FreeNAS dilettante needs help to build a new 8 drive FreeNAS server.

[Constantin]

I know how you feel. I've focused on buying better drives rather than a better board based on my use patterns. The drives consume less power, run cooler, and the pool can store more content. With two mirrored SLOGs, and a single L2ARC, I've maxed out the SATA ports and the only improvement potential re: best practices in the future is mirroring the boot drive also.

That's a ways off though. My first next task is figuring out how to program the Commander Pro from Corsair to play nice with the various scripts that the demi-gods here have developed so I can get a system together that is responsive to thermal loads and which will keep all the components happy for many years to come.

 

[Bozon]

I know how you feel. I've focused on buying better drives rather than a better board based on my use patterns. The drives consume less power, run cooler, and the pool can store more content. With two mirrored SLOGs, and a single L2ARC, I've

What HD drives would you recommend?

 

[Bozon]

What HD drives would you recommend?

 

[Constantin]

Hi Bozon,
I had good luck with the HGST 7K4000 series when I was running 3TB drives - they ran hot but they didn't fail.
I upgraded to used 10TB HGST drives w/3 year warranties. These are Helium-filled drives that allegedly have very good MBTFs, low power consumption, etc. The 8TB version of the He series is currently available on Amazon used w/5-year warranties for little money.

I run a Z3 array and use 5 drives for data, the other 3 for parity. Because ZFS has that "don't fill the pool above 80% full"rule, the 5th drive is basically just there to provide a physical space of 50TB of which 40TB will be used. That capacity mirrors the capacity of my backup RAID5 systems (Mobius 5 from Oyen Digital) when they are also filled with 10TB drives. Hence, I only have to keep one type of drive on hand as a spare - it can go either into the NAS or the backup array.

 

[pro lamer]

ASRock solutions.

https://secure.newegg.com/Wishlist/...89035&RandomID=157137120411619420181224174510

The link doesn't work for me - asks for sign in. I don't have an account there - will the link work when I sign up? Or could you please write the model name here?

Sent from my phone

 

[Bozon]

The link doesn't work for me - asks for sign in. I don't have an account there - will the link work when I sign up? Or could you please write the model name here?

Sent from my phone

ASRock C2550D4I Mini ITX Server Motherboard FCBGA1283 DDR3 1600 / 1333 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-157-419&ignorebbr=true

FSP Group Mini ITX Solution / Flex ATX 80 Plus Platinum 500W PMBus V1.2 High Efficiency Power Supply (FSP500-50FSPT)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIABP956S3335&ignorebbr=true

64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) 2Rx4 240-Pin 1.35V ECC RDIMM Registered Memory by NEMIX RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA7S67BJ1731&ignorebbr=true

 

[gpsguy]

This is the wrong RAM. You need UDIMM not RDIMM.

16GB modules are rare. 8GB modules cost ~$100 each (USD).

64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) 2Rx4 240-Pin 1.35V ECC RDIMM Registered Memory by NEMIX RAM

 

[Antioch18]

Any reason you won't consider the SuperMicro D3558 board? It's faster than the D2550 board you're looking at, and can be had for a buck less ($289)! This one takes either registered or unbuffered RAM, too.
https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/atom/A2SDi-4C-HLN4F.cfma

It's the board I'm looking at for my build which is also a home-server with no transcoding requirements. Just images, videos, and documents hosting over SMB with a few services (ZNC, duplicati, etc.), and no VMs or transcoding.

I'm curious why you think you need 64GB of RAM, however?

With regards to HDDs, everyone has their own unlucky experience which swears them off of a certain brand, but this data may be useful. Scroll the to bottom for the long-term data.
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/2018-hard-drive-failure-rates/