# NAS build



## Jetster (Dec 30, 2017)

I've been seriously playing with the idea of building a NAS. Mostly because I want to learn the skill and learn more on seting up Linux for servers. I'm not apposed to a bought distro or even another os. I just want reliability. I have a G3258 and a Z97 board 4 Gb ram a case that will hold 8 drives. I was considering purchasing a Lsi raid controller.  Prices on large drive are falling so that's a plus too.  The chalange is I no little about Linux I mean I can install Mint and get it working but that's about it

If you have some favorite walkthroughs or   instructional videos, readings go ahead and post them. Or any ideas you have


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## Solaris17 (Dec 30, 2017)

Jetster said:


> I've been seriously playing with the idea of building a NAS. Mostly because I want to learn the skill and learn more on seting up Linux for servers. I'm not apposed to a bought distro or even another os. I just want reliability. I have a G3258 and a Z97 board 4 Gb ram a case that will hold 8 drives. I was considering purchasing a Lsi raid controller.  Prices on large drive are falling so that's a plus too.  The chalange is I no little about Linux I mean I can install Mint and get it working but that's about it
> 
> If you have some favorite walkthroughs or   instructional videos, readings go ahead and post them. Or any ideas you have



Cool! I can find some stuff in a bit, get a raid controller though. do yourself the favor!


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## thebluebumblebee (Dec 30, 2017)

Is there a "tipping point" when a raid controller is needed?  I was thinking of just doing a 2 drive raid one....


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## Jetster (Dec 30, 2017)

I'm definitely going with a controller. It's just which one. They get pricy and I'm not sure of the fetures or if $150 or less would do the job. I would like for it to monitor the drives health like my Synology does.


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## Kursah (Dec 30, 2017)

You don't HAVE to run Linux on a NAS BTW. You can run an old copy of Windows 7, you could run a server OS, you could run BSD, etc. Windows 7, if used as a file server should have a couple of minor registry tweaks used to ensure reliable connectivity to data.

What are you doing with this NAS? I see folks say NAS and while I understand them and use them for specific tasks, mostly as network accessible storage (NAS) for backups of my core server. 

Are you planning on storing your media files on the NAS and streaming from it? The G3258 should be able to do some Plex streaming but probably not more than a couple of 1080p streams.

If you do choose to go Linux and aren't too familiar with it, I'd suggest Ubuntu or Mint. I like Ubuntu 17 and Gnome honestly so I'd probably go that route. Debian isn't a bad one either but is more work. Really there's enough good documentation out there it wouldn't be too bad. 

You could use Unraid/software RAID rather than hardware RAID, though I am a fan of LSI cards, and a 9270/71 + BBU is affordable and can provide good performance. 

Choosing what type of RAID you want to run is also something you should discuss and understand. Most RAID cards offer 1, 0, 10, 5, 50. I prefer 10, but you only have 50% of your hardware available. The performance and level of redundancy is worth it if your data is important. Depending on what you expect from your storage in usable space, performance and resiliency, a level of RAID (hardware or software) or JBOD may be a way to go.

I hope that gives you some ideas to research, which I hope you spend some time doing as it is a great way to learn about the different options and help you decide which direction you want to go and why. Then we can work with you to roll up your sleeves and make this NAS a reality!


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## Jetster (Dec 30, 2017)

Thanks,  it would be a media server 2x 1080 and backups. Raid 5 or 10. My Synology  ds216 can handle it but it's raid 0 right now. I just do a hard backups


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## Kursah (Dec 30, 2017)

What do you mean by hard backup? File copies by drag and drop, copy/paste, robocopy, batch file? System/drive image by backup software?


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## Jetster (Dec 30, 2017)

Kursah said:


> What do you mean by hard backup? File copies by drag and drop, copy/paste, robocopy, batch file? System/drive image by backup software?


Just drag copy all my data to a 6 tb drive and put it in my closet. I do this maybe twice a year. It's not the only backup I do. The important stuff is continous back up elsewhere. The plan is to start with three drives and grow it if that's possible.


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## Jetster (Dec 31, 2017)

*Solaris17*  Waiting on some references when you get a chance. Including controller cards

What do you think about FreeNAS ?


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## thebluebumblebee (Dec 31, 2017)

There's a lot of info in this thread: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/80tb-nas.237538/post-3733664


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## Jetster (Dec 31, 2017)

So I was thinking something like this. 
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002...raid+m1015&dpPl=1&dpID=414UEe6OfnL&ref=plSrch

With a breakout cable will this work with standard sata drives?


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## cdawall (Dec 31, 2017)

I use one of these with break out cables for my NAS, but it is a little more built up then what you are looking at.

https://storage.microsemi.com/en-us/support/raid/sas_raid/sas-71605/


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## Jetster (Dec 31, 2017)

That's nice. I'm reading and learning. I'm on the part about HBA and RAID cards.


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## thebluebumblebee (Dec 31, 2017)

RockRAID 640 w/ 4-Port 6Gb/s Sata PCI-Express 2.0 x 4 Card - $30


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## Kursah (Dec 31, 2017)

Jetster said:


> That's nice. I'm reading and learning. I'm on the part about HBA and RAID cards.



