I got into self hosting almost a year ago. Since then, I bought (low) hundreds of dollars worth of hardware, but I’ve never used any of my services outside of testing. My server is left unused since may (I think).
Now I’ve found a use for my server, but my HDD, (which I bought for a good price ($150 for HC530 14TB, 10k POH) for european standards in last November) isn’t really being used. To be frank, I never really used it, I don’t need a NAS, I always preferred (pirated) streaming services over local streaming, so I mostly had it just to have it.
I kinda know what I can do with it. I could set up a proxmox backups on it or run a nix cache (I run NixOS on my desktop PCs, I would be using the cache, but it would be annoying to set up and cachix free tier is enough for now).
I’m also anxious to use it, because I’m scared to wear it down, but, at the same time, I know that it will degrade if I don’t use it. I might want to sell it, but my previous sales on online marketplaces were abysmal and I know I might regret it if I change my mind and decide I need so much storage.
What would you suggest? If I want to keep it, how should I treat it?
I suggest having a backup of some of your favourite media anyway. You never know when a service will be taken down.
What services are you using, if you don’t mind me asking?
I use none. My homelab has never been operational.
Protip:
If you use real-debride, it’s basically a cloud cache. Meaning - after it fetches your stream / you finish watching it, it retains the download for you (30 days?) - or at least the index. So if you pop over to real-debride thereafter, you can download and store what you watched locally right quick.
There are tools that integrate the *arr stack to do just that…if you’re looking to have your cake and eat it.
I meant the streaming services.
Whatever is on top of fmhy.net list. I can link it if you want
Had success with yams.media. Gives a basic arr-stack to begin with