Hi, folks
I happened choose to build a backup and streaming media system (priority is backups) using Windows Home Server 2011. I chose to go with multiple RAID 1 arrays because I couldn't trust the failures caused by the RAID controllers (not to mention the cost involved in getting a good one) and other reasons you all know, if I go with RAID 5 or 6. I ordered all the parts listed below on Black Friday! While researching in the last couple of days, I learnt about FreeNAS 8.3 and the support for ZFS 28. I wish I did this home work before I ordered the below parts :(
List of parts purchased:
Except the Fractal Design case, none of the parts are opened out of the boxes, so I could return it (without feeling guilty :) )
Some additional details of my plan:
Greatly appreciate if some of you could review my questions below and provide your feedback:
I am newbie here, so apologies if I am asking some basic questions.
Thank you very much!
I happened choose to build a backup and streaming media system (priority is backups) using Windows Home Server 2011. I chose to go with multiple RAID 1 arrays because I couldn't trust the failures caused by the RAID controllers (not to mention the cost involved in getting a good one) and other reasons you all know, if I go with RAID 5 or 6. I ordered all the parts listed below on Black Friday! While researching in the last couple of days, I learnt about FreeNAS 8.3 and the support for ZFS 28. I wish I did this home work before I ordered the below parts :(
List of parts purchased:
- Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155 - BX80637I53570K (Ivy Bridge)
- ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
- Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1866 MHZ (PC3 15000) Desktop Memory (CMZ16GX3M2A1866C10R)
- Fractal Design Define XL Black Pearl w/ USB 3.0 ATX Full Tower Silent PC Computer Case
- Samsung 840 Series Solid State Drive (SSD) 250 sata_6_0_gb 2.5-Inch MZ-7TD250BW
- Corsair Professional Series AX 850 Watt ATX/EPS Modular 80 PLUS Gold (AX850)
- Western Digital Red 3 TB NAS Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, SATA III, 64 MB Cache
- Lite-On LightScribe 24X SATA DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive IHAS424-98
Except the Fractal Design case, none of the parts are opened out of the boxes, so I could return it (without feeling guilty :) )
Some additional details of my plan:
- Greatness of ZFS too appealing, hence the change of heart and want to go with FreeNAS.
- I plan on having a RAIDZ2 using 4 3TB drives initially and grow it. I don't have much data to begin with and I prefer to be safe than sorry, hence RAIDZ2. I envision having no more than 12 3TB hard drives in the array.
- I think 16GB of RAM is a lot for what I will be doing, but I don't plan on enabling deduplication for now just to keep things simple and to take baby steps... possibly in future.
Greatly appreciate if some of you could review my questions below and provide your feedback:
- Please confirm if my above hardware config makes sense for my plans and for FreeNAS 8.3 / ZFS.
- I have read that ECC RAM is recommended for ZFS. As you can see, I already purchased DDR3 non-ECC RAM. Please let me know if I should really go with ECC. Then I can return what I have and buy ECC memory.
- Between a 8GB USB thumb drive and a small (40GB?) Intel SSD, please let me know which is recommended for FreeNAS OS. Though I have purchased a 250 GB SSD for OS partition, I will be happy to return it.
- Motherboard has 4 SATA III ports and 2 SATA II ports. I plan on using them before I add a SATA PCIe card. Do you think it’s a recommended approach? If not, please suggest a card I should go with. (FYI, Motherboard also has 2 eSATA ports in the back)
- I have bought an i5 processor. Do you think I am better off spending a few buck now and getting an i7?
- If I want to upgrade from RAIDZ2 to RAIDZ3 in future, is it easy to do without affecting the stored data?
I am newbie here, so apologies if I am asking some basic questions.
Thank you very much!