My low-power freeNAS proposal

[pixel8383]

My advice would be to move your photo library outside the macOS Photo app. There are much better solutions that also won't place limitations on the file system the data has to be stored on. Apple left the professional photography management space when they abandoned Aperture some years ago. The Photos app doesn't even come close to that, and Aperture has been well and truly surpassed in the meantime. FreeNAS works very nicely with my Apple infrastructure, but don't try and bend it to provide you with access to a poor application which might result in undesirable consequences. HFS+ is also finished as Apple's file system of choice, so even if you could get it to work it would have a limited lifespan.

Yes, I know I could look for something different. But for home-use, Photos is still good enough. It syncs pretty well with cloud and iOS. I am not interested in moving somewhere else my historical photo library right now. APFS is the next Apple file system but I don't think HFS will die so soon. APFS is still in early days (even if it's in the last releases of Apple's OS).

Use iSCSI with ZFS backed block storage. to connect to iSCSI on your Mac you need to buy software like kernsafe iscsi initiator x with this it will look like a local disk and can be formatted as HFwhateverS+. keep in mind, YOU CAN NOT SHARE FILE from FreeNAS when doing this. Also don't USE THIS OVER WIFI you WILL corrupt all of your photos. Also every time you want to unhook from the wall you MUST unmount the disk or you WILL corrupt all of your photos. Think of iSCSI and a long cord for your hard drive. No picture what will happen if you yank you running hard drive from your computer... You WILL corrupt all of your photos.

Yeah, I know about iSCSI but I don't think it's viable due to these limitations. I am looking for a stable solution.

Thew fact (if true) that apples software is SO dependant on their filesystem tells me thy just want you to buy a time capsule or use iCloud. Its hardcore BS vendor lock in.

It's unfortunately true and I think it's both what you say and a way to optimize their software to the maximum at the same time.

RAM: ECC RAM is highly recommended while non-ECC RAM "should work". Be also aware of the fact that 8GB RAM is the minimum amount of RAM required for FreeNAS. Just for file serving that is. If you plan to do anything else (FreeBSD Jails, Plugins, Virtual Machines) 8GB RAM will be not sufficient.

Yes, I know, ECC is the best... but I was starting with "I could buy a NAS" and I am ending with "I should buy a server class CPU, server class RAM, a raid controller with backup battery" and so on. That's not sane. I know as I nerd I would love it but I have to find some limits to my little home-project. Moreover I would like to keep it not too expensive with daily power consumption.

Thanks for the other suggestions. I will keep thinking of it during my nights.

 

[MrToddsFriends]

[...] I am ending with "I should buy a [...] raid controller with backup battery" and so on.

Apparently you didn't read the Hardware Recommendations Guide so far. Besides that: I'm running a "Server Atom" mini-ITX system. No doubt more expensive than a "Consumer Atom" system, but less limited and still with low power consumption.

 

[kdragon75]

a raid controller with backup battery

Do not buy a RAID controller! Get an HBA. you don't need for it to be battery backed.

Also on the power consumption, its easy to get carried away spending far more than you would ever save just to save a few watts.

 

[Chris Moore]

Do you see any other solution?

Do you have thunderbolt? Many people that use Mac directly attach mass storage to the Mac using thunderbolt. It is a faster/better option than USB.

 

[Inxsible]

Long story short, If you want to use Apple on Apple buy more Apple.

Vendor lock-in at it's finest !!

 

[pixel8383]

Apparently you didn't read the Hardware Recommendations Guide so far. Besides that: I'm running a "Server Atom" mini-ITX system. No doubt more expensive than a "Consumer Atom" system, but less limited and still with low power consumption.

Which CPU and mobo are you using? I have readen that guide. I am actually studying my solution before buying anything.

Do not buy a RAID controller! Get an HBA. you don't need for it to be battery backed.

Yes, I was going to extremize my situation. I will not buy a raid controller (as far I understood, it's not reccomended to run ZFS on a typical Raid configuration).

Also on the power consumption, its easy to get carried away spending far more than you would ever save just to save a few watts.

I know. I am trying to find a good balance. It has no sense to buy a CPU that costs 2 times another just to save 3W. The ROI would be too long.

Do you have thunderbolt? Many people that use Mac directly attach mass storage to the Mac using thunderbolt. It is a faster/better option than USB.

I can evaluate TB, I am going to think my library will not reside on a network storage (during these days I discovered Apple does not reccomand it).

Vendor lock-in at it's finest !!

I don't like complottism. If Apple was not using some fs functionalities some nerds would say "why the hell don't they optimize their software?". Now they are and people is not happy anyway.

 

[MrToddsFriends]

Which CPU and mobo are you using? I have readen that guide. I am actually studying my solution before buying anything.

I'm running a Supermicro A1SAi-2750F. The Intel C2000 family of SOCs is somewhat outdated by now, superseded by the C3000 family, it's direct successor. See also:
https://www.supermicro.nl/products/motherboard/ATOM/

Another viable choice in the mini-ITX would be the Xeon-D 1500 family. Entry level prices even higher than for the Intel C3000 Server Atom family.
https://www.supermicro.nl/products/motherboard/Xeon3000/#1667

I know. I am trying to find a good balance. It has no sense to buy a CPU that costs 2 times another just to save 3W.

If microATX instead of mini-ITX would be also o.k. for you, you'll find several Socket 1151 components (boards and CPUs) in the hardware guide that do not consume substantially more power than the mini-ITX families mentioned above when idling (that is: most of the time in a typical home user situation).

There are plenty of threads here in the forum about the successor of the Socket 1151 Skylake CPUs, named Kaby Lake. I don't have all the details in my mind.

 

[pixel8383]

I think I am going to buy an HP Proliant MicroServer Gen10. The price seems to be pretty competitive. It has ECC Ram, I have seen some people on this forum using it and I think the overall product is better than any low-cost hadrware I can find. What do you think?

 

[MrToddsFriends]

Gen10 seems to work after resolving some minor quirks
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...r-a-few-seconds-on-a-microserver-gen10.56809/

Edit: But do your own research. HP Microserver Gen8 is/was very popular among FreeNAS users, while Gen10 doesn't have the same level of reputation due to the builtin components.

 

[pixel8383]

Edit: But do your own research. HP Microserver Gen8 is/was very popular among FreeNAS users, while Gen10 doesn't have the same level of reputation due to the builtin components.

I have seen it but it seems like the price of Gen8 is not that different from Gen10 (somewhere it has the same price), while some performance specification are obviously worse. I think I will buy Gen10 if I will keep going with this solution.