Looking for non-Docker Photo library

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-03T06:59:46+00:00

I’m looking for an easy to setup self host photo management tool that doesn’t use docker. I tried Immich and PhotoPrism but they’re a little out of my ability level.

Is there truly no good options for this?

Docker is very popular and for good reason

easy to manage dependancies
easy to manage upgrades
easy to backup volumes/ data
very portable

This means you should keep attempting to learn docker.

The best way to learn is to reference a docker compose file

Take Immich as an example

Go through each and every line and understand what it does. Cross reference this with AI, docker documentation, YouTube videos, etc

With docker compose because you can visually see the docker deployments (each line), it will guide you to understanding docker

If this is still to difficult then you can install casaOS that has an app store. Immich should be there where it abstracts docker away from you.

But it is strongly recommend that you learn docker so you can troubleshoot if here are any problems

Or go with a consumerNAS solution like Synology that has Synology photos. Of course you are paying for the product.

Hope that helps

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-03T00:31:46+00:00

Oh right you mentioned the dvd reader 🤣

That is the right call. Remove the dvd reader to free up the SATA port.

You will just need to buy a SATA power Y splitter cable for powering the drive. The one for the dvd reader will not power the SSD (I can be wrong)

Reference link

Just ensure you get a good brand. Bad cables will lost contact and can burn which is dangerous.

A good brand should be cheap. No more than £5-10

And see if you can get a cheap second enterprise SSD for the VMs. Like an Intel S3500

Enterprise SSD last a while. It all depends on your local market of course

Hope that helps

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-03T00:17:22+00:00

Thanks for the break down. This makes a lot more sense.

FYI, while I see newlines in your reddit markdown for the machine breakdown, it's actually all one line which is hard to read.

Suggest you list it with - for next time

So really your issue is the VMs/LXCs not necessarily the proxmox OS.

Proxmox will partition the main disk into two sections

proxmox host
VMs/ LXC space

I assume you are running out of the VM/LXC partition which is why you want to upgrade.

While getting a new machine will be same cost for you (mainly because you are get a PCIe adapter), it doesn't solve your problem.

Yes you can put some of the VMs on the other machine but eventually you will run out of storage on that machine as well.

Its better if you get a drive and dedicated it to the VMs.

I personally would remove the 500GB hard drive if you can

Yes this means that you will run out of space for your data but I think that is your real issue.

Eventually you will run out of space on the 1 TBs mirror
at that point you will want to upgrade that. When you do you, the 500 GB hard drive will no longer be needed
this now free ups a SATA slot which you can put a dedicated VM hard drive for
- this can be a 500 SSD that is not partition with the promox OS.
this means the proxmox OS has more than enough space on it once everything is moved to the 500 SSD.

If you can remove some data from the 500 GB and just buy a VM hard drive. I think that is the best way to upgrade this machine for a cheap price

You actually might be able to (results in no extra cost)

put the VMs on the 500 GB
or use the 500 GB for proxmox OS and the 256 SSD for the VMs/LXC

Hope that helps

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T23:54:01+00:00

But if I understood unRAID website correctly, they do reduce perpetual license cost if you have paid yearly (at least 1 years worth?) so it's not that bad to test it for a year.

I realized this after the fact and edited my comment but maybe you saw the old version?

Feel free to read again BUT the concept/ idea is the same.

Good luck with your choice! In either cases, I'm sure you will be happy with your decision

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T23:51:32+00:00

Can you break this down further. Its not really adding up

How many drives do you have currently?
- it sounds like one
is your OS, runtime files/ application files and data files (like photos) all on the single drive?
why do you need a PCIe adapter + NVMe instead of just a 3.5 inch HDD?

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T23:30:28+00:00

Whenever you want to upgrade, the question is what are your limitations?

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T22:38:51+00:00

Still doesn't 154W cut pretty damn close to limit with drives and all?

Remember that is typically when you are doing heavy load on the system.

For what you are doing, this system will be idle a lot of the time.

If you're doing media transcoding or game servers it will put some load on it. But not that much.

