First FreeNAS Server - tentative battle plan

[LittleGreyCat]

I have my HP Proliant Microserver so time to build my first NAS.

The aim is to replace a 3TB HDD on a Windows 7 box with a proper resilient file server, so I have a current store of data (backed up) that I want to migrate.

Obviously I don't want to migrate the data until I am confident in the new NAS and my ability to manage it.

So my plan is to fire up the HP, populate it with some spare HDDs and SSD, and experiment with creating and managing RAIDZ1 before I move any live data over.
I can also try out a few bits and bobs in stock such as a PCIe SATA controller.
I also need to confirm that my Windows systems can get at the stored files without any issues (W7, W8.1, W10).

I am assuming this may take a couple of weeks to get into the whole thing, but I may be optimistic (or pessimistic).
How long was your first experiment with FreeNAS before you were happy that you had a stable configuration that you understood?

I may experiment with plug ins before I "go live" as well but these aren't mission critical.
Plex is the only one I expect to need any time soon.

 

[Kris Moore]

Welcome! Sounds like a pretty straightforward setup. I'd expect you'll want to set aside a few hours to do the initial setup, most of that will probably be just testing that your windows systems can reach the shares and permissions are setup correctly.

Let us know if you run into any issues!