What server do I need to host Nextcloud with several TB of files?

Which system image should I pick?

Of our images, Debian 13 and Ubuntu 24.04 LTS are the two on Nextcloud's list: use one of them. Debian 13, Debian 12, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, AlmaLinux 10, Rocky Linux 10, Proxmox VE 9 and Proxmox Backup Server 4. Debian 12, AlmaLinux 10 and Rocky Linux 10 are not named on Nextcloud's list, and neither of its two recommended systems is in ours. Proxmox VE 9 works too, with Nextcloud in a virtual machine or container on the data pool.

How much RAM and CPU does Nextcloud need for several TB?

Terabytes barely move the RAM figure; users, apps and activity do. Nextcloud says memory needs vary greatly with users, apps, files and server activity.

The number to size is PHP-FPM workers. Nextcloud's tuning guide notes the default pool allows only 5 (pm.max_children = 5), which is far too few. Its formula: RAM set aside for PHP, divided by the average worker size, which it puts at 50 to 100 MB. Setting it too high causes swapping, which it calls worse than queuing.

Size Nextcloud by concurrent users and PHP workers; size the disks by terabytes.

Where should the files and the database live?

Split them. Put the data directory on the hard-drive pool, and the database, PHP and Redis on the system SSD. The operating system sits on its own SSD (two mirrored SSDs on the larger holds); the data drives arrive blank and unpartitioned, so you can build ZFS, an mdadm array or a set of independent disks. If you want the team to prepare a RAID 6 or RAID 10 array before delivery, say so to support before the server is handed over.

Nextcloud's tuning guide adds three points for larger instances:

• Replace SQLite with MariaDB or PostgreSQL.
• Turn on memory caching; APCu needs installing first, as it is off by default.
• Move file locking to Redis. By default, transactional file locking uses the database, which adds load to it.

Why hard drives for files and SSD for the database is explained in HDD or SSD for a rented storage server.

How much disk do several TB of files really need?

More than the files themselves. Previews, file versions and the trash all take space on the data pool, and parity takes its share of raw disk.

Basalthold's survey of 2 November 2026 found that storage servers from 16 TB cost a median $9.50 per TB a month at hosts taking crypto without KYC. Across every listed plan, the median was $5.12. Hold 24 costs $4.62/TB and Hold 160 $3.50/TB, raw. Every term is on the hold price list.

Should I turn on Nextcloud's server-side encryption?

Usually not, on a server you rent. Nextcloud's documentation says its server-side encryption does not protect against a compromised server or a malicious administrator. In master key mode, admins can decrypt any user's files. Encrypted files are about 1% larger; before Nextcloud 25, the overhead was 35%.

For local storage, Nextcloud itself suggests disk encryption such as LUKS, which also covers theft of the physical server. You can encrypt every data drive with LUKS or ZFS native encryption; the keys stay with you and nobody on the team ever asks for them. Each reboot then needs an unlock, as shown in unlocking a LUKS-encrypted rented server remotely.

Encrypt the drives under Nextcloud, not the files inside it, and keep the keys off the server's own disks.

Is the Nextcloud server its own backup?

No. A storage server is not a backup of itself: we keep no copy of your data anywhere else, so a second copy in another place stays your job. Back up the data directory, a database dump and config.php to a second place, with versions. Targets and costs are compared on the best offsite backup for a NAS, and the same targets serve a Nextcloud server.