Windows backup machine

[LM3]

I am currently using 5 hard drives for file storage in my Windows machine.
(2) TOSHIBA DT01ACA300 : 3000.5 GB [1/1/0, pd1]
(3) Hitachi HDS5C3020ALA632 : 2000.3 GB [2/2/0, pd1]
(4) TOSHIBA DT01ACA300 : 3000.5 GB [3/2/0, pd1]
(5) Hitachi HDS5C3020ALA632 : 2000.3 GB [4/2/0, pd1]
(6) TOSHIBA DT01ACA300 : 3000.5 GB [5/2/0, pd1]

I back these up manually via USB 3.0 SATA connection. Very time consuming and not always done timely.

I have a core 2 duo quad core machine that is not in use.

What I am thinking about is putting the backup hard drives that I current keep in a toolbox and putting them in the quad core machine and loading FreeNas on a thumb drive, or USB hard drive, and using this as my Windows data backup.

Is is a good idea?

I am very new to FreeNas. This would also require me to find a Windows backup program capable of this task.

 

[Inxsible]

Depends. You haven't listed the specs of your "core 2 duo quad core" machine. But does it support ECC RAM? Are you planning to run any other plugins on the box?

 

[LM3]

The core 2 quad machine is not up and running. It has a socket 775 motherboard and does not support ECC. Don't know what ECC has to do with it. Will have at least 8 gig of RAM and an adequate power supply. Will have 4-5 internal hard drives.

 

[Chris Moore]

Is is a good idea?

I am very new to FreeNas. This would also require me to find a Windows backup program capable of this task.

Windows has a backup utility bundled with the OS and if that is not what you are looking for, there is the totally free application from Microsoft named Microsoft SyncToy that can be downloaded here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15155
It can be (I have) set it up on a schedule to backup selected directories. Between the two utilities from Microsoft, it is not really necessary to obtain anything else.

As for the good idea. The way you have expressed it, I would have to say no, it isn't. If you put some time into reading the hardware recommendations on the site: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?resources/hardware-recommendations-guide.12/

Then you might understand more about the preference for ECC memory and why your old system board might do the job but might leave you with a corrupt storage pool where you wish your could access data, but can't.

In general, most people on this site are going to be very cautious about storage because we value our data. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Inxsible]

The core 2 quad machine is not up and running. It has a socket 775 motherboard and does not support ECC. Don't know what ECC has to do with it. Will have at least 8 gig of RAM and an adequate power supply. Will have 4-5 internal hard drives.

If you plan on putting FreeNAS on any machine, you should read up on ZFS and ECC RAM. And like Chris said, your machine might be able to get up and running with FreeNAS without ECC, but will it save your data the way you expect is what's more important.

 

[nightshade00013]

That Core2 machine will be able to only do some basic things with FreeNAS. It will be slow doing it and likely will not do it very well. More than likely it's something that can only support up to 8GB of RAM (so it's maxed) and on top of that I will make a guess that if it's an OEM machine the board has 2 memory slots. It's going to be running DDR2 as well so again very slow. Later on when you decide that you may want to add a jail to it the system will hang and have issues. At minimum you should be looking at something that uses DDR3 ECC RAM and be Intel based. The reason for this is that most anything that supports that will not have a front side bus which the Core2 and earlier xeons have and will be a crippling factor of the system performance.

Long story short the system does not meet the recommended minimum specs. I would say go ahead and use it as a test bed but I wouldn't trust my data on it at all.

I would seriously recommend reading the minimum requirements and then look at some other people's builds to find something that would work for your needs and go from there. https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?resources/hardware-recommendations-guide.12/

 

[Chris Moore]

You could always get a system like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Precis...-20GHz-24GB-2TB-FX3800-Win10-Pro/192303551270
It is a really easy thing to make a retired professional workstation into a low budget server.
It already has a Xeon CPU and ECC memory. Just add drives

 

[danb35]

You could always get a system like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Precis...-20GHz-24GB-2TB-FX3800-Win10-Pro/192303551270

You could, though the Proliant ML10 is going to be faster, cheaper (OK, maybe not after upgrading the RAM to 24 GB), and more energy-efficient.

 

[Chris Moore]

You could, though the Proliant ML10 is going to be faster, cheaper (OK, maybe not after upgrading the RAM to 24 GB), and more energy-efficient.

I was thinking the Dell workstation would be for somebody who wanted a tower type system instead of a rackmount system.
It isn't ideal, but it's an inexpensive way to start.

