Jump to content

FreeNas

MrKickkiller
 Share
Posted

Hi

 

I have this old computer I can put some hard drives in to make it a NAS.

I was wondering, if I install FreeNas from a USB stick, will it install files on any of the storage drives? 

Or can I keep the storage drives clean of the OS, to get more storage out of them?

 

Thx for the effort

 

That time I saved Linus' WiFi pass from appearing on YouTube: 

A sudden Linus re-appears : http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/390793-important-dailymotion-account-still-active/

Link to comment
https://linustechtips.com/topic/162100-freenas/
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Hi

 

I have this old computer I can put some hard drives in to make it a NAS.

I was wondering, if I install FreeNas from a USB stick, will it install files on any of the storage drives? 

Or can I keep the storage drives clean of the OS, to get more storage out of them?

 

Thx for the effort

Installing it to the flash drive will not affect your drives.  Make sure your flash drive is 4GB or larger.

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use, and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them. - Galileo Galilei
Build Logs: Tophat (in progress), DNAF | Useful Links: How To: Choosing Your Storage Devices and Configuration, Case Study: RAID Tolerance to Failure, Reducing Single Points of Failure in Redundant Storage , Why Choose an SSD?, ZFS From A to Z (Eric1024), Advanced RAID: Survival Rates, Flashing LSI RAID Cards (alpenwasser), SAN and Storage Networking

Link to comment
https://linustechtips.com/topic/162100-freenas/#findComment-2157827
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

Installing it to the flash drive will not affect your drives.  Make sure your flash drive is 4GB or larger.

So no OS files will be written on the hard drives! Cool!

That time I saved Linus' WiFi pass from appearing on YouTube: 

A sudden Linus re-appears : http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/390793-important-dailymotion-account-still-active/

Link to comment
https://linustechtips.com/topic/162100-freenas/#findComment-2158569
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

So no OS files will be written on the hard drives! Cool!

Yep. If you have an SSD lying around, I actually recommend installing on an SSD. To do it you burn the FreeNAS IMG file to a CD and install from that (it's really simple). There's no difference in operation, only in reliability:

 

Yes, you lose a SATA port, but SSD controllers are much better than flash drive controllers because they implement wear leveling. Flash drives with FreeNAS on them do degrade over time (they write to the same sectors on the drive), and you have to get a new drive and restore your system. From what I understand it's a well-documented process, but I don't like having to do restorations if I can avoid it. SSDs will prevent this degradation (for a while) through wear leveling, meaning it will take a long time to wear out.

 

I have FreeNAS installed on a 64GB drive I had lying around, and I don't ever expect it to fail from flash cell degredation. Plus there's no worry of accidentally pulling the drive out, but this isn't relevant if you have an internal USB port. I recommend it if you don't expect to ever use all your SATA ports.

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use, and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them. - Galileo Galilei
Build Logs: Tophat (in progress), DNAF | Useful Links: How To: Choosing Your Storage Devices and Configuration, Case Study: RAID Tolerance to Failure, Reducing Single Points of Failure in Redundant Storage , Why Choose an SSD?, ZFS From A to Z (Eric1024), Advanced RAID: Survival Rates, Flashing LSI RAID Cards (alpenwasser), SAN and Storage Networking

Link to comment
https://linustechtips.com/topic/162100-freenas/#findComment-2158651
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

when using freeness you will see something very early: the OS drive is write-protected. So if you install it onto a drive you will lose all capacity it has. It's even told that the preferred method to install it is onto a stick

My builds:


'Baldur' - Data Server - Build Log


'Hlin' - UTM Gateway Server - Build Log

Link to comment
https://linustechtips.com/topic/162100-freenas/#findComment-2159889
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

Yep. If you have an SSD lying around, I actually recommend installing on an SSD. To do it you burn the FreeNAS IMG file to a CD and install from that (it's really simple). There's no difference in operation, only in reliability:

 

Yes, you lose a SATA port, but SSD controllers are much better than flash drive controllers because they implement wear leveling. Flash drives with FreeNAS on them do degrade over time (they write to the same sectors on the drive), and you have to get a new drive and restore your system. From what I understand it's a well-documented process, but I don't like having to do restorations if I can avoid it. SSDs will prevent this degradation (for a while) through wear leveling, meaning it will take a long time to wear out.

 

I have FreeNAS installed on a 64GB drive I had lying around, and I don't ever expect it to fail from flash cell degredation. Plus there's no worry of accidentally pulling the drive out, but this isn't relevant if you have an internal USB port. I recommend it if you don't expect to ever use all your SATA ports.

 

To summarize the hardware i already have:

1. One old pc, that belonged to my mom's work. And when I say old, very old! Barely enough performance to run Windows XP.

2. 4 4gb Flash drives. I guess i'm good on this aspect of the build!

 

The only thing i would have to buy is some storage hard drives; Probably 1 tb reds

This nas would be used to backup all of the information on 3 other computers on the network.

That time I saved Linus' WiFi pass from appearing on YouTube: 

A sudden Linus re-appears : http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/390793-important-dailymotion-account-still-active/

Link to comment
https://linustechtips.com/topic/162100-freenas/#findComment-2171019
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

And I just read something really important: Recommended ram size: 8gb. 

The donor pc I have only has like 1 gb of ram installed atm, and i'm not sure if DDr2 or DDR3.....

 

 

Guessing this nas will have to wait a couple of months...

That time I saved Linus' WiFi pass from appearing on YouTube: 

A sudden Linus re-appears : http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/390793-important-dailymotion-account-still-active/

Link to comment
https://linustechtips.com/topic/162100-freenas/#findComment-2171053
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

And I just read something really important: Recommended ram size: 8gb. 

The donor pc I have only has like 1 gb of ram installed atm, and i'm not sure if DDr2 or DDR3.....

 

 

Guessing this nas will have to wait a couple of months...

The amount of memory is more important than the speed. You will likely need a computer with a minimum of DDR2 and, more likely, one with DDR3.

 

Don't go with less than 8GB if you plan on using FreeNAS. There are other solutions that use less memory.

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use, and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them. - Galileo Galilei
Build Logs: Tophat (in progress), DNAF | Useful Links: How To: Choosing Your Storage Devices and Configuration, Case Study: RAID Tolerance to Failure, Reducing Single Points of Failure in Redundant Storage , Why Choose an SSD?, ZFS From A to Z (Eric1024), Advanced RAID: Survival Rates, Flashing LSI RAID Cards (alpenwasser), SAN and Storage Networking

Link to comment
https://linustechtips.com/topic/162100-freenas/#findComment-2171411
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing Storage Devices

×