it Will FreeNAS? But will it be faster, cheaper or more better?

[endnot]

Hi All. This all started with a desire to have my very own cloud that I controlled. I also really needed to safely store a life time of pictures, videos and files in an accessible and organized way. I have needed a NAS for years.

The quick answer was buy a Synology NAS; but then came the need to understand what I was buying. It has been a learning process to get to the point that I think I know what hardware I want to buy. I started out KNOWING that the best decision was going to be based on a ASRock J3455 mainboard (low cost and low energy)

I after a good bit of research I have decided on a slightly different system concept. I would appreciate some feedback regarding some of my options. I am still reading and learning and I still do not know if I can actually set this up and make it work. That said, this is list of parts that I am considering;

Mainboard: Supermicro X10SLM-F-O. I can purchase new for 180$ or a used/refurb one for ~75$.
CPU: Xeon E3-1220v3. Used ~65$ , Its less expensive than an a gen4 I3.
Memory: 16GB 2- Hynix 8GB DDR3L 1600 unbuffered ECC. ~100$. Memory is expensive.
Bootdrive: Transcend 32gb sata 42 mm m.2 SSD and a USB adapter. ~30$. Should I just use one of the SAS or SATA?
PowerSupply: 450-550W that is Haswell compatable. ~80$. Was not planning to replace power supply but I read that the sleep modes of the Haswell were supported on the X10 and would cause problems for my old ps.
Drives: 2 – 4TB IronWolf to start while learning. 4-6 planned. I still have not studied XFS enough. I still have to figure out the mirroring and raid aspects.
Case: Old tower with cables and fans that will be re purposed.

Buying the used MB and CPU saves a ton of money but is it a good idea? I have never purchased used parts and do not know what I should look out for. This build will cost between 300$ – 450$. the disks will cost between 250 – 750$. This hardware should out perform and protect my data better a Synology NAS – If I am able to make it all work.

Thanks for reading and appreciate advice and feedback.

 

[l@e]

Using old server hardware is not a problem. They service life is quite high. The only age problem with the components are the capacitors, but still on ssrver hardware they tend to go over 10 years.

Only thing with that M2 drive: on the board is no port for that, so either go with 2 usb drives or use the 2 sata2 ports on the board with some cheap ssd. In case you plan to fully populate with 6 drives in the future is better using usb drives. But still you will have 2 ports on sata2 that will be slower and maybe not a good idea to mix the same pool.

 

[Evertb1]

Mainboard: Supermicro X10SLM-F-O. I can purchase new for 180$ or a used/refurb one for ~75$.
CPU: Xeon E3-1220v3. Used ~65$ , Its less expensive than an a gen4 I3.
Memory: 16GB 2- Hynix 8GB DDR3L 1600 unbuffered ECC. ~100$. Memory is expensive.
Bootdrive: Transcend 32gb sata 42 mm m.2 SSD and a USB adapter. ~30$. Should I just use one of the SAS or SATA?
PowerSupply: 450-550W that is Haswell compatable. ~80$. Was not planning to replace power supply but I read that the sleep modes of the Haswell were supported on the X10 and would cause problems for my old ps.
Drives: 2 – 4TB IronWolf to start while learning. 4-6 planned. I still have not studied XFS enough. I still have to figure out the mirroring and raid aspects.
Case: Old tower with cables and fans that will be re purposed.

I think you have made some good choises for your hardware. You clearly have done your home work. The X10xxx series of SuperMicro motherboards are execellent for FreeNAS. Personally I like this motherboard better (because of its integrated HBA) but buying used stuff you need to take what you can get (within reason of course). Buying a used CPU and motherboard should be no problem. They have enough endurance to serve you for years to come. It is never complete without risk of course. Just pay good attention where you buy from. In my FreeNAS server I have a second hand CPU running (Xeon E3-1225v3) that I was able to buy for a very good price. I am very happy with it.

Concerning the use of a Sata port or USB for your boot device? I dont like USB boot devices. I lost to many of them. If it was my system I would simply use a small SSD as boot device. Or 2 SSD's if you want to (I don't feel the need for mirrored SSD's as boot device). If you later on have a shortage of SATA ports you can always buy a used HBA. There are plenty of them on the market for fairly low prices.

 

[endnot]

Only thing with that M2 drive: on the board is no port for that, .

I was planning to use the M2 ssd drive inside of a USB adapter. I have not had great luck with flash drives but I ran across this adapter during my research and thought that it might be a more reliable way to use the USB connection. Check out "QNINE M.2 NGFF Portable SSD Enclosure" on Amazon. I have no experience with this, but it seems reasonable. It would be great to hear from someone who has used this sort of set up for booting.

Personally I like this motherboard better (because of its integrated HBA)

Me Too! I shopped for it but could not find any bargains. For the cost and my level of experience the X10-SLM should satisfy my needs for a long time.
Thanks! I appreciate the feedback.

 

[l@e]

I was planning to use the M2 ssd drive inside of a USB adapter. I have not had great luck with flash drives but I ran across this adapter during my research and thought that it might be a more reliable way to use the USB connection. Check out "QNINE M.2 NGFF Portable SSD Enclosure" on Amazon. I have no experience with this, but it seems reasonable. It would be great to hear from someone who has used this sort of set up for booting.

Personally would not trust any adapter for 24/7 operation. Im using USB drives where i dont have spare sata ports for boot. So far nothing wrong apart one cruizer fit, but still got the other 3 in operation. (I bought 4 for 2 systems)