this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2025
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Selfhosted

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I recently replaced an ancient laptop with a slightly less ancient one.

  • host for backups for three other machines
  • serve files I don't necessarily need on the new machine
  • relatively lightweight - "server" is ~15 years old
  • relatively simple - I'd rather not manage a dozen docker containers.
  • internal-facing
  • does NOT need to handle Android and friends. I can use sync-thing for that if I need to.

Left to my own devices I'd probably rsync for 90% of that, but I'd like to try something a little more pointy-clicky or at least transparent in my dotage.

Edit: Not SAMBA (I freaking hate trying to make that work)

Edit2: for the young'uns: NFS (linux "network filesystem")

Edit 3: LAN only. I may set up a VPN connection one day but it’s not currently a priority. (edited post to reflect questions)

Last Edit: thanks, friends, for this discussion! I think based on this I'll at least start with NFS + my existing backups system (Mint's thing, which is I think just a gui in front of rcync). May play w/ modern SAMBA if I have extra time.

Ill continue to read the replies though - some interesting ideas.

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[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 3 points 10 months ago

I like this solution because I can have the need filled without a central server. I use old-fashioned offline backups for my low-churn, bulk data, and SyncThing for everything else to be eventually consistent everywhere.

If my data was big enough so as to require dedicated storage though, I'd probably go with TrueNAS.