Best Format for External USB Backup Disk

[Tigerspill]

I have a 4TB Seagate USB Disk I want to connect to my FreeNAS HP N54L server.
I believe NTFS doesn't work well with FreeNAS.
What drive format should I use for this?
Thanks.

 

[gpsguy]

Either UFS or ZFS (the latter is preferable).

Edit, just noticed it's USB. Since you have an eSATA connection on the N54L, I'd go that route instead.

 

[Tigerspill]

Either UFS or ZFS (the latter is preferable).

Edit, just noticed it's USB. Since you have an eSATA connection on the N54L, I'd go that route instead.

Thanks for the fast response.

Is using the esata port faster? The disk has usb3 and am wondering if using the easta port on the N54L will allow better transfer rates?
Can I just then use NTFS as it is currently formatted?
Can I just use an USB cable or do I need a special convertor cable?

Apologies for the questions but I have never used esata before.

Regards
TS

 

[joeschmuck]

To use eSATA (External SATA) you must be using a eSATA connection on your USB drive. Some USB3.0 drives come with a removable adapter giving you access to the SATA connection on the internal hard drive and then you would need an eSATA to SATA cable. This is the fastest means to transfer data. One of the issues you might face is the ability to hot-swap the drive which is like how USB works.

NTFS could be used however it's not well supported and I caution you against it. You are better off using UFS in my opinion for the purpose you have in mind.

 

[ser_rhaegar]

FreeNAS doesn't support USB3 so eSATA will be faster. I would get an eSATA enclosure. Or stick it out with slower USB2.

You should reformat as UFS or ZFS as NTFS is not supported or not well supported. I've seen a few threads where people lost data trying to use NTFS.

Edit: ah joe beat me to it

 

[joeschmuck]

FreeNAS does support USB3 (unless they removed it), you need to enable it. Many folks have had great success with it, many not so great.

 

[gpsguy]

Unless the OP added a USB3 card, the N54L only has native support for USB 2.0

 

[Tigerspill]

Thanks guys.
I have a Seagate STBV4000200 and it doesn't look like I can use esata with this. In the short term It looks like I will reformat as ZFS and use the USB 2 ports.

 

[ser_rhaegar]

FreeNAS does support USB3 (unless they removed it), you need to enable it. Many folks have had great success with it, many not so great.

Ah, I stand corrected. I read a lot of negative stories and somehow that turned into doesn't work in my mind. Just did a few searches and see you're quite correct :). Thanks for pointing that out.