Tech Roundup & Last Day to Save 10% on a FreeNAS Mini

[Jeremy]

Howdy guys, we've rounded up a list of hardware and tech components you may find useful. Cyber Monday is a great day to grab some hard drives, replacement components, or new hardware for your next FreeNAS build and we hope you find this guidance helpful.

Please consider supporting the FreeNAS Project project by clicking on one of our Amazon links before purchasing *anything on Amazon, even if you don't end up purchasing that product.

ECC Memory
FreeNAS requires at least 8GB of RAM to take advantage of all the great features offered by ZFS. We also strongly recommend using ECC RAM to help prevent errors.

• Crucial 32GB Kit (16GBx2) DDR4-2133 MT/S (PC4-2133) CL15 dual ranked x4based ECC Registered Server Memory
• Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3/DDR3L-1600MT/s (PC3-12800) DR x8 ECC UDIMM Server Memory

Hard Drives
Your data is only as good as your hard drives. Disk failures can and do happen so make sure you have enough redundancy and a spare drive to swap in.

• WD Red 3TB NAS HDD – 5400 RPM Class SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch
• Seagate 4TB NAS HDD SATA 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive
• WD Red 2TB NAS HDD – 5400 RPM Class SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch
• Seagate 8TB NAS HDD SATA 6Gb/s NCQ 256 MB Cache Bare Drive
• Seagate 10TB IronWolf Pro 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 256MB Cache 3.5-Inch NAS HDD
• Seagate 8TB Ironwolf NAS SATA 6GB/s NCQ 256MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare/OEM HD

Solid State Drives
By leveraging a read/write cache to optimize memory, you can achieve a significant performance boost for your storage.

• Samsung 850 EVO 500GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD
• Samsung 850 EVO 1TB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD
• Kingston Digital 240GB SSDNow V300 SATA 3 2.5 (7mm height) SSD

Motherboards
The motherboard lies at the heart of your FreeNAS system. Choose reliable hardware to keep your data safe and online.

• Supermicro Motherboard Micro ATX DDR4 LGA 1151 X11SSL-CF-O
• Supermicro X10SL7-F uATX DDR3 1600 LGA 1150 Motherboard

Networking
Upgrade your networking hardware for more bandwidth & faster access to your files.

• NETGEAR N600 Dual Band Wi-Fi Router
• TP-Link 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Switch
• TP-Link 8-Port Gigabit PoE Web Managed Easy Smart Switch with 4-PoE Ports

Computer Cases
Whether you’re building a new system or planning your next one, get some ideas from this list of computer cases.

MiniITX

• Corsair Obsidian 250D Mini ITX Case

MicroATX

• Supermicro 300W Mini Tower Server Chassis, Black
• Fractal Design Node 804 No Power Supply MicroATX Cube Case FD-CA-NODE-804-BL

Medium ATX

• Supermicro SuperChassis CSE-732I-500B 500W Mid-Tower Workstation Chassis (Black)

Power Supplies
An energy-efficient power supply can save you money on electricity and reduce cooling costs over time.

• SeaSonic 650-Watt ATX12V/EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Active PFC Power Supply SSR-650RM
• SeaSonic G Series 550-Watt ATX12V/EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply SSR-550RM
• Seasonic 650W 80 PLUS Titanium ATX12V Power Supply with Active PFC F3 (SSR-650TD)

USB Drives
These portable drives are great for everything from installing FreeNAS to storing and transferring files on an easy-to-carry device.

• Corsair Flash Voyager Slider X1 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive
• Corsair Flash Voyager Slider X1 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive
• Corsair Flash Voyager Slider X1 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive

Computer Monitor
Watch your favorite TV shows or movies from the Plex plugin on a bigger, brighter screen.

