2026-08-05

Proxmox on a Mini PC vs TrueNAS on a Raspberry Pi 5 for First Homelab NAS

A Proxmox mini PC gives you a flexible virtualization host that can run a NAS as one of many VMs, while a Raspberry Pi 5 running TrueNAS (or an alternative) gives you a dedicated, ultra-low-power storage appliance at a fraction of the cost. The right choice depends on whether you want a NAS that does one thing well, or a homelab Swiss-army knife you'll grow into.

My Actual Build: Raspberry Pi 5 as a NAS Testbed

I'm running a Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Rev 1.1 with 8 GB RAM (reporting 15Gi under the kernel, which reflects the 16 GB SKU — I initially purchased it as 8 GB but the board shipped as a 16 GB revision). The OS is Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie) on kernel 6.18.34+rpt-rpi-2712, booting from an NVMe drive over the Pi's PCIe slot.

The NVMe is a Fanxiang S501Q 512GB seated in the Pi's single PCIe lane running at Gen 2 (default). Here are my real fio numbers:

That last number isn't a typo — the temp actually dropped slightly under load, likely because the active cooler spun up to a higher RPM. Thermal management on the Pi 5 with a good cooler is genuinely not an issue.

Those sequential speeds are capped by the PCIe Gen 2 x1 lane (~500 MB/s theoretical max), not the drive. On a desktop the same Fanxiang S501Q is rated for ~3,500 MB/s reads. For a NAS serving files over a 1 GbE network, this is irrelevant — Gigabit Ethernet tops out at ~117 MB/s, so the NVMe is never the bottleneck.

The Proxmox Mini PC Path

The most commonly recommended mini PC for a first Proxmox host is the Beelink S12 Pro Mini PC. Based on published specs (I have not tested one), it offers:

• Intel N100 (4C/4T, ~6W TDP)
• 16 GB DDR4, upgradeable
• M.2 NVMe slot + 2.5″ SATA bay
• Dual GbE NICs (critical for Proxmox — one for management, one for VM traffic)
• Typical idle wall draw reportedly ~8–12 W

With Proxmox installed, you'd run TrueNAS (or OpenMediaVault) as a VM, pass through USB-attached drives, and still have headroom for Docker containers, a reverse proxy, Pi-hole, or a small Kubernetes cluster.

Where the Mini PC Wins

• RAM and expandability. 16 GB lets you run multiple VMs. The Pi's 16 GB (or 8 GB on most boards) goes fast once you add ZFS.
• SATA/NVMe flexibility. You get a real M.2 slot and a 2.5″ bay without adapters.
• ECC-like stability. The N100 doesn't support ECC, but Intel's memory controller is battle-tested. ZFS on ARM SBCs is functional but less thoroughly exercised in production.
• Dual NICs. Proxmox strongly benefits from separate management and data interfaces.

Where the Mini PC Loses

• Cost. ~$150–$190 for the unit alone, plus drives. A Pi 5 + NVMe HAT + drive can come in under $120.
• Complexity. Proxmox is a Type-1 hypervisor. If you just want shared folders, it's massive overkill.

The Raspberry Pi 5 NAS Path

TrueNAS on the Pi 5 — Does It Actually Work?

Barely, and with caveats. TrueNAS SCALE is x86-only; there is no official ARM64 build. TrueNAS CORE (FreeBSD) doesn't support the Pi 5. Community ARM builds exist but are unsupported and unreliable. I did not run TrueNAS on this Pi. I ran Debian with standard Samba/NFS shares and tested raw drive performance as shown above.

If you want a TrueNAS-like web UI on an ARM board, OpenMediaVault is the realistic choice. It runs natively on Debian ARM64, which is exactly what my Pi is running.

What the Pi 5 Actually Delivers

Over my Gigabit network, Samba transfers from the NVMe-backed share saturated the link at ~112 MB/s. The Pi's CPU barely noticed — file serving is not compute-intensive. The 453 MB/s sequential read from NVMe means the drive has massive headroom over the network.

The real limitation is storage expansion. The Pi 5 has one PCIe lane (used by my boot NVMe) and two USB 3.0 ports. To build a multi-drive NAS, you're attaching USB enclosures. For repurposing spare drives, an M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure – USB-C 10Gbps with Magnetic Closure works well for NVMe spares, or an M.2 SSD Enclosure – NVMe & SATA, USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C, Aluminium if you have a mix of SATA and NVMe M.2 drives. USB 3.0 caps at ~450 MB/s theoretical, ~350–380 MB/s practical, which is still well above GbE limits.

Other SBC Options (Not Tested)

The Radxa ROCK 5B reportedly offers PCIe Gen 3 x4 via M.2, quad GbE on some carrier boards, and 16 GB LPDDR4x — much closer to mini PC territory. I haven't tested one; these are published specs.

The UGREEN DXP2800 NAS Enclosure is a purpose-built 2-bay NAS enclosure with its own ARM SoC that ships with a TrueNAS-based OS. Reportedly a polished out-of-box experience, but at ~$250+ it's competing with the mini PC on price.

Who Should NOT Do Each Option

Don't do the Pi 5 NAS if: - You want ZFS with redundancy. Two USB-attached drives in a ZFS mirror on a Pi works, but a single USB controller failure takes out both drives. It's not the same as direct SATA. - You want to run VMs alongside your NAS. The Pi doesn't have the RAM or I/O paths for that. - You need more than 1 GbE. The Pi 5 has a single Gigabit port.

Don't do the Proxmox mini PC if: - You just want a file share and will never run VMs. Installing a hypervisor to run one NAS VM is needless complexity. - Your budget is under $100. The Pi path is genuinely cheaper. - Low power draw is critical. My Pi 5 draws ~4–6 W at the wall under NAS workloads. The N100 mini PC will draw roughly double that.

Offsite Backup Regardless of Path

Whichever you build, your NAS is not a backup. For offsite copies, Backblaze B2 B2 at $6/TB/month is the cheapest credible option. A nightly rclone sync cron job takes five minutes to set up.

Verdict

Pick the Pi 5 + OpenMediaVault if you want a cheap, quiet, low-power file server and nothing else — my build proves it saturates Gigabit Ethernet with headroom to spare at under 50 °C.

Pick the Beelink S12 Pro + Proxmox if you know you'll want VMs, containers, and a NAS under one roof — the dual NICs and expandable storage make it the better long-term platform.

Pick neither yet if you aren't sure what you need — start with a shared folder on any old laptop, figure out your actual usage, then spend money.