j series are so underpowered the dashboard took literal minutes to load.
The + series is extremely energy efficient, but still powerful. I was running a Plex server along with a Terraria server on it and had no hiccups.
Now they were designed nearly a decade apart, but still. The + series is the way to go, don't get anything else if you go with Synology.
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I'd argue for something a bit bigger, physically. The Optiplex SFF systems don't have a whole lot of interior space for hard drives, in fact the 7050 SFF can only handle a single 3.5", a single 2.5", and a single NVME.
I have an older HP Elitedesk 8300 SFF that can handle 3x 3.5" drives, 2x 2.5" drives, and boot from an M.2 NVMe on a PCIE adapter card (I modded the BIOS). But that's limited to 3rd gen Intel 🫤
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Personally I agree. I don't use the SFF. OP asked for something compact though.
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I'm looking for a compact NAS to back up events from my video surveillance system. Two drive bays is enough, maybe four at most. They can be 2.5" or 3.5", SATA or SAS, preferably populated with mechanical drives but even with reliable SSDs. It doesn't need to handle more than a few GB per day of throughput and 16TB of total storage would be more than enough so it doesn't need to support even more massive drives. I don't care if it's complete product like a Synology or something built from scratch using an SBC and adapters; all I need is RAID 1 and an SMB/CIFS file share, though I would like to keep costs low. My house is wired for Ethernet so wifi would just be a bonus but it might help to hide the device somewhere a burglar isn't likely to see it like they will the NVR in my server rack. Also, a GNU/Linux-based OS is obviously mandatory or else I wouldn't be on Lemmy.
Build your own. Every out of the box solution can and will screw you.
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Personally I agree. I don't use the SFF. OP asked for something compact though.
Right, but asking for 2-4 drive bays...
A PCI-E expansion board full of M.2 NVME drives might do the trick.
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Why not use the NUC as a PC and have it do NAS stuff as well? You'd just need a drive enclosure for extra storage.
A big part of why I want a(nother) NAS (I already have two because I'm a maniac) is that I need a backup of my surveillance system's footage, not only in case of data loss but also in case someone breaks in and steals my NVR -- the device which would otherwise contain the only video of them breaking in and stealing my NVR.
As of last night, I have an offsite backup functioning so that problem is mostly solved, but I still wanted a redundant copy saved locally. Since the NUC is busy being a server and occasionally a PC, I was looking for something else that's also small which I could hide from a burglar inside a wall or ceiling.
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A big part of why I want a(nother) NAS (I already have two because I'm a maniac) is that I need a backup of my surveillance system's footage, not only in case of data loss but also in case someone breaks in and steals my NVR -- the device which would otherwise contain the only video of them breaking in and stealing my NVR.
As of last night, I have an offsite backup functioning so that problem is mostly solved, but I still wanted a redundant copy saved locally. Since the NUC is busy being a server and occasionally a PC, I was looking for something else that's also small which I could hide from a burglar inside a wall or ceiling.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Why not a VPS? $5/month gets you 40GB storage instance, and 2 vCPUs at Hetzner (or a number of other places) so you could even give it a web interface so you could access it remotely. Install something like MicroOS or Silverblue and it'll update itself.
That monthly cost is probably not much more than the electrical cost for an alternative, plus years worth of whatever you're paying for the hardware.
Edit: Any cheap SBC with a big enough SD card would work too, but you'll need to replace the card every so often. I'd still prefer the VPS here.
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Why not a VPS? $5/month gets you 40GB storage instance, and 2 vCPUs at Hetzner (or a number of other places) so you could even give it a web interface so you could access it remotely. Install something like MicroOS or Silverblue and it'll update itself.
That monthly cost is probably not much more than the electrical cost for an alternative, plus years worth of whatever you're paying for the hardware.
Edit: Any cheap SBC with a big enough SD card would work too, but you'll need to replace the card every so often. I'd still prefer the VPS here.
Living on a busy street, my cameras would fill 40GB in just a few days. Ideally I'd like to have at least a few weeks if not months of retention. I'm also fiercely anti-subscription to the point of irrationality. I wouldn't be in this community otherwise -- I'd just have a Ring or Blink plan like a normie.
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What's the OS situation? I like Synology's proprietary stuff but it's a
likelittle too proprietary for some tasks and they seem to be getting greedy with these new OEM drive requirements. I like the idea of bare hardware even better where I can install whatever I want.I got a Dell computer that was headed towards the dump from some older people, and installed TrueNAS Scale onto it. It has almost replaced my Synology I got three years ago, I just need to bite the bullet and buy new drives for it!
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Living on a busy street, my cameras would fill 40GB in just a few days. Ideally I'd like to have at least a few weeks if not months of retention. I'm also fiercely anti-subscription to the point of irrationality. I wouldn't be in this community otherwise -- I'd just have a Ring or Blink plan like a normie.
A Hetzner storage box could work, which is about $3-4/mo for 1TB.
But if you really want it local, a cheap SBC w/ a big SD card seems like a good option. It'll be slow and you'll need to replace the card periodically, but it will sip power and is incredibly easy to conceal.
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A Hetzner storage box could work, which is about $3-4/mo for 1TB.
But if you really want it local, a cheap SBC w/ a big SD card seems like a good option. It'll be slow and you'll need to replace the card periodically, but it will sip power and is incredibly easy to conceal.
a cheap SBC w/ a big SD card
I like that idea. I have an extra Pi Zero -- would that work or do I need more processing power? I'm looking at storing around 5-15GB per day.
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a cheap SBC w/ a big SD card
I like that idea. I have an extra Pi Zero -- would that work or do I need more processing power? I'm looking at storing around 5-15GB per day.
If it's literally just copying data, a Pi Zero should be plenty, especially if there are gaps in between (i.e. motion detection). The main concern is if writing to the SD card can keep up, but I'd totally give it a shot first before buying something.
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I had a good experience with my Synology two bay NAS, used it for years without any complaints.
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Which model? I ordered one reliable one for a customer and another one that turned out to be a lemon.
