NAS PC Build questions - File System, LUKS and more

Hello,

Please advise me with your thoughts.

Sorry if it is not the right place to ask, but as there are many subjects, I chose this one.

ATM I have 8 external USB hard drives with my data.

To avoid plugin in my computer, and avoid all the problems with USB hubs, mounting etc etc, I am thinking in schuking the hard drives and connecting it to a JONSBO N3 PC build.

乔思伯JONSBO

It would be 8 HDD (plus one SSD for OMV) single volumes, no RAIDs, redundancy/backups or complicated setup.

Just to replace simple drives connected to a PC.

Yes, I know I will have to copy my data over and over to format with a new filesystem.

I am a daily user of OMV, so I have some moderate experience.

For this setup, I quickly tried OMV with LUKS plugin, simulated some ahrd drives, encrypting and decrypting info.

With no problem.

Just to be sure, I mounted this virtual drives in Ubuntu, and using the passphrase, I could access data.

So for me it is fine.

That brings me some questions:

1. BTRFS or EXT4 (or other)? This drives ar archive media and files (downloads, etc), so I won't need snapshots. Is the checksum feature good? Or I should just use EXT4? Right now they are with AppleFS, so I assume EXT4 would be a fine replacement.
2. Is the OMV LUKS plugin stable enough to not lose data?
3. Other suggestions to be aware (...?)

Bear in mind that my main objective is to be robust and stable.

I want to setup this and forget, to simply work.

Don't want to administrate and solve problems. Setup and forget.

It will be mainly turned off, turn on, access the files, and off again.

Performance is not the main issue.

I will get a PC motherboard with gigabit connection and enough SATA ports.

Probably will have to buy soemthing like this https://pt.aliexpress.com/item/1005005653706057.html

I assume it will be detected by BIOS (driverless) and OMV without a problem, right?

Any comments?

Thank you very much !

Thank you for your quick answer and insights.

Quote from macom

Go for ext4 if you do not need the advanced features of btrfs.

btrfs needs some learning and maintenance.

OK Thank you, I was leaning to this option. If it needs learning and maintenance I'm out, I better learn something that adds more value.

Quote from macom

The plugin is making use of luks. You can google "luks linux" to see if it is considered stable. I would think so. I use it since several years on a portable drive.

I know that LUKS is "old" and stable, but the plugin could be beta like and unstable.

Just to get your opinion because I don't feel like being a tester of this.

Just want as robust as the filesystem underneath.

Quote from macom

But why do you need file encryption on a NAS? Biggest risk is probably that someone is hacking your server while it is running and the filesystem is decrypted.

Different risks that I can see the difference.

I want LUKS to avoid anyone with physical access to the NAS to access data.

It will be mainly turn off.

I will turn it on when needed, it is meant to be used as a vault.

Hence the security and need for privacy.

Quote from macom

Luks cannot prevent you from loosing data. For that you need backup.

Think about backup.

Not an issue ATM.

In terms of losing data, I will be at the same risk as now, with external drives.

I am only gaining some functionality

Quote from macom

Also consider the age of your drives. Check the SMART values of those drives.

Now that is something interesting and useful to explore.

My drives are somewhat old but haven't been turned on many hours.

Mild usage.

But I would like to check it.

Unfortunately, the information is always somehwat criptic.

There are some programs for PC the decode the information into a more human form.

Like comparing to other drives of the same model, explaining the values, etc.

Can OMV display in an easy way and alert for a problem?

Right now I cannot check because I only have access to a virtualized testing instalation.

Quote from macom

I guess now one can judge if some hardware purchased from aliexpress will work without problems with Debian (OMV is based on Debian).

Let's see what happens I am looking forward for the hardware.

Is there any kind of software or plugin that helps us inside OMV?