NAS Basics for Self-Hosting

What Is a NAS?

A NAS (Network-Attached Storage) is a dedicated device that provides file storage accessible over your network. It sits on your LAN and serves files to every device — computers, phones, media players, and other servers. Think of it as your personal cloud storage.

For self-hosting, a NAS fills two roles:

Storage backend — media libraries for Jellyfin, photo collections for Immich, file sync for Nextcloud, and backups for everything
Docker host — many NAS devices run Docker containers directly, doubling as both storage and application server

NAS vs General-Purpose Server

Aspect	NAS	General-Purpose Server
Primary purpose	File storage and sharing	Running applications
CPU	Low-power (ARM or Celeron)	Varies (N100, i5, Xeon)
Drive bays	2-8+ hot-swap bays	Depends on case
Power consumption	15-40W	20-100W+
Noise	Usually quiet	Varies
Docker support	Most modern NAS OS support it	Full support
Cost (4-bay)	$300-600 (diskless)	$200-400 (mini PC) + case
RAID support	Built-in, GUI-managed	Software RAID (mdadm, ZFS)

The recommendation: If you primarily need file storage with light Docker workloads, get a NAS. If you primarily run applications and need some storage, get a mini PC and add drives. If you need both, get both — a mini PC for compute and a NAS for storage.

Prebuilt NAS Options

Synology

Synology is the most popular consumer NAS brand. DSM (DiskStation Manager) is their proprietary Linux-based OS with a polished web interface for managing storage, Docker containers, backups, and networking.

Recommended models:

DS224+ (2-bay) — good for beginners, Intel Celeron J4125, 2GB RAM (expandable to 6GB). Runs Docker containers and handles media serving.
DS423+ (4-bay) — the sweet spot for self-hosters. Intel Celeron J4125, 2GB RAM (expandable to 6GB). Enough bays for redundancy.
DS923+ (4-bay) — AMD Ryzen R1600, 4GB RAM (expandable to 32GB). Better CPU for heavier Docker workloads.

Pros: Best software ecosystem, excellent mobile apps, good Docker support via Container Manager, strong community. Cons: Expensive (you’re paying for the software), locked to Synology hardware, slower CPU than a comparable mini PC.

QNAP

QNAP is Synology’s main competitor. QTS is their OS — more feature-rich than DSM but also more complex and historically had more security issues.

Pros: Often cheaper than Synology for equivalent specs, more powerful hardware at each price point. Cons: Software is less polished, history of security vulnerabilities, more complex interface.

Asustor

A budget alternative with decent hardware. ADM (Asustor Data Master) is straightforward and supports Docker.

Pros: Good value, often includes HDMI output for direct media playback. Cons: Smaller community, fewer apps in the ecosystem.

DIY NAS

Building your own NAS gives you full control over hardware and software. It’s usually cheaper than prebuilt at equivalent specs, and you can run any NAS operating system.

Recommended DIY Hardware

For a budget 4-bay NAS:

CPU: Intel N100 (low power, good for NAS duties) or used Intel i3/i5
RAM: 8-16GB DDR4 (16GB minimum if running ZFS)
Motherboard: Mini-ITX with 4+ SATA ports, or use a SATA expansion card
Case: Jonsbo N1/N2/N3, Fractal Design Node 304, or any case with multiple 3.5” drive bays
PSU: 200-300W (NAS hardware draws very little power)
Boot drive: 128GB+ NVMe SSD for the OS (separate from data drives)

NAS Operating Systems

TrueNAS (Recommended for DIY)

TrueNAS is the go-to open-source NAS OS. Two versions:

TrueNAS SCALE (Linux-based) — supports Docker containers natively, ZFS for storage. This is the better choice for self-hosting because Docker support is first-class.
TrueNAS CORE (FreeBSD-based) — more mature ZFS implementation, but limited Docker support (jails instead).

Use SCALE unless you specifically need FreeBSD.

Unraid

Unraid is a paid NAS OS ($59-129 one-time) with a unique approach: drives don’t need to be the same size, and you can add/remove drives without rebuilding the array. It has excellent Docker and VM support.

Pros: Flexible drive management, strong Docker integration, easy to use. Cons: Not free, parity is slower than RAID, proprietary.

OpenMediaVault

OpenMediaVault (OMV) is a Debian-based NAS OS. Lightweight, free, and straightforward. Good for simple file sharing setups.

Pros: Free, runs on anything, Debian-based (familiar to Linux users). Cons: Fewer features than TrueNAS, Docker support via plugin.

Just Linux

You can run Ubuntu Server or Debian and set up file sharing manually. Maximum flexibility, but you manage everything yourself — ZFS/mdadm, Samba, NFS, Docker, monitoring. Good if you already know Linux administration.

See Choosing a Linux Distro for server OS recommendations.

Storage Planning

How Much Storage Do You Need?

Use Case	Typical Storage	Notes
Documents, configs, backups	500GB - 1TB	Small but critical
Photo library (Immich)	500GB - 5TB	~5MB per photo, video much larger
Music library (Navidrome)	200GB - 2TB	~10MB per FLAC track
Media library (Jellyfin)	2TB - 50TB+	~5-15GB per movie, 1-3GB per TV episode
Surveillance cameras	2TB - 10TB+	Depends on retention and resolution

RAID Levels for NAS

RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) protects your data from drive failures. The key levels for home NAS:

RAID Level	Min Drives	Usable Capacity	Fault Tolerance	Best For
RAID 1	2	50%	1 drive	2-bay NAS, simple mirror
RAID 5	3	(n-1) drives	1 drive	3-4 bay, good balance
RAID 6	4	(n-2) drives	2 drives	5+ bay, maximum safety
RAID 10	4	50%	1 per mirror	Performance-critical

For a deeper explanation, see RAID Configurations Explained.

