I was in a similar situation to yourself a while ago. There are so many options, I couldn’t decide which route to take, and I kept breathing life into my underpowered NUC server + external HDD for longer than I should have.
I’m not going to offer any hardware/software advice as there’s plenty of great suggestions in the thread already.
What I will say is… whatever you go for will be better than choosing nothing, and remaining on your existing setup. I can tell you’ve already put so much thought into it, that whatever you choose will not be a disappointment.
For me this ended up being a UGREEN DXP4800 Plus with Unraid.
Off the shelf hardware gave me much less to think about, and a great form factor. And Unraid gives me the freedom/flexibility I need as an enthusiast, whilst keeping things super convenient and maintainable.
6 months down the line I’m super happy with it. It’s surpassed my old NUC setup immensely. I would have been just as happy sourcing all the parts and making a custom build with TrueNas. But the many variables overwhelmed me to the point where I never made any tangible progress.
I was in a similar situation to yourself a while ago. There are so many options, I couldn’t decide which route to take, and I kept breathing life into my underpowered NUC server + external HDD for longer than I should have.
I’m not going to offer any hardware/software advice as there’s plenty of great suggestions in the thread already.
What I will say is… whatever you go for will be better than choosing nothing, and remaining on your existing setup. I can tell you’ve already put so much thought into it, that whatever you choose will not be a disappointment.
For me this ended up being a UGREEN DXP4800 Plus with Unraid.
Off the shelf hardware gave me much less to think about, and a great form factor. And Unraid gives me the freedom/flexibility I need as an enthusiast, whilst keeping things super convenient and maintainable.
6 months down the line I’m super happy with it. It’s surpassed my old NUC setup immensely. I would have been just as happy sourcing all the parts and making a custom build with TrueNas. But the many variables overwhelmed me to the point where I never made any tangible progress.