• Samsung S24E310HL 23.6-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor
• Samsung 21.5-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor (S22E310H)
• Dell UltraSharp U2414H 23.8” Inch Screen LED Monitor

Accessories
A miscellaneous collection of useful tech gadgets

• New 500 ft bulk Cat5e Ethernet Cable / Wire UTP Pull Box 500ft Cat-5e Grey ~ VIVO (CABLE-V002)
• Jackery Giant+ Premium 12,000 mAh Dual USB Portable Battery Charger & External Battery Pack with Panasonic Battery Cells and Aluminum Shell
• APEVIA AF312S-BL 120mm 4pin+3pin Silent Blue Case Fan Without LED Lights (3-pk)
• Rosewill 45 Piece Premium Computer Tool Kit RTK-045
• UbiGear Cable Tester +Crimp Crimper +100 RJ45 CAT5 CAT5e Connector Plug Network Tool Kits (Crimper315)

FreeNAS Mini

• FreeNAS Mini (Diskless)
• FreeNAS Mini (4TB)
• FreeNAS Mini (8TB)
• FreeNAS Mini (12TB)
• FreeNAS Mini (16TB)
• FreeNAS Mini (24TB)

FreeNAS Mini XL

• FreeNAS Mini XL (Diskless)
• FreeNAS Mini XL (32TB)
• FreeNAS Mini XL (48TB)

FreeNAS Upgrades

• FreeNAS Mini – Memory Upgrade – 2 x 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz ECC Unbuffered
• FreeNAS Mini Write Cache (ZIL) Upgrade
• FreeNAS Mini Read Cache (L2ARC) Upgrade

 

[Sakuru]

Solid State Drives
By leveraging a read/write cache to optimize memory, you can achieve a significant performance boost for your storage.

SATA SSDs are great for L2ARC, but it's generally better to go with a PCIe SSD that has power loss protection for SLOG. https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/some-insights-into-slog-zil-with-zfs-on-freenas.13633/

 

[tc60045]

No SAS drives :(

 

[GWasp]

Are the components above meant to be time limited Cyber Monday deals?

I'm in the market for some 4TB drives (ref my will it FreeNAS thread) but looking at the links above implies these are not part of any Cyber Monday special pricing meaning I'm expecting to be able to get them at that price after today.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Are the components above meant to be time limited Cyber Monday deals?

Doesn't appear that way to me. The 4TB Seagates are a good deal, but they've been at that price for a while. Looks like the 4TB IronWolf is available at the same price now.

 

[Twainer]

The 3TB Western Digital Reds were $97. 59 all last week. I thought I ordered two of 'em on black Friday but just got shipping note that shows only paid for one. Now I need to spend an extra $10 for the 2nd. I haven't seen any decent Christmas deals so far this year on computer stuff.

 

[Jeremy]

Are the components above meant to be time limited Cyber Monday deals?

I'm in the market for some 4TB drives (ref my will it FreeNAS thread) but looking at the links above implies these are not part of any Cyber Monday special pricing meaning I'm expecting to be able to get them at that price after today.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Only the FreeNAS Mini is an actual 'Cyber Monday' deal. I'll change the title of the thread.

 

[omcn7]

Sadly I made my purchases before I saw this post. I would have liked to support FreeNAS by using their links. Oh well I used amazon smile which donated to EFF.org (which is darn important into today's political climate). ** slightly off topic there

re: black friday and cyber monday "deals"
I have been watch prices very closely to add to my zpools. The best "deal" was on samsung SSD 1TB 850 EVO. The best price was on B&H photo (outside NY). I saved on shipping and no tax. I also get a code for some game I will likely never play. However. The price rose on the 850 over the last 6 months then suddenly dropped to give a $500 product a $250 price tag. It went up.. then "dropped" so I guess there was a savings there, sort of.

There was an avg of 25% savings on other SSDs ADATA and others. But again there was a price hike then a sudden "deal" on black friday. Sadly WD red NAS drives did not see a decrease in price by more then $10 or so. I ended up with a desktop HDD from seagate. Although at $99 for 4TB is is not a bad deal. It was not a mind blowing one considering trends in the past 4 months.

I hope folks find this helpful, we are all looking to add to our zpools I suspect. :)

 

[Jeremy]

SATA SSDs are great for L2ARC, but it's generally better to go with a PCIe SSD that has power loss protection for SLOG. https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/some-insights-into-slog-zil-with-zfs-on-freenas.13633/

Thanks, please post your favorite PCIe SSDs if you have links!

 

[Sakuru]

The Intel P3700 is the best, but fairly expensive. The Intel 750 has lower durability, but would be fine for a lower use box.

Quoting from jgreco's post:

About the best all-around SSD you can get for SLOG is the Intel DC P3700, an NVMe based SSD with great endurance characteristics. A consumer-grade version, the Intel 750, retains the power loss protection and general speed and low latency while offering reduced endurance.