Need suggestion on hardware for first time nas user

[srhnas]

I am thinking building my first nas setup, I looked around the forum didn't get the required information, Hence here I am.

Usage:

1) run 1 or 2 vm's (windows/unix) mostly one vm at a time.

2) backups for images, videos and few important files 

3) might run plex in future.

4) pi hole

 

I might have uneven disk sizes (combination of 4TB/1TB/500GB) Hence going with unraid as it supports raid with un even disk sizes.

Narrowed processor to i5 11400

mob thinking to go with ASUS Prime B560-PLUS

will add 8GB ram for now, will add another 8 in future.

Currently got 1TB Internal Hard disk(not nas optimized drive) gonna use it for now, along with new segate NAS 4TB drive, will add another 2 drives in few months.

may be will use ssd as cache in future.

 

I am not particular about speed of vms, need them to do some occasional stuff. Main priority is for data to be backed up safely, need to withstand drive failures. Talking about failures, I read ECC is important to avoid crashes. I am okay with occasion crashes, but I want data integrity as top priority, so is ECC required for my stored data to be safe.

Idle power usage also needs to be low, so need suggestion on hardware combination.

budget is also concern don't want to spend more than 500-600 dollars (without disks).

I welcome suggestions on any other hardware configuration (cpu/mob/others too).

 

 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2022 by srhnas
Change in grammar

[BlinkerFluid]

your ram is too low if you plan to run VMs