I am thinking of building a home media server, mostly for plex use. I have an older HP laptop with a GPU and 8GB RAM. Would I be able to use something like this as my storage device and something like Unraid on my laptop as a software raid? I have been hearing that using USB arrays is not recommended for Unraid or with similar applications in general.
Or Am I better off going with something like this? I am OK with the price with both options, but mostly want stability, ease of use and data security. Remote plex access occasionaly, but mostly just for myself in my home
Not sure about Unraid, but OMV will not create an array using drives attached by USB. If you really want to go this route, you need a DAS with it’s own raid controller. I used this along with my NUC: https://www.terra-master.com/us/products/homesoho-das/d2-310.html
That being said, It was less than a year before I wanted to expand my storage and ended up building a box with room for 12 SATA HDD and a little intel 13400. If you have the money, I would skip the DAS and just build yourself a little server. If you don’t have the cash or don’t plan on filling those drives with a bunch of media files, just make sure your DAS has it’s own raid controller.