That's the way to do it man, research it up. Choose if you want JBOD, software RAID, unRAID, hardware RAID, etc. Take your time, and this will surely be a very worth-while project that you'll be quite proud of! 

I'm not a fan of RAID5 or even 6 as often anymore unless you're running smaller drives. I've seen rebuild times get too ridiculous over 3TB drives, at least for my own taste. Anymore I default to RAID10 and have been very happy with the results and for the loss of space, the peace of mind in redundancy and overall performance are worthy trade-offs for me. With LSI RAID cards being so common, having a spare ins't a big deal either. Every option has its pros and cons, and the best way to weight those out is to research and maybe even mess around with an option or two. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how this project grows in this thread. Subbed!


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## Jetster (Jan 1, 2018)

cdawall said:


> I use one of these with break out cables for my NAS, but it is a little more built up then what you are looking at.
> 
> https://storage.microsemi.com/en-us/support/raid/sas_raid/sas-71605/


So you ruining this as a controller or HBA mode? What OS?

The LSI 9271-8i might be an option. Information overload right now.


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## cdawall (Jan 1, 2018)

Jetster said:


> So you ruining this as a controller or HBA mode? What OS?
> 
> The LSI 9271-8i might be an option. Information overload right now.



I have had some new years alcohols so bear with me. It's running 10 drives in raid 50 so that means not in HBA mode. Using server 2012R2 standard. It's the rig in my signature.


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## Jetster (Jan 1, 2018)

cdawall said:


> I have had some new years alcohols so bear with me. It's running 10 drives in raid 50 so that means not in HBA mode. Using server 2012R2 standard. It's the rig in my signature.


Thanks
I'm starting to understand the value of a nice RAID controller and proper case. Have a awesome New Years


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## Jetster (Jan 1, 2018)

Okay now its time for "i don't know what I'm doing"  PC is running and I installed Freenas. I figured I would start here as I have no controller and just one drive. I'll be trying other types as well
Managed to get it running and logged into the web interface. Created a Volume with the one drive. (striped) What now? Add Windows share? I tried that one time already. How do I get it to be accessible to my network?


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## Jetster (Jan 2, 2018)

I need a switch, I have to unplug my printer just to test it, any suggestions?

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127450&cm_re=switch-_-33-127-450-_-Product

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704179&cm_re=switch-_-33-704-179-_-Product

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122609&cm_re=switch-_-33-122-609-_-Product

This last one is on sale but the specs contradict itself  its says 10/100/1000 but the spread sheet comparison says 10/100


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## Kursah (Jan 2, 2018)

I'm on my phone and service is super slow out in the sticks. But I'd recommend a Netgear gigabit switch. Should be able to get a good one with lifetime warranty for $60-100. Worth it.


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Jan 2, 2018)

Jetster said:


> *Solaris17*  Waiting on some references when you get a chance. Including controller cards
> 
> What do you think about FreeNAS ?


I really considered FreeNAS earlier in the year before I ultimately got a Synology unit that I love. Corral was due around then but then the project lead left and the year long project was scrapped at the last minute  Now FreeNAS 11.1 just released a couple weeks ago. I played around with it A LOT in VMware and things were very difficult for me to figure out and im not sure why. I could create the folder shares but could never access them from another computer. Didnt get why. And if I did manage read access somehow, I couldnt write. 

Ultimately like i said, I went with Synology. Plopped in my 16TB worth of storage and gave it a memory upgrade and I love it. I would like to dabble with a physical FreeNAS system again rather than a virtual one someday.

My suggestion though if you do go FreeNAS, get ECC memory. The OS loves it and from what I have read you will be much better off with ECC ram than non-ECC. Get a compatible motherboard and a quad core CPU and you should be golden.


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## Jetster (Jan 2, 2018)

CrAsHnBuRnXp said:


> I really considered FreeNAS earlier in the year before I ultimately got a Synology unit that I love. Corral was due around then but then the project lead left and the year long project was scrapped at the last minute  Now FreeNAS 11.1 just released a couple weeks ago. I played around with it A LOT in VMware and things were very difficult for me to figure out and im not sure why. I could create the folder shares but could never access them from another computer. Didnt get why. And if I did manage read access somehow, I couldnt write.
> 
> Ultimately like i said, I went with Synology. Plopped in my 16TB worth of storage and gave it a memory upgrade and I love it. I would like to dabble with a physical FreeNAS system again rather than a virtual one someday.
> 
> My suggestion though if you do go FreeNAS, get ECC memory. The OS loves it and from what I have read you will be much better off with ECC ram than non-ECC. Get a compatible motherboard and a quad core CPU and you should be golden.



I had the same issue with Freenas. I was thinking mabe get some older server board with ecc. But right now Im just trying to learn a few things. I think the next step is to get a controller card


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## Kursah (Jan 2, 2018)

I wouldn't worry as much about ECC and Supermicro gear, especially if its primarily a media server. Server-grade hardware is nice but by no means required. Don't let the FreeNAS forums make you think otherwise.

Keep redundant backups and don't OC your file server. Use a decent RAID setup with some sort of parity or mirroring. That's my (on the road from cell phone) take on it.


