Looking to setup a small NAS for light home/school use

[Ryan_286]

I am going to college next fall and I am looking to bring my desktop and laptop to do work on. I want to bring the desktop for more rigorous applications like autodesk inventor and other 3D modeling tasks that might be a bit to overwhelming for a general use laptop. I'm thinking that maybe some sort of NAS would help me keep my documents from both computers in one location. I already have a lower spec i5 2400 based system that I would use for my NAS pc and I don't really intend on having more than 1tb-2tb of storage.

Here are my questions:
What is the best free NAS os? I have been looking into FreeNAS and I wanted to hear some community opinions on using FreeNas for my setup.

If I end up building this Nas, how can I make it private and only accessible by me? Is there a setting in FreeNAS for the users who can access files?

Thanks for any feedback on my NAS ideas

 

[Scottray]

The more practical solution is to use cloud storage, such as OneDrive or GoogleDrive. Also, you don't have to worry about theft of NAS and your data. Of course, that takes out the fun of building your own NAS. All the free NAS OS's include security features to control access. Here's a list of NAS OS's if you decide to go that route: https://www.how2shout.com/tools/best-free-open-source-nas-software.html.

 

[nigelivey]

FreeNas is a good option and offers more functionality than just a storage facility.

 

[Ryan_286]

The more practical solution is to use cloud storage, such as OneDrive or GoogleDrive. Also, you don't have to worry about theft of NAS and your data. Of course, that takes out the fun of building your own NAS. All the free NAS OS's include security features to control access. Here's a list of NAS OS's if you decide to go that route: https://www.how2shout.com/tools/best-free-open-source-nas-software.html.

Thanks for the reply. My current high school has google drive accounts with unlimited storage for students and I like the services a lot. I also have a gmail account, so I have a personal drive account as well, but I don't know if the 15gb or so that I get for free on my personal account will be enough for all of my current and future files.

also building a nas sounds really fun, so that is one reason I am looking to try to build one. I guess its just an excuse to play around with more computer hardware.

 

[Alabalcho]

I would tackle your issue from another point: Instead of building / configuring / troubleshooting a desktop PC for occasional NAS use, why not just get a ready-made NAS, with or without storage? You'll solve a lot of problems this way:
- you'll lower your electricity bill, and noise level
- it will take one-third of size
- you can still restrict access to yourselves only

For example, this guy when on sale is $80. Drop here a HDD or two, and you're done.

 

[Ryan_286]

I would tackle your issue from another point: Instead of building / configuring / troubleshooting a desktop PC for occasional NAS use, why not just get a ready-made NAS, with or without storage? You'll solve a lot of problems this way:
- you'll lower your electricity bill, and noise level
- it will take one-third of size
- you can still restrict access to yourselves only

For example, this guy when on sale is $80. Drop here a HDD or two, and you're done.

Well the thing is I already have a PC and hard drives that I could use, so it wouldn't cost me anything to make a NAS. Power use is not too much of a concern because I won't be paying for electricity in college.

I'll take a look into the NAS you have linked. The the reason I am looking to build a NAS is the fun of working with computers and just some hands on learning.

Thanks for the input