I have a DIY media NAS running on Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS that is primarily used for storing media and Jellyfin. It has no RAID setup and is JBOD of shucked (Western Digital) HDDs with SnapRAID+mergerfs to create drive pools and have parity for the drives. The NAS is on 24/7 and has no access to the internet (everything is just for the LAN).
SnapRAID+mergerfs Drive Pools are as follows:
- Grand Parent Pool: Media (which entails the following subpools)
- Subpool 1: Movies (2 HDDs + 1 HDD for parity)
- Subpool 2: Shows (2 HDDs + 1 HDD for parity)
My questions are:
- Are the differences between shucked external HDDs and NAS graded HDDs enough to justify specifically purchasing NAS HDDs for someone who keeps their NAS on 24/7?
- I wish to switch to Proxmox. My goal is to have a Ubuntu Server VM to continue acting as the server OS but I want the flexibility and features of Proxmox in case I need to do something like go back to an older VM state in case anything happens with a setting or update, and to experiment with other server OSes. Would switching over be problematic with my SnapRAID+mergerfs pools (like cause data deletion or the drives to not operate properly) or would the transition be quick and painless?
- The NAS does consume a lot of electricity. What are best practices (outside of turning off the NAS) for reducing power consumption? Would buying NAS graded HDDs help with power consumption? Or are there settings and/or software that can help with this?