Considering to move from Synology to Truenas

[Videopac]

I currently have a Synology DS918 but am considering to move to TrueNAS Scale especially since I noticed it can be run on Asustor hardware.
My Synology is being used for home-use only, mainly for storing & accessing data, photos, videos and music and for apps like Home Assistant, ...arr, Logitech Media Server.
It consists of 4x8 TB hdds, RAID6. Back-ups are made on a DS713 which is located 200kms away from my home. If I move to AS6704T+TrueNAS the DS918 will be my new back-up device.

For hardware I am considering:
- Asustor AS6704T.
- 20GB RAM.
- 4x16TB Toshiba MG08, RAIDZ2.
- TrueNAS installation on SSD.

Questions:
1. Is TrueNAS installation on a single SSD fail-save enough? Is it possible to have it installed 2 SSDs in RAID?
2. Any feedback on the proposed hardware? Formally the N5105 does not support more than 16GB but it has been confirmed that actually up to 32 GB is supported.
3. Any points of attention for Synology users which plan to move to TrueNAS?
4. Any specific software I should consider using?

Context: I might not be the most technical person, however I have a OPNsense firewall, OpenWrt wifi-access points and a Linux Mint desktop system.

 

[jgreco]

For hardware I am considering:
- Asustor AS6704T.
- 20GB RAM.

While the current minimum RAM requirement for TrueNAS Scale is currently 8GB, the minimum for Core was recently raised to 16GB, and it is reasonable to expect that Scale may follow. If you need to run additional apps, then RAM requirements increase. It may not be particularly wise to rope yourself into a RAM-limited platform that only officially supports 16GB and is clearly capped at no more than 32GB.

Is TrueNAS installation on a single SSD fail-save enough? Is it possible to have it installed 2 SSDs in RAID?

The technically correct answer is that you can definitely have two mirrored SSD's. This is not a guarantee that they will actually provide redundancy for booting, and in fact they probably won't. It depends quite heavily on what the onboard BIOS and hardware supports, and there is no reason to think that Asustor has done work to support that.

 

[Constantin]

1) I ran my mini XL for years on a single boost SSD.
2) A four-disk, RAID Z2 array is certainly possible but I'd suggest more drives to make the parity losses less eye-watering.
3) It's a steep learning curve. Synology (like Apple, Netgear, QNAP, etc.) likes to pre-configure a lot of complex stuff behind the scenes, optimized for general-use case, and the user is just presented with a button or two. TrueNAS is much closer to metal, offers far more configuration options and like any powerful tool should be handled with care.
4) On the Mac, I'd be using Carbon Copy Cloner for file transfers.

I'm unconvinced that ASUSTOR is a good choice. It's absolute maximum RAM is 16GB, and that's after tossing the pre-installed 4GB RAM module and fitting two 8GB modules. Never mind the 2.5Gb network interfaces, USB 3 and eSATA for additional storage, etc. This is likely little more than a warmed-over consumer-level board with commensurate reliability, etc.

I'd pay extra and get the Mini XL+ instead - it offers room for expansion, a server-grade board, AMAZING support from iXsystems (I know, I used it a LOT), etc. i.e. a solution that minimizes potential headaches, especially when migrating. It's what I did for my migration from Synology to FreeNAS, and I am very glad I did, as it minimized failure points. Once you get familiar with TrueNAS and rolling your own hardware solution, by all means go with something custom, but I wouldn't do so from the start,