Some NAS advice...

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Years ago I had a HP Microserver but it went pop, so been running everything off my main PC.

Recently looked at getting a Qnap or Synology NAS. After some research ive decided to build my own with the intension of installing FreeNAS on it. All my bits should be coming next week, I've purchased:
  • Intel G4600
  • ITX Motherboard
  • 8GB DDR4 2133mhz
  • ADATA Ultimate SU800 126GB M.2 (For OS)
  • 4x 4TB WD Red HDDs
  • In-Win IW-MS04-01 4-Bay ITX NAS case
Mainly for file storage, running Plex and download plugins.

Any words of advice when using FreeNAS since it'll be my first time, or should I be looking at an alternative OS?

Thanks all!
 
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I've found freenas to be great with a similar spec - you might be better grabbing a pair (supports mirroed install on 2 usb) of decent USB sticks to install freenas onto and then using the M2 drive as a cache - if intending to use as more than a NAS, E.G for VM's etc then more memory may be needed with a pool of that size.

What motherboard have you gone for? That CPU supports DDR4 2400, and with the right mobo it also supports ECC
 
A small SSD is now the preferred boot option for FreeNas - I think it started chewing up usb sticks more often in the last few years - plus the installation of updates is then much quicker. No need to mirror then as you can backup your config and reinstall FreeNas very quickly then reapply your saved config. Even a 60GB SSD will be huge - so just buy something small and branded.
I'd spend money on ECC - and up that memory - 16GB I would guess would be the minimum really for a Plex/home media stuff with that sized pool. Also with an ITX board you'll not have the spare slots for later so get those two slots filled with 16GB+ from the off. I'd also say get a basic UPS to anyone with a home server type setup if you haven't already got one.
 
BongoHunter said:
I've found freenas to be great with a similar spec - you might be better grabbing a pair (supports mirroed install on 2 usb) of decent USB sticks to install freenas onto and then using the M2 drive as a cache - if intending to use as more than a NAS, E.G for VM's etc then more memory may be needed with a pool of that size.

What motherboard have you gone for? That CPU supports DDR4 2400, and with the right mobo it also supports ECC
Click to expand...

mikedigitales said:
A small SSD is now the preferred boot option for FreeNas - I think it started chewing up usb sticks more often in the last few years - plus the installation of updates is then much quicker. No need to mirror then as you can backup your config and reinstall FreeNas very quickly then reapply your saved config. Even a 60GB SSD will be huge - so just buy something small and branded.
I'd spend money on ECC - and up that memory - 16GB I would guess would be the minimum really for a Plex/home media stuff with that sized pool. Also with an ITX board you'll not have the spare slots for later so get those two slots filled with 16GB+ from the off. I'd also say get a basic UPS to anyone with a home server type setup if you haven't already got one.
Click to expand...

Thanks chaps. So...

  • I'll definitely update my order for 16GB.
  • Motherboard wise, unsure. It's the one thing I haven't ordered yet. Trying to keep it cheap, around £70 max.
  • ECC RAM im not so sure on, quite a considerable increase in cost for motherboard and RAM isn't it? I appreciate there is a slight risk without it but im ok with that.
  • I'll look at a UPS later, thanks for suggestion.
  • Most motherboards I've been looking at are 4x SATA, so really need to use the M.2 for boot.
 
8GB stick of Kingston Value 2400 ECC UDIMM is about £75

Not a huge premium over non ECC

Mothboard however will be a different matter, if you want ECC then you will need something with Intel C2** chipset - cheapest option with KabyLake pentium support will probably be Asus P10 series, but will cost more than £70, might be worth a browse of the supermicro and Asrock Rack ranges - but suspect they will be more than £70 too.

If wanting to utilise the auto graceful shutdown and other feature's of a UPS with freenas then it's worth checking out the freenas HCL for UPS's - as this will tell you if your chosen UPS's interface and more advaneed featured - E.G the USB connection on the APC Smart-UPS and Back-UPS series are supported and to what level
 
BongoHunter said:
8GB stick of Kingston Value 2400 ECC UDIMM is about £75

Not a huge premium over non ECC

Mothboard however will be a different matter, if you want ECC then you will need something with Intel C2** chipset - cheapest option with KabyLake pentium support will probably be Asus P10 series, but will cost more than £70, might be worth a browse of the supermicro and Asrock Rack ranges - but suspect they will be more than £70 too.

If wanting to utilise the auto graceful shutdown and other feature's of a UPS with freenas then it's worth checking out the freenas HCL for UPS's - as this will tell you if your chosen UPS's interface and more advaneed featured - E.G the USB connection on the APC Smart-UPS and Back-UPS series are supported and to what level
Click to expand...

Took a look and you're right, looking at around £180 for a motherboard which will support ECC, to much for me with what I've spent already. Went for a Biostar Racing B150GTN in the end, got one new which will be updated before shipping to support Kaby Lake. Only £49, should do the job.

Any UPS you would reccomend? Took a look but soooo many options and I've never bought one before, obviously as cheap as possible please :)
 
I'm using the APC Back-UPS BX 700, was about £65 and can supply upto 390w - I've not yet got it working with the FreeNAS UPS service, but others have claimed success with this model
 
By chance I have the APC BX700U - works like a charm with FreeNas over USB - Bongo choose the "APC ups 2 Back-UPS USB USB (usbhid-ups)" in the driver combo box and make sure you've got the right USB port address :) I've heard people complain of doa APC units recently - so if you get one make sure you test it asap, as it's probably due to rough treatment during transit. I've found mine to be a great fit for home use, as it is is quite small and very quiet.
 
In theory I guess, but the quality of the memory used in usb sticks isn't great and FreeNas isn't any worse than other OSs on SSDs. SSD is likely to be bigger and wear leveling on the SSD will mean it'll last ages and ages. I'm using a pretty old HP server SLC SSD, and don't expect it to be replaced for ages with any luck .I was starting to find SanDisk Cruzers (usb2) we're only lasting 3-6 months before I switched to a SSD boot drive .
 
I've been watching this thread as I've recently repurposed an old N46L into a FreeNAS box after out growing my Synology 2 bay.

The Synology currently manages my APC UPS but with the majority of my data on the N46, it's good to hear that this can take over. Are there any plug-ins required or is it natively supported via the GUI?

I'm currently running FreeNAS off a single USB stick, but after reading this thread, I think I'll replace it with an SSD. Providing I've got a copy of the config, is there any risk of data loss if the single USB stick failed and I had to rebuild/import my shares (if that's even possible).
 
As long as you've got the configuration it's fine, personally I went for mirrored USB as I've got an 8bay chassis and didn't want to sacrifice any SATA ports for the OS drives, but if you've got the ports and the space then might be worth it, apparently USB2 drives last longer than USB3 as well as they don't get as warm.

Got my UPS hooked up via USB now - just a single page in GUI to configure, now trying to surface the UPS stats through NetData (love a graph!)
 
Ahhh - Might not be useful for OP, but have just found a USB3 to MSATA adapter online for £10! MSATA drives should comfortably outlive a USB stick by many many years so I might test one out on an internal USB header.
 
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