- Lenovo ThinkCentre / Dell OptiPlex USFF machine like the M710q.
- Secondary NVMe or SATA SSD for a RAID1 mirror
- Use LVMRAID for this. It uses mdraid underneath but it’s easier to manage
- External USB disks for storage
- WD Elements generally work well when well ventilated
- OWC Mercury Elite Pro Quad has a very well implemented USB path and has been problem-free in my testing
- Debian / Ubuntu LTS
- ZFS for the disk storage
- Backups may require a second copy or similar of this setup so keep that in mind when thinking about the storage space and cost
Here’s a visual inspiration:
Don’t let be called a hypocrite - give $5. 😆