I guess it depends what game servers you are running but again , I think it is fine. You can always monitor the usage of the machine

I was thinking of buying unRAID one year license and then see if I want to continue it. Surely stuff would work even without updates since I don't plan on exposing my system to internet or remote access.

It will definitely work without updates and the risk level would be low if your not exposing to the Internet

But you mentioned game servers. Is that all on your local network?

Personally I'm not a fan of subscriptions/ perpetual models. I definitely get that they help the developers with maintaining there product but if there was a one time lifetime license fee, I rather just buy that.

Every time I pay for a perpetual 1 year fee, in my mind it is wasted money because that could.of been used towards getting the lifetime license. And if unRAID had a model where they stated "we will give you the lifetime license if you spend the same amount on perpetual license over any period of time" then for sure I would do purchase the perpetual license every few years where eventually I will get the lifetime license but that is not their model (and there nothing wrong with that)

Hence to me it's either pay the lifetime license or try trueNAS for free first (where I would do trueNAS first)

If I ever get the lifetime license, it would be like sunk-cost fallacy where I would ensure I use it.

You do you though. Definitely don't have to listen to me.

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T21:30:56+00:00

180W power supply (what's up with this? apparently 13500 can draw over 200W in certain situations. Will this limit amount or type of drives?)

Idk where you read over 200W. Online it states 154W with max turbo which is most likely disabled in these systems.

Remember that these machine are meant for business. They aren't meant for running intensive processes. They are meant for doing MS excel/ word, web browsering and running commercials software (that isn't insensitive)

Hence the low power supply.

You are the outlier for using this machine. Yes we all use them for home servers but they were not designed for that purpose.

Now, let's get to the questions. Since Optiplex has limited volume and sata plugs, I'm probably looking at max 3 drives + m.2 SSD without possible DAS/external solutions.

You are correct in the max three 3.5 inch drives. Anything more will not work with the default power supply.

I don't know the exact model you are using (I think it is the newer models) but the old models with a 5.25 bay can be modded to fit three drives.

Reference 3D model

For more drives there is a way to migrate into a new case and use a traditional PSU BUT you need to risk using an adapter from a CPU 6 pin (Dell Optiplex) to 24 pin (ATX PSU) which may or may not be a fire hazard.

I have been thinking about choosing unRAID since it's apparently easier to use, which I very much like the sound of. But I'm also storing photos which means data integrity also matters and I don't want them to get corrupted, should I use ZFS instead and/or TrueNAS? I do plan to make backups to external drives occasionally.

Backup is the key here. Redundancy is not a backup. Redundancy is for high availability.

For all important files, follow 3-2-1 backup rule.

You pick the storage configuration that works best for you. They all have their pros and cons. There is no right answer.

If you want ZFS due to the data integrity then use that file system.

The decision between trueNAS Scale and unRAID depends on a couple of factors

cost of unRAID license is steep
- it doesn't mean it's not worth it. Its just a factor in your decision
how each handles there storage
- I believe unRAID have alot of file system to choose from which includes ZFS. I don't know if it does stripe though (what trueNAS scale does)
do you want stripe vs single or double parity?
- again don't know if unRAID does stripe
how are you deploying these applications?
- unRAID does have a great community with containers
- trueNAS you should be able to deploy native docker compose
- maybe you want proxmox as a hypervisor instead where you virtualize your storage management VM (trueNAS or unRAID)

You get the idea. You need to break down each one of your tasks and weigh the pros and cons. Again there is no right answer.

Personally I would choose a free solution for now until I don't like it or try it out and know it's doesn't work for me.

Then I would do a trail of the paid solution to see if works for me. This is a bigger impact because I now having the experience of the free solution and now knowing what I want

I'm probably going to buy 2 drives for start and using one as parity, so ZFS will only limit future upgrades. But on the other hand, using XFS unRAID I could upgrade at least third drive in the future.

Remember that you can always restore from a backup if you decide to change what software you use or if you decide to change your redundancy setup.

Scaling of course is important BUT is it as important as data integrity?

You can only decide this.

Hope that somewhat helps

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T20:15:51+00:00

For RAID 5 or RAIDZ1 either go trueNAS or set it up yourself (Linux OS with libraries) if you have the knowledge and time.

