this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2023
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Buy the cheapest old computer on your equivalent of Craigslist and install TrueNAS. If you want to use a lot of drives, make sure there are enough SATA connenctions on the motherboard.
You can also put an LSI SAS raid controller card flashed into IT into a PCI slot and use SAS to SATA cables. Can easily find them used on ebay for reasonable prices. And if you really grow your server, you can transition those SAS ports to point to a JBOD array with SAS ports, although that takes you from "cheap" to "cheap when compared to buying new."
I'm also a fan of Unraid since it makes expanding the array much easier, but you have to pay for it, and it's designed with the assumption that the only thing you're doing on the bare metal is storage, and everything else is either containerized or in a VM.
Edit to add: As mentioned in the comments below (thanks u/GreyBeard@lemmy.one) it's usually preferable to use software RAID, not hardware RAID, unless you know for sure you need that kind of performance, and if you're asking about a cheap NAS you don't. Flashing LSI raid controllers over to IT mode makes them pass through any attached discs, so it's an easy way to add SATA ports when you're running out of them on the mainboard.
Unless you have some really high throughput needs, or are putting it in a real weak computer, I recommend software raid like zfs. No need for a real raid controller unless you just need additional sata ports. Heck, even synologys prefer software RAID these days and they have atom or arm processors.