In the long-term, I’m undecided if I want to run a RAID 5 on disks hooked up to my windows system, MacOS or Linux. Considering this, could a DAS, with disks formatted as exfat, be a solid option for me? Any downsides to storing data on exfat or for running raid on exfat?
Agree with the NAS suggestion. Will be more convenient and reliable than a USB RAID enclosure. I would look into Synology if you want a ready solution.