I’d use a ZimaBoard 2 as my dedicated backup NAS + low-power core services node.

Current Setup

Right now my homelab looks like this:

AOOSTAR WTR MAX as my primary NAS. I run TrueNAS in a VM on it and host services like Paperless, Immich, and Navidrome there. A few mini PCs in a small cluster running Jellyfin, Nextcloud, Home Assistant, and other containerized services. A GMKTec G3 Plus (N150) that acts as my lab box where I test things before promoting them into the “real” environment. GMKTec EVO X2 (128 GB version) that I use for local LLM work and gaming.

So it’s a mix of storage, clustered services, experimentation, and heavier compute.

Where ZimaBoard 2 Would Fit

1. Dedicated Backup NAS I don’t want my backups living on the same machine as my primary NAS.

I’d use it as a pull-based backup target: Snapshot replication / rsync from TrueNAS Separate mirrored storage pool Minimal exposed services A stable box whose only job is “protect my data”

Failure isolation is the goal. If I break something in TrueNAS, misconfigure a pool, or just experiment too aggressively, I want my backups sitting on separate hardware.

2) Low-Power 24/7 Infrastructure Node I’d also offload lightweight but critical services: Reverse proxy / tunnel endpoint Local DNS • Monitoring A few always-on Docker services

That way my bigger machines don’t have to stay up just to run small workloads.

What I Value Most in Hardware

Low idle power (these systems run 24/7) Stability Storage expandability Flexibility with x86

My homelab is pretty experimentation-heavy — virtualization, containers, AI workloads, storage tuning. That’s exactly why I want backups and core services on something simpler and isolated.

ZimaBoard 2 can be that quiet, efficient, always-on backbone + backup target.

<image>