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## Jetster (Jan 2, 2018)

Kursah said:


> I wouldn't worry as much about ECC and Supermicro gear, especially if its primarily a media server. Server-grade hardware is nice but by no means required. Don't let the FreeNAS forums make you think otherwise.
> 
> Keep redundant backups and don't OC your file server. Use a decent RAID setup with some sort of parity or mirroring. That's my (on the road from cell phone) take on it.



Appreciate the help, I'm on the fence about using a full RAID controller or a HBA and a OS like Freenas or UnRAID. I think i'm going to have to try both


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## Jetster (Jan 4, 2018)

Question; Ho do you navigate to a public folder (or PC) on you network that does not show up under network

I managed to find it by using a shortcut to my Synology NAS, then changing the name to my BuiltNAS then I can access my shared folders

I'm sure I'm just having a brain lock up. BTW I'm using UnRaid now


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## Kursah (Jan 4, 2018)

UNC path from Windows: \\FILESERVERNAME

I'm assuming you're attempting to access your NAS from a Windows workstation? If so, open File Explorer (manilla envelope icon) and in the address bar you'd type the UNC path, \\YOURNAS, \\BuiltNAS or \\IP ADDRESS, either should work.

Depending on how your DNS is setup, the system's network name may or may not be accessible. Using your router, which most do for DNS, should provide this if all devices look at your router for DNS. Otherwise, accessing devices by name over UNC may not work reliably if at all.


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## Jetster (Jan 4, 2018)

Thank you.... its was the \\ I was missing.


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## Jetster (Jan 4, 2018)

So here is where I am. I was able to get it running with UnRAID, created a group and user, permissions and it worked. Then deleted that and I went back to FreeNAS, created a dataset, group, user and got it working too. So I feel like I'm making some headway. Both these I set up wit just one drive for now. I have three drive coming Monday. Still looking at RAID controller cards. Its still really confusing but I'm learning. UnRAID seams easier to get set up. FreeNAS seams to be more secure and has more options. Just my first impression, may not be the case. Both are almost twice as fast as my Synology NAS


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## LFaWolf (Jan 4, 2018)

Last time when I researched FreeNAS I remembering reading a raid controller card is not recommended, as FreeNAS is supposed using a software raid and want to have as much control as possible. My recollection could be wrong but you might want to check the FreeNAS forums.


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## Jetster (Jan 4, 2018)

LFaWolf said:


> Last time when I researched FreeNAS I remembering reading a raid controller card is not recommended, as FreeNAS is supposed using a software raid and want to have as much control as possible. My recollection could be wrong but you might want to check the FreeNAS forums.



No your right, if you use a controller card you have to set it in HBA mode. I was wanting to try a hardware RAID with Linux. Im not sure which route I want to go yet

My plan is to build this to back up my Synology NAS that is in RAID 0. Then eventually switch them as a built NAS has much more potential and speed


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## Jetster (Jan 7, 2018)

Just an update, I have three drives running in RAIDZ on FreeNAS up for 2 days now. Just working it hard and learning more about servers, permissions, VM, SSD Swap disks, Plex server. Stuff like that monitoring the system. Its working well. Easily saturates my network at 113 Mbs sec. Only 50% CPU utilization with 6 of 8 Gb ram being used. 

I've heard a couple of different opinions about software vs hardware RAIDS so I'm still up for any opinions at this point. Looking for a deal on a controller card but I'll let this run for a bit to see how it holds up.
Any imput is welcome


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## Aquinus (Jan 7, 2018)

Jetster said:


> I've heard a couple of different opinions about software vs hardware RAIDS so I'm still up for any opinions at this point. Looking for a deal on a controller card but I'll let this run for a bit to see how it holds up.
> Any imput is welcome


What do you plan on using the NAS for? More often than not, software RAID is more than enough for what people are going to use a NAS for. A RAID card becomes nice when you need every little bit of bandwidth with minimal latency or every drop of CPU performance (likely for something like an application server or database,) and even then, it still might be enough. When I had a tower running as my gateway/vm host/nas, MDADM with 3 disk RAID-5 was good enough for just about everything I did on the machine. It wasn't the fastest but, it was fast enough.


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## Jetster (Jan 10, 2018)

That's basically it, just a NAS and back up for a few systems. Right now its just backing up my other NAS. The speed is good. Would like to test its reliability

Is there software I could stress the server? Or could someone help me write a batch file to keep it busy for a while. You know to test its reliability? Or have ay other ideas?

Eventually this will be my NAS, I just want to understand everything and make sure its reliable before I use it


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## phill (Jan 10, 2018)

I run a Synology hack system, been running wonderfully with 6 4Tb WD Reds for about a year now..  Very stable I find unless numpty here plays with it, it can get plenty of updates which is good if you want to keep updating it but tend to leave alone to be honest..  

I can put up some screen shots if anyone requires   Using a G3258, 16Gb ram (way over the top, think 4Gb would do...), the WD Reds, raid 1 for the drives, 3 sets of drives..  Using an Asrock board I think, 6 SATA ports on board and a basic 2 SATA 3 extension PCIe card that was about £15 I think..  Put in an Fractal 804 case..  I like it, certainly does the job   Just remember extra drives for the backups of the raided drives you have in the NAS box..  I don't treat raid 1 as a back up setup.....


