r/HomeServer

I've looked around but can't find anything specific enough..
I've done some research ...

I want a simple home setup so family members can:

1. stream our own music collection on phones/laptops over WiFi
2. ideally using old laptop hard drives - initially to keep the price down.
3. download music to phones for out of house listening, maybe in a playlist way like Spotify or just choosing files. I'm not sure how the interface works
4. avoid any monthly subscriptions
5. avoid leaving a laptop running all day
6. keep setup simple and low maintenance
7. minimise fire risk / safety concerns (I often see NAS devices mentioned as living in cupboards)

Library size is about 300 albums will grow once set-up.

Current thinking:

• NAS rather than running a laptop 24/7
• considering a 2-bay or 4-bay NAS (probs Synology not sure which one)
• possibly using 2 bays for mirrored music drives (redundancy)
• option to use additional bays later for general file storage
• Jellyfin as the media server and device apps.
• used only inside the home network

Questions:

1. Is this a sensible approach for this use case?
2. Any hardware recommendations or things to avoid?
3. Any safety considerations (heat, ventilation, running 24/7)?

Not looking for anything fancy — just reliable multi-device playback of owned files.

So I have an old Pc
CPU- Intel Core i3-2120 @ 3.30GHz
RAM- 8GB DDR3 1333MHz
I am running Ubuntu server on it and using Nextcloud. I was wondering will my PC be able to handle Recognize

Hola, no tengo que deciros cómo está el tema de las RAM a nivel mundial. Yo tengo montado un server con Truenas y dos HDd de 4tb en espejo. Ahora me surge el problema de crear y guardar las copias de seguidle server. He meditado y contemplado muchas alternativas, montar un server más potente y con más RAM pero contemplado Xeon V4 y ddr3, comprar un minipc que tenga, como mínimo 2Tb de almacenaje para la copia de seguridad, etc. El caso es que ninguna baja de los 300€, vosotros habéis tenido este problema? como lo habéis solucionado?

I want to use my secondary mini pc every time I travel or something but I also want to use it as a home server, my current plan was to get an external dock for a hdd and a m.2 and plugins that the mini pc(can’t fit a normal hdd) will this work, like just unplugging it and it’s a completely normal pc?

Hi Guys and Gals,

I need some help with putting together a small homeserver / labsystem.

The Main Goal for that device is to let me try around with stuff like Proxmox and IaC principles. My NAS is handled by an WD MyCloud and I am fine with using Git in the Internet for my projects. Plex is also handled by that NAS so also no need for that.

For reasons that I cant remember, I still have one HPE 32GB Stick of DDR4 Memory from my old employer around its still sealed so I assume that its still working, for the beginning that should be enough RAM just got way to expensive for my liking. Storage is also a smaller issue as I still have some old Drives around that will handle the mayority of requirements, what is needed is an small SSD for the OS.

The case should be rather small and fit into an Ikea Kallax as I have one next to an Ethernet Outlet and would love to place the "Server" inside that.

I thought about the Jonsbo N4 or N5 depending which one I can get for a good price on Amazon.

I am currently undecided between Intel and AMD on the CPU and therefore MB topic, best would be an Internal GPU but I also have an old GTX970 around that could handle that. Powerdraw is also a consideration, that shit is quite expensive here so I will likely power the System down if not activly needed at that time, It will just be a lab and not running any other critical System.

My total Budget would be not more than 500€, i am currently unemployed and want to use the Server to fill in some gaps that I have in my skillset while searching for a new position.
Or any other idea how I could set a lab up on my Gaming System (Intel i7-14700K with 64GB of RAM) I used to run some VMs in VMWare Workstation the past when I was setting up stuff for work but since that i my daily driver I dont want to remove the Windows from it.

Any suggestions on this list? The Memory is just a placeholder for now

[PCPartPicker Part List](https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/zXB3bp)

Type|Item|Price

:----|:----|:----

**CPU** | [AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor](https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/GY6NnQ/amd-ryzen-5-5600xt-37-ghz-6-core-processor-100-100001585box) |-

**Motherboard** | [ASRock B550M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard](https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/NT7p99/asrock-b550m-pro4-micro-atx-am4-motherboard-b550m-pro4) |-

**Memory** | [Crucial CT32G4DFD832A 32 GB (1 x 32 GB) DDR4-3200 CL22 Memory](https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/633mP6/crucial-32-gb-1-x-32-gb-ddr4-3200-memory-ct32g4dfd832a) | €244.00 @ Amazon Deutschland

**Storage** | [KIOXIA EXCERIA PLUS G3 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive](https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/7hZXsY/kioxia-exceria-plus-g3-1-tb-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-lsd10z001tg8) |-

**Case** | [Jonsbo N4 MicroATX Desktop Case](https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/mMkH99/jonsbo-n4-microatx-desktop-case-n4-black) |-

**Power Supply** | [be quiet! SFX Power 3 450 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply](https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/jVC48d/be-quiet-sfx-power-3-450-w-80-bronze-certified-sfx-power-supply-bn321) | €66.77 @ Amazon Deutschland

| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |

| **Total** | **€310.77**

| Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2026-04-05 21:57 CEST+0200 |

I have an old Lenovo laptop with 12GB RAM and a 512GB SSD just sitting around, and I want to finally use it as a small practice homelab instead of only doing everything in VirtualBox.

Main goal is hands-on learning, not serving a whole house. I mainly want to run Proxmox, Tailscale, and a few small LXCs/VMs for labs and projects.

I know 12GB RAM is the main weak point, so I’m wondering if this is still a solid starting point or if I’m just going to hit limits immediately and get annoyed.

For people who actually run small setups like this:

is this enough to start with realistically?

would you stay mostly with LXCs on this hardware?

any advice, regrets, or better ideas before I set it up?

