Pools, datasets etc questions

[Petrosl]

I want to set up a new NAS by using an old PC. I will use it as Plex media server and torrents dowload.
I have a 256 GB ssd for system and two 8TB hdd each.
My movies database is already 10TB and it grows.
1. How should I setup the storage?
2. Is 8gb of ram enough or I should upgrade it?

Thank you in advance

 

[Arwen]

Using any old PC is generally not a good choice for TrueNAS. It has been shown by people here in the forums that really old hardware is less than reliable for use as a NAS, (that is on 24x7).

If you could list your hardware more completely, we can have an idea if it is suitable for TrueNAS.


If you have 2 x 8TB HDD and want to store 10TB of data, you would need more disk(s) in order to have redundancy. You can have a striped pool, (aka one with out redundancy). But, loss of 1 disk means loss of entire pool. And any bad block will result in the loss of a file.

I personally use a striped pool for my own media server. When I loose a file, I have multiple backups to allow restoring it / them. And I clearly understand the risks of a complete storage device failure causing complete data loss of my media pool.


Their is a lot to learn about TrueNAS SCALE, (or Core), and ZFS. Reading about them helps prevent data loss in the future.

 

[Petrosl]

Actually the computer I'm using is a 2nd generation i5 and the memory will be upgraded to 16GB soon.
I'm not worrying too much about data loss as I have a second copy of my media.
Having this in mind how do you suggest to setup the storage of my NAS

 

[joeschmuck]

Having this in mind how do you suggest to setup the storage of my NAS

As previously said:

If you have 2 x 8TB HDD and want to store 10TB of data, you would need more disk(s) in order to have redundancy. You can have a striped pool, (aka one with out redundancy). But, loss of 1 disk means loss of entire pool. And any bad block will result in the loss of a file.