Storage
26 guides about storage for your home lab
From NAS builds to ZFS pools and backup strategies, these storage guides help you protect and organize your data. Learn about RAID configurations, disk selection, network file shares, and automated backup solutions that keep your home lab data safe and accessible.
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MinIO: S3-Compatible Object Storage for Your Homelab
Set up MinIO in your homelab to get self-hosted S3-compatible object storage for backups, media, and app data — with the same API as AWS S3.
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Samba and NFS File Sharing in the Homelab
Samba provides Windows-compatible SMB file shares; NFS is the Linux-native network filesystem. This guide covers setting up both on Ubuntu/Debian, configuring permissions, and choosing between them for homelab use.
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ZFS Basics for Homelab Storage
ZFS is a combined filesystem and volume manager with built-in RAID, checksumming, snapshots, and deduplication. This guide covers ZFS pools, VDEV types, datasets, snapshots, and practical ZFS setup on Linux for homelab NAS use.
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Linux Software RAID with mdadm: Setup and Management
mdadm provides software RAID on Linux without hardware RAID controllers. This guide covers RAID levels, creating arrays, monitoring health, handling drive failures, and recovering from faults — all without ZFS.
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HBA Cards for Homelab NAS: Expanding Your Storage Controller
Host Bus Adapter (HBA) cards give you more SATA and SAS ports for a homelab NAS or storage server. Covers choosing an HBA, IT mode flashing, PCIe slot requirements, and recommended cards for Proxmox and TrueNAS.
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OpenMediaVault: Turn Any PC Into a Home NAS
OpenMediaVault is a free, Debian-based NAS OS with a web UI. Covers installation, disk management, SMB/NFS shares, Docker via Portainer, RAID, and how it compares to TrueNAS.
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iSCSI Storage for Your Homelab: Shared Block Storage Across VMs
Set up iSCSI targets and initiators to share block storage across your homelab VMs and containers. Enables live migration, shared disks, and storage consolidation without expensive SANs.
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NFS Server Setup for Your Homelab: Share Storage Across All Your Machines
Set up an NFS server on Linux to share storage across your homelab. Covers installation, exports configuration, performance tuning, and securing access.
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Restic Backup for Your Homelab: Modern Deduplication and Encryption
Set up Restic for homelab backups with deduplication and encryption. Covers local, SFTP, and S3-compatible backends, scheduling with systemd timers, pruning policies, restore procedures, and a comparison with BorgBackup.
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Ceph Storage Cluster: Complete Setup Guide
Build a production-grade Ceph storage cluster from scratch. Covers Ceph architecture (MON, OSD, MDS, MGR), hardware planning, cephadm deployment, pool and CRUSH configuration, CephFS, RBD, RADOS Gateway for S3-compatible object storage, Prometheus monitoring, and performance tuning.
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Homelab Storage Tiering: NVMe, SSD, and HDD Strategy
Design a multi-tier storage architecture for your homelab using NVMe for hot data, SSDs for warm storage, and HDDs for cold archives. Covers LVM cache, bcache, ZFS special vdevs, and practical benchmarks.
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MergerFS + SnapRAID: Flexible Union Storage for Your Homelab
Build a flexible, expandable storage pool with MergerFS and SnapRAID. Mix-and-match drives with parity protection for homelab media and backups.
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Practical Btrfs Snapshots for Homelab Backups and Rollbacks
Use Btrfs snapshots to protect your homelab data. Covers subvolume layout, manual and automated snapshots with snapper, boot rollbacks, incremental offsite backups with btrfs send, and common pitfalls.
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NVMe vs SATA SSDs for Your Homelab: A Practical Comparison
When does NVMe actually matter over SATA in a homelab? Real benchmarks and practical guidance for VM storage, containers, NAS builds, and database workloads.
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Homelab ZFS on Linux Complete Guide
A comprehensive guide to running ZFS on Linux in your homelab. Covers installation on Debian and Ubuntu, pool creation, datasets, compression, scrubs, snapshots, and send/receive replication for backups.
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TrueNAS SCALE Setup: From Install to First Share
A hands-on walkthrough of installing TrueNAS SCALE, creating your first ZFS storage pool, setting up SMB and NFS shares, and deploying apps. Everything you need to go from bare metal to working NAS.
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Ceph Distributed Storage for Home Labs
Deploy Ceph distributed storage in your homelab with cephadm. Covers minimum hardware requirements, pool configuration, CephFS and RBD, performance tuning, and whether Ceph is right for your setup.
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ZFS vs Btrfs: Choosing the Right Filesystem for Your Homelab Storage
An in-depth comparison of ZFS and Btrfs for homelab storage. Covers data integrity, RAID configurations, snapshots, performance characteristics, and which to choose for NAS, VMs, and containers.
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The 3-2-1 Backup Strategy for Your Home Lab
How to implement a real 3-2-1 backup strategy in your home lab using restic, borgbackup, and rclone. Covers local snapshots, NAS backups, offsite replication, and automating the whole thing.
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Offsite Backup Strategies for Your Home Lab
Protect your homelab data with offsite backups. Covers Backblaze B2, rsync.net, Hetzner Storage Box, and self-hosted remote options with encryption, scheduling, and cost comparison.
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NFS vs SMB vs iSCSI: Choosing the Right Network Storage Protocol
A practical guide to network storage protocols for your home lab — NFS, SMB, and iSCSI compared, with setup examples, performance notes, and when to use each.
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Building a Dedicated NAS for Your Home Lab
A practical guide to building a purpose-built NAS for your homelab — cases, CPUs, HBA cards, drive selection, and choosing between TrueNAS, Unraid, and OpenMediaVault.
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NFS vs SMB vs iSCSI: Choosing the Right Storage Protocol
A practical comparison of NFS, SMB, and iSCSI for homelab storage. Covers performance, compatibility, configuration complexity, and which protocol to use for VMs, containers, media, backups, and shared files.
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Storage Replication with DRBD for High Availability
Set up DRBD to replicate block storage between two homelab servers for high availability. Covers installation, resource configuration, dual-primary mode, split-brain recovery, and integration with clustering.
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Unraid for Home Lab Use: The Complete Guide
A thorough guide to using Unraid in your homelab — the parity system, cache pools, Docker and VM support, Community Applications, and when to choose Unraid over alternatives.
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ZFS Storage Pool Setup: The Complete Home Lab Guide
A practical guide to setting up ZFS storage pools in your home lab — pool types, RAID-Z levels, scrubs, snapshots, and real-world configuration examples.