NAS Boxes OS Free

[gnagnibu]

Hello everybody.

I'm looking for NAS boxes without OS, like commercial ones (Synology, QNAP) but OS free to let me install freenas.
Also commercial freenas compatible nas would be ok.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[Stephens]

i think iXsystems is actually the "owner" of FreeNAS 8 these days, so you might want to start there.

 

[jgreco]

There are any number of vendors who will sell you a generic NAS platform, ranging from IBM/HP/Dell on the "big iron" side of things, to iXsystems, who will sell you their own variation of FreeNAS on what looks to be a Supermicro platform.

In general, NAS vendors build tightly-coupled offerings. On the low end, you have stuff like the iomega ix2 ( http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/11/up-close-with-the-updated-iomega-ix2-nas-drive/ ) which sports a (haha) massive 256MB RAM and a Marvell 1.6GHz SoC, and being an ARM platform, that makes it incompatible with FreeNAS. You won't be building a FreeNAS system that can touch its small footprint and tiny power consumption, but almost any FreeNAS will outperform it. There are many Atom based NAS boxes, such as the Sans Digital AccuNAS AN4L+ (~$400) but you can make a mini-ITX box yourself for less, or better yet, run out and get an HP Microserver N40L ($350 from HP Business) which lets you use more RAM *and* has expansion options. And if you want big iron, well, the NAS-vendor-supplied platforms are going to be pricey. Better to go buy a Supermicro SuperServer and build your own.

 

[gnagnibu]

i think iXsystems is actually the "owner" of FreeNAS 8 these days, so you might want to start there.

Freenas Mini looks very good, but is too expensive for home purpose

 

[gnagnibu]

HP Microserver N40L ($350 from HP Business) which lets you use more RAM *and* has expansion options.

This one looks really good and value for money is excellent...

 

[jgreco]

This one looks really good and value for money is excellent...

So you're just looking for some x86 server hardware. There's lots of options then.

 

[gnagnibu]

So you're just looking for some x86 server hardware. There's lots of options then.

I'm looking for best price-performance ratio device (without HDs).
At the beginning, commercial NAS seemed be the right choise, but I'm willing to consider all possibilities.