I recently built a custom NAS using a Jonsbo N2 with multiple 8TB SATA SSDs. I compared Unraid, TrueNAS, and Synology DSM, and eventually settled on Unraid as the host OS with Virtual DSM running on top.

For my particular setup, the two biggest reasons were Wi-Fi support and easy storage expansion.

Why Unraid?

The biggest issue was actually my apartment.

I recently moved into a new apartment in New York, and it's pretty small. The location where I can place the NAS isn't the same location as my router. I didn't want to run a long Ethernet cable across the apartment just to connect the NAS.

My custom motherboard has integrated Wi-Fi, and Unraid recognized the onboard Wi-Fi without requiring an additional network card.

I know Ethernet is normally the better choice for a NAS, especially for large file transfers, but in my situation Wi-Fi makes the installation much cleaner.

The second reason is storage expansion.

I'm using 8TB SATA SSDs, but I don't want to buy all the storage I might need in the future. Unraid makes it very convenient to start with the storage I need today and add drives later.

That's a big advantage for a home NAS that will probably grow over time.

I also tried running DSM directly

Before settling on this setup, I experimented with ARC Loader to run Synology DSM on my custom hardware.

It worked, but I ran into a few issues.

The biggest problem was Wi-Fi. DSM/ARC Loader didn't support the integrated Wi-Fi on my motherboard, so I would still need additional networking hardware or a wired connection.

I also found it somewhat difficult to choose the right Synology model for my hardware. With ARC Loader, selecting a compatible model and keeping everything working correctly wasn't always straightforward.

Another issue was stability. Occasionally, a service would stop working and I would end up having to restart the entire server.

It wasn't unusable, but I didn't really want my home NAS to require this kind of maintenance.

That's when I started looking at Unraid as the actual host OS.

Virtual DSM on Unraid

I still wanted DSM because my wife is already comfortable with the Synology interface. She prefers the polished DSM UI, and I didn't want to make her learn a completely different NAS interface.

So instead of running DSM directly on the hardware, I run Virtual DSM as a VM on Unraid.

I also have a physical Synology NAS at my office. Synology's Virtual Machine Manager provides one free Virtual DSM license per VMM host, so I was able to use the available Virtual DSM licensing for my setup rather than buying another physical Synology NAS.

The license can be managed through the VMM License section and assigned to the Virtual DSM instance.

Storage architecture

The Virtual DSM doesn't directly manage my physical SSDs.

Unraid owns and manages the physical storage, while DSM uses virtual storage.

For accessing my Unraid files from DSM, I use SMB/CIFS.

Basically:

8TB SATA SSDs
↓
Unraid
↓
SMB/CIFS
↓
Virtual DSM

This keeps the physical storage under Unraid while still allowing DSM to access the folders I need.

I can also access the Unraid shares directly from DSM.

What I'm running now

My Jonsbo N2 is now doing quite a lot:

• Unraid storage
• Plex
• Docker containers
• Virtual DSM
• Surveillance Station
• SMB/CIFS file sharing
• Other services as needed

So I ended up with a combination that works well for my particular situation.

Unraid: Wi-Fi support, easy storage expansion, custom hardware, Docker and virtualization.

Virtual DSM: familiar Synology UI for my wife and access to Synology applications such as Surveillance Station.

Compared with running DSM directly through ARC Loader, I prefer this architecture because Unraid handles the underlying hardware and storage, while DSM is just another VM/service.

It's not necessarily the best setup for everyone, but for a small NYC apartment and custom NAS hardware, it's been a really practical solution.

I'm just getting into the dsm community and would love to know any specific brand or vendors that specialize in parts for the 2g eclipse.

I'm not worried about specific stuff like building engine out more or turboing things, but I do just wanna know who's out there supporting this platform still.

I get a lot of dead links on dsmtuners and 2gnt and thought i'd ask for your favorites!