Now what? Server virgin here. Staring at my new TS140 and a pair of WD red hard drives

[wad2k]

First off sorry for the long intro...
Just bought a new TS 140

• Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz

• 4GB DDR3

• Hard Drive: None installed, 3 vacant 3.5" Bays

• DVD-ROM

• 280W Power Supply

Also bought two WD Red WD40EFRX 4TB drives. Grabbed everything for $415 which seemed like good deal. I was sent over here from another forum because I was told FreeNAS is what I need for what I want to do.
Here is a quick rundown of what I'd like to do:

Going to use it for storage and backup of pics, photos, docs, home movies and music. Currently about 700gb.
It's the 20 years of pics and home videos that I am most concerned with.
Also a library(100gb) of Mkv's which we watch using a WD Live on one tv and and also a PBO (looking into using PLEX for this box in future) on another tv and is done on a daily basis..
On the network are 3 laptops and a desktop.
Currently, the family desktop is doing it all running Win 7 and has two internal 1 TB drives WD drives. one has OS other has all the media/docs media.

Ive been backing pics and home movies up on a not so regular basis on a 1.5 TB WD external with sync toy which I keep offsite. I plan on continuing to backup and keep offsite my pics and home movies even after FreeNas is up and running.
The desktop is what the family uses a lot, is on 24/7. Not sure if its worth mentioning in regard to server components, but we a fair amount of editing HD home movies on desktop.
Above is probably an average home setup/user these days.

Normally whatever I do I just jump right in and do things my way. Throw caution into the wind...to hell with instructions..men never ask for directions..., I just learn as get lost or f things up along the way. I'm trying a new approach on this project before I start so that is why I am here looking for advice and hopefully pointed in right direction.

Before diving into it, my first question is will I need anything else for what I am planning to do? Not looking to spend a lot more but I want to do it the right way..right from the start.
And then what? can someone point me in the right direction and where to start and go from here. Which guides should I use or is there one that will cover it all?

Thanks in advance!

 

[anodos]

Start with reading the FreeNAS documentation. http://doc.freenas.org/ and cyberjock's quide https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/

Measure twice, cut once and all that jazz.

You will need to add more ECC memory to your server. FreeNAS requires 8GB. I think your server comes with ECC memory and so increasing to the minimum should be relatively painless, but you should verify this.

Also, you should not fill your zpool more than 80% full. I prefer to start with lots of headroom. Plan your storage capacity accordingly.