FreeNAS Bootdrive

[DwarfmanDDH]

Can I use a usb to install freeNAS to a internal ssd?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Yep, but you might as well install it on a usb drive. A ssd won't make a home nas any faster

[Oshino Shinobu]

You can, but it's kind of a waste of an SSD unless the SSD is a small capacity. I'd just install FreeNAS on another USB drive, though you will need a USB drive for the installer as well. Better off using the SSD as a cache for HDDs than wasting it on an OS drive. 

[DwarfmanDDH]

2 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

You can, but it's kind of a waste of an SSD unless the SSD is a small capacity. I'd just install FreeNAS on another USB drive, though you will need a USB drive for the installer as well. Better off using the SSD as a cache for HDDs than wasting it on an OS drive. 

It is like 20gb and can the is drive be used as a cache?

[Oshino Shinobu]

Just now, DwarfmanDDH said:

It is like 20gb and can the is drive be used as a cache?

If it's 20GB, it's not so much of a waste. FreeNAS takes up the entire capacity of the drive it's installed on and then loads itself into RAM and runs from that for the most part, so having a fast or big drive isn't really a benefit, which is why I was concerned about an SSD being used. If it's only 20GB, may as well use the SSD for the boot drive. You can use it as cache if you don't use it as the boot drive, which can help with some responsiveness of the NAS as frequently accessed data can be quickly read and relatively small writes don't need to wait for drives to spin up first. 

 

If this is a home NAS, I wouldn't worry about an SSD cache as it doesn't offer a huge benefit due to the limitations of the network.