Nas only to link to Intel NUC

[houghton19]

Hey all, I have got to the point Im sick of my Mrs complaining about my pc taking up too much space and shes wanting me to get rid of the 3 monitors and my big (slightly bigger than average) pc. Sooooooooo, I have just purchased a Intel NUC 13th gen i7, I am going to use this as a general rig for remoting into to play Football manager and to turn into a plex server, In my PC I have 4 x 2TB HDD and one 8TB drive, also i have a 5TB that im storing important stuff on whilst I transition. My Nucs specs are below. I am now needing to add a NAS (i tried turning my PC into one using TRUEnas a few months back and that was fun to say the least. Im wanting something as cheap as possible, that I can use all drives (well 4) being able to utilize the 8TB with it being the biggest and will slowly upgrade as and when needed.

so minimum 4 bay, as cheap as possible (would consider second hand) but i would also like a minimum of a 2.5GBE as I also have a ASUS 16000 AXE with the 2 x 10 GBE and the NUC has a 2.5. Also as cheap to run as possible. I am also hoping to upgrade to a 1 or 2 gig internet connection too soon so be good to be able to access media from outside too (easy for me as I have my router setup as wireguard server but would be nice if others can access media too.

I have found a Asustor AS1104T Drivestor 4 for £250 brand new, but haven't looked into using the different size Hard drives. Only other solution is to build my own but not sure its worth the hassle when you can buy an all in one plug and play.

any advice appreciated as always from you guys.

Technical Details​

Brand	‎geeknuc
Package Dimensions	‎21 x 19.3 x 16.2 cm; 1.86 kg
Manufacturer	‎geeknuc
Series	‎Intel NUC
Colour	‎32GB+1TB
Form Factor	‎Small Form Factor
Screen Resolution	‎3840 x 2160 pixels
Processor Brand	‎Intel
Processor Type	‎Core i7
Processor Speed	‎5 GHz
Processor Socket	‎LGA
Processor Count	‎12
RAM Size	‎32 GB
Memory Technology	‎DDR4
Computer Memory Type	‎DDR4 SDRAM
Hard Drive Size	‎1 TB
Hard Disk Description	‎SSD
Hard Drive Interface	‎PCIE x 4
Hard Disk Rotational Speed	‎3600
Graphics Chipset Brand	‎Intel
Connectivity Type	‎Bluetooth
Hardware Platform	‎Windows
Operating System	‎Windows
Item Weight	‎1.86 kg

 

[Tech9]

Technical Details

Your new PC specs are unrelated to your NAS question except for the fact it has a 2.5GbE NIC.

I have found a Asustor AS1104T Drivestor 4 for £250 brand new

Perhaps the cheapest option indeed, but make sure it will do what you expect it to do. Reviews are available online.

 

[houghton19]

Your new PC specs are unrelated to your NAS question except for the fact it has a 2.5GbE NIC.



Perhaps the cheapest option indeed, but make sure it will do what you expect it to do. Reviews are available online.

I only put the pc specs to show that I wouldn’t be reliant on the NAS for streaming Plex remotely and that the NUC will be responsible for most of the heavy lifting, I was more looking for advice on the box itself, and that despite the 1GB of ram (I believe it’s not upgradable) OR if there was a better choice available.

 

[Tech9]

if there was a better choice available

There is always a better choice, but it won't be the cheapest. Your requirement is "as cheap as possible".

but haven't looked into using the different size Hard drives

You have to check if your existing HDDs are supported at all. You have some homework to do before you make a decision.

 

[coxhaus]

Why don't you use your big old PC as you already own it? Sounds like it has enough space for several drives.

Put it somewhere in the corner or in a closet out of the way.
Personally, I would never let my wife tell me to use a NUC. I can see no reason to down grade.

 

[sfx2000]

I have just purchased a Intel NUC 13th gen i7

There are so many different kind of NUC's - help us out with the specific model number.

Some are teeny-tiny and can fit behind the screen with VESA mounts, and some are comparable to Mini-ITX machines...

 

[houghton19]

Why don't you use your big old PC as you already own it? Sounds like it has enough space for several drives.

Put it somewhere in the corner or in a closet out of the way.
Personally, I would never let my wife tell me to use a NUC. I can see no reason to down grade.

Yeah, I had already looked at this, was looking at running an ethernet to the loft and sitting the computer up there, but no electric sockets, in all honesty I haven't been "Told by the wife" but I don't use it for gaming (occasionally I play football manager) but i have a corner desk with two monitors, everyone always dumps stuff on the desk for "dad to sort" and it does bring the house down a bit. Also because of the age the NUC is actually faster than the PC and running the NUC and a Asustor NAS is actually cheaper to run than having the main PC and both easier to hide

 

[coxhaus]

I always buy a low wattage CPU so when my larger PC get older, I can use them for other purposes. Anything 35 watts or less works for me. If you push a NUC hard they are going to have heat problems if you are using larger CPUs. And the little CPUs are worthless in my opinion as no power. I see no reason for NUCs.
So, buy a larger PC so you get better cooling.