Amazing, thanks so much, this is all very helpful!

That all makes a lot of sense, and I've been checking out eBay to see what's about. Looks like there's some decent stuff there, an i5 NUC with 8gb of ram and a 2 bay QNAP NAS for around $350 AUD. I'll do a bit more research into what I actually need, but you've given me a great place to start, so thanks again!

And I'll definitely look into 3-2-1 backup when I start storing actual data that I'd be sad to lose.

Thank you! And what's the benefit of running the NUC + NAS instead of just installing the Plex server/whatever else directly on the NAS?

The NAS seems to be the pricey part. Are there cheaper pure storage solutions, short of building a new PC with a bunch of space for HDDs?

Sorry for all the questions!

If I were to buy a NUC, would it still be worth buying the Nvidia shield for streaming purposes, or do I just run everything off the NUC? I'm not the OP but in a similar situation.