I've hit a bit of a snag in my data hoarding journey and need some advice. I started off with a Synology DS920+ in 2020, equipped it with 4x6 TB drives, and soon found myself upgrading to 4x10 TB drives as my media and container needs grew. I've been heavily using PLEX, SONARR, RADARR, among other containers, and it's been fantastic so far.
However, I'm now planning to dive into 4K transcoding, enhance my setup with more RAM for network labs, and maybe even host a gaming server. The demand on my current system is skyrocketing, and once again, I'm running out of space.
I'm contemplating building a custom PC since the price seems comparable to getting an 8-bay Synology unit, but I'm really hung up on finding the right case. I'd prefer something that isn't a tower due to space constraints and aesthetics, but most importantly, I need it to support hot swapping. As my data hoarding isn't slowing down any time soon, I want to easily add more drives and replace any that fail without shutting down the system.
Has anyone here tackled a similar upgrade or built their own high-capacity, hot-swappable storage system? I'd love to hear about your experiences, particularly about your choice of cases and any setup tips you might have for someone looking to transition from a NAS to a custom build.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions or insights!