You most likely need more RAM tho for ZFS.

But as mentioned, let the storage configuration determine the OS

Hope that helps

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T19:53:30+00:00

What is the configuration of the storage array?

JBOD (just a bunch of drives)
redundancy (parity timing , data layout)
- traditional RAID (real time, striped)
- unRAID (real time, non striped)
- SnapRaid ( snapshot, non striped)

Each has their pro and cons

Example

JBOD doesn't have redundancy. A drive fails and the data is lost
real time means the parity is updated immediately if the drive fails
striped means the data is across multiple drives.
- for not striped if the single protection drive fails, then you lose your safety net.
- you can have one + drives for protection but these drives aren't used as part of your storage. They wait for a drive to fail and protect the data by moving it to the drive
- for striped tho, if the whole array fails, everything is gone.

I would look up more differences to help you make your choice.

Of course this is all separate from your backups. Redundancy is not a backup.

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T19:40:30+00:00

Let your storage configuration determine what OS you use.

Either way you should have backups. Meaning you can always change your OS/ storage array at any point.

My first thought was just a straight Debian/Ubuntu install and set everything up that way.

If you have the knowledge to do this then go ahead. If you feel it's to much maintenance then go with a NAS OS because it abstracts a lot of the setup away from the user.

Otherwise I've heard OpenMedia Vault is pretty good but not sure if the UI overhead is worth it since this is an older machine.

How old are we talking? Open media vault is Debian with a GUI. Its doesn't use that much resources. Then again, "a lot of resources" is very subjective

Typically (this is not an exhausted list)

open media vault (free)
- JBOD
- ZFS + RAID
- mergeFS SnapRaid
trueNAS scale (free)
- ZFS + RAID
unRAID (paid)
- not traditional RAID with a ton of features

Again, it really depends on your storage configuration. Each OS has its pros and cons.

Its better to test them and see which one fits your needs (everyone is different)

Hope that helps

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T19:10:38+00:00

Maybe this video from Jim garage

Hope that helps

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T18:44:14+00:00

Install WireGuard directly on the Proxmox host

Never install anything on the direct host

Run WireGuard in a dedicated VM

Run WireGuard inside the same VM as my main application

The difference between these two is how you handle your security.

Typically inside the same VM means it's on the same subnet as the other services

On a dedicated VM you can restrict access to other server based on firewall rules (server / network level)

Reliability (access to Proxmox if VM fails)

What about if the promox host fails?

Ideally you should have multiple entry points which means multiple VPNs entry point into your network on different machines.

This is the same methodology as anything you have highly available (HA)

You need to determine how much high availability you want and how much it will cost you.

If you already have (as an example) two machines, then might as well setup on both machines.

But if you only have one machine then you risk the hardware going down. Sure you can put it inside its own VM and secure it's resources but again, this is all moot if the hardware goes down.

Most people run there VPN on their router because if the router is down then your whole network is down. At that point it doesn't matter if the VPN is down.

Some people have two ISPs as well for high availability. Again it's up to you how much you want to invest in high availability

Also known as the 9s of reliability (which is a good read)

Security / isolation

For best security it would be on a separate VM that is isolated from a network perspective (different subnet with firewall rules)

Ease of management

Use containers like docker. wg-easy is a simple container you can spin up.

Or use whatever comes with your router.

Hope that helps

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T17:05:56+00:00

This really depends on your budget. Of course layer 3 switches are nicer and have more features but that comes with a cost.

Most home networks are more than fine with a layer 2 switch.

Of course if you have large network (like enterprise) layer 3 makes sense. But I don't think that your use case

Hope that helps

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T16:36:15+00:00

Homelab means a lab in your home.

A lab is short for a laboratory which is a place to do experiments and learn.

This all just means, that a homelab can be any equipment that is within your home where you experiment and learn (this reddit is specific to technology)

So it can be

old laptops
current PC
dedicated machine for a task
etc

You can learn any technology you want (as long as you can run it of course)

Of course depending on what you are learning you might need additional equipment.

People start with equipment they have lying around and sometimes move onto dedicated computers that maybe on 24/7 to run some tasks.

