[luisxd]

I'm trying to build my first home NAS and I have some questions, first of all I'd like to know if these components are alright. I'm using them since I already had them lying around in a closet.

• Intel Pentium G3258
• Gigabyte Z97N-Gaming 5
• 2x2 GB DDR3 1600MHz
• 90 GB SSD (for OS)
• 1 TB HDD (for storage)
• Corsair RM550

Can I use an exclusive drive for the OS or do I have to install the OS on the storage drive?

What would be the best OS for me if I want the NAS to:

• Work as file server
• Work as print server
• Have a GUI
• Access to it from smartphones and computers on my network
• Have different user accounts with dedicated folders and permissions
• Run Plex Server

I've been looking at the Synology DiskStation Manager but I'm not sure if that is the best option for me.

 

[Elyminator]

I want to point out that a single 1tb HDD is not a great idea for a NAS. I would at a minimum run 2 drives and put them in a raid for redundancy You should likely look at FreeNAS. synology is great but it's mosly a proprietary OS that they run on their hardware. There are ways around that... but a few caveats to be aware of. Not sure if I can link that here...

 

[luisxd]

I want to point out that a single 1tb HDD is not a great idea for a NAS. I would at a minimum run 2 drives and put them in a raid for redundancy You should likely look at FreeNAS. synology is great but it's mosly a proprietary OS that they run on their hardware. There are ways around that... but a few caveats to be aware of. Not sure if I can link that here...

Thanks man. I actually was thinking on getting a second drive for more storage but didn't think of using it as a raid, I assume I can build it with 1 drive only and then add the second.

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,

FreeNAS will handle this easily, with lots of tutorials on how to set things up.

That hardware from your closet will be fine. The only thing to add is to increase the RAM (go 8Gb minimum, 16Gb is better) and get a 2nd disc to match your current one you intend to use for storage (or get two new HDD's with more capacity) and mirror them for redundancy (let FreeNAS do the mirroring, not your motherboard chipset). The ZFS file system will smartly handle your data and redundancy will handle hardware fault tolerance. It runs headless and has a web-based GUI that is easy to use. It natively will handle a Plex server. Keep your OS on its own drive, seperate from your data, always, no matter what system you choose to move forward with.

Very best,

 

[luisxd]

Heya,

FreeNAS will handle this easily, with lots of tutorials on how to set things up.

That hardware from your closet will be fine. The only thing to add is to increase the RAM (go 8Gb minimum, 16Gb is better) and get a 2nd disc to match your current one you intend to use for storage (or get two new HDD's with more capacity) and mirror them for redundancy (let FreeNAS do the mirroring, not your motherboard chipset). The ZFS file system will smartly handle your data and redundancy will handle hardware fault tolerance. It runs headless and has a web-based GUI that is easy to use. It natively will handle a Plex server. Keep your OS on its own drive, seperate from your data, always, no matter what system you choose to move forward with.

Very best,

I already installed it and looks great so far. First I installed the OS on a USB stick but it was slow as hell, I kept crashing due to being too slow so I reinstalled it in a 2.5 inch hard drive I had lying around and it works great, starts in a few minutes. About this, I've been reading that a lot of people rather use a USB than a hard drive for the OS.

 

[MalVeauX]

I already installed it and looks great so far. First I installed the OS on a USB stick but it was slow as hell, I kept crashing due to being too slow so I reinstalled it in a 2.5 inch hard drive I had lying around and it works great, starts in a few minutes. About this, I've been reading that a lot of people rather use a USB than a hard drive for the OS.

USB flash is a nice option to get the ball rolling, start using the OS, learn stuff. But it's not good for long term. The memory in those flash sticks are not reliable long term and the last thing you want being problematic is failing memory cells that your OS is camped out on. In the old days, yes, the OS was commonly kept on flash sticks. However, these days, this is not the case. These days, it's far more common to buy a common low capacity SSD and install the OS on the SSD. It's far more reliable than a typical hard drive and flash stick. Still requires backups of course. And you can mirror it to a flash stick if you want, or any media you want, to have redundancy or backup in addition to regular backup. Any of the decent SSD's out there by Crucial, Western Digital, Silicon Power, etc are good and the 30Gb variety are dirt cheap and excellent as OS drives for this purpose. Far superior to flash stick in every possible way, except one, and that's the consumption of a SATA port. But you can always add PCIe controller cards with more SATA all day long to increase that if you needed more drives.

Very best,