Upgraded my Rig, Is my previous PC going to be ok to run Freenas?

[Crumble]

Hey Guys,

Just updated my pc to a new beast and now have a pretty decent spare PC sitting around. Ideally I want to use it for running dockers, A plex server and or backup solution. I am hoping freenas can solve them all for me.

CPU: Intel Quad Core Xeon CPU E3-1231v3, LGA1150, 3.4GHz 8MB CACHE
RAM (32gb): 2x Kingston HX316C10FK2/16 16GB Kit 1600Mhz DDR3 cl10 Fury Ed
Assorted HDDS:
1x Seagate Barracuda 2TB ST2000DM006 SATA3 64mb Cache
1x 1TB Seagate Drive Sata3
1x 640gb Sata3 Drive
Boot Drive: 1x 60GB Intel SSD 330 series (SSDSC2CT060A3)


I know this isn't a server ideal setup, but i'm not looking to buy new parts, just looking to make best use of what i have laying around, Does Freenas handle assorted drive sizes ok? I prob have a few other drives of varying sizes laying around.

I have read a few pages about how important ECC ram is, but it's just not going to happen since if i wanted to spend that much i would ideally be getting a proper server.

Or this whole thing is a waste of time and should I just install Windows on it and use it as normal as a network pc with plex server running on it?

Thanks for any advice.

Cheers.

Crumble.

 

[kdragon75]

just looking to make best use of what i have laying around

This is generally a bad idea.

Does Freenas handle assorted drive sizes ok?

This depends on what you expect. If you want any level of redundancy or performance, no. ZFS (what FreeNAS is build around) is a form of RAID, and RAID generally requires match drives.

I have read a few pages about how important ECC ram is, but it's just not going to happen since if i wanted to spend that much i would ideally be getting a proper server.

I'm guessing you have some gaming board. Odds are it would not support ECC anyway.

Or this whole thing is a waste of time and should I just install Windows on it and use it as normal as a network pc with plex server running on it?

If you have an extra windows licenses, yes.

 

[Crumble]

This is generally a bad idea.

This depends on what you expect. If you want any level of redundancy or performance, no. ZFS (what FreeNAS is build around) is a form of RAID, and RAID generally requires match drives.

I'm guessing you have some gaming board. Odds are it would not support ECC anyway.

If you have an extra windows licenses, yes.

Ok roger that, I'll scratch the freenas idea, Glad i asked. cheers.

 

[kdragon75]

Yeah FreeNAS is a great storage system and the CPU/Memory are a solid start. It just comes down to drives. If you had a set of 2 or 3 TB drives that your cloud mirror, that would be a solid start.
The bit about ECC as a requirement is nonsense. For the price difference, if your building new or the server will hold data that cannot be replaced or go offline, ECC is a must. For a backup target and movies that can be re-ripped, non-ECC is fine.

If you don't mind my asking, what motherboard are you using?

 

[Crumble]

Yeah FreeNAS is a great storage system and the CPU/Memory are a solid start. It just comes down to drives. If you had a set of 2 or 3 TB drives that your cloud mirror, that would be a solid start.
The bit about ECC as a requirement is nonsense. For the price difference, if your building new or the server will hold data that cannot be replaced or go offline, ECC is a must. For a backup target and movies that can be re-ripped, non-ECC is fine.

If you don't mind my asking, what motherboard are you using?

Sorry can’t believe I forgot to list it.

It’s an asrock b85m pro4 motherboard.

It’s late here so I’ll be back on tomorrow to check any further replies. Thanks.