Best nas os reddit I can’t guarantee it will work for you however but I do know the Synology OS is definitely hard to beat when it comes to built in apps, docker and overall ease of use. So, I wondered, what are the specific things that I would check/do, without thinking about it, in an HDD-based NAS, that I would miss when building an SSD-based NAS. Now, these apparently have an HDMI port, but it sounds like it’s only for outputting videos via their built-in app. What connectivity were you using? I would recommend maybe trying to copy files in smaller bathes, 100k files is a lot to move at any one time. Is there an option to get something maybe analogous to a pre-built NAS that already has all its bits and pieces but I can also install an open source NAS? Or is there anyone that sells NAS hardware with an open source NAS already installed? I know about TrueNAS, but their products are too expensive for my needs. I plan on using smb (unless there's a better option), jellyfin, (and plex as a backup) for now (maybe adding other services when I need). The dream would be something that uses striping across multiple disks for good performance on a 10G backbone network and easy expandability with the option of adding one disk at a time. Feb 7, 2024 · OpenMediaVault, TrueNAS (formerly FreeNAS), and EasyNAS are probably your best bets out of the 14 options considered. Torrent - Windows Torrent Client is not only best but it is easiest to use. Hello, i want the NAS to be able to do basic stuff like be able to open my files as well as opening with from outside the network using programs like nextcloud or something similiar, secondaly i want to be able to add Vault the password manager, and lastly i want to be able to add a minecraft server if my friends and I want to play minecraft. I was comparing TrueNAS Core, TrueNAS scale, and Starwinds san n nas for my DIY NAS box. Mar 25, 2025 · Hey everyone I'm planning on building a Nas soon. This page is powered by a knowledgeable community that helps you make an informed decision. But I don't think I am able to find any perfect OS/dashboard for this. Not the best one, but it's the simplified thing you can do if you don't want to use specific Nas os or hypervisor. 21 votes, 47 comments. And the OS would be a VM on a ESXi server and the ESXi will use the same Equalogics for its datastore. We've tested the top models: See which will work best for your home or We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. I define "best" in this context as "best for when you just want a NAS that's simple to use without sacrificing useful features". I’m using an old pc with decent specs as my diy nas running unraid. next-cloud) and some services (home assistant, docker containers, some VMs). Has mirrored boot drives (for sanity's sake) and ZFS. The boot disk is a usb drive drive or you can use a dedicated disk not meant for storage to boot from. I prefer to use the OS that comes with it and I would like at least a 4 bays. Hello SH, I just gathered all the parts for a media server/nas and I'm having a tough time deciding which OS to use. You could try to host Xpenology as NAS OS on your computer. which NAS would be able to do these for me while Uses: Home storage (pictures/documents/etc), windows/mac os backups, Pihole, plex/jellyfin (maybe), Remote linux desktop (maybe), Game server (maybe). I don't know what to choose for CPU and MB. Feb 9, 2025 · Free, open-source NAS OS software in 2025 for home or business to build an efficient network storage system with top NAS solutions. I think I will try Unraid. Jul 18, 2025 · Whether you’ re looking for the best NAS OS, a NAS with Windows OS, or the most intuitive home NAS operating system, this in-depth guide covers the leading options in 2025 —including a closer look at LincOS, a rising star with cross-platform support. Yet keeping the data safe with 1 or preferably 2 spare drives I understand unRAID is easily expandable with one disk at a time as it uses parity for We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. Although I'm not a super regular Reddit user, so for the most timely response, best to post in our forums (requires a free website user account for posting a new support thread). If your experience is mostly Windows, you might not realize how different and difficult software installation was on Linux. I'm going to build a NAS from an old computer I have, but still in doubt about which OS to use. I hated dealing with expansion vDevs in Hey everyone, long time lurker, first-time poster. Currently connect from my Mac Studio over 10gb ethernet, no issues. I just use OpenMediaVault for my NAS with Docker+Portainer from OMV Extras repository installed. I use a QNAP NAS and have for many years. It would store its data on a Dell Equalogic PS6100 Server with iSCSi. With black Friday sales coming up, I'm hoping to start building a NAS for my home. UnRaid is Linux-based a NAS OS, and includes Docker containers and KVM-based VMs. Things I need: Ability to create SMB and NFS shares ability of using any docker containers preferably with docker compose should have a nice vm management UI should support zfs so that i can import old pool. Unclear if you’d be able to use it to load up a custom OS. It is better than server and NAS is highly useless device unless you are