Hi everyone,

I’ve been running Unraid since last year (in my living room, since it’s not easy to run network cables there).

The whole setup is currently running on a Dell laptop with an i5 processor, 16 GB of RAM, and a 1 TB SSD (used as cache).

I have a USB 3.2 hub connected with 5x 4 TB 2.5-inch USB 3.1 HDDs (1 parity drive + 4 drives in an array).

So far, so good, and everything is running smoothly. However, I’m thinking about making the hardware a bit more “reliable.”

Key requirements would be:

- QUIET! (It needs to keep running in the living room)

- Energy-efficient!

- Expandable

- It should be able to run a few Docker containers.

- Small UPS if necessary.

- Transcoding in Jellyfin should work smoothly

- Be AFFORDABLE!

I don’t want to spend 1,000 euros or more right now.

Do you have any suggestions for what such a setup might look like?

AND how do I go about migrating to new hardware? Especially if the HDDs need to be replaced as well?

Use USB to connect disk not recommend.

But I also use USB enclosure to expend 5 more disk for ~1yrs. The setup are 8bay QNAP NAS J1800 with 5 bay enclosure.

For your question, the best solution was use qnap NAS and runing Unraid, in general you can't DIY and build something solid then those NAS.

For UPS, if total power less then 150w, then recommend use DC UPS instead traditionally AC UPS. DC UPS crazy cheap and smaller at all.

Edited April 10Apr 10 by Vr2Io

An Intel n305 or n355 cpu/motherboard combo might be worth looking at for building.