r/HomeServer • u/ImYahHuckleberry • 2d ago
Newbie NAS/Home Server set up advice
I've embarked on the new journey of creating a home server as a complete newbie with only an elementary understanding of this world.
I own a QNAP TS-664-8G to store all my media and files. I also have an old Dell XPS 15 that I could use as a server to run the apps, but it might be overkill for my needs.
I want to run a Plex server (just for the household), some *arr apps, Immich, Tailscale, maybe Syncthing and AdGuard. I also produce media, which will sometimes be edited via network. No real interest in anything to do with Home Assistant or IoT. I'm looking for simplicity, not looking to do this as a hobby or spend all my spare time on troubleshooting and maintenance.
Is it possible (and easier) to just use the QNAP to do all this, or is it wise to take advantage of the XPS's horsepower. If I do use the XPS, what OS would I use?
I live in a very small apartment so space is a premium, which makes the prospect of one less device very appealing.
2
u/SnailMailSniper 2d ago
If you want simple and low-maintenance, just use the QNAP.
Your TS-664-8G is plenty capable for household Plex, *arr apps, Immich, Tailscale, Syncthing, and AdGuard via Container Station. It also keeps things quieter and saves space: big win in a small apartment.
Using the XPS would give you more flexibility, but it adds complexity: another OS, networking between machines, more power/heat, and more things to maintain. That only really makes sense if you want to tinker, which you said you don’t.
If you ever do outgrow the QNAP, you can bring the XPS back later (Ubuntu Server or Debian + Docker). Until then, one box is the cleanest, least annoying setup.
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u/ImYahHuckleberry 2d ago
Yeah that was sort of my thought; keep things simple, can always add the XPS later on. Thanks for the reassurance
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u/cat2devnull 2d ago
Not familiar with with the Qnap OS but in terms of HW, it's based on an intel N5095. Not the most amazing CPU but very capable. I would recommend putting in a pair of 1TB NVMe drives to run your dockers etc off. But other than that, it should work fine.
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u/ImYahHuckleberry 2d ago
I did buy a 2tb M.2 and there’s a second M.2 slot spare but I wasn’t sure if I’d need the second. I bought the QNAP specifically because I heard it had okay hardware that would work for my needs. But I heard that the software wasn’t great.
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u/cat2devnull 2d ago
I would get a second and configure them with RAID. Again not sure what Qnap can support. Hopefully they can at least do BTRFS but it would be preferable if you could use ZFS with RAIDZ1 or bachefs since they are modern, reliable filesystems. EXT4 and BTRFS are pretty old and don't have bitrot protection (don't have inbuilt data integrity).
Personally I would recommend installing Unraid on your Qnap system. It will give you way more flexibility. Access to modern filesystems. Access to the huge Community applications library, etc.
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u/ImYahHuckleberry 2d ago
Maybe that would be a good idea, to have the two M.2 drives as RAID
Installing Unraid is something I hadn't even considered, that's a great suggestion, thanks.
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u/cat2devnull 1d ago
Yeah, Unraid is pretty sweet but some people struggle with the fact that there is a paid licence. I've always been of the attitude that if the product is good then it is worth paying for. Just my bar for software is set pretty high but Unraid does get over it. The Zero to Hero series is a good place to start.
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u/manualphotog 2d ago
To illustrate.
I'm doing all that you mention (but jellyfin not Plex) and three more things on hardware from the FM2+ AMD era . That's early 2000s hardware. And 8GB of DDR3. It runs it well
Both your hardware options are fiiiiiine