Multiple services - what OS?

[aian]

Hi to all,

I bought an Odroid HC1 and paired it with a small 60GB SSD.
I want to run Syncthing, NoIP, Fail2Ban, Pi-hole, Samba, Wireguard, vsFTPD, Baikal and Trakkar on it.
NoIP and vsFTPD is mainly to be able to allow the download of a large file from a distant location once a month or so, I'd like to avoid the NAS aspect as I don't need it.
It there is a simpler solution to this, I'm all ears!
Wireguard is to allow me to connect to my CCTV cameras for remote viewing.
Samba and Syncthing is only for local file transfer and backups.

I'd prefer to move the OS to the SSD for the sake of preserving the microSD's life and for speed.
Also, I'd like to avoid Nextcloud as I find it quite cumbersome and too bloated for what I think are simple needs.

I first tried Ubuntu minimal but I couldn't figure out too much and found it quite difficult to set everything up.
Then I tried DietPi and it was easier, but I found it very hard to make changes to settings, as I cannot always find the conf files I read on tutorials that I need to edit.
Sometimes they open and are completely blank, others they open with different commands than what the tutorials say or don't open at all.
Of course this has to do with me being inexperienced, but the need to move away from anything Google is much stronger and I want to learn, so if that's the route I have to go, I'll do it.
I've read in quite a few places that DietPi is not as secure as other distros.
I can't quote the places I've read this as there have been so many articles/posts I've read in the past 2 weeks that I've lost track.
It's a lot to take in for a newbie...

Would you stick with DietPi, or would you prefer Ubuntu minimal or Raspbian or a different OS I am not aware of?