start-os VS OpenMediaVault

Will these outperform RaspB-PI4/8gb ? Looking to run start9.com as a BTC node/lightning

Who? Start9 (9% off if you pay with bitcoin), Lightning in a box (BTCPayServer pre-installed), My node. There's Citadel and Umbrel OS that you can run on any device.

If it’s more powerful than a raspberry pi 4, then consider running Embassy OS and use it as a home server. https://start9.com/

If you are reading this please take a look at start9. https://start9.com/

The major problem with Umbrel is that even though they package all in one-solutions. If something goes wrong you rely on umbrel for issues (against decentralization). You will rely on their updates for any problems.

start9 built an linux os group up. all services are individually packaged from source.

umbrel packages all dependencies together (via docker container) which could causes issues for maintenace.

// start9 vs umbrel

You don't need much power to run a node. I run it on a Raspberry Pi, with https://getumbrel.com/. There are other similar options, like https://start9.com, https://mynodebtc.com/ to check out.

The most popular implementation of a Bitcoin hardware node presently is Umbrel. There also remains a share of the market taken by The Embassy, MyNode, Raspiblitz and Nodl. Umbrel started as a simple Bitcoin and Lightning Node but has grown to match a bigger vision, one started by The Embassy.

You might want to consider the previously mentioned MergerFS and SnapRAID, or MDADM and LVM for your setup. OpenMediaVault [https://www.openmediavault.org/ is a solid choice in this regard. Additionally, if you're planning to run something like Proxmox, you could look into deploying Starwind CVM on top of it. Pretty much like in this guide: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/resource-library/starwind-virtual-san-vsan-configuration-guide-for-proxmox-vsan-deployed-as-a-controller-virtual-machine-cvm/ .

You would better to install OMV instead. It's a ready to use fileserver solution with web interface.

So I'm working on a similar setup with an ancient desktop my in-laws were getting rid of. I installed OpenMediaVault directly to the hard drive (it's so old that I assume it wouldn't work too well as a hypervisor), with a 4TB external HDD attached. OMV supports Docker by means of a plug-in and I'm running a Jellyfin container with no issues at all. I'm still manually downloading everything to the HDD but *arr containers are my next step, as well as setting up a gluetun container to route all that through a VPN.

That is possible (it's automated to a certain extent). It also depends on the NAS OS. Unraid, for example, can work with drives of different sizes while using the largest one for parity. TrueNAS uses ZFS so you won't be able to just add a drive to your RAIDZ and expand it. There's also openmediavault: https://www.openmediavault.org/ that uses Linux Software RAID and you can add a new drive there but you can't combine drives of different sizes. And there's also Starwinds NAS that supports both Linux Software RAID and ZFS: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/san-and-nas. Plus, I would avoid SMR drives in RAID: https://nascompares.com/answer/list-of-wd-cmr-and-smr-hard-drives-hdd/

I'd put it like that: if you have a spare PC, then it's definitely worth trying. I would also look into openmediavault (minimal RAM needs): https://www.openmediavault.org/ and Starwinds NAS (supports both ZFS and Linux software RAID): https://www.starwindsoftware.com/san-and-nas