Greetings! I'm not new to PCs, but I've never built a dedicated NAS. I've used my current PC as a Plex Media Server for awhile, and am familiar with how to map network drives, etc. I will be building a Ryzen system soon, and my budget will determine if I have enough extra to build a separate dedicated NAS. Primary OS is planned to be Win10 (Still on Win7 Ult now). My primary usage will be for media storage, and work backup for my wife and I. Aata integrity is becoming more important, as I've lost some older photos. I plan to get ECC ram for Ryzen, so long as it's available. I figure the new Ryzen system should have plenty of power to transcode 1080p and hopefully 4k UHD for years to come, so I don't think I need to build a full PC/NUC for the storage. (Please don't screw up AMD!)
What I want to know is, is it worth going for a 4 bay QNAP/Synology and hooking it to my router, or should I try to build a storage array within my new PC itself? Should I use SnapRAID within my Windows boot, or would it be better as a VM? I understand ZFS may be better, but it would require me to learn both a new OS and ZFS, and from my reading, is not recommended inside a VM. I also really like the idea of "everything inside one box", being that I can save money putting all the drives into my main rig, but I don't want to compromise data storage/integrity. I don't think I necessarily need "real time" pools, and a once a day backup (i.e. SnapRAID?) seems like it would be adequate. If ZFS really would be that much better for me, I would be willing to give it a go.
My total budget for PC's this year is ~$2,000. I would like ~10TB of usageable space in my storage/backup. I won't be carrying anything over except my mouse, keyboard and monitor (although if I save enough money, I may be able to convince the wife to let me buy a 34"+ UW). What would you recommend for a relative noobie such as myself?
What I want to know is, is it worth going for a 4 bay QNAP/Synology and hooking it to my router, or should I try to build a storage array within my new PC itself? Should I use SnapRAID within my Windows boot, or would it be better as a VM? I understand ZFS may be better, but it would require me to learn both a new OS and ZFS, and from my reading, is not recommended inside a VM. I also really like the idea of "everything inside one box", being that I can save money putting all the drives into my main rig, but I don't want to compromise data storage/integrity. I don't think I necessarily need "real time" pools, and a once a day backup (i.e. SnapRAID?) seems like it would be adequate. If ZFS really would be that much better for me, I would be willing to give it a go.
My total budget for PC's this year is ~$2,000. I would like ~10TB of usageable space in my storage/backup. I won't be carrying anything over except my mouse, keyboard and monitor (although if I save enough money, I may be able to convince the wife to let me buy a 34"+ UW). What would you recommend for a relative noobie such as myself?