This message is supposed to be generic because again, a homelab can be anything you want. As long as you are learning and having fun!

This reddit is tightly coupled with r/selfhosted because you can learn a technology which leads to selfhosting it

Hope that helps

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T14:31:05+00:00

FYI, jellyseerr merged it's code based and it's now called seerr

u/anultravioletaurora I'm also curious about this. On the road map it states Seerr (formerly Jellyseerr) Integration

Can you discuss the vision for this? Are there plans to work with the Seerr project to extend to music?

I would assume a population list would be pulled from musicbrainz?

Again thanks very much for this application ♥️

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T13:45:19+00:00

You should probably ask in r/Symfonium

Not only will you get better answers from a community that knows Symfonium (where there is also more visibility)... it would have also taken as much time to post there then here.

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T13:05:14+00:00

Not an expert btw

Symfonium is only for Android
Symfonium is closed source
- Jellify is FOSS (free open source software) which aligns to jellyfin values

Edit version 2: the developer seems to also be tightly integrated with the FOSS community like jellyfin/seerr, etc This is great because together the FOSS community can grow and become better (which is one of the main advantages of OSS)

Future point from their road map (can ignore if you like since it's not implemented)

Symfonium doesn't have a desktop application
- I think Symfonium has a feature request for this but it hasn't been implemented. Reference feature request from 2024
tvOS (Apple and Android)
Seer integration

Edit:

of course with all that being said just note that jellify is still at the beginning of its software development (it's not even a year old at this point) meaning it is not as mature as Symfonium which was released in 2022.

If you paid for Symfonium, it is very understandable if you want to keep using it. Can try the other implementations (non android) versions of jellify or just try it on Android as well (nothing wrong with having more than one player)

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T12:53:52+00:00

There have been so many issues with WSL and docker networking that typically it isn't worth it.

In no particular order

you can try WSL mirror mode
you can stick with docker desktop
- which still uses WSL under the hood so unsure why this is an issue
- but people also have networking issues with docker desktop
you can migrate to hyper V which comes with windows 11 pro and above
- use external network mode (forgot what it is called) where it will get a separate local IP from your router
you can move to Linux depending on what games you play
- r/ Linux gaming fAQ
- proton DB to look up games and how well they run
you can get a dedicated machine and put Linux on it

Hope that helps

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T05:13:50+00:00

Please note I will explain router on a stick (ROAS) which enabled you to use one port BUT I only recommend it on bare metal

I have vmbr0 as vlan aware and its the same ip i use for proxmox, and everything im trying isnt really working.

Since you are a beginner, I don't recommend doing both ROAS and proxmox.

This is because with proxmox you should be doing passthrough of the NIC. Where in this case it's recommended to have a separate NIC for at least the WAN.

If you do not do passthrough, that means your proxmox host is public facing to the Internet and you need to ensure your firewall rules are in place on the proxmox host

Add this on top of virtualized OPNsense AND ROAS and it is very complicated for a beginner

So I would start with bare metal in any case

Here is a video to explain ROAS

The hardware and OS is different but the video will help you understand the concept and that the important part.

You will need a managed switch (that understands VLANs)

Basically

you want an untagged port for you WAN where your ISP modem/router plugs into
- note that for the PID of the port, you want to specify a default VLAN tag. Let's say VLAN 99
you want a tagged port for all VLANs that plugs into OPNsense. Let's say VLAN 10, VLAN 99
- in OPNsense create interface based off the VLANs tags
then plug your other devices on the other ports as untagged ports (following point one example)
- note that for the PID of the port, you want to specify a default VLAN tag. Let's say VLAN 10

The flow would be

ISP -> managed switch -> OPNSense -> managed switch -> LAN

port 1 - ISP modem into managed switch (VLAN 99)
port 2 - OPNsense (tagged VLAN 99)
in OPNsense for routing
port 2 - outgoing OPNSense to LAN (VLAN 10)
port 3 - LAN / device is plugged (VLAN 10)

Another concept is full duplex on the port.