PS. And it's quiet.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

 

[danb35]

The ML10 is a tower, but I have no idea about the noise level.

 

[LM3]

how about a Z400 Workstation?

 

[Chris Moore]

how about a Z400 Workstation?

Same vintage as the Dell T3500. If you can find one that is tricked out with plenty of ECC memory, and they are not asking too much for it. You might get a comparatively good deal on it.

If you wanted to get something a bit newer, you could look at something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/372048378198
It only has the bare minimum of RAM but it is upgradable to 32GB and you would need to add a disk controller to be able to use all the drive bays, but it is an actual server board with IPMI for remote management.

 

[Stux]

My first FreeNAS machine was a Core 2 Quad with 8GB of non-ECC (actually is ECC but ECC is not supported)

It should work fine as a backup.

In the end, I was so impressed with FreeNAS, I built a much more powerful/reliable system.

I still use my original core2quad system as a backup (see sig)

So, what are you going to do? Use the 3 3TB drives in raidz1? Etc

 

[LM3]

So, what are you going to do? Use the 3 3TB drives in raidz1? Etc

I just want something to back up my windows files. Movies, music, pictures, my documents, etc. The odds of the drives in my Windows machine and any external storage failing at the same time are slim. Anything that is really irreplaceable I have uploaded to Google drive and Dropbox. I have an i3 machine with a 1 & 2 gig hard drives running a base copy of FreeNas that is strictly for my outdoor network camera. Have had no problems.

 

[nightshade00013]

Movies, music, and pictures screams Plex to me. That was one of the major reasons why I built my FreeNAS out. That means you need something with at least 16GB of RAM and MORE IS BETTER. It also means you want a little horsepower for when it is doing things.

A stream doesn't take a ton of umph but there are things that Plex does that takes more horsepower like generating preview thumbnails and chapter stills. I added 10 movies earlier today and my dual Xeon E5640 ran at 40 to 45 percent cpu utilization for about an hour doing those tasks. It can be set to run during "off" hours like 4 around 4 am but with a slower system it will take longer to do and the first run will be horrendous.

I tried setting something up with a AMD system around the same class as the core2 you have just to store and stream and it would hang at random points for no reason when files were added or just stop. It had Syncthing to add files to the system and Plex to stream for my stepdaughter. This summer I bought a 1U similar to my build and sent her home with it and a drive to use and it has been rock solid ever since.

If you will even consider Plex buy something that meets the requirements for streaming 1080p for at least 2 streams which is about a 4000 Passmark rating for the CPU.

 

[IceBoosteR]

I am currently using 5 hard drives for file storage in my Windows machine.
(2) TOSHIBA DT01ACA300 : 3000.5 GB [1/1/0, pd1]
(3) Hitachi HDS5C3020ALA632 : 2000.3 GB [2/2/0, pd1]
(4) TOSHIBA DT01ACA300 : 3000.5 GB [3/2/0, pd1]
(5) Hitachi HDS5C3020ALA632 : 2000.3 GB [4/2/0, pd1]
(6) TOSHIBA DT01ACA300 : 3000.5 GB [5/2/0, pd1]

I back these up manually via USB 3.0 SATA connection. Very time consuming and not always done timely.

I have a core 2 duo quad core machine that is not in use.

What I am thinking about is putting the backup hard drives that I current keep in a toolbox and putting them in the quad core machine and loading FreeNas on a thumb drive, or USB hard drive, and using this as my Windows data backup.

Is is a good idea?

I am very new to FreeNas. This would also require me to find a Windows backup program capable of this task.

Maybe you should look into XPEnology as the Core2Duo does not meet the requeirements for ZFS (ECC RAM).

 

[Ericloewe]

ZFS doesn't specifically require ECC. Of course, ECC is highly recommended for any server, hence the recommendations.

A Core 2 Duo is, however, going to be rather slow for ZFS, due to the FSB.

 

[Chris Moore]

Maybe you should look into XPEnology as the Core2Duo does not meet the requeirements for ZFS (ECC RAM).

http://xpenology.me/introduction/
It specifically states on their site, "We do not recommend routine use of XPEnology!"

 

[Ericloewe]

Wow, talk about faith. /s

 

[Stux]

Anywho, play with FreeNAS. If you want to build a plex machine later, then do :)

I haven't noticed any bottlenecks from the FSB. Doesn't mean they're not their, but my C2Q only gets used as a replication destination.