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## Jetster (Jan 12, 2018)

Scored a used lsi sas9211-8i for $35. It's an HBA card to add more drives. I'll see if I can get it working


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## TheLostSwede (Jan 12, 2018)

I'd suggest looking at https://www.openmediavault.org/ for those of you considering building your own NAS. It's easy to install and runs on top of Debian. It might not be quite as fully featured as FreeNAS, but it's a solid option if you don't need a thousand different add-ons. That said, there is a dedicated website for plugins for OMV and most of the commonly used things are available http://www.omv-extras.org/


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## Jetster (Jan 14, 2018)

Update:
Installed LSI SAS 9211 8i






Plugged my three drives into it. Booted to FreeNas. The RAIDZ Array is still intact. Able to read smart data and it appears to work fine. That was easy
So now I have 8 additional SATA ports. I noticed some people put fans on the card. Its a little hot, should I?  Its right at 140f  60c

FreeNAS
Hardware:
Pentium G3258
Z97 Asrock Board
DDR3 1600 8Gb
LSI SAS 9211 8i Host Buss Adapter
3 X HGST Ultrastar 3Tb drives

Now to get more 3 Tb drives


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## phill (Jan 14, 2018)

I think the LSI card might be a bit overkill but depending on the NAS software you use, I'm sure it will possibly help the performance of the hard drives installed   Please do keep everyone updated   I can run a few tests from my WD Reds and Synology if you'd like to compare just for fun sake


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## Aquinus (Jan 14, 2018)

Jetster said:


> I noticed some people put fans on the card. Its a little hot, should I? Its right at 140f 60c


These cards are typically put into servers where there is airflow over the cards. I would put a fan or something if airflow is relatively poor. Also, if you have the controller and are using 8 disks or less, I would let the RAID card handle the RAID, it's likely to be far faster to read, write, and rebuild.


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## phill (Jan 14, 2018)

Jetster said:


> Update:
> Installed LSI SAS 9211 8i
> So now I have 8 additional SATA ports. I noticed some people put fans on the card. Its a little hot, should I?  Its right at 140f  60c



I found the same thing with my Adaptec 5405 and 5805 cards, airflow definitely needed, one reason why I decided against using them in my NAS box..  The software one was more than decent enough for what I wanted to do


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## Jetster (Jan 14, 2018)

phill said:


> I found the same thing with my Adaptec 5405 and 5805 cards, airflow definitely needed, one reason why I decided against using them in my NAS box..  The software one was more than decent enough for what I wanted to do



Yeah i'm going to have to play with some fan comfigurations. I put a 140 in the side panel now its a little loud. Maybe a small 80 mm on the card might be better


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## phill (Jan 14, 2018)

Any air flow is better than nothing, if you have something quiet, that will be more than enough just to keep the card cool


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## Jetster (Jan 14, 2018)

phill said:


> Any air flow is better than nothing, if you have something quiet, that will be more than enough just to keep the card cool



Yeah the 80 mm is much better


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## Aquinus (Jan 14, 2018)

It's worth noting that most server hardware runs on the assumption that there is some airflow from the chassis because there are usually fans mounted along the length of the server to push air across the entire chassis and further more, even plastic guides to force airflow in certain directions. So whenever using server hardware, it's worth keeping that in mind.


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## Jetster (Jan 14, 2018)

I was looking at Chenbro server cases and motherboards on e bay just to get the drive bays and the back plan but I didn't think it was worth the extra cost this time. 
This will work


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## Jetster (Jan 14, 2018)

So I ran both NASs thru a power draw meter from the wall to check the power use

My NAS build was 55 watts idle and 70 watts transferring files

My Synology DS216 Play was 23 watts idle and 32 watts transferring files

I'll do some 1080 streams later my guess is the build will handle much more


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## Aquinus (Jan 14, 2018)

Jetster said:


> So I ran both NASs thru a power draw meter from the wall to check the power use
> 
> My NAS build was 55 watts idle and 70 watts transferring files
> 
> ...


I bet the transfer rate on the NAS build is probably better if they're not both already saturating 1Gbps Ethernet.


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## Jetster (Jan 14, 2018)

Aquinus said:


> I bet the transfer rate on the NAS build is probably better if they're not both already saturating 1Gbps Ethernet.



They both saturate it to my SSD 113 Mbs  but when transferring files to the Synology its more like 60 Mbs. The built one saturates both directions

One plus about the Synology is it's dead silent


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## Jetster (Jan 14, 2018)

I was looking at NAS cases. Ran across this company in Tulsa OK http://www.u-nas.com/xcart/home.php


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## Aquinus (Jan 14, 2018)

Jetster said:


> I was looking at NAS cases. Ran across this company in Tulsa OK http://www.u-nas.com/xcart/home.php


Hot-swappable bays come with a price premium. If you're not planning on keeping a spare drive handy to quickly switch one out in case of a failure, it's probably not worth the cost because you'll have to wait for a replacement drive in which case, you have more than enough time to remove the drive and replace it because you're already waiting days otherwise.


