My first HomeNAS build - looking for feedback / ideas
Hi everyone,
I also fell into the rabbit hole and started building my first HomeNAS setup. 😄
Images: https://imgur.com/a/TuzcPQN
Current config:
- Case: Jonsbo N4 (~$139)
- HDDs: 3x 2TB WD20EFRX CMR 64MB cache (~$206)
The rest of the parts came from a used complete 9th gen PC that I managed to buy for around ~$177, and after selling a few leftover parts I’ll probably get back around ~$32, so the actual cost was closer to ~$145.
Parts reused from that machine:
- Motherboard: Gigabyte H310M A 2.0
- CPU: Intel Core i5-9400
- Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i chromax black low-profile (~$35)
- RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 2666 MHz Crucial
- SSD: Corsair Force 3 240GB SATA III
I also had to buy an SFX PSU because the original machine had an old ATX PSU:
- FSP Dagger 650W SFX (~$84)
Total cost so far:
~$609
Temporarily I also installed a Samsung 980 Pro 1TB, but it’s not included in the total price above. Used market value here is around ~$145 right now.
The original idea came from work/life needs:
I’m a software developer and I have a few clients whose backups I’d like to store here as an additional backup target. I also recently switched to a MacBook, so Time Machine backups are another big reason for the NAS.
But now that I already started building it, I’d also like to run Jellyfin (or something similar) so I don’t have to constantly download media onto the MacBook, and I’d also use it for automatic phone photo backups.
A few questions:
- Is the 240GB SATA SSD enough for the OS/cache?
- Would you keep the Samsung 980 Pro 1TB in this setup, or sell it and buy a smaller SSD instead,
- Since the motherboard only supports Gen2 NVMe, does it even make sense to keep such a fast drive?
- Will the i5-9400 be enough for Jellyfin transcoding?
- Did I actually need a NAS, or did I just fully fall into the rabbit hole? 😅
- What other useful self-hosted/NAS use cases would you recommend now that I already have this hardware?
- Do I need anything else? 10G or something?
- Which OS and RAID type would you run?
- Was it a good deal all around?
Thanks!