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Also not OP, but I really like FreeNAS running on an HP Microserver.

The older Gen8 boxes Just Work.

The newer Gen10 boxes hang the first time you boot, you need to pause it and set the hw.pci.realloc_bars loader variable to 1. Details here: https://www.virten.net/2017/10/fix-for-freenas-on-hpe-micros...

Not OP, but I've had excellent luck with a Synology DS418 containing a RAID-1 of four 8TB disks I peeled out of USB enclosures bought absurdly cheap last Black Friday. Simple, fast, and compatible; the drawback is that it's expensive compared to similar 4-bay SOHO offerings, but IMO it's worth the premium.

I've been reading about Synology, but I can't figure out the encryption.

Does the encryption key also live in the NAS as well? Is it like, sitting there?

I haven't used it, so I've no idea.

A desktop PC with a bunch of SATA disks and ZFS. Nothing fancy, but works great and is super stable.

My entire digital footprint is just 2 TiB, so the NAS has my back covered for several years now, and probably will for a few more years.