So I'm always expanding my collection of useless data, and my current PC is running low on room. Right now I have a couple of 3TB drives and a 256GB SSD, with a 1TB external backing up important things. I stupidly chose a case with only 2 HDD bays by default (I now have fans where the additional cradle could go), so I am at an impasse. I would like to expand as well as backup most of my data (Cloud storage for 4.5TB is not something I'd want), so I see three options:
1. Add a drive. I can either rework my case to fit one large drive (4-8TB) on board, or get an external drive of similar size. I would have to choose between backup and more storage this way but it seems to be the cheapest option.
2. NAS. I have always thought about getting an NAS. This would be the most expensive option by far, but probably the best, allowing me drive redundancy and making the files easy to share to other devices.
3. Ghetto NAS. I have an older gaming PC that had the PSU crap out on me. I could install a new PSU, pop the drives to that spacious case, throw an OS and software on there make a sort of homebrew NAS. This is the middle ground on price, (The PSU would be pretty cheap) and the bonus is I get another PC out of the deal. I just don't know if there are any disadvantages to this over an NAS.
So has anyone here had any experience with home NAS? Are they worth it? Would a networked PC with some cloning software have any major downsides compared to an NAS using the same drives?