Beginner's build, need advice.

[andee]

Hi guys,

I've been thinking about building a NAS for a few years now but have never gotten around to doing it mainly because I don't know which parts to get. So I'd like some advice on that. The NAS will mainly be for media and backups. As for the budget without drives I don't know, I guess I don't want to overspend on what my needs are.

For a case I'm thinking of one that can support at least 6 drives incase I want to expand in the future. Drives will most likely be 6tb either WD reds or Seagate Ironwolf's.

Looking forward to your replies :)

Note: I live in Australia so as you can guess, I don't have access to a whole lot of products.

 

[SweetAndLow]

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/hardware-recommendations-read-this-first.23069/

 

[andee]

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/hardware-recommendations-read-this-first.23069/

I appreciate the link, but as I said I am a beginner so most of that makes no sense to me.

What I'm after are build lists for my specific needs.

 

[SweetAndLow]

I appreciate the link, but as I said I am a beginner so most of that makes no sense to me.

What I'm after are build lists for my specific needs.

You will get zero help here then. Your best bet will be to make a list using the hardware guide them post asking if it's a good setup.

 

[Arwen]

I appreciate the link, but as I said I am a beginner so most of that makes no sense to me.

What I'm after are build lists for my specific needs.

In some ways building a FreeNAS server from scratch is not for beginners. You can purchase ready made servers that can be turned into a NAS device, (FreeNAS or other NAS software). But, that would be more expensive. So many people try to build one. FreeNAS tends to do better with certain features; >=8GB of memory; ECC memory; No hardware RAID controller between CPU and disks; reliable boot media, (because FreeNAS' ZFS WILL detect crummy USB flash drives).

So, one thing to help you better, is what do you mean by media?
Do you intend to use Plex?
And use transcoding?

For example, I use my media off a media server, (not FreeNAS). But, I also backup my media server to my FreeNAS.

Plex would probably want a bit more memory than the minimum. Plus, transcoding videos, especially 1080p or 4K, want faster CPUs.

And as a prior post stated, we can't design it for you. What you can get, will be different that what is available in Middle Earth or the US.

 

[andee]

Media would just be like movies/shows and music. So just mainly a source to share around the home.
Most likely a no on using Plex and probably no need for transcoding.

No? I've seen people on youtube just grab consumer parts (most of the time just old leftover parts and sometimes new but cheap parts), put them together, install and setup FreeNAS then just do what they intend to use the NAS for.

 

[Chris Moore]

Just because you see some idiots on YouTube do something does not mean it's the right thing to do

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

 

[andee]

Just because you see some idiots on YouTube do something does not mean it's the right thing to do

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

So you're telling me this is wrong? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-qrX8RGLCs

 

[Chris Moore]

That guy doesn't even know what he's doing well enough to be able to do it by himself he has to have somebody to come in and rescue him and they still do it wrong

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[garm]

Ya that is a really bad way of doing things. The point of a NAS is that the data you store on it should last for ever and thus you cant have hardware that will eat it when you not looking.

If you feel that the hardware recommendations are to complicated just pick up a server from Dell, Lenovo, Supermicro etc with ECC RAM and enough CPU for your needs.

 

[andee]

-edit-

 

[andee]

That guy doesn't even know what he's doing well enough to be able to do it by himself he has to have somebody to come in and rescue him and they still do it wrong

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

Fair enough.

Ya that is a really bad way of doing things. The point of a NAS is that the data you store on it should last for ever and thus you can't have hardware that will eat it when you not looking.

If you feel that the hardware recommendations are to complicated just pick up a server from Dell, Lenovo, Supermicro etc with ECC RAM and enough CPU for your needs.

Yeah building a NAS seems out of my league then. Looking at the Dell T330 and Lenovo TS460 now so thanks for that. Any reason to choose those types of servers over something like a Drobo B810n?

 

[garm]

ZFS is my guiding star in selecting a NAS. It’s the white knight slaying dragons eating your data. When I “build” servers for friends and family (machines I usually don’t tend to that often) I almost exclusively use of the shelf systems.

 

[andee]

ZFS is my guiding star in selecting a NAS. It’s the white knight slaying dragons eating your data. When I “build” servers for friends and family (machines I usually don’t tend to that often) I almost exclusively use of the shelf systems.

I found this https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dell-Po...sh=item33d97c2c22:g:Iu4AAOSw5bFZZDuX#shpCntId

What do you think of that for my uses?

 

[andee]

ZFS is my guiding star in selecting a NAS. It’s the white knight slaying dragons eating your data. When I “build” servers for friends and family (machines I usually don’t tend to that often) I almost exclusively use of the shelf systems.

Or I could grab this https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dell-Po...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

 

[Arwen]

I agree with @garm in regards to ZFS. It was designed from the beginning to over-come many common and un-common data loss issues. The only thing that comes close is Linux's BTRFS, which has some built in design flaws that can and will loose data, (rarely though!). Those same design flaws don't exist with ZFS. One story from a ZFS developer is that he was having trouble with data loss during use & testing of ZFS. Turns out his workstation had a bad disk path, (cable, controller, etc...?), that he did not know about. ZFS WAS working, exactly as it was supposed to do.

In regards to the servers you link in, I don't really have a comment either way. You might see if there is a regular forum member from Australia and send a private note asking for suggestions.

Last, in my opinion, unless you have hard core OS & ZFS experience, (which I did / do before I starting using FreeNAS), you should read the manual. And read up on ZFS, (like the Wikipedia articles on ZFS and OpenZFS). Some forum members recommend reading the FreeNAS manual from cover to cover, even if you don't understand some of the options yet. Then, if FreeNAS seems overwhelming, then perhaps a more straight forward NAS, (pre-built or other open source project like un-RAID), may be better. They probably won't protect your data as well as ZFS can, but you are not launching rockets to the moon...

 

[SweetAndLow]

I found this https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dell-Po...sh=item33d97c2c22:g:Iu4AAOSw5bFZZDuX#shpCntId

What do you think of that for my uses?

No this won't work, it has a raid controller, perc h710, that can't be flashed to IT mode. Save thing goes for the second build. You could maybe but a new hba card for the system.

If you want a pre built system the hp ml10, Dell T20 or Lenovo ts140 are the best choice.

Also I'm my signature I have a must read section. Check that out for more information.

 

[CraigD]

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/hardware-recommendations-read-this-first.23069/

Dismissing or not studying this sage advise is not smart (all the advise given in this thread is solid)

Buy the Drobo, if you use FreeNAS you will lose your data, the Drobo will give you a better chance of not losing data, and if you read the manual and do what it says the risk is further reduced

You may think we are mean, the reality is everyone here wants you to protect your data

Have Fun
PS I live on an Island, for a price everything I need can be imported, and this is also true in Australia

 

[andee]

No this won't work, it has a raid controller, perc h710, that can't be flashed to IT mode. Save thing goes for the second build. You could maybe but a new hba card for the system.

If you want a pre built system the hp ml10, Dell T20 or Lenovo ts140 are the best choice.

Also I'm my signature I have a must read section. Check that out for more information.

Could you recommend a new hba card for the system? I'd prefer to stick with that one because it has more than 6 drive bays.

Yeah, I'll have to have a good read on all this.

 

[danb35]

Could you recommend a new hba card for the system?

Nothing that isn't explicitly recommended in the hardware recommendations guide you say you can't understand.