Advice on creating a home NAS + media server using TrueNAS

[Icy_Chicken_88]

Hey!
I've decided it's time to get myself a NAS for my files plus maybe hosting a media server. I've decided to go with TrueNAS Scale since it supports everything I need, but I am not sure about the hardware I could use, from what I have available. I am planning to buy 2x 4TB Ironwolf Pros for mirror raid (4TB is enough for my needs).

I want to do it without spending unnecessary money and I have two computers at home that can be used for this task:

 

- An Intel 8th gen NUC with 15-watt TDP CPU and only one SATA and one M2 port (this would force me to buy SSDs instead of HDDs and kinda improvise the solution)

- A motherboard with 4 SATA slots, along with an i5 - 4460 CPU to use with it. This one has enough SATA ports for the HDDs without issues

 

The dilemma I have between those two options is that I am worried about a higher power draw on 4460 that over time would add cost. I am not fully aware if I can downclock or limit 4460 to make it consume less power. I'd appreciate any advice, thanks!

[Electronics Wizardy]

What is the rest of the system with the 4460? Those can get to very low power draws, I have seen sub 20w idle on those processors from the wall, but it really depends on the board and PSU your using.

 

Do you have a wall power meter? Those are really nice for lowering power draw.

[Icy_Chicken_88]

8 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What is the rest of the system with the 4460? Those can get to very low power draws, I have seen sub 20w idle on those processors from the wall, but it really depends on the board and PSU your using.

 

Do you have a wall power meter? Those are really nice for lowering power draw.

The rest would be motherboard h81m-p33, stock cooler (though I could upgrade that) and PSU I plan to buy some gold rated one (the one currently is a no-name). Plus some good case for a NAS. I don't have any specific PSU and case on the mind yet.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Icy_Chicken_88 said:

The rest would be motherboard h81m-p33, stock cooler (though I could upgrade that) and PSU I plan to buy some gold rated one (the one currently is a no-name). Plus some good case for a NAS.

Yea that should be pretty low power. I'd stick with that system for the extra sata ports. 

 

The nuc with a single ssd would save you even more power if you want the lowest power power usage. I'd say a single SSD is plenty reliable for a home server and restore backups if needed.

[Icy_Chicken_88]

10 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Yea that should be pretty low power. I'd stick with that system for the extra sata ports. 

 

The nuc with a single ssd would save you even more power if you want the lowest power power usage. I'd say a single SSD is plenty reliable for a home server and restore backups if needed.

What hurts me a bit in that case is that if the drive fails, there is no mirror. I'd love to go that way, but I feel like having a mirror if the drive dies would be best practice for 3-2-1 backup. (I do intend to backup important stuff to the cloud, but some less important stuff won't be in cloud, so I'd like local redundancy too.)

[LIGISTX]

51 minutes ago, Icy_Chicken_88 said:

What hurts me a bit in that case is that if the drive fails, there is no mirror. I'd love to go that way, but I feel like having a mirror if the drive dies would be best practice for 3-2-1 backup. (I do intend to backup important stuff to the cloud, but some less important stuff won't be in cloud, so I'd like local redundancy too.)

Run the i5 with 2 drives mirrored. That’ll be plenty low power. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, Icy_Chicken_88 said:

What hurts me a bit in that case is that if the drive fails, there is no mirror. I'd love to go that way, but I feel like having a mirror if the drive dies would be best practice for 3-2-1 backup. (I do intend to backup important stuff to the cloud, but some less important stuff won't be in cloud, so I'd like local redundancy too.)

For home use I'd argue a single ssd with backups would be plenty reliable.

 

You can backup to something like a external HDD, it doesn't have to be the cloud.