Whatever your needs, consider separating by function. If you want something simple and standalone that just works, buy a MacMini and a DAS. If you need a cold

Whatever your needs, consider separating by function. If you want something simple and standalone that just works, buy a MacMini and a DAS. If you need a cold storage backup server that you only boot once a month, build that. If you want something that you can assign to a Windows domain and scale, maybe some Intel NUCs would work. A netbooted, POE-enabled Raspberry Pi 4 or two can do quite a lot, depending on your needs. I've use several proprietary consumer NAS products over the years, and mostly I've found they make great gifts to friends after a year or two.