I’m having trouble deciding which software platform fits my hardware. This is not a standard “what’s the best” type of post, as ultimately they will all run containers so it’s more “I have this stuff, what would you do in my situation?”.

Not my first rodeo, familiar with linux and docker, I got tired of running commands to keep a plex service running and switched to Windows 11 which just worked. My new goal is to find a balance where I can run most containers but not have to fiddle with every config file in cli constantly. I almost bought a QNAP NAS but thought why spend another $500 when I have a nice box working fine now.

Hardware:

• Mini PC with Xeon E-2144G 3.6ghz, 16GB RAM, 2x 1TB SSD
• QNAP TR-004 dumb USB DAS with 32TB in a hardware R5. Not ideal but it’s what I have at the moment. About 6 TB currently in use.
• Want to run local smtp for notifications, tautulli, plex (just me as user) and a few others apps like immich, wireguard and become more self-sufficient with cloud storage/passwords.

I’m testing Open media vault right now and OMV seems fine I guess. Probably a good fit balancing convenience with capabilities. I’m trying to keep it simple.

Unraid is enticing but I have a DAS with RAID capabilities already and matched drives, and also no reason to use a USB stick for an OS drive when I have perfectly good SSD’s, right?

Truenas is bsd which i’m not familiar with, I just don’t see the advantage for me but maybe I’m just not seeing why this is would fit my needs better.

Am I missing others? Something I didn’t think of? Maybe it’s easy, I pick OMV and move forward.

Thanks for any advice or input.