The recommendation: For a 2-bay NAS, use RAID 1 (mirror). For 4+ bays, use RAID 5 or RAID 6. If using ZFS, the equivalents are mirror, raidz1, and raidz2.

Drive Recommendations

NAS-rated drives (WD Red Plus, Seagate IronWolf) are designed for 24/7 NAS operation — vibration-resistant, higher MTBF rating
Desktop drives (WD Blue, Seagate BarraCuda) work fine in low-bay NAS setups but may fail sooner under constant use
Don’t use SMR drives for NAS RAID arrays — they have terrible random write performance during rebuilds. Check the drive specs for “CMR” (conventional magnetic recording)
For the OS/boot drive: Use a small NVMe SSD separate from the data drives

SMB/CIFS (Windows/Mac/Linux)

The most universal file sharing protocol. Works with Windows, macOS, Linux, and most mobile apps. Use SMB for general file access.

# Mount an SMB share on Linux
sudo mount -t cifs //nas-ip/share /mnt/nas -o username=youruser,password=yourpass

Or add to /etc/fstab for persistent mounting:

//192.168.1.20/media /mnt/media cifs credentials=/etc/samba/credentials,uid=1000,gid=1000,iocharset=utf8 0 0

NFS (Linux-to-Linux)

NFS (Network File System) is the native Linux file sharing protocol. Lower overhead than SMB and better for Docker volume mounting between a NAS and a Linux server.

# Mount an NFS share
sudo mount -t nfs nas-ip:/volume1/media /mnt/media

NFS v4 is the current standard. Use it over v3 — it’s faster and supports encryption.

When to Use Which

Docker volumes from NAS: NFS (lower overhead, better permission handling)
Desktop file access (Windows/Mac): SMB
Linux-only environment: NFS
Cross-platform sharing: SMB

Using a NAS with Docker on a Separate Server

A common self-hosting setup: mini PC runs Docker containers, NAS provides storage. Mount NAS shares on the Docker host and bind-mount them into containers.

NFS Mount for Jellyfin

On the Docker host:

# Install NFS client
sudo apt install -y nfs-common

# Create mount point
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/media

# Mount the NAS share
sudo mount -t nfs 192.168.1.20:/volume1/media /mnt/media

Add to /etc/fstab for persistence:

192.168.1.20:/volume1/media /mnt/media nfs defaults,_netdev 0 0

Then in your docker-compose.yml:

services:
  jellyfin:
    image: jellyfin/jellyfin:10.10.6
    volumes:
      - /mnt/media:/media:ro  # NAS-backed storage
      - jellyfin-config:/config

Important Considerations

_netdev mount option tells Linux to wait for the network before mounting — prevents boot failures if the NAS is slow to start
Performance: Gigabit Ethernet is sufficient for most self-hosting workloads. 2.5GbE is ideal for 4K media streaming from a NAS
Docker host should mount NFS, not containers directly — this is simpler and more reliable

Common Mistakes

Not Having a Backup

RAID is not a backup. RAID protects against drive failure. It does not protect against accidental deletion, ransomware, filesystem corruption, or fire/theft. You still need an off-site backup.

Follow the 3-2-1 Backup Rule: 3 copies, 2 different media types, 1 off-site.

Using Desktop Drives in a RAID Array

Desktop drives (WD Blue, Seagate BarraCuda) lack the vibration resistance and error recovery firmware of NAS drives. In a multi-drive enclosure, vibration from neighboring drives can cause read errors and RAID degradation. Use NAS-rated drives (WD Red Plus, Seagate IronWolf) for multi-bay setups.

Overbuying Storage

Start with what you need now, plus room to grow. A 2-bay NAS with 2x 4TB drives in RAID 1 gives you 4TB usable — enough for most beginners. You can upgrade drives later (most NAS OS support online capacity expansion).

Ignoring Power Protection

A sudden power loss during a RAID write can corrupt your array. Connect your NAS to a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) and configure the NAS to shut down gracefully when battery is low.

Next Steps

Set up Docker to run apps on your NAS or server — Docker Compose Basics
Understand RAID configurations — RAID Explained
Plan your backup strategy — 3-2-1 Backup Rule
Choose server hardware — Getting Started with Self-Hosting

FAQ

Can I run Docker on a Synology NAS?

Yes. Synology DSM includes Container Manager (formerly Docker), which lets you run Docker Compose stacks through a GUI or SSH. Most popular self-hosted apps run fine on Synology, though CPU-intensive tasks like video transcoding in Jellyfin may be slow on the lower-end Celeron models.

How much RAM do I need for a NAS?

For basic file sharing: 2-4GB is fine. For ZFS: 8GB minimum, with 1GB per TB of storage as a rule of thumb. For running Docker containers: 8-16GB depending on workload.

Is a NAS or mini PC better for self-hosting?

A mini PC gives you more CPU power per dollar and full Linux flexibility. A NAS gives you better drive management, hot-swap bays, and purpose-built storage software. The best setup is a mini PC for compute and a NAS for storage — but if you can only have one device, a 4-bay NAS with a decent CPU (Synology DS923+ or DIY with N100) handles both roles.

How loud is a NAS?

Prebuilt NAS devices from Synology and QNAP are generally quiet (20-30 dB) when idle. Drive noise is the main factor — HDDs produce a gentle hum and occasional seek noise. SSDs are silent. Fan noise depends on the model and temperature. Most are suitable for a living room or home office.