Assembling a Network-Attached Storage unit can be a fun project, regardless of whether you repurpose old hardware or purchase new components. Similar to conventional PC-building, installing an operating system becomes the next course of action after you’re done putting the storage server together. Luckily (or unfortunately, if you’re afflicted with indecisiveness), the NAS ecosystem is home to a host of operating systems, ranging from the all-powerful TrueNAS Scale to the lightweight champ OpenMediaVault.

In fact, you can even take an everyday operating system such as Debian or Ubuntu and turn it into a capable storage server for your file-sharing and data archival needs. But that raises the question: can a normal OS hold its own against dedicated NAS distros? The answer is… yes. Kinda.

All-purpose distros are extremely versatile

Your regular PC can serve as a solid NAS (and vice-versa)

Despite requiring some fine-tuning on your part, building your own NAS software suite has some neat perks. Assuming you’re running a normal Debian-based distribution, you can jury-rig a flexible storage server for your computing needs. For a minimalist and resource-efficient setup, you can go with a plain Linux server by installing the iSCSI, RAID, and other necessary packages. Likewise, if you’re dealing with weak devices that can’t run the more advanced NAS operating systems, sticking to a CLI-based distro makes a lot of sense.

While an everyday OS may seem rather barebones for a NAS setup, there’s a staggering number of useful packages you can add to your server. Let’s say you need the block storage facilities of a SAN setup without SMB, NFS, and other file-sharing protocols. In that case, you can install the iSCSI package and combine it with ZFS pools and RAID provisions for an efficient block-sharing server. Alternatively, you can have a simple SMB server outfitted with the KVM and Docker packages for a backup-cum-self-hosting workstation. You’re also not restricted to the default storage facilities of the OS either. Unlike, say, TrueNAS, which lacks support for BTRFS, you can integrate pretty much every file system under the sun into your custom NAS software collection.

Plus, your NAS can also double as a PC in the meantime. I’ll admit surfing the web on the device where you store essential documents isn’t the smartest move. But for the average user who just needs a simple file-sharing server, being able to troubleshoot issues on your storage server can be quite helpful when you’re using a GUI distro for the makeshift NAS. That said, configuring all the packages can be a real pain, especially if you’re on a CLI-based distro. Although I’ve used the word distros so far, even Windows 11 can work as a serviceable file-sharing server once you enable Samba shares for your drives. However, once you factor in the security issues and heavy performance overhead of Microsoft's bloated flagship OS, it's hard to recommend Windows 11 for a NAS setup.

NAS operating systems offer more convenience

And are chock-full of useful features

On the flip side, setting up a proper NAS distro removes the tedium of manually installing all your packages and making sure they work without compatibility issues. You also get quite a few complicated facilities pre-configured for your storage needs. Take TrueNAS Scale, for instance. Although its UI has a rather steep learning curve, it’s got everything from snapshots, scrub tests, and Rsync tasks to RAID support, virtualization provisions, and multiple Network Shares. Meanwhile, Unraid and OpenMediaVault pack their own unique features into a fairly simple UI, and you’re pretty much done with the setup process once you’ve installed the OS.

Provided you’ve got the hardware to run them, NAS-centric operating systems are better for multi-purpose use-cases, where you may need to work with different file-sharing protocols. Just like the installation process, maintaining your NAS is a lot simpler on a dedicated server, especially since you’ll have to troubleshoot multiple packages inside Ubuntu, Debian, or other distros in case things go wrong with your makeshift server.

However, you do lose out on the flexibility aspect, as community plugins are the only means to extend the functionality of your storage server. Leaving OpenMediaVault aside, TrueNAS Scale and Unraid aren’t compatible with non-x86 systems. Heck, even OMV’s plugin repository isn’t fine-tuned for RISC-V systems like the Milk-V Jupiter. In a similar vein, if you want to minimize the resources consumed by your storage server, it might be a better idea to install the necessary NAS packages on DietPi and other lightweight distributions.

So, which one's better for your NAS?

As someone who has extensively experimented with NAS setups, I’d bestow the crown onto dedicated NAS operating systems. They’re fairly accessible, include multiple quality-of-life features, and are easy to work with once you get used to their UI.

But that doesn’t mean normal distros can’t replace your NAS OS. For hardcore computing enthusiasts well-versed in terminal commands, the CLI version of your everyday Linux OS can serve as an amazing NAS once you outfit it with all the necessary packages. However, OpenMediaVault remains a solid option if you’re looking for a middle-ground between dedicated NAS operating systems and their normal, all-purpose counterparts. After all, it’s built on top of Debian, and you can easily modify the underlying OS files with certain extensions.