TCB13 , 6 months ago

Kinda related: what if I install something like Debian/Ubuntu on it? Can I still use the NAS hardware in the same way?

And that’s what you should do because those NAS specific software is more overhead than solution. You can setup the entire thing manually use less resources and have it better. BTRFS is a good solution when it comes do a simple RAID.

To be fair for a basic NAS what you need is Samba 4 for shares and something like FileBrowser for a WebUI. Another suggestion I’ve for you is to really go Debian and use LXD/Incus to create containers and virtual machines if required. I’ve posted about it here.