SOLVED First build check and some questions

[Shadowwrah5]

Hey Im building my first freenas and I want to make sure I have everything I need and that everything will work when I get it. This will be mainly used as a backup device for my data; Im tired of backing up to external hdds and Im just looking for a more permanent solution. I will also be streaming movies and music occasionally but I use kodi on almost everything else I have (so no plex) and there shouldnt be much trans-coding to do if any. Building a server has proved to be a very new experience with many new terms so I would also like to clarify a few things.
Build:

Motherboard/cpu

• ASRock C2550D4I Mini ITX Server Motherboard DDR3 1600/1333/1066

Case

• Fractal Design Node 304 FD-CA-NODE-304-WH White Aluminum / Steel Mini-ITX

RAM

• Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Server Memory Model CT2KIT102472BA160B

HDDs

• Seagate NAS HDD ST3000VN000 3TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive

PSU

• SeaSonic SSR-360GP 360W ATX12V v2.31 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready
  

Some questions:
1. Do I need to buy all my hdds and instal them at the start of the build? Could I start with 3 hdds then later get 3 more? Would adding more hdds cause me to relocate my data/will everything be erased? (They are just so expensive :( )
2. Can you set private folders on freenas within a public share? I preferably only want a single public share on the nas but some data I would like to remain private. Solutions?
3. Using this server as a backup and a media server would raidz or raidz2 be best?
4. How much space will I have for storage? Doesnt the raid make a copy of all the data? So if I have 6x 3TB drives would I end up with 9TB? or do I get the full 18TB?

Thanks for your help!!!!

 

[danb35]

To address the first and last questions, I'd suggest you take a look at the presentation in this thread. The short answer is that it depends on how you set up your pool. A pool of 6 x 3 TB disks can have anywhere from about 3 TB (for a 6-way mirror--very secure, but not too practical) to about 18 TB (for a 6-way stripe--no redundancy at all, but lots of capacity and speed) of net capacity. Most common recommendation would probably be to use RAIDZ2, which would give you about 12 TB (~10.5 TiB) of net capacity.

 

[Shadowwrah5]

Alright thanks for the response and answer! I think 10TB will hold me for a LONG time.

Can anyone verify that the build is good to go? Is it good , bad? Recommendations?

 

[JJT211]

It will depend on how you setup your pool, but with 3 disks, you will def have to relocate your data when you expand your pool.

It's a pain, I know. But a large majority of that storage will most likely be media. I went from a 1x4tb to 4x4tb RAID Z2, Since I had a 2tb drive laying around, I trimmed down my data (movies) to about 2TB, copied everything to that, created my 4x4TB pool, and then copied everything back.

Thats by far the best way to do it. When I tried copying to an external drive, it took forever (2 days!!) and the external drive burned up and broke on me. I didnt lose any data cuz I was just copying, but still it was 2 days down the drain. Next time I expand my pool, Ill buy a WD RED 6tb drive and copy everything using zfs replicate to the 6tb. Then afterwards Ill just return it. Ill just make sure I get it from a reputable company like newegg or something.

As far as your build in general, I would suggest maybe saving up a lil more and going for the octa core 2750. I have the Supermicro version of your board. I almost went with the 4 core, and I believe it would've served my needs at the moment, but I really wanted to make sure I future proofed my purchase. I didnt want to have to buy it all over again in a few years when it couldnt quite keep up with what I wanted to do. I've learned that lesson with musical equipment. If you cheap out, you wind up buying it all over again in and it really cost you more in the long term. Not to mention, I didnt want the psychological aspect naggin me with buyers remorse when I already spent a ton of money.

 

[JJT211]

I would generally suggest people go with the AsRock only due to the full size dimm slots for RAM. It's much easier to find ecc RAM in normal sized DIMM than in Sodimm, but that really is only a concern when you're trying to go with the full 64gb of ram.

But up to 32gb, the prices for ECC RAM are the same. With the Supermicro, you also dont get as many sata ports, but in your use case (and most people) it wont matter. What does matter is the price. The Supermicro is about a 100 bucks cheaper, and its widely considered the gold standard brand among server class boards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...cm_re=supermicro_a1sai-_-13-182-851-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...75&cm_re=asrock_avoton-_-13-157-475-_-Product

 

[Shadowwrah5]

It will all probably end up being on big array. Maybe 2 one for music and data and the other for movies and shows.
Does anyone backup their freenas? If so in what way would be the easiest; you said external hhds didn't work well for you.

I understand the preplanning/forward thinking thing all too well (looks at gaming desktop that already needs upgrades). But anyway what does 4 extra cores do for you? I'm trying to justify the extra money. The most devices I would be streaming to at once is 2 and there would be no transcoding needed (shout out to kodi tv :D ). Writing data to the nas has more to do with your disks and ports than the cpu right?

Also do you have a link to that 4 core supermicro board or a suggestion for comparable sodimm ram for that board?

 

[JJT211]

Well I know 8 cores sounds a bit overkill.....but it isnt a traditional desktop 4-core, 8-core CPU that you're used to. It's an Intel Atom, which is generally a low-power, low performance CPU (think those teeny, tiny netbooks, that can barely boot windows.) But when you get 8 cores working together (especially the newest generation), it can be quite respectable, still all while being very power efficient.

The 4 core version is generally more marketed towards simple file sharing, backups, or enterprise networking appliances. The 8 core, is targeted for home users, specifically when when it comes to media and video playback, as those are more CPU intensive.

RAM ECC Unbuffered SODIMM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ingston_ecc_unbuffered-_-20-239-958-_-Product

Supermicro 4 core
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GG94YDS/?tag=ozlp-20

 

[JJT211]

It will all probably end up being on big array. Maybe 2 one for music and data and the other for movies and shows.

Also, I beileve you may be thinking that you're gonna be dedicating each HD to a specific type of data or task. It doesnt work that way, you create datasets, which are virtual and FreeNAS combines the HD's and distributes the data the way its sees best fit.

 

[JJT211]

Review of 4 core
http://www.servethehome.com/supermicro-a1sai-2550f-review-quad-core-avoton-c2550/
http://www.servethehome.com/intel-atom-c2550-benchmarks-4-core-avoton-tested/

 

[marbus90]

The ASRock C2750D4I and C2550D4I have 6x Intel SATA ports and 6x Marvell. The Marvell ports are currently slow to unstable to the point of pool unavailability. Our recommendations for >6 SATA Ports are the Supermicro X10SL7-F and the ASRock E3C224D4I-14S.

You can start on 3x3TB in a raidz1 and expand via adding another raidz1 of 3 HDDs. it wouldn't be the best choice since you still can lose everything during resilver or a failed drive (1 redundancy disk per vdev - which broke, so you're running without redundancy), z2 would protect you against 2 disk failures anywhere in the system.

You have a 50% chance of a failed full rebuild of a 3x3TB raidz1. best case only some files are lost, worst case the whole pool is hosed.

 

[Shadowwrah5]

Wow thanks guys for the great answers. I think I will go with 8 cores and I appreciate all the help!