Is FreeNas what I need?

[SMB Freenas]

Greetings:

I presently use Windows Home Server (WHS) to backup my home network (Ethernet and WiFi) connected computers and I also use WHS as a NAS. I also backup the WHS to the cloud for redundancy.

Due to the obsolescence of Windows Home Server, I want to replace it with a NAS. I will partition the NAS to allow the users to save the files into a general depository and partition the NAS for connected computer backups.

I also need a recommendation on either a plugin or app that will do fully automated backups and give me the ability to do bare metal restores.

The attached computers are Windows 10 with a couple of legacy Windows PCs, that will be phased out. I may also want to backup an Apple laptop my daughter uses at school. One of our Windows' PCs is a Microsoft Surface Pro 2, it does not use BIOS, instead it uses UEFI. So the solution should allow a bare metal restore for both BIOS, UEFI and Apple's EFI.

Your recommendations are greatly appreciated.

 

[pirateghost]

I also need a recommendation on either a plugin or app that will do fully automated backups and give me the ability to do bare metal restores.

Not gonna happen. Backups are handled by your client machines, and the restore process will be a function of the client software. FreeNAS is storage. While it contains plugins and jails, it is not a general purpose server, or a direct WHS replacement for those functions

 

[SMB Freenas]

:( Thanks for your honest and prompt response.

 

[pirateghost]

:( Thanks for your honest and prompt response.

If you're willing to put in a little work, you can create your own solution

 

[ChiknNutz]

I just recently jumped on the FreeNAS ship from WHS. I am still getting everything configured, but FreeNAS can still be the repository for all of the stuff you are used to on WHS, but unlike WHS, FreeNAS does not initiate the backup tasks. This is still a relatively simple affair as all you need to do is setup the built-in backup function on the PCs you want to backup and point them to a repository you create on your FreeNAS box.

 

[RichTJ99]

I think you can schedule bare metal backups through windows task scheduler.

 

[adamgoldberg]

There's also 3rd party backup software that you can use the NAS to store the respositories, e.g., Acronis.

 

[Jailer]

Aomei backupper standard is free and creates a disk/partition/volume image that can be stored on a network drive and used for recovery if needed.

Note: I have no affiliation with the software listed, I'm just a satisfied user sharing my experience.