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## Hockster (Jan 15, 2018)

Yeah, but they look cool.


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## phill (Jan 15, 2018)

Jetster said:


> So I ran both NASs thru a power draw meter from the wall to check the power use
> 
> My NAS build was 55 watts idle and 70 watts transferring files
> 
> ...



That's kinda high for the idle..  Is everything set to power saver settings in your bios?  Mine idles around the 35w area, load is about 65w I think with all the drives ticking over...  How many drives do you have in the system?  I think I have also about 5 fans (mixture of 120mm and 140mm..)  

With the 1080 streams, what software do you use (or will you use) for that?


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## Jetster (Jan 15, 2018)

At this time just three drives, I haven't touched the BIOS except for the boot order and to turn off fast boot. It boots to a USB flash drive with FreeNAS.  I stream moves with Kodi but I map the drive. I did another stream test this time I did 4  at 1080. With two playing the file right from the network location  on WiFi

Today Im switching the motherboard. I doing a build for the neighbor and I'm giving him the Z97 and puting a H81+ i3 in this. I figure he can benifite fromt better board and this will be fine. 

I looking to buy another four - 3 Tb drives


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## phill (Jan 15, 2018)

Sounds impressive then, so would be good to see how much of the Network is being used whilst your running 4 1080 films 

I am using something similar for my build, I find it very stable   What NAS software did you go with in the end?

Would you use them in Raid 1 I take it from the raid card?


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## John Naylor (Jan 15, 2018)

When faced with the same option, after much back and forth, we just decided to go with a 4 Bah stand alone NAS... build cost was really not an issue, but the T, E & AC (time, effort and associated costs)  of maintaining another box was the deciding factor.    Recently however, we have even dropped that.  Just added two SSHDs to a CAD workstation and set them up in RAID to serve as office data server ... minimal cost, no additional admin, and 0 impact on file access (5 desktops / 5 laptops) on the system.  After 3 months tho ... broke the RAID 1 and just set up one as the primary drive and the other as a secondary backup. Initially had the system mirror the primary to secondary twice  a day (free FBackup) , but now just once.  Drive is partitioned with each partition having permitted access by certain personnel.  Also a HD Docking bay with a  3rd and 4th SSHD swapped out for off-site storage weekly.    Nightly backups take about 30 seconds to 2 minutes, weekly off site < 5 minutes.


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## Jetster (Jan 15, 2018)

Ive been down the road of adding drives to a board and sharing them on a network. It works but it causes problems. A NAS is the way to go if you have any amount of significant traffic.

I'm not done with my testing but for now I'm using FreeNAS.

With three drives now I'm using RAIDZ (RAID5) When I get more I'll use RAIDZ-2 (RAID6) and so on. FreeNAS even has RAID 10 now. There is definitely pros and cons with using a bought NAS box and building your own. Right now I have both running. The Synology is in RAID0 so it keeps up with the FreeNAS box fairly well but if you stream more than two at 1080 it starts to struggle.


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## phill (Jan 15, 2018)

I use Raid 1 in my Synology box, it seems to be fairly decent but I must admit I've not tried streaming anything from my NAS.  Is the hardware in your FreeNAS box the same as what's in the Synology box?  I see the drives are set up differently but the physical hardware, is that much different?  If it is, it would be an easy way to find out which NAS software is working better 

That said what about your network setup?  Could that be limiting the NAS at all?   Just trying to figure out some information and understand


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## Jetster (Jan 15, 2018)

My build NAS
i3 CPU
8 Gb ddr3
LSI HBA
RAID 5

My Synology NAS
Cortex-A9 1.5 GHz Dual core CPU
1 Gb DDR3
RAID 0

Router 
TP link Archer C5400
Netgear GS108 Switch

So the Built NAS maxes out the network. The Synology NAS not so much but works suprising well


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## phill (Jan 15, 2018)

I think the Cortex A9 CPU is definitely going to be the limiting factor, its definitely not going to be as powerful as the i3 CPU. With that the drive performance might suffer a bit as well.  Noticed it on lower CPU powered systems that hard drive performance can sometimes be lower.  

Are there any drive benchmarks you can run on both systems to get an idea of what sort of speeds the drives are getting?


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## Jetster (Jan 15, 2018)

Because Im running only FreeNAS on the machine Ill have to look into how  to check drive speed. There is no OS drive or OS other than the FreeNAS Usb flash
I will work on it though


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## phill (Jan 16, 2018)

Same as the Synology   I love the fact it runs off of USB sticks....


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## Jetster (Jan 21, 2018)

Update: new parts coming. I have 3 more 3 tb drives on there way and 8 gb more of ram. For a total of 6 - 3 tb drives with 16 gb of ram.  I've been learning more about FreeNAS and I like it. It works flawlessly so far.


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## Solaris17 (Jan 21, 2018)

Wow im so sorry! I never got that ping. Looks like your settled?


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## phill (Jan 21, 2018)

I've yet to try FreeNAS but as you run Synology as well, ignoring any hardware configurations what do you think of it?


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## Jetster (Jan 21, 2018)

Solaris17 said:


> Wow im so sorry! I never got that ping. Looks like your settled?


