I currently have a 10-year old off-the-shelf NAS (Synology) that needs replacing soon. I haven't done much with it other than the simple things I mention later, so I still consider myself a novice when it comes to NAS, servers, and networking in general, but I've been reading a bit lately (which lead my to this sub). For a replacement I'm wondering whether to get another Synology, use an open source NAS/server OS, or just use a Windows PC. Windows is by far the OS I'm most comfortable with so I'm drawn to the final option. However, I regularly see articles and forum posts which frown upon the use Windows for NAS/server purposes even for simple home-use needs, although I can't remember reading a good explanation of why. I'd be grateful for some explanations as to why Windows (desktop version) is a poor choice as an OS for a simple home NAS/server.
Some observations from me (please critique if any issues in my thinking):
- I initially assumed it was because Windows likely causes a high idle power consumption as its a large OS. But I recently measured the idle power consumption of a celeron-based mini PC running Windows and found it to be only 5W, which is lower than my Synology NAS when idle. It seems to me that any further power consumption savings that might be achieved by a smaller OS, or a more modern Synology, would be pretty negligible in terms of running costs.
- I can see a significant downside of Windows for DIY builds is the cost of Windows license. I wonder is this accounts for most of the critique of Windows? If I went the Windows route I wouldn't do a DIY build. I would start with a PC which had a Windows OEM licence.
- My needs are very simple (although I think probably represent a majority of home user needs). I need device which is accessible 24/7 on my home network and 1) can provide SMB files shares, 2) act as a target for backing up other devices on home network, 3) run cloud backup software (to back itself up to an off-site backup location) and, 4) run a media server (such as Plex), 5) provide 1-drive redundancy via RAID or a RAID-like solution (such as Windows Storage Spaces). It seems to me Windows is fine for this and people who frown upon Windows for NAS/server usage probably have more advanced needs.
OP if you are interested in learning Linux and Docker and possibly running a VM or two on top of NAS duties, I would suggest unRAID. The best part of unRAID is its main function as a NAS, its not running RAID and as such you can have multiple hard drives, shoot even 10 or more hard drives "backed up" by one parity drive. Please note that backed up is not the right term as simple algebra is used to rebuild up to one or two drives (if there are two parity drives) worth of data. So if you have 10 drives and one fails, a parity calculation is done to determine the value of the bit at that part of the hardrive, this calculation is done to rebuild a failed drive. If you were to lose two hard drives and only have one partiry drive then you would lose the data on those two drives only. This is preferable to RAID as if you lose 2 drives and only have a setup capable of recovering one lost drive, you woud lose the whole array of drives. Another nice thing is that you can always add additional storage one drive as time (provided your system has a sata/sas port and your unraid license hasn't used all of the devices it can fit. So you can start with 3 x 4tb hard drives and have 1 x 4tb drive for parity and then add another drive up to the size of your parity drive (4TB) is this case. This makes it much easier to grow into your NAS, where solutions like ZFS require lots of RAM and need an entire v-dev of 4 or more disks added at a time to expand your storage.
unRAID is also a great OS for running docker containers like Plex and a ton of other applications that you can easily install via the community applications tab. unRAID can also run Virtual Machines as well. I think its a great way to get introduced to more heavy duty hypervisors such as Xen, Proxmox or VMware ESXi. Plus it is a great introduction to docker, a containerization platform that allows you to install full applications without first needing to create a VM running a full blown OS to then install the application (look it up, theres definetly better explainations out there). unRAID costs money but its a one-time fee and you can get a trial and a trial extension for a couple months of free time. Windows will work, but it has no built in parity and running hardware raid is something I would avoid unless you really know what you are doing and have the abiltiy to back up the whole array elsewhere, because raid is not a backup. neither is unraid but its at least a bit more forgiving, losing only whats on one disk if your parity fails.