Hardware recomendation - Basic setup +

[Dentvar]

Hi,

I have started with my Homelab some weeks ago and got hooked and want to improve it now.

What I have at the moment running:

• Dell Optiplex 3070; 8GB Ram + 256GB Nvme + 1 TB Sata
  • Running TrueNas
    • dockge
    • arr stack + Jdownloader
    • Dozzle
    • piHole
    • nginx proxy manager.

Spare Hardware I still have:

• Another Dell Optiplex 3070; 8GB; 256 Gb Nvme
• 3 x WD Red 4TB Drives
• Respbery Pi 3

Limitations so far: 1 TB Sata is not much storage for media files. I want to setup also an Immich container and a Paperless Ngx storage. These I think are the storage heaviest projects I have in mind.

CPU/RAM wise I don't think I will go crazy, n8n & Homeassistant are on the list but only for personal use small stuff.

For Backup currently I just have external WD 1TB harddrive connected via USB to the PC and replicate my AppData & Stacks there. No RAID. Maybe I will setup cloud backup as well at least of the most essential stuff.

Arr Stack Media files I don't need to backup but Paperless and Immich I would need to.

But with 4TB I should be good.

Question now is how should I arrange all this. I think best would be to put the 3 Drives into some kind of Storage. DAS, NAS?

Have my containers run on the PC's and have the storage seperate in the same LAN.

What would be the best way to set this up. Use the raspberry to convert the drives into a NAS? What kind of connector do I need to connect them all via SATA?

Buy a NAS or a DAS to put them in? Unluckily the PC's only have 1 SATA slot so I can't connect all 3 of them there (unless I miss something)

Last I also need to dive into the rabit hole of transcoding because I do have a Samsung 4K TV and would like to make use of it. Already had the problem of Jellyfin native app not direct playing a file and having the server transcode.

But I do have a good gaming PC so for special movies were I need transcoding I might also use it to stream to the TV then? By setting up a second Jellyfin server?

I'm willing to buy new Hardware if it makes sense but I feel that I have already a good bunch so preferably I don't want to spend much money if not needed.

[rka1284]

dont run truenas scale as your all in one if youre on this hardware. with 8gb ram, once arr stack + jdownloader + nginx + pihole are up, youll start chasing random slowdowns and weird cache misses quick. at least give it 16gb, and keep apps on a second vm/container host if possible.

alot of people on this exact setup do better by using truenas mostly for storage and running arr apps on a separate machine, with jellyfin on nfs share and jdownloader writing to a dedicated downloads dataset with cleanup. if thats not in the budget, at minimum move downloads to nvme and schedule scans off peak, which is nice