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this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2025
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I wasn't sure what to put for NAS device. I built my own NAS solution, but it's not an OOTB NAS, so I picked "no".
I think if you mostly use it for being network storage, it's included
Mine started that way, with Linux + BTRFS RAID + samba, then I added minidlna, then Jellyfin, then a bunch of additional services.
I think the survey should distinguish between an off-the-shelf NAS (Synology, TrueNAS, etc) and DIY, ask about filesystems/RAID (ZFS, BTRFS, EXT + software RAID, hardware RAID, no RAID).
Not sure that's where I'd draw the line. Imho you have a server that also serves as a NAS. Before getting an explicit machine, my "NAS" was just NFS shares on my Proxmox host, which was also used to run all my VMs. It was backed by ZFS, but I don't see how that's relevant for it being a NAS or not.
I was confused by the wording. It said something like, "do you have a NAS device on the network?" I don't have a dedicated NAS, I have a device that provides NAS services (samba share, RAID, etc), as well as a dozen or so services (source code forge, budgeting app, etc). It's all one device in my case, except for a handful of other services hosted elsewhere.
When given a yes or no in the middle of the survey, I'm left to guess what qualifies as a NAS device. I call mine a server that provides NAS services, though it was originally a NAS-only device (that's why I bought the drives).
I've been in several online discussions where people claim I don't have a "NAS device" because it's not a dedicated device, and some even claim it needs to be something off the shelf like Synology to count. I think what trips me up is the word "device".
I did not even consider that NAS might refer to a commercial device.
Making a raspberry pi host an always on hard drive with Samba and calling it Network Attached Storage was the first thing I ever self hosted.
Language is weird how it changes.
The first thing I did was throw drives into my PC set up samba and minidlna so my SO and I could stream video to the TV.
But in an online discussion, someone made the argument that it needs to be a dedicated machine with unattended updates with providing storage as its only purpose or something to that effect. That seems overly limiting to me, but that seemed like a pretty common sentiment.
Surely there's a line somewhere between someone making a share on their PC or attaching a USB drive to their router and a commercial NAS device. I don't know where that line is, so I tend to be pretty conservative and assume a NAS device is dedicated to the purpose, whether DIY or purchased, but if it runs a bunch of other services, now it's a "server" and not a NAS.
That's why I'm suggesting the language here be more precise.