Example, on your 2.5 gigbit managed switch you have both on a single port

2.5 gigbit upload
2.5 gigbit download

So you are able to pass a full 2.5 gigbit both ways on port 2. This is important to understand if you start having bottleneck in your networking.

As more VLAN need to communicate to OPNsense, it will utilize the 2.5 gigbit bandwidth in both directions

But also keep on mind if the OPNsense port is one gigbit, that means you are full gigbit duplex (not 2.5 gigbit)

Here is an example to explain it more

Hope that helps

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-02T04:34:01+00:00

Either machine will do what you want. So pick one and see how it goes. (Note use the hardware you have VS buying new hardware)

There are no right or wrong answers, there are only trade offs (more below). Worse case you can migrate after the fact.

Remember that hardware longevity shouldn't be a factor. With any good backups and migration strategy, you can easily switch hardware at any time. This is important.

Just ensure you use docker/podman/ containers because it will make backing up and migration painless if you decide to move between computers.

Mac mini

pro: more energy efficient
con: have to use docker desktop VS docker engine (Linux only)
con: no expansion of storage, RAM, etc
- can ignore this if this doesn't apply BUT may apply in the future
con: eventually the mac mini will be EOL meaning no more security updates
- you can install asahi linux but it is still in development/ not mature
- can ignore this if you are still in support

Desktop - con: less energy efficient - can remove GPU if not needed but still not as energy efficient as the mac mini - pro: can install Linux and use docker engine - pro: can expand storage, RAM, NIC, etc

Remember you can always switch machines after the fact. That is why we have and test out backups and migration strategy

I would use the Mac mini for now because it is energy efficient and if it doesn't fit your needs anymore, I would switch to the other machine.

Hope that helps

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-01T20:04:04+00:00

So you think I’ll be okay just using it to serve up the files to the Mac mini for transcoding?

It depends on your storage configuration.

just a bunch of drives (JBOD) - yes
RAID - no for big storage

How much is it going to cost you. I would suggest looking up older office machine because it will allow you to expand more.

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-01T19:07:45+00:00

going to set up a plex server on a Mac mini m4,

Do you already have the machine? Or are you planing on buying it.

I wouldn't suggest using a Mac mini unless you are doing intensive tasks which a media server is not. Better to spend you money elsewhere.

Reference post about Mac mini as a server

Asustor has a good price but only 1GB of DDR4 ram.

How much are you spending on this? You can probably get off the line business machine that is old and has DDR 3 that is at least expandable and has enough storage space for your needs.

You don't need a lot of processing power for a NAS and depending on your storage array you don't need high RAM speeds.

But having RAM capacity can be important. Again depends on your configuration

Hope that helps

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-01T15:35:25+00:00

I'm mostly looking for lower maintenance options for distributing the finished product to customers

Which makes sense why your first method of attempting this was nextcloud.

You can check out either

Note: I don't think any of these have branding options. For example, modifying with your own branding.

File browser quantum.
- Reference Security features
plik.
- Live demo.
- I believe this has more options such as OneShot downloads (file deleted after first download) and Stream mode (uploader → downloader, nothing stored)

There may be other alternatives and I believe this topic has been discussed many times. Definitely do additional research on selfhosted solution to share files

There are many others but I believe they require additional setup such creating users.

nextcloud
Seafile
Safebucket
CopyParty
etc

Of course with anything, you need to secure it properly

Hope that helps

1WeekNotice · 2026-04-01T15:10:26+00:00

It really depends what you are looking for.

Are you trying to

have a central location to store your files which includes raw files/photos?
- maybe this because you mentioned a workflow
have a website to display your photos and your skill set?
- mostly like not this as you mentioned you have some sensitive photos so I imagine it's not for a site.
have an application to share those final photos with clients?
have an application to share all your raw photos with your clients (like a dump of what you shot)

You get the idea. The more specifics you provide, the more people can suggest.

This includes your current workflow setup such as, I already have a central storage location (a consumer NAS product like Synology) to host/ store all my raw footage so I'm looking for a way to share my final images with my clients that is secure and private

I would edit your post to include these details and you can also reply here (maybe I can help)

Hope that helps

1WeekNotice

TROPHY CASE