Hey everyone. I really want to replace Google photos with some sort of self-hosted solution. However, I am getting overwhelmed.
The first thing that came up when I did a little bit of research is buying a NAS. However, I just noticed these devices are so expensive with really weak specs. Feel like I am getting ripped off. Also, I heard that it can be slow? Is that true?
Anyway, I was told it is better to just buy a Resperry pi. However, these things are expensive for the specs. Would a used Intel NUC be better? Can you use any mini pc for that?
I have seen some crazy powerful (compared to the pi) cheap used Ryzen mini PCs, can those be turned into servers?
A NAS doesn’t need to have powerful specs. Serving images is a very simple task. Any background processing jobs are just that, background.
The last rPi I bought was all of $40. I thought it was a bargain for the specs.
I wish I can find them for that much. They cost way more where I live
Have you looked online?
Yeah I’m not a big fan of NAS’s. I agree they’re a bit of a ripoff, you’re paying for convenience. The only reason to go with a NAS imo is if you’re unable and unwilling to learn to use linux. Raspi4 are pretty cheap, 4gb model is like $55 iirc. If you’re paying more you’re probably getting ripped off. It’s definitely going to be lower power usage than a NUC or mini PC. But maybe you can find a cheap used one.
But since you’re only hosting photos, pretty much anything should work.
I don’t know why the Pi is so expensive where I live. It is like $200 USD equivalent.
