First build FreeNAS

[Jaume]

Hi! Im new on this world, I tried to read everything I could, but im still not clear. My intention is to recycle pieces that I have and not make a large economic outlay. As I do not have ECC RAM, and neither the board nor the processor supports it, the reliability of the data is reduced by what I could read, so for now I would keep the cloud stoage that I have bought (50€ (57$) for 500GB every year, for me more than enough).

So my first question, if the storage is small (like 2 hdd of 2TB each in a mirror for example) Is it worth the disbursement of good components? Cause I think that hiring the storage to some company comes out cheaper and you do not amortize to mount it on your own and it's safer (depending on which company you buy it obviously).

Now I build a FreeNAS for testing and because I like it, more than for something 100% functional, safe and redundant, but if I see that it works well, meets my needs and does not spend a lot of electricity I would like to take it to that point.

I exceed the recommended minimun hardware, but there are recommendations, like RAM ecc that i do not have, but I would like you to tell me how you see these components, some improvement (not very expensive, I am not willing to change the board, processor and ram right now).

So here we go:

- Motherboard: MSI H61M-P31/W8
- Processor: Intel i5 3330 (4 cores 3.00Ghz) with stock cooler
- RAM: 2x8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600
- HDD: Recycled from laptop, 1TB 2.5"
- USB: 32GB SanDisk (FreeNAS OS)
- Case/Chassis: Recycled from an old computer
- PSU: 650W bad quality PSU

I know that are not the best components for freenas, but as I say is what I have without spending money and right now I can't change MB + Processor + RAM.
My first small improvements would be to buy a 120GB ssd (the smallest I have found quality), a kingston a400 120GB for 22.90€ (26$) for the SO, a good one PSU because I do not trust what I have, it's many years old and it's not quality and finally, if I keep the system, probably two 1TB or 2TB WD Red to put them in a mirror (this is the most expensive, and I dont know if I will really benefit from it). As well I would like to change CPU cooler and change the fans of the case for some noctua or similar, I don't need it to be 0 noisy but I would like it as much as possible without sacrificing much.

Any recommendation or something you have to say? I know with this hardware I have limitations (for example MB only have 4 sata ports) but a new good MB + Processor + RAM is like minimum 300? Without HDD, fans, PSU...

Thank you very much for your time.

 

[Evertb1]

I know that are not the best components for freenas, but as I say is what I have without spending money and right now I can't change MB + Processor + RAM.

I don't want to be nasty about it but "not the best components" is understated. Those components are just not suitable for FreeNAS. I don't think a week passes that somebody wants to see unsuitable components validated. But how can anybody do that? Sure you can make it work, but without the benefits of the reliabilty FreeNAS and the ZFS file system can offer when using recommended components. Nobody will stop you to go ahead but if things go pear-shaped you are on your own. You and only you are resposible for the safety of your data. Dowloading FreeNAS is free of charge but using FreeNAS is not cheap. It asks for invenstment in time (learning) and yes also money.

 

[Jaume]

I don't want to be nasty about it but "not the best components" is understated. Those components are just not suitable for FreeNAS. I don't think a week passes that somebody wants to see unsuitable components validated. But how can anybody do that? Sure you can make it work, but without the benefits of the reliabilty FreeNAS and the ZFS file system can offer when using recommended components. Nobody will stop you to go ahead but if things go pear-shaped you are on your own. You and only you are resposible for the safety of your data. Dowloading FreeNAS is free of charge but using FreeNAS is not cheap. It asks for invenstment in time (learning) and yes also money.

It's completely understandable, I don't seek approval, I want people to tell me things as they are. Okay, my components are not a good setup for FreeNAS, I automatically remove the idea of setting up a system from here, I will only use it for tests and learn about this, and in the future if I need it and I can afford it, I will get good components to be able to mount it well.

Thanks for your time.

 

[Evertb1]

I will only use it for tests and learn about this, and in the future if I need it and I can afford it, I will get good components to be able to mount it well.

Now that is something I can see of great benefit to you. Lot's of succes.

 

[Mannekino]

If you're just using it for educational purposes then pretty much the only requirement is "can FreeNAS actually run on this?". The only thing that would be a nice to have for a test environment are at least 2 or 3 similar disks so you can experiment and learn things like resilvering, what happens with a degraded array and more.