No problem, I still will read anything you may have regarding Linux servers. I still would like to try other options eventually. 

@phill  what do I think of what? Synology or FreeNAS?


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## phill (Jan 21, 2018)

Both of them my good sir   I wondered if you had a preference?


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## Jetster (Jan 21, 2018)

Ok, so a bought NAS by Synology or any other manufacturer is a great option, simplistic, quite, reliable and great support. However if you have high traffic and above say 4 users ( depending on which unit) it's going to struggle with the bandwidth. Plus the more expensive units with 4 core and large number of drive bays are $500 plus. Most don't have ecc ram either. Not that I'm running ecc ram. It comes down to am I willing to learn or do I just want a plug and play. Me I'm willing to do the work


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## phill (Jan 21, 2018)

Fair points   Pretty happy with my built one since it's doing everything..  I think the only thing it lets down is the bandwidth for streaming many files..  Not sure that my 1Gb network would be so great for multiple streams of 1080P (blu ray stuff..)  I would have thought that the PC it was streaming to would do the de-coding?  But I am guessing that might not be the case??


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## Jetster (Jan 21, 2018)

Honestly I think the CPU and ram is the bottle neck. Not the network. I added ram from 8 to 16 because it maxes it out. I was reading on FreeNAS website that it likes ram and use as much as you can. But like I said it works great, just when I add three more drives I want it to still work great


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## Hockster (Jan 21, 2018)

Watching this thread has me convinced to build my own now. I've got a 6600K and an Asus Z170 A unused right now. Just need a case that can accommodate 6+ 3.5 drives and a 280 radiator.


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## Jetster (Jan 21, 2018)

Hockster said:


> Watching this thread has me convinced to build my own now. I've got a 6600K and an Asus Z170 A unused right now. Just need a case that can accommodate 6+ 3.5 drives and a 280 radiator.



That CPU will do the work without a sweat. I dont think you need to worry about heat from the CPU. The drives? yes

Its been cool when the light goes on. The first 2 or 3days of the build was frustrating not gonna lie. Until I figured a few things out. I'm still excited about learning more. I want to learn how to log in from outside my network and running VMs from it


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## phill (Jan 22, 2018)

Jetster said:


> Honestly I think the CPU and ram is the bottle neck. Not the network. I added ram from 8 to 16 because it maxes it out. I was reading on FreeNAS website that it likes ram and use as much as you can. But like I said it works great, just when I add three more drives I want it to still work great



I think that the 16Gb I have in mine is complete overkill but it was laying about so I just installed it and never thought twice about it.  I'm not sure what the Synology specs are, but I can't really fault mine.  Last few days I've been having one niggle with it as it seems a little slow when trying to access a file or something but I'm not sure what is going on there..  Maybe a virus scan of some sorts...  I'll have a look into it as I'll have a little more time as my daughter isn't with me for a few weeks 



Hockster said:


> Watching this thread has me convinced to build my own now. I've got a 6600K and an Asus Z170 A unused right now. Just need a case that can accommodate 6+ 3.5 drives and a 280 radiator.



Air cooling would be probably best, no need to worry about leaks or anything and most of the time the CPU is sat pretty much at idle.  I only use a G3258 in mine and I don't remember seeing it above 50% at any point (might have to check the logs) so a 6600k would make it breeze through anything you throw at it   The OS's are so lightweight, it's not Windows for sure


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## Hockster (Jan 22, 2018)

It's parts I have just sitting on a shelf here. And I don't really need a case, I was just hoping to find an inexpensive one that can take a 280 rad, but there doesn't seem to be a lot available.


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## phill (Jan 22, 2018)

I'd just stick to air cooling even with a basic Intel cooler, it would be more than enough   Water cooling in a NAS, bit over kill


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## Jetster (Jan 22, 2018)

@phill  how large is your array? I put the 16 Gb for when I add 3 more drives for 18 Gb. I think it might need it then but we will see
What I think FreeNAS does is use the ram as cashe. It just fills it up with what it thinks you need. So you max out the ram then you can add a SSD if you want. One of the problems with this is if your writing to it and lose power, you lose data. A battery back up is a nice add on. Of course I could be wrong about this


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## phill (Jan 22, 2018)

I have 3 separate ones Jester   The drives are all 4Tb, I'm using a Raid 1 setup so I have 6 total, 24TB but 12Tb usable.  I will be eventually considering to upgrade them to bigger drives, but it won't be for a while yet.  I'll be looking at 8Tb or bigger (size/price ratio what's best...) 

I'm just using software raid so nothing else as such will be used really.  I thought about adding raid cards in but extra power consumption and fans etc, never seemed to be worth it for me anyways.  I can add in an SSD to act as a cache but I think unless I'm streaming etc, I'm not 100% sure if it would be worth it...  Will have to see


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## Jetster (Jan 22, 2018)

If you go wiht a full controller the you get rid of FreeNAS. It needs to see the drives to monitor the smart data. If you have enough SATA ports then no need. I bought the LSI HBA card for the SAS to SATA to add ports as my board only has 4, now I can use all 12 if I want.


