Best Home File Server Storage Options in 2025

One of the most basic types of resources that most want to self-host is file storage. File storage in general includes anything and everything that you might need to keep around or access for personal files. This can also include applications, utilities, logs, and many other things. We have seen so many great solutions come about over the past few years, especially in the home NAS market. I think we are not positioned to have extremely good home file server options in 2025. Let’s look at these and consider the pros and cons.

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1. Home NAS Devices (Best Overall for Most Users)

I honestly think in 2025, you can’t hardly beat home NAS devices for home file server storage. These devices are one of the most powerful and easy options. You can literally just unbox them, plug them into your network and you are off and running with home file server storage.

The choices for home NAS storage has definitely expanded. It is no longer just brands like Synology, QNAP, or ones that have been around for a while. Newcomers into this space like Terramaster and UGreen have definitely expanded the options and capabilities of the home NAS market. Also, brands like Unifi and Minisforum are getting into the NAS space as well. Today’s modern NAS devices have modern CPUs, fast networking, and built-in software that makes it super easy to use.

Below is a Terramaster F4-424 Max NAS that I have in my home lab. I really like this hardware. It is fast, powerful, and actually really like the TOS software. You can also load TrueNAS on these as well.

You can check out my video review of this one here:

The NAS devices are basically like a self-contained home server that has compute, storage, and networking in one box. They have really taken “hyperconverged” to the next level for home users. Most of these vendors are also including their own NAS operating systems. Also, for many of them, you can also load something like TrueNAS on them. This allows you the ability to unlock the full potential of open-source NAS software.

Why this is a good option in 2025:

• Plug-and-play setup: You don’t have to be a techie to set these up, just plug them in and they are ready to go
• Dedicated OS: Systems like Synology DSM or TOS 6 for Terramaster have a very polished GUI, permissions management, and media apps built-in
• RAID: These also have RAID built into the solution which protects your data with parity information
• Wide selection of apps: Most NAS platforms have app stores with tools for running Docker containers, media streaming, backups, or lightweight VMs.
• 10GbE and NVMe caching: NAS devices are no longer just spinning disk based, these can have SSDs or NVMe cache tiers for ultimate performance. Reads and Writes go first to the NVMe tier and then offloaded to the spindles.

2. DIY Server with Proxmox or TrueNAS (For the Enthusiast)

For those who want a more customized and “tinker friendly” solution, which I am a huge fan of, you can also go thte route of building your own server installed with Proxmox or TrueNAS. With today’s powerful mini PC options, or even a repurposed desktops can be outfitted with storage drives or connect to a backend NAS or SAN or even an S3-compatible object store.

Why this is a good option in 2025:

• You learn about virtualization: This is a great option if you are looking to learn more about virtualization, containerization, and shared storage.
• Lots of flexibility: You can use ZFS, BTRFS, or LVM for performance and protecting your data
• Virtualization: With virtualization support on your mini PC, you can host VMs and containers along with file storage so it provides a wide range of options
• Not that expensive: You can use older hardware and scale as you need to scale by adding more storage or more PCs to your solution
• Advanced file services: You can use capabilities like snapshots, replication, deduplication, and hybrid cloud backups with this option

If you are a power user and want or already have a home lab, this option allows you to have full control over the compute, storage, and networking. The learning curve with this option is a bit steeper but, you will also learn a lot using this option and improve your technical skills.

3. Raspberry Pi or other Single Board Computers (Low Power)

In 2025, there are a lot of options for running low power home file server storage. Raspberry Pi 5 devices and other SBC options like Zimaboards offer a low power solution that can attach to SSD devices, NVMe storage and other options.

You can use software like OpenMediaVault, DietPi with Samba/NFS, or you can even run something like bare metal Debian that can be configured with simple file sharing tasks.

Why this is a good option in 2025:

• Very low power usage: You won’t fine a more efficient platform that some of these SBC solutions which makes them ideal for 24/7 uptime.
• Tiny footprint: These fit on a shelf or behind a monitor.
• Customizable and small: You can install many lightweight OS options and have a tiny footprint physically as well.
• Affordable: A full setup with something like a Raspberry Pi can be relatively inexpensive at under $200.

As a note, these are not the best at very compute intensive tasks like media transcoding or heavy multi-user access. But, if you want a personal file server for just a single user or few users, these may work just fine and have lots of benefits.

4. Cloud-Integrated File Server with Hybrid Sync

There is a hybrid option for home file server storage that comes with the capability to combine local storage along with native integration with services like Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, and even Backblaze B2 or Wasabi for cold storage.

You can use things like rsync, rclone, or built-in proprietary sync apps that can create a local fast copy of resources you access often but then leave colder data in the cloud. You can also have automatic offsite backups.

Why this is a good option in 2025:

• Mix of both worlds: You can kind of have the best of both worlds with LAN access and the scalability of the cloud
• Redundancy: If your local copy or hardware fails, you still have a copy of your data in the cloud.
• Smart sync options: Depending on the solution or NAS vendor, some allow you to only push critical folders or schedule off-peak syncs which give you flexibility in how and when you want to sync your data

If you want an extra layer of protection for your data like family photos or business documents, this may be a good mix for many use cases, without just having all of your data in the cloud.

5. External Hard Drive + SMB/NFS Share from a Router or IoT Device

One of the easiest ways for home file server storage is using consumer routers or other simple IoT devices that allow having a USB drive plugged directly into these devices. Many of these devices now come with USB ports for just this reason. These often support SMB or DLNA shares. Some newer routers support FTP or Time Machine for macOS.

Examples include:

• Asus RT-AX88U
• TP-Link Archer
• GLiNet GL-MT3000

Why these are a good option in 2025:

• Cheap: This is likely the cheapest option allowing you to use a cheap router and USB hard drive to have a simple share on your network
• No extra hardware needed: Many homes already have a compatible router that may have this USB storage capability
• Low maintenance: With this you won’t have to worry about OS updates or RAID configs
• Good for light file shareing: For families who need shared folders for media or homework

While this route lacks advanced features like access control, performance tuning, or backup scheduling, it’s a solid choice for households that just want a centralized place to store and retrieve files.

Choosing the Right Home File Server for 2025

As you can see by the above list of home file server storage options, there are a lot of different ways to self-host your file storage without relying solely on cloud providers to host your storage for you. Many prefer to have their own private cloud they are able to self-host instead of relying on public cloud storage. Take a look at the below quick summary table that shows suggested use cases for each storage type in the home server network:

Keep in mind, whatever type of storage that you decide on or maybe even combination of storage types, be sure to have regular backups as part of your data protection routine. Configure strong passwords for accessing your storage and even think about data encryption for data or information you are hosting that you would consider to be sensitive data. Let me know in the comments which type of storage you are self-hosting today or moving towards using for self-hosting a home file server.