FreeNAS vs. Windows 10

[Pat-Roner]

Hey Everyone! 

 

I thought I would ask a question.

 

Currently I have a mini-itx media server with windows 10 installed. I installed windows 10, for ease of use, but I have to be honest and say that it comes with its limitations, mainly it being windows and that I have to remote in with VNC to do certain stuff. 

 

I was thinking about installing FreeNAS, to make it a bit more reliable, and perhaps get some more performance out of it.

I would think of my self as moderately technical, but I'm not that familiar with nas solutions.

I have a Home Assistant raspberry pi, and I find it a bit challenging at times to configure it. 

 

My question is the following; Would freeNAS; 

• cover my needs?
• allow for easier access to the drives on my windows gaming PC, Macbook pro?
• easier to remote into?
• perform better?
• more reliable?
• Be hard to setup?

 

What do I use my server for

• Mainly downloading certain items
• photo backups
• plex hosting

 

What apps to I use

• qBittorrent
• Plex media server

 

What hardware do I have

• Msi z170i itx motherboard
• i7 6700 (non k)
• 16gb ram
• 256gb NVME m2
• 256gb Sata ssd
• 2x 6TB drives
• 8TB drive
• Asus PCE-AC68 Pci Network card

I also have a 2011 Mac mini which I use to host the following

• Unifi Controller
• Tautulli

Thank you for your time, and I grealy appreciate any input

[Windows7ge]

FreeNAS is primarily a File Server but it does have a Plex plug-in. The OS uses a WebUI for management so all you'll have if you plug in a monitor is a CLI Terminal.

 

You can remote into FreeNAS by either the WebUI (locally) or by SSH/SFTP (locally or remotely) and it supports networking file share protocols for both Windows (SMB), Linux (NFS), and MacOS (AFP).

 

I don't think you'll be running any torrent service off it unless you know how to set it up via CLI. FreeNAS has what it calls Jails for that type of use case. It also supports Docker and VM's using Bhyve so you could run an instance of Windows in a VM (though in my experience Bhyve isn't a great hypervisor).

 

For data integrity I would trust ZFS (what FreeNAS uses) over NTFS.

 

Ease of setup is subjective. The latest version of FreeNAS as a very updated WebUI but I haven't played with it yet. The older WebUI although very functional and organized is still a hurdle to understand and learn because of all the little features that are built-in.

[AbydosOne]

6 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

I don't think you'll be running any torrent service off it unless you know how to set it up via CLI.

There is (last I checked, because I installed it quite a while ago) a Transmission plugin for FreeNAS, but it's pretty bare-bones.

 

36 minutes ago, Pat-Roner said:

comes with its limitations, mainly it being windows and that I have to remote in with VNC to do certain stuff

You could upgrade to a Pro license and use RDP (which is essentially seamless being a Microsoft protocol).

 

38 minutes ago, Pat-Roner said:

Mainly downloading certain items

Like, via a browser? That's probably the one thing you can't do (easily) with FreeNAS. I have a Win10 VM on my FreeNAS server for such circumstances, but I don't use it often.

 

I don't think you have much to gain from FreeNAS, but if you up for the adventure, there's a lot of information about it.

 

[Windows7ge]

Just now, AbydosOne said:

There is (last I checked, because I installed it quite a while ago) a Transmission plugin for FreeNAS, but it's pretty bare-bones.

I thought there was too but it seems at least on 11.1-U6 they removed it as a plug-in. I do believe one use to be there. I don't know if it's back with later releases.

[Pat-Roner]

5 minutes ago, AbydosOne said:

There is (last I checked, because I installed it quite a while ago) a Transmission plugin for FreeNAS, but it's pretty bare-bones.

 

You could upgrade to a Pro license and use RDP (which is essentially seamless being a Microsoft protocol).

 

Like, via a browser? That's probably the one thing you can't do (easily) with FreeNAS. I have a Win10 VM on my FreeNAS server for such circumstances, but I don't use it often.

 

I don't think you have much to gain from FreeNAS, but if you up for the adventure, there's a lot of information about it.

 

I actually use RDP for the most part on that system.

 

"files" are basically torrents.

 

Cool thanks for the respose. I'm really not into the mood to have an adventure with that server, since people use the plex service alot, so I think I will just stick with w10 for now. It has served me well the last years, so why mess up the formula.

[AbydosOne]

3 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

I thought there was too but it seems at least on 11.1-U6 they removed it as a plug-in. I do believe one use to be there. I don't know if it's back with later releases.

I'm on 11.1-U7 and it shows up for me.

[Windows7ge]

1 hour ago, AbydosOne said:

I'm on 11.1-U7 and it shows up for me.

Weird, it's up to the devs I guess.

[2FA]

FreeNAS isn't very good for anything other than a NAS. Since you're already using Windows 10, stick with it.