btrfs is pretty fun :) definitely a steep learning curve and there are a lot more little performance quirks than something like ZFS, but if you use it right it’s fantastic!

the rack (and most of the stuff on it) is basically refurbished ewaste - i do a LOT of dumpster diving. pretty much the only things i’ve paid for are hard drives and RAM (which is all DDR3 and remains dirt-cheap, i’ve got both T620s up to 768GB now >:D). can recommend looking around at any schools/universities/large company offices near you to see if you can get your hands on some free shit

yeah the shipping thing can be a pain (this is the reason i still don’t have a drive shelf), but there are still a few good deals which work out. i’m in switzerland (also not EU), so it isn’t any easier for me :P