M431K3

I've wanted to build a file server for a long time, especially one I can reach from outside the local network. A central system where I can store photos, videos and important files, and retrieve them whenever I need them. I haven't started building it yet, I'm just figuring some things out right now.

I'll use my old desktop. Right now, dear Clutterbox is 6 years old, has 8 GB DDR3 RAM, an i5-4460 CPU, a GTX 760 GPU, a 64GB SSD boot drive and a 1TB HDD for storage. The specs were already a generation behind when I built it in 2015, and it doesn't meet the minimum system requirements for some games on my Steam wishlist anymore. The SSD is way too small, too.
The case, however, seems like a good start: it's a Fractal Design R3, with 8 internal and 2 external drive bays. I'll probably replace the motherboard too, since it's a uATX mobo with only 4 SATA ports. The new one should have at least 6, and maybe a few more PCIe slots for expansion cards. Maybe I'll get more RAM, and I'll reuse the CPU and SSD. For the OS, I'll use TrueNAS, it seems well-documented. It also has some nice plugins. I'll configure the drives in RAID 1. Just need to get some huge HDDs.

There's one problem I haven't tackled yet: How can I remotely access the NAS? Can't I just forward the FTP port? No, it's actually super unsafe. Most google search results suggest accessing it through SFTP, setting up a dynamic DNS, and do some other complicated computer things.

Years ago, I pulled an old computer from a garbage bin outside a community college. It was a Fujitsu Esprimo E3510. I didn't know much about computers back then, I just disassembled it as far as I could, removed every wire I saw, took out all of the components. And of course, I neatly kept track of where I left everything, down to the last screw (I totally didn't).

A few months ago, I came across a ram stick, a whopping 2GB of DDR2 RAM, and an old cpu, an Intel Core 2 Duo of some sort. They seemed to go together, and I remembered the old Fujitsu I pulled from a garbage bin. I found the case and the motherboard too, and the power supply, and decided to put the whole thing back together as an experiment. Sadly, I had disassembled the psu so much that I decided it was too much of a risk to use it again, so I bought a new ("new") one, along with a cpu cooler, a 250 GB HDD, a few cables and an extra ram stick since the motherboard has two slots. I found a manual online, apparently some of them came with an Nvidia Quadro gpu, but I decided to leave it for a future upgrade.

I just need the last SATA cables now and then it'll be ready. Not sure what I will use it for. And it also needs a name, I like giving my devices names. My piratebox is called JackSparrow and my main gaming pc is called Clutterbox, but I'm not sure what I should call this one.