doing lab with NFS/iSCSI. Just setup a raid solution on your bios and then use the file sharing system of windows and you have your Nas. It works fine but now I've got a bunch of other stuff running on it not just Plex I want to consolidate it all under Docker to make management easier. I currently have a FreeNAS box that's been running for over a year. "Fully debian compatible" is the primary reason people pick OpenMediaVault over the competition. My first NAS OS was OMV. With regards to your original post, virtualize the hardware to make maintenance much easier. Apr 3, 2025 · Whether you choose TrueNAS Core for its stability or TrueNAS Scale for its future features, both are the best OS options for building your own NAS. Wouldn't think it'd be to hard to We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. Hey all, Looking for a new backup NAS solution for home for storing / streaming video (would be nice to edit videos directly from the NAS) and just other generic files / photos. Hello everyone There are a couple of posts about this topic on reddit, but since i don't have any experience with those OS, it's difficult for me to keep a good overview. It's pretty stable and doesn't have issues but I'm getting tired of not being able to use hardware transcoding in emby. , a web gui bolted on top that makes setup easier and What is the best OS to install plex server on? As a debian enjoyer i was planning on installing plex on it, but i read that a lot a plex users are using windows because it has great compatibilities and good performances. Choosing the "best" NAS (Network Attached Storage) solution depends heavily on your specific needs, technical expertise, budget, and priorities (like ease of use, data integrity, performance, or flexibility) but let's assume you are a 'tech' person and can follow along! In 2025, building your own NAS system is the a better option - Cloud storage Aug 10, 2024 · However, it’s the most popular NAS operating system, with thousands of data hoarders and home server users relying on the OS for their complex storage setups. All my services (Jellyfin, Navidrome, qBittorrent, Netdata and many more) run as Docker containers on that NAS box. It's a large part of why they were created back in the day. I had a Synology and moved to a PC based NAS running Unraid and I love Unraid. The feature that I am intrigued the most with is the ability to add new drives as I can afford them to expand the pool. , NFS, SMB, AFP, iSCSI, FCoE, etc. My problem with most prebuilt NAS units is the lack of built-in video output, which means if the OS isn’t booting, you have basically zero ability to troubleshoot. If you need a hand, please feel free to post in the r/TurnkeyLinux subreddit. The hardware is an old Pentium G3258, 8 GB RAM, 120 GB SATA SSD for OS and a mishmash of HDD-s for storage. My NAS isn't super complicated. g. Any OS/Software recommendations? Thank you! I'm wondering what the best OS is to use as my file storage VM. The servers main job is providing media via Emby to several clients. So for just plain file storage and I/O, what do you prefer for a NAS OS? Nov 14, 2025 · Network-attached storage is the most versatile way to store data, but that's just one of the many benefits of a NAS device. RDP - Having an always on Windows 11 RDP server at home is one of the most useful thing you can ever have. /r/HomeServer: for all your home, small, and medium business server, software, and related discussions! I'm about to buy a NAS and wondering if there are any good open source solutions? I did a search but couldn't find anything really conclusive so asking here to get more input and what options there are. Other comments have brought up popular NAS options like synology devices, which are probably your best bet for out-of-the-box functionality - especially if you aren't very tech-literate and don't want to put a lot of effort into setting things up and upkeep. I've since set the nas to manual fan control @ 85%, increased the height above the table the nas is sitting on to allow more airflow from underneath, and the drive temps rapidly fell to < 90f. Usage would be mainly storage and cloud (eg. Thanks for Best OS for media server software Hi guys. Found the Asustor 5202t and the My Cloud Expert Series EX4100 and looked up what other people in the Reddit were saying about them. Apr 10, 2025 · At the heart of every NAS is the operating system. At the end of the day it's primarily media storage running Plex, Sonarr etc. I also want to run VMs and containeners like PLEX, Pi-hole, HA, game servers etc. . I run TrueNAS. My use case is primarily for Movies and TV storage for plex, (plex server will not be on the nas, I'll just use the Nas for the media storage) and raw photos/videos. I want to use it as a NAS/VM host. My considerations for thinking of proceeding with an SSD-based NAS are power efficiency, less heat generation, noise, performance, and We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. /r/HomeServer: for all your home, small, and medium business server, software, and related discussions! It is NAS OS and based on FreeBSD UNIX, supports ZFS, containers FreeBSD Jails. I think I've narrowed it to linux/ubuntu server, truenas, unraid, and omv (plus I've heard good things about the zfs file system). I have a