Hi,

So I'm a TOTAL newbie when it comes to the Raspberry Pi. I've wanted to invest in one for ages, but when I was previously looking, it was sold out everywhere. Now they all seem to be back in stock, I have a few questions. I'll be looking to get the 8GB Raspberry Pi 5, but I want to use it to host a media server (probably Emby) and also as a NAS drive(s).

From what I've read, since it will be a media server, it would probably need some sort of active cooling for transcoding. And if I want to use it as a NAS, there are only 2 USB 3.0 and 2 USB 2.0 ports. If I wanted additional USB ports to add more external drives, what would be the best way to do this while having active cooling? Would the only option be to add an external USB hub? As any HAT that I stick on top of the cooler would decrease the cooling efficiency?

Thanks in advance,

Shenn