I’m really looking into building a NAS for my Mac. I got the 256gb MacBook Air and currently back up the machine using a nvme drive over type c but having to plug it in to access video files and backup every couple days is not ideal. With how cheap physical storage is now, a NAS seems like a good solution. Does anyone have a NAS at home and can share the software and hardware needed to make it run smoothly?
I use unraid and used it for Time Machine back ups.
I also use it for smb shares. For captureone libraries and apps, like renpy games
Start with 2 8tb wd red they’re 122$ on Amazon right now. One parity and one data. You’ll have 8 tb to use.
Then pick up and eBay pc 8th gen or more from dell or Lenovo or hp for about 200. 8th get i5 allows a good plex setup for media sharing
Best Buy also has easily shuckable 14TB and 18TB EasyStore WD Reds for $200 and $250 right now.
Be careful buying drive you intend to shuck for a NAS. It is hard to tell if they are SMR or not, and if they are the NAS will throw errors from time to time. I would say if you already have the drives go ahead and try it out, but if you are buying new, get some that are designed for a NAS.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/235048854652?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=F-AmiLLESea&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=3UpN2UZVTVy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
I believe this fits two drive you can expand it more if you transplant to a new case and psu. I’m at 8 drives
I forgot to add you can add drives of different sizes and just keep adding it down the road i gave a mix of 3,4, 6 and 8 tb drives over the years as they got cheaper