What's better? DIY NAS or a regular NAS

[zczachor]

Hello 

I currently have an old 2x1TB NAS with regular network access and that's it. 

I want to get a new NAS with HexOS.

I'm thinking about 2 drives for now, but 4 drives finally, so must have 4 HDD slots + SSD/m.2 slot(s). So for example 4x20TB HDD + 2x2TB m.2. I also want something that is small and not a normal size PC case.

The question is if it's better to build something myself or just get a regular NAS from Asustor/Ugreen/something else. 

My main concern is future proofing.

Will I have to replace it in 5 years or not if I get the regular NAS. 

Also also, if I DIY one with the drive requirements I have, will I be limited to a big case or are there some Mini PC cases that would work for me?

The budget I have for the NAS (without drives) is 500 USD ish. 

Thanks for all the answers.!

Cheers 

Edited 10 hours ago by zczachor

[Duncan Innes]

Beelink Me Mini - https://www.bee-link.com/products/beelink-me-mini-n150

Room for 6 M.2 slots.  Attach an external USB-C 4-bay HDD enclosure to fill your HDD needs.

[PsychoWards]

Please don't use an external USB enclosure, this is just asking for trouble, because very often they are not forwarding the drives serial number but are just giving a generic one, which means that Hexos cannot differentiate between drives and will not be able to create a pool or use those drives. Only stick with internal SATA ports and SATA expansion cards to avoid any trouble. 

 

A lot of people in here are using Jonsbo cases, which exists in various sizes to accommodate varying amount of drives.

 

A couple of remarks to keep in mind:

You need a dedicated drive just for the OS and you cannot use it for anything else. Don't waste a 1TB SSD on this, 16GB is all you need, so go for a low capacity one. 

With 2 drives Hexos will create a mirrored Pool which cannot be extended, if you want to extended your Pool later on you need 3 drives now to create a RaidZ1 which is extendable. If you go for the 2 drives now, 4 drives in total later, you will have 2 mirrored drives and only the capacity of 2 drives in total

Stay away from SMR HDDs. 

If you decide to go custom built, please post your specs in here as there are some pitfalls which we can help you avoid. 🙂