First NAS build. Compatibility help needed.

[JimTango]

Hi,
I'm about to start my first NAS build and need some advice and help. I've tried searching the internet for compatibility lists, but I can't find any.

I've compiled the following list of hardware, see picture (got some spare ram chips laying around - so they are not included). The big question is: Is this hardware compatible with FreeNAS?

 

[joeschmuck]

Jim,
The only thing I would strongly recommend against is the hard drive you listed. Typically AV drives don't have the same level of error correction that a typical data hard drive has. In other words, an AV drive could care less about a bit/byte here or there with errors as it's doubtful the user would notice this error so data it attempted to be corrected but getting the next byte of data out is more important than holding up the data stream. In a data drive the drive will try and try again until it either can correct the data error or it will complain about it.

I don't know if the motherboard would work fine but check the posting just below yours for what others are running. WiFi isn't the most reliable method to transfer data if that was your game plan.

-Joe

 

[JimTango]

Hi,
Thx for the answer.
How bout this disk: Samsung SpinPoint F4EG 2TB

Another couple of questions:
Can I run raid 5 (software) on 6 disks of this type on this motherboard? In the specs raid is only mentioned with the 4 SATA 2 disks, the 2 SATA 3 are not mentioned.
Can I use SATA 2 disks in the SATA 3 connections?

thx.

 

[joeschmuck]

Hi,
Thx for the answer.
How bout this disk: Samsung SpinPoint F4EG 2TB

I personally like the F4EG but make sure it has the current firmware. If it's dates after Dec 2010 then you are good to go otherwise there is a firmware update which has the same version number (Samsung developers are nuts) but still needs to be applied. These drives last a long time in general. Do not use APM with these or WD 2TB drives, just use the HD Standby timer to sleep your drives if you go this route.

Another couple of questions:
Can I run raid 5 (software) on 6 disks of this type on this motherboard? In the specs raid is only mentioned with the 4 SATA 2 disks, the 2 SATA 3 are not mentioned.
Can I use SATA 2 disks in the SATA 3 connections?

thx.

RAID 5 can be run on 3 to xx drives so yes it can be run on 6 drives, as for that motherboard, does it have 6 SATA connections? If so, yes. If no then yes but with an adapter card. As for the question about the SATA II and SATA III interface types, they are all interchangeable (SATA I, II, & III) and backwards compatible. And you don't need to buy "SATA III" rated cables, it's a sales pitch. The standard for the cable has not changed. Some cables do come with nice locking clips but really that isn't needed.

Hope that helps.

-Joe