Noob Question about SATA and PCIE

[Teamnoodle]

Hi
First post and definately not my last....

I've been reading the forum for the last 5 hours and have decided that FreeNAS is a great alternative to getting an Apple Time capsule. Im a photographer and I'm looking for a RAID storage backup solution and media Centre. I run an Imac and a few Windows machines in the house. I also want my Apple TV to stream from my FreeNAS

The current shopping list includes :

MSI G41M-P25 - Motherboard (it has onboard graphics, so selected for that reason)
Intel Celeron E3400 - Processor
4Gb 1333mhz RAM
3 x 2TB Hard Drives hoping to run RAID 5 (Giving me 4TB usable space)
CF Card & Adaptor (SATA)
Intel NIC (PCIE)
Power Supply and Case

From reading the forums, I have learnt that Using a PCIE SATA controller card is better than using the onboard SATA so I will be getting maybe a 4 port SATA card, also that an Intel NIC is better than the onboard Ethernet, so I'll also get a PCIE NIC.

I'm Also going to get a CF card and a SATA to CF adapter to hold the OS.

So, First question, would you plug in the CF card adapter into one of the SATA slots on the SATA card or use a SATA port on the motherboard? Does it make a difference?

Secondly, if I have the system all running and I want to Expand the Storage at a later date, is it as easy as just fitting another drive into my RAID 5 or do I have to reconfigure the RAID from scratch?

Thirdly, should I only consider SATA 3 Drives?

This is my first foray into FreeNAS, I've built computers before and am confident, but I don't want to miss a trick and create any bottlenecks from the beginning.

Any advice/help/tricks appreciated
Also any Hardware Recommendations are more than welcome, I live in the UK and will be buying components online, so if you have bought something that you are happy with, let me know about it..


Thanks, can't wait to start the build........

 

[ProtoSD]

So, First question, would you plug in the CF card adapter into one of the SATA slots on the SATA card or use a SATA port on the motherboard? Does it make a difference?

I doesn't make a difference, but there are SATA flash 'sticks' like USB sticks that would save you the whole CF to SATA adapter routine. I'll try to find a link to one so you can look at that option.

Secondly, if I have the system all running and I want to Expand the Storage at a later date, is it as easy as just fitting another drive into my RAID 5 or do I have to reconfigure the RAID from scratch?

Read the 'Unofficial FAQ' in my signature, this is answered.

Thirdly, should I only consider SATA 3 Drives?

This was discussed somewhere here in the forums I think. I seem to remember the consensus was no.

I'm not an expert on this, but I think all those PCI devices share bandwidth on the bus. I'd probably just stick with the on-board NIC and see what your performance is like, you can always add it later. I'd probably say the same for the SATA controller, you can always upgrade later if you really think your performance needs a boost.

UPDATE:

Here's a link for some SATA "DOM" Flash drives:

http://www.logicsupply.com/categories/flash_storage/sata_flash_modules

 

[Teamnoodle]

Thanks Protosd...

Finally built my system, but booting into the Card and the main screen doesn't have an IP address, Im going to assume that my onboard Network adapter isn't compatable... I got a biostar mobo with a Realtek RTL8105E Network adapter...
Any recommendations on a cheap PCIe NIC thats compatable, or even a work round using the onboard LAN? Or could I be having another issue that 've not thought about?