New Server / Nas

[Deathjester]

I currently have a Synology NAS but it's not big enough.

I'm now looking at other options, such as making my own NAS. Looking at file formats got me thinking.
Why am I building a NAS?
Storage & manageability.

Looking at the specs required to build the NAS I want should I just build a server and put Server 2012 on it instead? (I'm not worried about licencing in this instance, or cost of licencing)

I'm asking from a purely functional stand point.

What do I gain from building a NAS (using FreeNas ) over setting up an system with multiple VM's on it (I'm a VCP so I have VMware workstation licences anyway).
Part of me is thinking I should just bite the bullet and setup a full home domain rather than just building a new NAS; I know it's a little more extreme than just building a NAS, but I think it just makes so much more sense.

Any suggestions?

 

[bulletv1]

I'd go for Microsever set it up as a NAS. I've only just started playing with it getting my music on it and ripping my DVDs so they can go in the loft etc and maybe for backing up things from my main pc.

 

[Kidge]

Get a Gen8 HP Microserver, put Windows Server 2012 R2 on it, set up file shares, etc and then enable the hyper-v role and play around with virtual machines as well.

You'll want to add 16Gb RAM and potentially upgrade the cpu to a Xeon if you want to make multiple VM's and run them at the same time.

Also if you get a free license go for datacenter version of windows and then all the VM's you create a covered under the one license.