Converting old laptop to NAS

[sjkendall88]

I am hoping to get some advice on installing FreeNAS 11.1 on a laptop and using it as the server for some external hard drives I own. I don't need it for heavy data usage just trying to have universal storage for all our old files. I have an old Dell laptop intel i3 62-bit system with 8gb ram and 500gb hard drive connecting through usb 3.0 a 5 tb external hard drive. Any suggestions would be great. I can't afford anything more than I already have to make this work.

 

[hugovsky]

ZFS for n00bz
Hardware recommendations

 

[m0nkey_]

I am hoping to get some advice on installing FreeNAS 11.1 on a laptop and using it as the server for some external hard drives I own. I don't need it for heavy data usage just trying to have universal storage for all our old files. I have an old Dell laptop intel i3 62-bit system with 8gb ram and 500gb hard drive connecting through usb 3.0 a 5 tb external hard drive. Any suggestions would be great. I can't afford anything more than I already have to make this work.

FreeNAS was never designed to run on a laptop. Running the ZFS filesystem over USB attached drives is just asking for trouble. Many people who have gone ahead with this type of configuration have lost data on nearly every count.

 

[scrappy]

Your main issue is using a USB external hard drive which will likely end in disaster at some point.

 

[sjkendall88]

Thank you for your help, I'm still learning the differences in the hardware and feel like I'm missing half of what is in the pdf/powerpoint. What I do understand is the difference in quality being a main concern as well as the ensuring the data physically (power supply) and virtually (program settings) safe. Thanks again I will continue looking into everything to learn more.

 

[tvsjr]

Please, just, don't. FN isn't designed to run on laptops, nor to be using USB drives for storage.

 

[QuickQ]

Is (old) laptop hardware generally well supported by FreeBSD? I currently run on an old Phenom II x4 system that I had mothballed. It works really well but sucks down a lot of power. Now I'm scheming to convert an old laptop I have with a cracked screen. It is:

• Model: Acer 4820TG
• CPU: i5 460m (dual core HT I think 2.5GHz)
• Memory: Currently 4GB but I think it'll take 8GB, I believe DDR3-1066. Not ECC of course but I know and accept the risk. I also know 8GB is a little light but again that's what the current setup has and doesn't cause too many issues for my use.
• Network: 1GBit Ethernet
• SATA ports: It has a normal internal SATA and also a slimline SATA for the DVD drive which I think I can get an adapter for to install a normal hard disk
• HDD: 2x Toshiba P300 3TB
• USB: Only 2.0 onboard but this isn't really a big deal and I think I can ditch the WLAN and get a Mini-PCIe to PCIe 1x and install a usb 3.1 board. But if not, not the end of the world.
• GPU: This is one of my main concerns, it has the Intel iGPU and also a Radeon 5650 which it is able to switch between in Windows with the Radeon driver, although not nearly as seemlessly as something like Optimus on modern nVidia chips. I don't care if the Radeon works or not though, as long as the text console is able to work.

So my plan would be to rip out the guys and move it to an old PC case. I think it's feasible to move the hardware to a case and that it would probably run Windows just fine so the only question is if hardware like this tends to be well supported by FreeBSD.

The whole point is just to lower the power. I have no interest in buying new hardware because I'm doing this just because I like to be as environmentally friendly as I can reasonably be, which is why I'm trying to reuse hardware I already have and not add to production demand for new hardware :).

 

[danb35]

Is (old) laptop hardware generally well supported by FreeBSD?

So you didn't read the post right above yours?

 

[QuickQ]

So you didn't read the post right above yours?

I feel like SATA is a pretty different use case from USB and that that ZFS on USB is the primary reason for that answer. In any case I realized it's trivial to test since the boot drive is USB and I don't need to go find a hard drive or two to test it. WLAN doesn't work but I don't care about that. Console works fine which I realized (I think) pretty much has to work because I would assume it's part of the BIOS and it looks like at least the iGPU works anyway.

Moderator note: Edited for civility.
- Ericloewe

 

[nightshade00013]

A laptop even stripped down is not a good idea to use with FreeNAS, PERIOD. As a test bed fine but to keep data safe NO. This is especially true with ZFS and the recommendation for ECC ram with the laptop will not support and your previous system did not have.

But you can feel free to do as you wish, lots of people do. They also can not complain about what they have afterwards when something does mess up.

 

[danb35]

They also can not complain about what they have afterwards when something does mess up.

...but they do, and it's always because FreeNAS is a POS. Why shouldn't it run on their 486SX with 1 MB of RAM?

 

[styno]

I always felt there should've been a 'frankennas' section on the forum. Obviously with pictures of the builds.

 

[Mirfster]

I always felt there should've been a 'frankennas' section on the forum. Obviously with pictures of the builds.

<--- ;)

 

[styno]

<--- ;)

Awesome! Now glue more disks in it!

 

[Ericloewe]

This thread is now closed.

For future reference, FreeBSD and laptops don't mix very easily. FreeNAS and laptops do not mix at all. Hack at your own risk and don't complain of brokenness, please.