I am currently using an old laptop (circa 2015) with a 250GB SSD in it, and 4GB of RAM. It runs Fedora 39 Server, and only hosts a Jellyfin instance through Docker right now (though I want to use Nextcloud later too). There is only 15GB of storage left on it, and the CPU is constantly overloaded (due to forced transcoding). I happen to have a lot of 500GB 3.5" HDDs laying around, and I want to use them in RAID 5. What hardware would be good for having 4 HDDs, and running Jellyfin and Nextcloud in Docker? I’m okay with either having just a 4-bay NAS (as long as it can handle transcoding (MKV 480p -> MP4)), or having a 4-bay NAS and a server/computer/NUC. I only have a budget of CAD$900 (USD$658 as of writing), but I am willing to go to CAD$1000 if absolutely necessary.
idk what resolution you use for streaming but my raspberry pi 4B runs plex at 1080p just fine as long as it isnt using x265/AV1 (but on jellyfin you might be able to use the Pi’s GPU for transcoding).
I use nextcloud too but it’s a tiny bit slower than I’d like, but that’s likely a wifi issue i think.
Literally any PC on Amazon for $200 CAD, then add your own SSD. I’d say 8GB of RAM but that’s just for cache, youll rarely go over 4 in general use.
That, or a raspberry pi 4B/5 which runs you about $150 once you get a case, power supply, powered USB dock for sticking SSDs into (just for safety since technically the pi’s USB ports cant handle certain SSDs power reqs.) and then stick SSDs into that.
Use dietpi (dietpi.com) for setting up your services and it’ll run nice and smooth for anything not H265, which might be annoying but Plex and possibly jellyfin let you transcode stuff in the background which is nice.
