BUILD Small + Lightweight FreeNAS Hardware Recommendations

[foxdirect]

Hey guys,

BACKGROUND:
I travel full time. I also carry a lot of data with me on 8 - 2TB Seagate USB Hard drives, model STDR2000300.

In total they weigh just over 2 lbs (1kg) and luckily take up very little space in my suitcase.

I've been using an Airport Extreme as my NAS by plugging in a 10-port powered USB Hub, along with all the drives but I HATE trusting the HFS+ filesystem to important data. I've already had drives show corruption on small isolated groups of files. I love the features of the ZFS filesystem.

So this brings me to the idea of using FreeNAS + a tiny computer + my 8 USB drives in an encrypted RAID6 array. Then plug in a small ethernet to WIFI adapter (like WNCE2001 or similar) so I can wirelessly access the files from my laptop.

HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS:
-Lightweight - 3 lbs (1.5kg) or less.
-Compact (small total size)
Something the size of a raspberry pi would be perfect except the specs of that are nowhere close to the necessary 8GB+ ECC RAM along with a decent CPU.

So what do you guys think? Is FreeNAS up to being a portable NAS solution? And if it is, can you recommend the smallest and lightest possible hardware to make this a reality?

 

[cyberjock]

To be honest, I'm not sure if there's a good lightweight solution for 8 drives. 8 drives pretty much means "a relatively large case", which also means "pretty heavy too".

I think your expectations for a portable server are pretty close to impossible.

But.. I have an idea.

You could choose to host your data at some server farm. Plenty will give you rack space for a monthly fee and let you do what you want with it. You can throw a FreeNAS box on there and use it how you see fit. Even though it'll be remote, speeds from good providers will exceed wifi throughput, so I don't think you have to be concerned with speed.

It's totally possible to encrypt your pools, do an ssh tunnel(that is encrypted) and be very safe about it. There is the possibility that someone might do something because they have physical access to your server, but that'll be something you have to accept.

But trying to make a briefcase sized server.. not going to happen unless you plan to buy a briefcase and hack it up to do what you want. Someone here did buy a metal briefcase and literally built a whole computer inside it. He didn't make it for traveling. He did it because he wanted a server he could grab and go with if there was an emergency. 8 disks will probably command a fairly large briefcase, and it will certainly weight more than 3 lbs. But, it's about the best option next to a hosting provider.


https://www.google.com/search?q=computer in a briefcase&num=20&safe=off&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=xQRHU7yaIc_JsQSTv4Jg&ved=0CFYQsAQ&biw=1204&bih=783

 

[jgreco]

I believe those are 2.5" disks.

Find a mini-ITX chassis with 2 5.25" bays. Put two 4x2.5-in-5.25 adapter trays in. Put in one of the new Avoton boards. Call it a day.

It is never going to be as small as your individual drives plus a USB hub but it'll be a lot more reliable.

 

[foxdirect]

Yes, the 8 - 2TB drives I have are all 9.5mm 2.5" USB drives; they are the smallest and lightest 2TB drives available today. A Mac-Mini or Intel NUC are both "doable" sizes... but neither support ECC RAM. Looking into the "Avoton" now but not finding it... link please.

@cyberjock: I'd love to goto the cloud, but the reason I carry all these drives is they have data on them I need fast and immediate access to. Internet download speeds where I travel are not always fast nor reliable... How I wish the cloud could work... ;)

 

[jgreco]

For that setup, I'd consider the ASRock C2550D4I due to the extra SATA ports, the 2750 would be overkill.

 

[jgreco]

oh too cool for words, i knew i saw this awhile back...

http://atechfabrication.com/products/HeatSync_NAS-8x_2.5 Series.htm

 

[murphys_law]

oh too cool for words, i knew i saw this awhile back...

http://atechfabrication.com/products/HeatSync_NAS-8x_2.5 Series.htm

That is SWEET!

 

[cyberjock]

That thing is amazing!

Actually, if you start the ordering process the only boards supported are non-ECC except the VERY old X7SPA-H. Custom adds $120..:/

It looks like the case, and no extra frills is almost $700 alone.

 

[jgreco]

Yeah, maybe. For my uses I wanted a VM storage server with an Avoton that fit in 1U and offered 8-12 drives. So I was looking at a 1U chassis that had two 5.25 bays and was looking to throw either two 4-2.5-in-5.25 or two 6-2.5-in-5.25's in there which is both more practical and cheaper than that lovely bit of hardware.

But I haven't gotten around to that quite yet either.

 

[jwaz]

How about one of these with the Avoton Mini-ITXs:

NSC-800 NAS Server Chassis
http://www.u-nas.com/product/nsc800.html

 

[jgreco]

That thing is amazing!

Yeah, HTPC gear I'd say.

 

[murphys_law]

Dang didn't even look at the price.... that hurts.

 

[RyanG]

Ehhh, my concern with your ideal setup would be durability. Colo for a half rack would be cheap, but not as secure as hosting it yourself. What size files are you trying to access and read/modify? A traveling NAS just doesn't seem ideal to me for obvious reasons, coupled with the stress of constantly shutting down/booting up your server, I think you'd be better off figuring a way to host it at a datacenter/home with secure access to data.

 

[jgreco]

Not as big a deal for laptop rated drives. Back when 3.5" drives were just being introduced, and 5.25" was still king, I was working on a medical monitoring device with a 3.5 and the device was intended to be able to be carted around while running.... something that wouldn't have been possible with larger drives. As drives have gotten smaller, they've also become more resilient to certain things.

Besides, if he is currently lugging them around individually, sticking them in a NAS may actually be safer.

 

[RyanG]

Not as big a deal for laptop rated drives. Back when 3.5" drives were just being introduced, and 5.25" was still king, I was working on a medical monitoring device with a 3.5 and the device was intended to be able to be carted around while running.... something that wouldn't have been possible with larger drives. As drives have gotten smaller, they've also become more resilient to certain things.

Besides, if he is currently lugging them around individually, sticking them in a NAS may actually be safer.

Anything is safer than dragging 8 USB HD's everywhere ;) We constantly have enterprise mechanical HD's failing in our servers so I'm a bit pessimistic for adding additional stress on HD's beyond just simply reading/writing from them.