Jamie Warren's Tech

About a year ago, I decided to build myself a low-cost Storage server. I decided that I wanted it to be Debian powered, so my first choice of the operating system was Ubuntu/Ubuntu Server running on a Lenovo M93 tiny paired with my previously reviewed (Yottamaster 5 Bay Hard Drive Enclosure)

This was a lot of work to set up and then keep running, however, it was worth it at the time as I had Storage across multiple drives, and due to the limitations of the Storage Enclosure Ubuntu was my only option available as the m93 on had 1 SATA port available.

The set-up was 2x 1TB drives for Media and 1x 500GB for Computer Backups. There was no RAID in sight, as it wasn’t a thought for me as nothing was that important, and wouldn’t be missed if lost. This thought bit me in the but months later when I was messing about with a dodgy micro SD card from Wish.com, and after copying one of the 1TB drives I formatted the wrong drive losing half of my media.

Cut to earlier this year, I decided to rebuild the server in a more dedicated format. I had the Lenovo H430 lying around with its 4 SATA port it was perfect to be used for the second version of my HomeServer. I bought 3 SATA disk drives for use on the server. I used a 250GB HDD for the operating system, and for the storage, I combined the 3TB and 4TB HDD for 7 TB of available storage. I haven’t used Raid at this time as I just wanted as much storage as possible for the time being.

The hardware specs for this PC are a bit limiting, but they will be fine for now while I plan V3 of the home server. My CPU is an i3-2120 CPU @ 3.30GHz, which is paired with 16GB of DDR3 Ram. It handles my use case perfectly for now. I currently have 2-gigabit network connections, one is a USB dongle and the other is the onboard Ethernet port, and I have a GT218 in there which I don’t think is even supported by plex, but I can’t be bothered to take it out.

I have multiple services set up here, I’m using SFTP and SMB to access the server from Laptops, Phones and Tablets. I use SFTP when transferring files from my Phones and Tablets and SMB when accessing from laptops. Each person accessing the server has their login so that I can control what they can and can’t access.

For Apps, I’m using 2 catalogues, Truenas’ own and Truecharts. From TrueCharts’ catalogue, I have installed Plex for all my media, which my family can access, which my kids love having and Truecommand as my mom has expressed an interest in having her storage server in the future and I need to be able to keep an eye on her machine without setting up a VPN to her house.

From Truenas’ catalogue, I’m in the process of trying to set up Jellyfin for books/comics and Nextcloud for access to my files anywhere. These apps aren’t letting me connect to them from outside or inside my network so I need to look at some online guides on how to get them working.

I’m still using the Lenovo m93 for light things such as VPN access to my home network as the HomeServer is currently switched off at night as it lives in my bedroom. whereas the m93 lives under the stars and is always switched on. It’s again running Ubuntu Server and is the first node for SSH access to the house. This does cause some issues when I need to transfer files to the server from outside the house but that’s what the VPN is for.

But in future builds, I’m looking a maybe running some virtual machines and may even decide to run Truenas virtually using Proxmox so ill need a faster CPU and more RAM than I currently have. This will mean replacing the CPU, Motherboard, Power Supply and RAM if the motherboard doesn’t support DDR3. I’m also looking to simplify the networking and switch it to an internal dual gigabit or even a 2.5 gigabit network card.

Also on the list is changing the PC case to a smaller one so that it has less of a footprint, as I want to move the server into the same cupboard as V1 HomerServer, but it is now HomeServer2. On the storage side, I’m looking at buying a card to attach multiple drives in an enclosure frame by SATA, so I might look at a SAS to SATA cable for multiple drives on the same port but will need another PCIE slot which my motherboard doesn’t have, but there may be some workaround that I can look into to make it work.

My affiliate link for the Lenovo ThinkCentre M93p is – https://amzn.to/3WWixPY

My Setup
Dual Dell Monitors – https://amzn.to/483yRmS
M4 Pro MacBook Pro 14″- https://amzn.eu/d/1hONRrV
Redragon K621 Horus – https://amzn.to/45CXFAy
Ergonomic Wrist Rest – https://amzn.to/3P74H9P
Google Wifi – https://amzn.to/3LdnVJE
Lenovo ThinkPad USB 3.0 Pro Dock (Refurbished) – https://amzn.eu/d/36fxbr2
WORLDLIFT Quad Monitors Desk Mount – https://amzn.to/44DkfrK
Yottamaster 5 Bay Hard Drive Enclosure – https://amzn.to/480doLM
AUGOLA Laptop Stand – https://amzn.to/3RdiE8P
Redragon M693 RGB Wireless Mouse – https://amzn.to/45FfyPh

If you would like to donate directly to me, then do so at the following PayPal link – PayPal

If you would like to send me items to take a look at, then email us here