Posted 14 December 2023
Cheapest alternative for efficient DIY NAS' alternative to SYNOLOGY etc?
From January '24 I'll have fibre at home and will want to start to create my home network by using all old laptops and whatever available, with the aim to gradually migrate all our data from the cloud (Google, Microsoft, etc). I have 2 Asus routers in mesh with USB ports and where thinking to plug my external storage to them and also to use a couple of laptops for the same purpose of data backup. I might buy a Raspberry Pi as well if needed.
I know that Synology offers those NAS solutions but it seems expensive, even just a 2 bay NAS + 2 hdd/ssd drives would cost me over £300, I suppose.
What you people suggest as alternatives, in terms of devices and apps/softwares cross platforms compatible?
My main use case is not like plex media library, more of mixed data, not necessarily in need of accessing it everyday, more of a occasional access with planned backup.
Adding: probably won't need more than 4-6tb of data in total for a while. Not planning to download gigas in the future, more streaming and not much more,occasionally.
I know that Synology offers those NAS solutions but it seems expensive, even just a 2 bay NAS + 2 hdd/ssd drives would cost me over £300, I suppose.
What you people suggest as alternatives, in terms of devices and apps/softwares cross platforms compatible?
My main use case is not like plex media library, more of mixed data, not necessarily in need of accessing it everyday, more of a occasional access with planned backup.
Adding: probably won't need more than 4-6tb of data in total for a while. Not planning to download gigas in the future, more streaming and not much more,occasionally.
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3 Comments
sorted byYou could just run something like FreeNAS off one of your laptops. Personally I'd max the RAM on one of the laptops and run ESXi on it. This allows virtualisation, run PiHole, ProxMox, FreeNAS, Docker, etc. Just add USB drives as needed. Not the neatest nor fastest solution, but low cost.
/nostalgia
Back in the day (when PIII's where still under 1Ghz) I had several WAN connections each with a dedicated laptop (Compaq Armada E700 - in docks with at least 2 batteries each - still got them in the attic)
I've used it to watch a few films over network and it's fine but more suited to general file storage.