Since i download some 'unethical 'games, and i don't want my 100h+ in satisfactory gone in a second, can i use Syncthing to sync and save game save files to a NAS or a server, so i won't loose any file if my pc is having a problem, or if i get a virus ?

so i’ve been working on setting up my home server. i keep running into intermittent connection issues, which is annoying, but with enough time and patience, i can configure it right and everything’s fine.

the issue is that my partner desperately needs uninterrupted connection because they’re working on a school project.

is there a way that i can like protect the wired connection going to his pc from whatever damage i may do on the wired connection going to my switch?

i have a verizon fios router that really doesn’t like custom VLANs, but has built in guest networks, 5G connections, etc. would running his pc on one of those work? if not, is there a way to sidestep his pc entirely while i work out server config kinks?

tyia for any advice

I have been in the process of migrating from Synology (RS1221+) to TrueNAS. Due to the current ridiculous ram prices, I decided to make use of an older server I have on hand. It is the following:

Asrock C236M-WS motherboard (matx)

E3-1285 V6 cpu

64 GB DDR4 2666 ECC ram (unregistered)

Fractal Node 804 case

I will be running (6) 4TB hard drives with a couple SSDs and a X550-T2 for 10g network.

I will be running several apps (Immich for one) as well as containers to run Proxmox Backup Server and Proxmox Datacenter Manager.

This setup does ok but what would be a more modern setup if I utilized my existing DDR4?
I know there are AMD Ryzen options that can utilize the ECC ram but I don’t need to go too crazy. Ideally DDR5 comes down in price (who knows how long) but it would be nice to make use of the DDR4.

I really appreciate any input on this or suggestions.

I have a M1 MacBook Air with 8gb ram and a nas(dx2800)with 8gb sodimm ddr5.

I would need for uni to self host a LLM for math, but I don‘t have the money to either get a new laptop or more ram for my Nas.

And then which model would be best to run it on?

I'm currently running TrueNas on an ODROID H4+ (Intel N97), 16GB DDR5, using all 4 SATA slots in RAID-Z1, for a total of ~32TB HDD storage and single failure tolerance. It's working great so far - more than enough for my storage needs, and since I don't run any intense workloads on it the hardware is more than enough for me.

My biggest issue is that it's LOUD; I want to leave it running 24/7, but that's just not an option with its current noise level. The noise is coming 100% from the drives - definitely my fault for buying server drives and using ODROID's ultra-barebones case; the drives are hard-mounted with no noise isolation whatsoever. There is no place in my current apartment that I can place this thing where I won't hear it. The idea was to buy a 'real' case eventually, and here we are.

I'd like to make some improvements to it to make it more functional as a 24/7 home server, rather than just a cold storage box that I turn on every once in a while to run backups. I had the following as an idea, and I'd love some feedback on whether this is possible, a good idea, or if there are better options.

1. Attach ODROID's M.2 4x1 or 2x2 card expansion
2. Install 2 or 4 budget (lol) M.2s as a separate, always-available JBOD pool
3. Migrate the hardware into a new mITX enclosure, possibly using ODROID's mITX kit
4. Configure the HDD pool with an aggressive spin-down policy
5. Mirror the M.2 storage pool onto the HDD pool when data is written to them (maybe with a size/data-written threshold?)
6. Run my regular backup jobs directly to the HDD pool

The idea is to maximize what I've already got in order to suite my current needs rather than going all-out on a new build with new MOBO, CPU, PSU, etc. Spinning up the HDDs 1/week or less is sufficient for my backup needs; and perhaps I could also run SMART tests when that happens. I understand that frequent spin-up/downs are not ideal, but right now the alternative is the exact same just not automated 🤷 I'd also like to keep this thing running with the lowest idle power I can manage. Also note - the data that I want to access 24/7 should easily fit onto the 2TB or so I'd get from the M.2s. Since the M.2 storage pool would always be mirrored, drive failure tolerance shouldn't be needed.

My questions are:

1. Is this a good plan? Major downsides, limitations, etc? M.2 speed limitations from lane splitting are definitely one, but I also don't have high speed requirements. The current speeds I get from the HDDs is already fine. The noise and power usage are the main things.
2. Automation recommendations? As I said above, it would nice to automate the mirroring based on drive writes to make sure the important data is always backed up, while things like logging don't make the disks spin up.
3. Case recommendations? Simpler is preferred - cases with a hot-swap backplane are actually not ideal given how the H4+ gets and distributes power. I believe I would need to buy a PSU to use a backplane. ODROID's mITX kit page goes into detail on this.

Thanks folks <3

Hi! I'm building a NAS, and I was wandering if, today, ASM1166 is still less reliable than LSI HBA?

Specs of my build :

-ASUS Tuf Gaming b550m plus wifi II

-AMD 4650g

-6 Hdd of 6tb (7200 rpm) in Raidz2 + 2ssd (one for OS Truenas, one for apps).

Usage :

I'll use it to store pictures, music, film, and access those files to play them via other computers connected to the network.

I'll also store video footage so I can access them via my workstation connected to the network to do video editing.

Question :

1. I'm wandering if I rather buy an LSI 9211 or an ASM1166 to plug all my drives? I'm a newbie and don't understand if, as today, ASM1166 is still not as much reliable as the LSI HBA.

2. The difference in power consumption is that big between the two?

Thank you very much!

LS510Dac0

https://preview.redd.it/2egf633fkbtg1.png?width=1976&format=png&auto=webp&s=d43e0bf91814f978f8eb7b05c5b594903d137cd8

and made my one interface :D

https://preview.redd.it/abjogexkkbtg1.png?width=3072&format=png&auto=webp&s=0e6101006996fd3d69527773ff03b4870da309f8