R730XD with around 80TB usable storage. I’ve used Xpenology in the past with success too. As an alternative, you could use Nextcloud with Photos or Photoprism for photos and Plex or Jellyfin for videos private hosting. ), usually with some artificial limitations and in the case of things like FreeNAS/NAS4Free/OMV/etc. I don't need any of that as I'm planning to do those in other VMs (and migrate them if/when I get more hardware). It would be nice to have a OS with a nice GUI like truenas, but will have issues since its hardware raid. The computer is very low… There are multiple approaches here: In most cases a designated "NAS" drive will be your best bet. It is most versatile and actually useful. Works great for my Macs for file storage and Time Machine backups. I assume this will decline further when the larger of the two arrays is done synching. Thanks in advance! :) Any server OS can do what you want. I do like it, and have donated to the project multiple times. Reply reply sneakpeekbot • As the title says I am looking for a good OS to run a NAS/backup. I have used synology NAS's in the past as well just fine with macOS. It's free, it can make network shares that Windows recognizes, run VMs, and do much more if you want to dig deeper. What I was aiming for was to do everything at adequate We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. I just need a small 2-bay NAS. I have the server and stuff, but wondering which drives to get for storage. While you could use a standard desktop drive in your NAS, a "NAS" drive has the advantage of having a firmware that is optimized for running in a RAID configuration. A lot of the NAS OS (and many self-hosters) emerged before Docker and provided curated or completely specialized application installation. All three are very well praised in the community. Overall I would say the nas has somewhat exceeded my expectations. Unraid has amazing docker/VM support (I run Plex, sonnar, tautulli, Jellyfin and game server docker containers), support for up to 30 drives, you can use mixed drive sizes, 2 parity drives, ssd cache drives, unlike unraid the files aren't striped so you can detach a drive and still read the data on it. Unraid is a decent NAS OS that supports some virtualization, including Docker containers and KVM-based VMs. 📊 OpenMediaVault vs TrueNAS vs UnRAID – Updated Feature Comparison (2025) Choosing the right operating system for a NAS (Network-Attached Storage) setup is a critical decision that can impact performance, flexibility, and long-term reliability. I would say that you need to build a POC with a few different solutions to get the "best" one up to you. Still don't know if Proxmox or TrueNAS scale as OS. I recently got my hands on an old NAS ( Thecus 7710-G ) from work when they upgraded everything… A place to share, discuss, discover, assist with, gain assistance for, and critique self-hosted alternatives to our favorite web apps, web services, and online tools. Is there a nas os out there that makes it easy to extend my current pool by just adding new drives as I can afford them? EDIT: Thank you for all of the input. All the comparisons of NAS OSes are focused on things they can do like host Plex and run transmission and whatnot. My current NAS OS is OMV. I'm planning to build a DIY NAS with an i3-n305 CPU motherboard and 32 GB non ECC RAM. Why Choosing the Right NAS OS Matters The operating system (OS) is the brain of your NAS. A NAS device (and/or SAN device) is nothing but a file server that does file/block storage protocols (e. You may test it in different scenarios to decide which way to go. on the Hello everyone! I've been looking at buying a NAS for a while now, but now I'm thinking it would be more fun to build one. There are a few to choose from and I've rounded up some of my favorites to help you out. What is the best os to put on a raspberry pi? I want to connect an ssd via usb and use the pi as a NAS system Does RAID 5 also work with 3 drives? I'm not looking to self build or even installing a separate OS on a NAS. I myself have a few Synology NAS’s and have always recommended them. Honestly, if you want TrueNAS without the hassle of Hello, Since I have had the itch to build an SSD-based NAS for a while, I might go for it soon. Yes, the operating systems are more stable, however the apps that run on them, which are often ported for use as add-ons to NAS appliances may not be as stable, and may have a smaller subset of features than their Windows, Linux or OS X counter-parts. Nas OS tried so far: Truenas Trying to find a new OS to replace TrueNAS Core. I prefer my NAS to be stand alone, although I am testing OMV on Proxmox now for a friend. So my NAS is mounted as my backup device for my Proxmox, and I also use it to store pictures from our phones and DVDs that I've backed up. 😀 (lol yeah I did tinker with some others in between, but OMV works well for me) Good evening all, I'm looking to find the best OS for my NAS. I tried a couple of NAS OS's, I ended up picking a general purpose OS, rather than deal with the annoyances and limitations of a dedicated NAS OS, haven't regretted it. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. I like working with Unraid. So I'm very curious which brands are considered good nowadays and maybe certain models of those brands.