Should I even consider FreeNAS?

[Daniel Winther Nielsen]

Hello guys, hopefully you can guide a complete noob a little so I can find if I should put the time into learning about FreeNAS or I should go with something easier.

I have been running a Windows Server 2012 server/media center PC in my living room. I had actually already decided to go with FreeNAS because the youtube videos make it sound nice and easy, but reading a little on here gave me the opposite impression.

I will only be using this for home use, no backup and no redundancy needed as it mainly going to be used as a media server for my living room and watching movies from my other computer (and maybe mobile devices). With PLEX or something similar installed.

So would FreeNAS be suitable for this, I already have 6 drives with data on them, if possible I dont want to format them, but they are using the NTFS filesystem. Is it possible to use the NTFS drives on freeNAS, as I said I dont want any raid drives just a bunch of drives.

Hopefully my noobish question is ok here :)

 

[pirateghost]

If you have data on NTFS drives that you don't want to wipe, then freenas is definitely not for you. Based on your description of what you want, I see absolutely no benefit to using freenas.

What benefit were you looking to gain that you can't get from your windows server? Most people want freenas for its zfs capabilities and ease of use for zfs.

 

[Daniel Winther Nielsen]

I'm using a trial version of windows server, so I wanted something permanent and easy to use. Which the youtube videos I saw made it out to be in my opinion. And because I dont really what else I should use, the best alternative I see right now is a Synology box, or simply getting another Windows 7 license.

Also as I understand it FreeNAS is a lighter alternative to windows.

 

[pirateghost]

And because I dont really what else I should use, the best alternative I see right now is a Synology box, or simply getting another Windows 7 license.

Alternatives:
Open Media Vault (do not know about NTFS support, probably a little cumbersome to get working)
Windows (any version)
Roll your own with a Linux Distro of your choosing (Mint is pretty popular for a GUI)

Also as I understand it FreeNAS is a lighter alternative to windows.

Not even in the same planet, let alone the same ball park, or city/state/country

While they are both Operating Systems, they have VASTLY differing objectives and goals.

FreeNAS is a NAS appliance, more similar to a Synology (but better IMO, considering its FreeBSD background, and ZFS capabilities(which you don't even want to use)).
Windows is just an OS that has the ability to do some of what FreeNAS does (SMB/CIFS shares, run applications (like plex, emby, crashplan, etc). 7/8.x/10 are designed for consumer desktop use, which can perform the same functions I just mentioned. Server 2kXX is a server OS that has capabilities to run those applications (except crashplan home editions last I checked).

 

[Daniel Winther Nielsen]

Well, I'm glad I didnt just go ahead and install FreeNAS as I had planned to do weekend. I will probably go with windows 7 for the server also.

Thanks alot for your candid answers pirateghost!