Hey everyone. I really want to replace Google photos with some sort of self-hosted solution. However, I am getting overwhelmed.

The first thing that came up when I did a little bit of research is buying a NAS. However, I just noticed these devices are so expensive with really weak specs. Feel like I am getting ripped off. Also, I heard that it can be slow? Is that true?

Anyway, I was told it is better to just buy a Resperry pi. However, these things are expensive for the specs. Would a used Intel NUC be better? Can you use any mini pc for that?

I have seen some crazy powerful (compared to the pi) cheap used Ryzen mini PCs, can those be turned into servers?

  • jmp242@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I mean, it really depends - NAS provide multiple drive bays (though the ones worth having should have 8-20), probably with hot swap, indicators which disk is dead, built in RAID of some sort for those disks, and usually a nice webUI - some also provide the photo hosting.

    I wouldn’t really try and hang a bunch of disks off a raspi unless you can put it in an area where NO ONE and NO PET but you will ever have access / see it. The chances of physical disaster is pretty high IMO.

    • Dr. JenkemAEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I mean no doubt raspi is pretty far off from a NAS. But I’d always prefer to either build my own server or buy a prebought one over a NAS. There’s nothing a NAS does that I couldn’t do with my own build for less money.