Introduction + advices seeking !

[amadeus42]

Hi all !

I appear before you because I plan on building my own NAS !

The reason why I plan to do that is because I realise how lucky I have been with HD reliability so far (number of disk loss during the last 15 years: 0)
I therefore plan to invest on a reliable storage solution
I have googled quite a lot, read tutorials, this forum, ... And it appears that using FreeNas is the best way to achieve what I look for
Though, I am a bit stuck with the kind of configuration to use and how to Raid the disks.

A bit of background about myself before:
I am 27 years old, living in Brussels, Belgium.
I am a geek, fan of new technologies and always interested about that. Not a nerd though, I like beers more than computers :D
I have a degree in IT and work as Network Engineer.

I am familiar with both windonws and Linux systems, same with concept of NAS and Raid.

I live in a shared house in which we roughly have the following equipment:
- 1 fixed computer
- 4 laptops
- Xbox One
- RaspberryPi v2b
- Nice 2.0 sound system
- Full HD TV
- Dlink 8*1Gbps switch
- Lots of tablets/smartphones of all kinds

Here is the uses I will have for my NAS:

- Store my movies/TV Shows
- Store my pictures/movies from holidays
- Backup my mails
- Store bit more sensitive documents (encryption needed !)
- Play videos/movies/... stored in the NAS on the TV via the RaspberryPi
- Access, read and write those data from any device in the network (Linux, windows) and even ... smartphones ?

Here are some constraints/info about hardware:

- I don't care how ugly it'll look or how much space it'll take: I'll put it in the basements (protected from floods, off course :D )
- Electricity consumption matters here: I attend to keep it this NAS for a lonnngggg time, so I'd like to have something green
- I don't care how long it takes to set up, but when it's done, I just want it running, no partition resizing, disk addition, ... -> I'll start big !

I have read several a lot of things, including:

- https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ll-a-proper-home-freenas-setup-cost-me.28936/
- http://blog.brianmoses.net/2015/01/diy-nas-2015-edition.html

Both were quite complete, but there are several stuff I still wonder:

Motherboard/CPU:

- How bad is the Marvell controller ? Most of the Guru here seem to say that it causes problems, but the guy in the second link seems to say it's ok.
I don't mind if the performance are not great, I don't think that any of the use described about will require so much performance.
The ASRock C2550D4I just seem great, Marvell problem set apart.

Is there something newer of the same kind ?
What alternative would you recommend me, keeping in sight that consumption matters to me ?

RAM:

I have read that 8 GB are OK, would 16 GB change something in my case ?

Case:

Any recommendation of a cheap case? at least 6 disks)

PSU:

Do you know a super green PSU that would supply the NAS correctly ?

Boot Drives:

I have seen here and there that many people use FreeNas on USB drives, mirrored.
How does that mirroring works?
I indeed fear quite a lot to lose the OS and need to reinstall/configure it !

Disks:

I see that you recommend the WD Red editions. Any particular reason for that ?

Raid mode:

My current idea is to have 6*4TB disks, and RAID-Z2 (RAID 6 like right?) seems to be what I look for !
Anything else you would advice me ?

Partitioning

Ahhh, here comes the fun !

I actually have no idea on how the partitionning would work on the RAID-Z2
I would get something like 10TB + of space, how should I partition that ?

- How big should the partitions be ? (limiting corruption possibilities, ...)
- Can I resize partitions easily ?
- What if I want to provide some users some private space on the NAS?

Regarding the encrypted partition:
- How easy is that to set up and share with windows/linux drives ?
- How strong is the partition linked with the system ? I have read that the master key is stored on the OS. What if I lose the OS ?


The building:

I am familiar with building computers, so should be a big deal, though, I am a bit less with the pre-testing:

- For the memory, is Memtest just enough ?
- How to test the disks ?


I know that this is quite a lot of questions, and I apologize if this is not the right place.
If there are other places to post of other posts which would answer my questions, please let me know !

Cheers !

 

[BigDave]

I am familiar with both windonws and Linux systems

FreeNAS/zfs is based on BSD (unix) and will be somewhat different than you are used to.

I have googled quite a lot, read tutorials, this forum, ...

I'm going say that based on your questions asked in this post, you have done very light amounts of reading in *this* forum.
FreeNAS has a fairly steep learning curve if your intent is to keep your data secure and safe.

For starters, read the Hardware Recommendations thread and cyberjocks ZFS guide for noobs.

These two threads will give answers to at least half the questions you've asked today, then you will have a base from which
to begin your FreeNAS adventure;)

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

I have read that 8 GB are OK, would 16 GB change something in my case ?

8GB is the minimum, so if you're planning to "start big" and support lots of simultaneous devices and uses, you should probably start with at least 16GB. If you plan to install any plugins, don't even try to start with 8GB.

I indeed fear quite a lot to lose the OS and need to reinstall/configure it !

This fear is unfounded, just make sure you keep a backup of the configuration.

I see that you recommend the WD Red editions. Any particular reason for that ?

They are specifically designed for NAS usage, with a good combination of features, performance, capacity and power consumption. They also happen to be what iX currently ships with the FreeNAS Mini.

I actually have no idea on how the partitionning would work on the RAID-Z2

You need to learn about ZFS datasets.

I am a bit less with the pre-testing

This is thoroughly covered in pinned threads (aka stickies) in these forums.

I'm going say that based on your questions asked in this post, you have done very light amounts of reading in *this* forum.

+1