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## phill (Jan 22, 2018)

I think if you started added in raid cards, you might not be able to view that smart data?  I've had it in the past with previous onboard and raid cards, but for just a storage center, I thought that the way Synology works, I'm happy with it there and I just back that lot up to another set of drives.  Just to be on the safe side..
I'm glad with my case I can get 10 drives in it without messing about with it.  I believe I have 8 SATA ports at the moment so I've plenty of upgrade space should I need it 

With everything becoming or being digital, reliable storage and backup is on my mind at the highest level when storing things now..  My internet speed sucks and pictures of my daughter when she was born and such will never be replaced, higher important to me than anything


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## Jetster (Jan 22, 2018)

Synology is a software RAID. If you use a RAID controller you need to set it to HBA (Host Bus Adapter) or IT mode. Otherwise just let the RAID card control and monitor the array. Then you don't need Synology you can use any OS like Windows, linux, FreeBSD or Solaris among other options.

This is why I went with the LSI SAS 9211 8i. Its cheap and just a HBA not a controller. I just needed more SATA ports

Videos that have been helpful:
Setting up FreeNAS









Set up of a true controller card


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## phill (Jan 22, 2018)

Ah I understand, for extra SATA ports, I just used a basic PCIe SATA 3 card though


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Jan 22, 2018)

phill said:


> I'd just stick to air cooling even with a basic Intel cooler, it would be more than enough   Water cooling in a NAS, bit over kill


gotta get high overclocks to stream faster!


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## Hockster (Jan 23, 2018)

I don't have even a stock Intel cooler. None of the CPU's I've bought in a number of years came with one. But I found an older Z77 board and CPU I'd left in a case and stuffed in the back of a closet. Asus Z77 sabertooth, i7 920 (I think), Corsair H60 and I'm not sure what ram, thinking DDR3 1600.


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## Jetster (Jan 23, 2018)

Now to transfer large chunks of data
6 disks RAID Z2 which is RAID 6 so two redundant disks


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## Jetster (Jan 23, 2018)

For myself and anyone wanting to know the issues around ECC and NON-ECC ram and data corruption here is some good information on that subject.
Warning this is one of those topics that can go on for ever. The conclusion is always back up your data

Some quotes:
"If you wish to use non-ECC, do so with the admonition that you are placing your data at some potential risk.  We assume you come to FreeNAS for the data integrity benefits of ZFS, and ECC is an important component in creating the trusted computing platform that ZFS needs in order to do that job." - *Jreco*

"There’s nothing special about ZFS that requires/encourages the use of ECC RAM more so than any other filesystem."   -*Matt Ahren co-founder of ZFS*

http://jrs-s.net/2015/02/03/will-zfs-and-non-ecc-ram-kill-your-data/

https://blog.brianmoses.net/2014/03/why-i-chose-non-ecc-ram-for-my-freenas.html

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/ecc-vs-non-ecc-ram-and-zfs.15449/


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## Jetster (Jan 24, 2018)

It's officially online as my main NAS. My Synology is the backup so I let it go to sleep when it's not doing maintenance.  The only issues is the little bit of noise it makes.


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## Hockster (Jan 27, 2018)

Finalized my parts list and will be building the rig today. Looking forward to experimenting with FreeNAS.


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## Jetster (Jan 28, 2018)

Mentioned earlier in this thread that FreeNAS permissions can be tricky. Selecting the correct dataset, and setting both the shares, group and guests is the key


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## Jetster (Feb 3, 2018)

Finally got Plex Server ruining an my NAS. It took a week to figure that out. Still trying to iron out some bugs on reading some media files


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## Hockster (Feb 3, 2018)

I can't get my mobo to boot from a USB stick. I've googled and tried everything. I think it's an incompatibility with my USB 3.0 sticks, but that's all I have.


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## LFaWolf (Feb 3, 2018)

Hockster said:


> I can't get my mobo to boot from a USB stick. I've googled and tried everything. I think it's an incompatibility with my USB 3.0 sticks, but that's all I have.


Some USB sticks do not allow boot. I remember some Kingston sticks have that "feature". 8GB USB2 sticks are like $5 from Newegg so read the reviews and if people use it boot then get 1.


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## Jetster (Feb 3, 2018)

Hockster said:


> I can't get my mobo to boot from a USB stick. I've googled and tried everything. I think it's an incompatibility with my USB 3.0 sticks, but that's all I have.



Did you F7 (If its ASUS board) on boot or use the advace mode in the bios?  Whats on the USB to boot? FreeNAS?  Did you make the boot USB correctly ?

With FreeNAS you have to download it to a USB then make a USB boot on another USB. So you have a USB install and a USB boot


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## Hockster (Feb 3, 2018)

It's a mobo thing. The sticks works fine on a different system. There's a lot of posts from many users having issues with that board booting from USB. It's an oldish Asus P7P55D Deluxe. The BIOS sees the stick and correctly identifies it but will not allow it as a boot option.

I'm just gonna swap mobos this weekend if it ever stops snowing and I can get away from the shovel.


