Will this (somewhat old) hardware suffice?

[JimPhreak]

So I have an older PC system that I'm currently using as a media server (WS 2008) but I'd like to turn it into a NAS device if I can. The hardware I have available for this box is as follows:

CPUs: Intel Q6600, Intel e8400, Intel e6320
Mobo: DFI Blood Iron P35 LGA775 board
Memory: 8GB DDR2-667 (non-ECC) RAM
Storage:

• 8GB Compact Flash Drive
• 8x2TB Hitachi Deskstar 7k3000 drives (each less than a year old)
• Perc 6i RAID controller with 2xSAS->4xSATA cables

NIC: Intel EXPI9301CT Gigabit CT Adapter (in addition to the onboard NIC)
Case: Mid-tower case that supports 8x3.5" drives
PSU: 430w PSU

I'm willing to spend a LITTLE BIT of money to make this box more reliable if I have to but not a lot more. I'd love some feedback as to whether or not this hardware will suffice for FreeNAS and if so what is the recommended configuration (RAID6, RAIDz2, etc.) for my array. Thanks guys.

 

[survive]

Hi JimPhreak,

Yes, it should work, but doing so would ignore most all of the major bits of hardware advice we usually provide.

You are short on RAM for your pool size, no ECC & you want to use a PERC card to run your pool....that said it ought to work fine till it doesn't. First thing I would do is toss the PERC & get an M1015 controller.

-Will

 

[JimPhreak]

Thanks for the reply Will. So I'd be looking at roughly $500 in upgrades (16GB ECC RAM + the controller) at least if I wanted to make this thing work huh? Not really sure I'm ready to spend that kind of money. For that price I might almost might as well buy a pair of QNaps or ReadyNAS'.

 

[survive]

Hi JimPhreak,

I take it you haven't priced out the QNap & ReadyNAS boxes?

I know it's harsh, the old socket 775 boxes still perform well, but the lack of ECC support (and the price of DDDR-2 ECC DIMMs) and limited memory size really limit what you can do with them in FreeNAS with a pool the size you want.

That said, a system based off what we recommend is really nice, you have the comfort of knowing there are dozens of guys running the same X9S boards and all the awesomeness that is a fast reliable zfs-based file server.

Whatever you chose I hope it works out for you.....please come back and ask if you have any questions if you want to make a "forum suggested" build!

-Will

 

[JimPhreak]

I've seen 4- bay QNap and ReadyNAS devices for $350 (without hard drives of course but I have all my drives).

Believe me I'm here because going ZFS is my first preference I just didn't want to have to buy a whole new system and waste all the hardware I already have. Can you link me to a thread where you guys detail these "forum suggested builds" so I can consider all my options?

 

[cyberjock]

Yes. There's a sticky.

 

[JimPhreak]

Yes. There's a sticky.

Thanks, yea I've been reading through it for the last 20 minutes. The more I read the more I think FreeNAS might not be right for me at this moment. It's making me REALLY want to drop $1,000+ dollars on parts because I'm the kind of person that's going to want the most optimal hardware for the project I'm taking on. Unfortunately I don't think I have the money to splurge on it right now :(.

Ugh, now I'm frustrated.

 

[cyberjock]

Yeah. ZFS has needs. And you pretty much have to feed it if you want to be happy.

But, I'd never spend money on those ReadyNAS or similar products. Too many people have lost everything without a clue as to what went wrong. That's just not for me and my data, thank you very much.

 

[JimPhreak]

Yeah. ZFS has needs. And you pretty much have to feed it if you want to be happy.

But, I'd never spend money on those ReadyNAS or similar products. Too many people have lost everything without a clue as to what went wrong. That's just not for me and my data, thank you very much.

Yea I hear you. Maybe I should just stick with the hardware I've got right now and turn my current two RAID10 arrays into a RAID 6 array to give me another 8TB of space.

 

[JimPhreak]

Is there any advantage to just keeping my two RAID10 arrays and loading FreeNAS on this box? Sure I won't be using ZFS but the main thing I want it to get rid of a bulky OS like Windows and turn my box into a straight up NAS. I'd have two RAID10 volumes on my Perc6i (I don't believe I can combine them into one array without having to wipe the data off one of them correct?) and I could still use many of the tools built into the FreeNAS OS.

BTW the RAID6 option is out because of what I've read about extremely slow rebuild times and very slow writes. I'm pretty much used to RADI10 for the past few years and don't want a performance hit for reading or writing.

 

[cyberjock]

Sorry, I can't help you with deciding what hardware RAID to use. Someone else might be able to help, but since most people go to FreeNAS for ZFS its unlikely. Your questions are kind of beyond the scope of the FreeNAS project itself.:/