Thinking about trying FreeNAS

[Alexeon]

Hi, I am currently building a file server for my personal files on the cheap. I read the hardware guide and it seems like FreeNAS might not be the right fit for my setup, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. If its not the right fit, then I'll try something else. The motherboard supports RAID5, but I would disable any RAID functionality in the BIOS as per the guide.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9YqYzy

What's not listed on there is a 40 GB 2.5" HDD I would use as the boot drive if I use FreeNAS.

Before I am horribly flamed, please keep in mind that I did not buy these parts with FreeNAS in mind, a friend suggested it as a possible option and I'm just exploring that option. FreeNAS does sound ideal, but its too late to go back and undo my purchases (and my budget is already thin enough as it is, anyway.)

Thanks for any feedback.


EDIT: As I'm on a budget, I haven't actually bought the HDDs yet. Just thought I'd make that clear, since anyone would rightfully ask what kind of budget allows for $500 in HDDs.

 

[marbus90]

4 HDDs? Lenovo TS140, add 2x8GB Crucial DIMMs, be fine. Keep in mind that raidz will provide 1 parity disk, however that one is needed to ensure that all data is read correctly - you'd want at least raidz2.

Anyway, with that system listed there you won't have much luck here.

 

[DataKeeper]

Nope.. If you really wish to use FreeNAS then I'd suggest you return or sell the desktop parts, save a bit more and do it properly. If that's simply not an option there are other NAS software distributions out there like open media vault, etc with more relaxed requirements. Those relaxed requirements come with extra risk.

Will FreeNAS install on your hardware? It might! It might even work for a time until....

Really.. you knew the answer before you asked didn't you ;)

 

[Alexeon]

Yeah, well, I thought I'd ask the experts anyway. I will probably end up going with Open Media Vault since that was another one I was looking at. Thanks for the replies.

 

[DrKK]

OMV is awesome! It's cuspy software written by one of the original developers of the old FreeNAS project!

 

[pirateghost]

OMV is like a Whopper without the bun:

It has the ingredients of a hamburger, but cannot be called a hamburger by anyone with intellectual honesty.

OMV is actually a great product, started and run by one of the original lead developers of the old FreeNAS project.

 

[DrKK]

OMV is actually a great product, started and run by one of the original lead developers of the old FreeNAS project.

How dare you misquote me, pirateghost.

 

[Alexeon]

When you can only afford cheap hamburger knockoffs, sometimes it has to do.

 

[hugovsky]

Will you do bungee jumping with office rubber bands?

 

[HoneyBadger]

Jesus guys, back off and read his post again.

@Alexeon - thanks for reading the hardware guide and asking before just deciding to go ahead with a YOLO-build. Your guess was correct though that FreeNAS isn't the right fit for your hardware; it's very particular about what systems it likes to work with. Kind of like dating a high-maintenance partner, you need to be willing to put up with its demands.

OMV is a good alternative. Hopefully things will go well. If you have a tight budget, you could always start with a mirrored pair of 4TB drives, and then expand as you go.

 

[Alexeon]

Thanks. I'll come back sometime in the future when I can afford to make a build worthy of FreeNAS.

 

[SweetAndLow]

marbus90 post suggests a fairly cheap build if you are interested. Only a couple $100+drives to get something that can run freenas.

 

[DataKeeper]

If the ZFS support was further along in OMV I'd have likely gone that route myself with the same hardware I have. OMV uses Debian Linux instead of FreeBSD and while I have experience with BSDi I've used Debian for about 20 years now.

S&L is correct in marbus90 comment above regarding the Lenovo TS140. If you wanted to go FreeNAS now that does it on a tight budget. Also, there are older systems on eBay selling from 75-200 bucks with older X8 mainboards, 2+Ghz CPUs and 8-16GB ram with room for 8 drives. Most are rackmount but its still a cheap starter box.

 

[Alexeon]

I appreciate the suggestions (and sorry about the late reply, been really busy with stuff) but I'll just stick it out with the stuff I have for now. Like I said, I will be coming back in the future, but for now I have what I have and I don't feel like going through a whole RMA process.

Thanks again.