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## Jetster (Feb 6, 2018)

I'm having an issue

So transferring files from the Synology to the Server work great. Transferred 3 Tb at one time and no issues

Transferring files from the Server to the synology I get the Warning "These file may be harmful to your computer"   It transfers but it gets an error about every 20 min, then I have to click try again

I'm thinking its permissions but I have no clue so far.  I can transfer from any other user PC just not the Server

EDIT: ok so I figured out how to add the IP of the Server to the Local Intranet. So the warning is gone. Well see later how the coping goes


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## Jetster (Feb 9, 2018)

Now another issue, my main desktop cannot access the dataset. Just the server refuses to let it in. The other desktops are fine. I think it's the smb / guest access. It started when I booted up and the mapped drives would not connect.  Tried changing permissions, users accounts, nothing. Can't figure it out.


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## Jetster (Feb 10, 2018)

This is what i keep getting from one Desktop





First I enabled SMB2 as 1709 disables it by default. Didn't fix the problem. I created a new SMB share and this fixed it.
I'm just documenting this so if someone gets the idea to do this they know what they are in for. Its been painful at times.

But Plex is awesome. Works good. I use Kodi at home as it doesn't trans code anything and the sound is better.  But with Plex my friend can watch 600 miles away, my phone app works too


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## Hockster (Feb 10, 2018)

I appreciate the info. I've been so swamped at work I just haven't had time to mess with mine at all. It's just sitting there waiting for me to swap the mobo to something newer.

I do run Plex, mostly to be able to watch something outside of my media room. I've been ripping my own blu rays and adding them as I get time. But even with an 8700K it's a couple hours to decrypt and rip.


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## phill (Feb 12, 2018)

I was trying to get two Synologys running on the same network one physical and one via a VM..  The VM one worked fine but for some reason when I was using rsync to duplicate some of the data across to another server at home, it really didn't like it at all and then whilst I could see it on the network, the damn thing disappeared and I was having issues trying to get it to run..  Drove me nuts so I spent a few days sync'ing the data (a few Tb's...) and then whilst it was there it wasn't type thing..  ugh..  More investigation needed to get it to run properly!!    But I do have a few more toys that I can add in to my server now for more drives and such...  Good times ahead!!


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## Jetster (Feb 12, 2018)

Does Windows 10 have issues with UNC transfers?
I was getting errors with a UNC transfer on large transfers. Plus the folder issues so I tried my Windows 7 laptop and did some transfers, No errors


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## Kursah (Feb 12, 2018)

Not that I'm aware of. I've done UNC transfers on physical and virtual 7, 8 and 10 systems and all have behaved relatively the same with minimal issues. Limitations on performance based on how many files, overall size, available usable bandwidth, and each side's performance capabilities. 

What kind of errors are you seeing?


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## Jetster (Feb 13, 2018)

Basically a few different types, One was a *0x8007003b* the others would just stop and I would have to reboot the server
Maybe its just my gaming rig


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## phill (Feb 13, 2018)

I've not noticed any issues myself with file transfers other than sometimes my Synology box taking a little time to wake up but that's just me being impatient lol  I'll let you know if there's any problems that pop up


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## Jetster (Feb 13, 2018)

Yea Synology is not a morning person


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## phill (Feb 13, 2018)

IT's fine when it's up and about..  Waking up though sometimes reminds me of me in the mornings...  I'm not a morning person at all


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## Jetster (Mar 8, 2018)

Its been working flawless for 55 days now. Got the bugs ironed out. Plex works good. Even have an extra drive if I lose one.  
Still running FreeNAS with an LSI HBA card


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## Jetster (May 26, 2018)

Switched out my hard drives 6 - 3Tb Drives for 5 - 6Tb drives in RAID6







The 6 Tb drives are all new. The 3 Tb drive were used with allot of hours. The switch was pretty easy, now to get the Plex back up and running. I'm still learning what this is capable of but it has been working well

This is now a back up


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## phill (May 28, 2018)

Looking good my man !!   It's a shame buying a lot of big drives isn't exactly cheap...


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## Jetster (May 28, 2018)

No it wasn't cheap, but the 6 Tb drive are so quiet compared to the 3 Tb


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## phill (May 29, 2018)

I do feel that the noisiest thing in my NAS box are the case fans and they are Fractal ones..  I would like to find something quieter, but I don't care that much..


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## Jetster (Mar 6, 2021)

So update to this old thread.

My FreeNAS Server has been running non stop for 3 years now. I've updated the system a few times that required a reboot but other than that it has been running flawlessly
Today was its first failure. It would not boot after a power outage and yes it has a UPS. After some research I figured the USB boot stick has failed.

So I check online to make a new one. FreeNAS is now TrueNas. I download the new system install. Instructions say to use an SSD for boot and not a USB as they are more reliable (no kidding)
I install the SSD (had one laying around) create a install USB. Install the new TrueNAS to the SSD. I imported my Pool from the drives successfully, then find my back up config file from 2 years ago that I made.
Reboot. Everything is back online Yeah!!! passwords, data, group policies. Everything.  All 8Tb of data Took about 2 hours

I had a cold back up from 3 months ago if I needed it but I didn't. Love TrueNAS


System
i3 CPU
16 Gb ddr3
LSI HBA
ZFS file system
RAID-Z2 (RAID6)
5-6Tb drives


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