Hi there.
I'm looking to get some home network storage, preferably also including a backup and Plex server. Both of those tasks are currently running on my media centre PC, but it's a passively-cooled low-power machine and not really up to the task, I think (not to mention seriously cooking the hard drive).
Given that the NAS will be on 24/7, my first thought was to get a cheap-ish 2-bay NAS, slap a couple of WD Reds into it and then move my Plex server across. I've been looking at the options from Synology, QNAP and the like but they all seem a little underpowered for my needs. Next thought was to repurpose my last gaming PC, probably using Ubuntu (cos it's free) or Win 10 (cos I mostly know what I'm doing with it), but then I thought about FreeNAS as well.
I've downloaded FreeNAS 11 and had a quick go at setting it up but without any luck. Based on some searching here and elsewhere, it seems that the problem might just be the age of my old kit:
My questions are:
Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I'm looking to get some home network storage, preferably also including a backup and Plex server. Both of those tasks are currently running on my media centre PC, but it's a passively-cooled low-power machine and not really up to the task, I think (not to mention seriously cooking the hard drive).
Given that the NAS will be on 24/7, my first thought was to get a cheap-ish 2-bay NAS, slap a couple of WD Reds into it and then move my Plex server across. I've been looking at the options from Synology, QNAP and the like but they all seem a little underpowered for my needs. Next thought was to repurpose my last gaming PC, probably using Ubuntu (cos it's free) or Win 10 (cos I mostly know what I'm doing with it), but then I thought about FreeNAS as well.
I've downloaded FreeNAS 11 and had a quick go at setting it up but without any luck. Based on some searching here and elsewhere, it seems that the problem might just be the age of my old kit:
- Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R motherboard (standard ATX, circa 2009. BIOS, not UEFI)
- Intel Core i7-920 CPU
- 10GB DDR3-1600 RAM (3x2GB in triple channel, plus 1x4GB to fill the last slot)
- Zotac GeForce GTX 560Ti 1GB
- Some assorted hard drives in the 500GB-2TB range (totalling up to about 4-5TB of mixed ages and manufacturers) to be added to/replaced as my needs expand
My questions are:
- Is the motherboard/CPU/RAM combination likely to be too old to really work well with FreeNAS?
- If I were to choose some pretty-much bargain basement hardware that's relatively up-to-date, would that be just as bad?
Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.