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I need to buy or build a Raid 5 NAS system that is somewhat reliable. 70% of its use will be for storage (such as for back ups), the remaining 30% will be for accessing files from the Intranet.

Looking at an entry level NAS system (4 or 5 bays) I found it to go from $200 to about $800, an amount of money that I cannot afford.

I have a working PC sitting in the storage room unused with these specs: an AMD Quadcore, 8Gb Ram, a standard 18" display, a video card (unsure what kind) and of course a MB (also unsure what kind). Eventually I can add a 120Gb SSD to run the OS.

Somebody from AskUbuntu suggested me to look into FreeNas and I was wondering if it is difficult for a newbie to create a NAS system with FreeNas on this separated PC. I plan to add all my spare hard disk (5 x 250GB).

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  • Freenas is mildly harder than an off-the-shelf NAS but still much easier than DIY
    – qasdfdsaq
    Commented Nov 13, 2015 at 13:21

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Using FreeNAS or configuring your own NAS based on a Linux distro isn't hard. It is some additional work, requires quite a bit more knowledge than an off-the-shelf NAS box, but will pay off in terms of flexibility.

However, building a NAS for backups from old parts IS a BAD idea. Multiple small drives will consume much more power than eg. two modern high capacity drives and will not be any faster. Plus, if their age is significant (and 250GB drives are most likely quite old), you'll never know when they fail. PSU is also a critical component in a multi-drive system. An aging PSU can cause all kinds of nasty problems that look like failing drives.

A backup server has to be 100% dependable, so thay you power it up, configure it and forget about it. Everything else is a waste of time, effort and money.

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  • Thanks for your answer. I am planning to take some time off during the thksgiving week and I plan to try making it work. One thing i am not clear: (assuming that i get new HDD and PSU for reliability) is FreeNas an OS on its own or do i need to first install a linux distro and then FreeNas?
    – simple mind
    Commented Nov 12, 2015 at 17:02
  • It's a distro of its own.
    – Vojtech
    Commented Nov 12, 2015 at 18:35
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It all depends how much you value your time...

Getting an of-the-shelf NAS solution from a well established vendor - QNAP and Synology come first to my mind (NASes are their core business) - will save you loads of time... You'd be running your array (degraded - it will need some time to rebuild) in just a few minutes from powering on, with sharing services working fine...

Installing FreeNAS isn't difficult, but... ZFS comes with its caveats and gotchas, while FreeNAS itself isn't the most friendly nor consistent UI.

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