FreeNAS or NAS4Free with these specs?

[eeee]

Would I be better off with FreeNAS or NAS4Free with these system specs?

Logicboard: Gigabyte GA-B75M-HD3
RAM: Kingston 8 GB 1333 RAM (2x 4GB)
CPU: Intel Celeron G1610
Boot/OS Drive: 16GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive
Storage: Samsung HD502HI 500GB HDD (x2 in RAID 1)

Also, what if it were only 1 stick of 4GB RAM?

(I tried to post this question once already, so my apologies if it is a duplicate)

 

[Ericloewe]

Well, it meets the specs for FreeNAS... However, it's not a configuration we'd recommend, mostly due to the lack of ECC RAM.

 

[jgreco]

There's a nice sticky in the Hardware Forum discussing recommended hardware. We generally discourage desktop hardware for any number of reasons, including the total lack of ECC and the Realtek ethernet chipset that grace that board.

There's also a nice section in the manual describing hardware requirements, where you'd discover 8GB minimum is required for FreeNAS.

 

[cyberjock]

This is where I answer the question with "FreeNAS or NAS4Free?" with NAS4Free because then you won't be posting here when it breaks. And it will break.

 

[eeee]

I've read the threads about the recommended hardware. Which is why I'm asking if NAS4Free makes more sense for the specs I listed. I'm not asking whether the hardware I listed is optimal. I already know the hardware I listed is not what is recommended for FreeNAS. I'm just asking whether NAS4Free would be a better choice given that hardware.

 

[jgreco]

Not really. ZFS without ECC is risky. Has very little to do with FreeNAS vs NAS4Free.

 

[aufalien]

Man, active community alone says FreeNAS for the win. However your choice won't really impact either distro.

Either way, your reliability and performance will directly be influenced by your choice in components.

 

[cyberjock]

I also think that asking us if you should go with NAS4Free in a forum that is NOT for NAS4Free is somewhat silly. Would you come here for support on Red-Hat Linux? I wouldn't, but it seems like you would (and did). See the problem with asking us?

 

[jgreco]

I'm gonna beat you up just a bit on that one Cyberjock... so if that's the attitude here, and if the NAS4Free forums were to adopt a similar attitude, the end result is that there's no good place to ask about it.

Frankly just because this is the FreeNAS forum does not mean that there's no familiarity here with the other product, and we're VERY familiar with our product. It's a reasonable place to ask, with the caveat that there might be a lot of "uhhhh idunno!" as well.

 

[cyberjock]

I'm gonna beat you up just a bit on that one Cyberjock... so if that's the attitude here, and if the NAS4Free forums were to adopt a similar attitude, the end result is that there's no good place to ask about it.

Frankly just because this is the FreeNAS forum does not mean that there's no familiarity here with the other product, and we're VERY familiar with our product. It's a reasonable place to ask, with the caveat that there might be a lot of "uhhhh idunno!" as well.

But we also aren't NAS4Free experts. They could have changed their requirements and we might not even know. That's all I was trying to say. This is why I normally answer these questions with 'that's a personal choice' as we don't use or test NAS4Free regularly enough to really say that our advice is worth much.

 

[jgreco]

That's a much better answer, Cyberjock... :)

 

[eeee]

ZFS without ECC is risky. Has very little to do with FreeNAS vs NAS4Free.

I understand, but let me put it this way then... what about using FreeNAS with UFS? Would that be better than NAS4Free?

the Realtek ethernet chipset

I've read the threads on that, and I figure if it's problematic for me I could buy an Intel NIC add-on card.

 

[jgreco]

I understand, but let me put it this way then... what about using FreeNAS with UFS? Would that be better than NAS4Free?

No, because FreeNAS is dropping UFS support.

I've read the threads on that, and I figure if it's problematic for me I could buy an Intel NIC add-on card.

That's true, of course. To some of us it isn't worth the frustration though.