Is FreeNAS ok for my use?

[Ansem]

Hi everyone!
I'm having some trouble with OMV right now, so I was evaluating to use FreeNAS over OMV.
Before do that I want to be sure
1) my hardware in enough to run everything
2) that it can do everything I need

I have an intel pentium G4400 with 8GB of ram. My motherboard is an Asrock H170M Pro4s. I need to manage 2 RAID1 (ZFS Mirror), one of 4TB and one of 6TB. Right now OMV is running on a 16GB USB key, not sure if FreeNAS can run on USB Key

Currently this is what I'm doing with my NAS
- plex: this is the most important thing, I want plex to run without problem. It will stream mostly to 1 full HD TV at time, but I will buy a 4k TV sooner or later;
- autoshutdown: it monitors things like cpu, download/upload, reachable IP. If the conditions are right the NAS will sleep;
- auto wake up: it will automatically wake up at set hour;
- Deluge: I'm using Deluge over every other bittorrent client because it has a great schedule;
- Sonarr: no need to explain I guess;,
- Also I would like to manage both mirrors as a unique file system. On OMV I can do that with Mergefs, is it possible to do that on FreeNAS?

Thanks to everyone that will help me!

 

[amiskell]

I think your specs might be a little low for FreeNAS in its current forms. You'll be at the bare minimum requirements for running FreeNAS much less stacking an entire download stack on top of it.

 

[Ericloewe]

not sure if FreeNAS can run on USB Key

Less-than-ideal, but works.

- plex: this is the most important thing, I want plex to run without problem. It will stream mostly to 1 full HD TV at time, but I will buy a 4k TV sooner or later;

Plex is a memory hog, definitely consider adding some RAM, especially if you end up transcoding video.

- autoshutdown: it monitors things like cpu, download/upload, reachable IP. If the conditions are right the NAS will sleep;
- auto wake up: it will automatically wake up at set hour;

Those are not supported, as they have very dubious value.

- Deluge: I'm using Deluge over every other bittorrent client because it has a great schedule;
- Sonarr: no need to explain I guess;,

Not sure about Deluge, but Sonarr is definitely available.

- Also I would like to manage both mirrors as a unique file system. On OMV I can do that with Mergefs, is it possible to do that on FreeNAS?

Uhmm... Why are they separate pools in the first place? Using Mergefs is a useless hack.

 

[Ansem]

Can't add more ram, it's too expansive, at most I can buy a 32/60gb ssd for the OS.
Don't know why autoshutdown is considered useless. If my NAS is doing nothing and there is no one at home, why keep it awake?

 

[Chris Moore]

Can't add more ram, it's too expansive, at most I can buy a 32/60gb ssd for the OS.

It doesn't help anything to install the OS on a bigger drive, it is the actual usable memory that matters with FreeNAS.
You probably need double the RAM for the system to run smoothly with all those plugins and I don't recognize some of them but I know that Plex likes the memory and FreeNAS requires 8 GB as a minimum. If your system can't go above 8 GB of RAM, you probably need a newer system.

- autoshutdown: it monitors things like cpu, download/upload, reachable IP. If the conditions are right the NAS will sleep;
- auto wake up: it will automatically wake up at set hour;

FreeNAS is intended to run 24x7 and you schedule things like SMART drive checks and pool scrubs during the times you are not accessing the server.

- Also I would like to manage both mirrors as a unique file system. On OMV I can do that with Mergefs, is it possible to do that on FreeNAS?

In FreeNAS, you usually put all your disks into one volume (ZFS pool) and divide the pool using 'datasets' or 'zvols'.

 

[Ericloewe]

Don't know why autoshutdown is considered useless. If my NAS is doing nothing and there is no one at home, why keep it awake?

Because the money (and energy) saved is significantly wiped out by the cost of replacing drives earlier.

Unlike semiconductors, mechanical things really, really, really hate being started and stopped often. Hard drives, being very precise mechanical things, are especially affected.

 

[Chris Moore]

Don't know why autoshutdown is considered useless.

Most drives are only rated for a certain number of start / stop cycles.
Also, FreeNAS is not intended to sleep, it is a SERVER and is intended to run 24x7. FreeNAS is the community version of the product named TrueNAS that is marketed as the OS on iXsystems NAS appliances and is an enterprise grade storage solution. Just because it is 'free' doesn't make it applicable to any and all usages.

 

[SweetAndLow]

You will also need to buy an Intel nic because I think your motherboard has realtek which are terrible in FreeBSD.