New to NAS

kamarkaka

Cadet
Joined
Sep 16, 2022
Messages
1
Hi, I have been using my desktop for storage and backup the whole time, and decide to build the first small NAS for myself.

I have 3 hard drives: one 2TB, one 4TB, and one 14TB. As a complete newbie to NAS/RAID/TrueNAS, I am wondering what's the best solution for my current situation? My current plan is to use the 3 drives as-is with no raid or what so ever, but gradually add 10-14TB drives to replace the smaller ones and add RAID over the coming years. Would that make sense?

Glad to join the community and thanks in advance :)
 

Heracles

Wizard
Joined
Feb 2, 2018
Messages
1,401
Would that make sense?

No...

I have 3 hard drives: one 2TB, one 4TB, and one 14TB. As a complete newbie to NAS/RAID/TrueNAS, I am wondering what's the best solution for my current situation?

Unfortunately, there are no real option with such drives. The difference between them is way too large. ZFS will use the equivalent of the smallest drive only, so will do as if you had 3x 2TB, wasting a total of 14TB. Also, 3 drives means only Raid-Z1 which should not be used anymore (not safe for disks as big as the one that exists today) or 3-way mirror (wasting 2 drives, leaving only 1 usable).

But you have to check the rest of the system : the RAM, the controler, CPUs, ...

Should you need to keep using desktop gear with these drives, TrueNAS is not what you need.
 

Davvo

MVP
Joined
Jul 12, 2022
Messages
3,151
Welcome! The first step you need to do is read, then read more and finally read even more!
You can start from the following:

You can find more here and here.
You can also read random topics in the general help section in order to learn.
Once you gain a basic understanding you should open a thread here and propose your configuration and ask for suggestions based on your use-case.

P.S.: it looks worse than actually is, don't be scared by the initial approach.
 
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