I use my desktop PC for Jellyfin and torrenting, but I’m looking for something that I can keep on 24/7 that draws less power and run other self-hosted services on Linux. I would like to have at least 2x 14 TB 3.5" hard drives in or attached to it with the possibility of expanding in the future.

From my research, these seem to be some good options:

  1. Mini PC like this Beelink S12 Pro + USB hard drive enclosure. The price seems reasonable for the specs and low power consumption. Not sure if USB will limit transfer speeds.
  2. ODROID HC-4 or similar SBCs. I feel like these have much lower performance for not much price savings, and it’s harder to get software running up because of ARM. But it seems like they don’t use too much power.
  3. Used enterprise PCs/servers. I know they can be found cheap used, but I’m a little lost at comparing the performance and power draw to other options.
  4. DIY build. I’m interested in getting a Mini-ITX case like this Jonsbo N2 and getting parts for it, but it seems like it will be the most expensive option. It does seem like the most modular and upgradable.
  5. Classic NAS products like Synology. It seems like these are falling out of favor because they are pretty under powered for the price.

What does selfhosted think about these options, and what would you recommend?

  • @uisEnglish
    2•1 year ago

    Why VMs?

    • BoofStrokeEnglish
      1•1 year ago

      I don’t like lxc containers, and my build automation works well at the full system level vs containers.

      Running your services bare metal these days is insane. If I have a problem, I just restore or rebuild that purpose-built vm from configuration management. This is also a lot more flexible and cost effective vs having separate hardware for each thing.

      Redundancy is also easier, should I decide it is worth the hardware investment.

      • @uisEnglish
        0•1 year ago

        While you are correct with insanity of running bare-metal, this argument is manipulative. Indeed, no sane person will ditch existing kernel(e.g. Linux of FreeBSD) and write one themselve, running program in common OS is not bare-metal.

        Another manipulation is VM vs per-dervice dedicated hardware.

        Redundancy is also easier, should I decide it is worth the hardware investment.

        Same thing valid for regular userland.