The downside of the compression is the install can take way longer than the download. But if you're on a slower connection the smaller download would be a big benefit.
Its a docker compose deployment so should just work on any system with docker installed. Copy the docker compose file and env file if it has one, and run 'docker compose up -d' in that directory.
That's what backups solve, for important data like a PW DB you should be running daily backups with versioning. Then if anything gets deleted or corrupted you can restore it easily.
There's no guarantee google will scrape and store encrypted messages, plus by not using an encrypted messenger you're opening up your conversations to everyone else, not just potentially google.
The cheapest way I can think of is a used PCIe HBA card and some SATA power extension cables. Probably $50 or so to connect 8 drives this way.
If you're set on USB you can often get 4 bay enclosures for around $100 or so, that would the way I'd do it. The downside of single USB adapters is the sheer amount of wires and power supplies you'll have.
I set up Plex/Jellyfin specifically to get away from having to manage media manually, it tracks watch states, gets subtitles, transcodes for me when I'm traveling, and does all of that for family too.
MPV is neat but its just a standard media player app like VLC, not really anywhere near the same concept as Jellyfin.
The downside of the compression is the install can take way longer than the download. But if you're on a slower connection the smaller download would be a big benefit.