NOTE: This category struck me as the best place to ask this question. If it's not, I have no problem with a moderator moving it somewhere else.
I'm planning to cobble together a poor man's NAS using OpenMediaVault running on a 4GB Raspberry Pi 4 Model B with 2 or 4 ext4-formatted, single-partition USB 3.0 drives as JBOD. I would like to use "big" drives, initially starting with 2 x 8TB external backup drives (which are cheap right now), but ultimately upgrading to bona fide NAS drives in a 2 x or 4 x 12TB configuration (when prices come down). I'm trying to avoid hidden "gotchas," both at the outset and further down the road, so I have some questions:
What are OpenMediaVault's own inherent, real-world storage-addressing limits, on a per-partition, per-drive, per-USB-port, and aggregate basis? (By "real-world," I mean without a significant performance hit.) In other words, within the confines of "reasonable" performance:
* What's the largest ext4 partition I can use?
* What's the largest hard drive I can use?
* What's the largest amount of storage I can address through a single USB 3.0 port and via a hub or dock?
* What's the largest amount of total, aggregate storage I can address through both of the Pi4B's USB 3.0 ports, whether directly or via hubs or docks?
I'm inquiring about the 4GB Raspberry Pi 4 Model B's own storage-addressing limits on Raspberry's forums -- I suspect they will be lower than OpenMediaVault's -- but if anyone knows the answer off the top of their head, I'm all ears. For that matter, I'm open to suggested alternatives to the Raspberry Pi.
Many thanks to anyone who takes the time to think about my questions and ventures at shot at answering them!