I have an old Alienware r8 and several 2-4 TB HDDs gathering dust in a closet. The Alienware actually runs remarkably quiet and it occurred to me I could turn it into a DIY NAS.
I’m not entirely sure where to start though. Some immediate questions:
- What’s a good NAS OS to install?
- Any fun things I can do besides plex transcoding with a 1080 GPU?
- Would it make sense to run a Pixelfed/Mastodon server off this guy?
- Can I run a RAID on it without buying a separate HDD bay?
Background:
I already have a Synology NAS running Plex. It transcodes 1080p fine which is really all I need it for.
Other than a Plex port forward, I have zero experience putting services out on the public web (but would like to learn!).
One way to avoid the pitfalls of hosting for others is hosting an instance just for yourself. Maybe immediate family too.
As for RAID, just go with TrueNAS software raid (courtesy of ZFS). All that is needed are physical bays and SATA cables/ports. You can buy cheap external bays if there aren’t enough on the PC.
Yeah an online instance would be a good place to start. Maybe a GoToSocial instance.