I wanted a better way to manage my photo/video storage, and started learning more about NASs. I was also interested in learning more about the self-hosted space.

Notes:

• I made an effort to try and source used parts. In my last 2 builds, I've only ever used new components - mostly because I used to think that used parts would bottleneck the rest of my build
• I ended up buying the wrong CPU cooler on the first go - ended up reselling it on eBay
• Fitting x4 HDDs in the Streacom DA2 is TIGHT - I initially had them sitting on their sides, kinda upright, but recently rearranged them so that they kinda sit atop each other. Definitely not my favorite configuration, but it works for now. I like how compact the case is. I also like the simplicity of Synology tower servers, buttt haven't looked into them all that much - I think price:performance isn't as good?
• I have TrueNAS Scale installed on this guy. It gets the job done but isn't my favorite. I feel a bit limited by the official catalog offerings, even though I know I can use non-catalog apps
• Feels a bit overkill with 56TB storage configured in RAID-Z2 but hey, at least I won't have to worry about running out of storage for a while

Really happy with this build! I bought cpu, cpu cooler, and case on Facebook Marketplace and eBay. Definitely will be sourcing used parts again in future builds.

I'm starting to worry about not having a physical backup of this machine. I'm considering buying some sort of thunderbolt hard drive enclosure with a mac mini and setting up some sort of rsync job.