US/freenas-F01_reference.jpg' alt='Can Freenas Do Software Raid Windows Xp' title='Can Freenas Do Software Raid Windows Xp' />Features Free. NAS Open Source Storage Operating System. File sharing is what Free. NAS does best. Every major operating system is supported with SMBCIFS Windows file shares, NFS Unix file shares and AFP Apple File Shares as well as FTP, i. SCSI block sharing, Web. DAV and other methods of sharing data over the network are available. SCSI also supports VMware VAAI, Microsoft ODX and Microsoft Windows Server 2. R2 Clustering. Most operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS X, many Linux distributions, and PC BSD can connect using SMB shares with little or no additional configuration needed on the client side. Most Unix like operating systems support connecting with NFS out of the box, and free clients are widely available. AFP is primarily used by Mac OSX and is well suited for a network environment that only connects with Macintosh clients. Free. NAS also supports Time Machine backups. Building a NASBackground. Ive been fascinated by high volume, fault tolerant data storage systems for a long time. I started my data storage setup in earnest with a 4 disk RAID 5 array on an ARC 1. Windows desktop. When that array inevitably filled up, I added another array on a second ARC 1. Can Freenas Do Software Raid Windows 8' title='Can Freenas Do Software Raid Windows 8' />That slowly filled up, too, and I knew I couldnt just keep stuffing RAID cards in my desktop I had to build a serious file storage server eventually. I considered many different storage options and configurations, including a large hardware controlled RAID system on a Windows or Linux environment, a software controlled array in a Windows based server, a Drobo type keep it simple, stupid system, and continuing to simply add more drives to my desktop computer. None of these options seemed to address all my requirements very well. I eventually stumbled upon Free. Can Freenas Do Software Raid Windows 7NAS, a Free. BSD based, network storage oriented operating system that uses the ZFS file system and a web interface to configure network sharing and other settings. While most of the setup and system management is done through this web interface, but you can extend the machines capabilities quite a bit through the terminal via SSH. In this article, Ill go over my hardware selections, the build and configuration process, some of the other applications I have running on the machine, and a bit of theory about how ZFS allocates array storage space and how it can be tuned to reduce allocation overhead. I want to make a quick note before diving into this excessively long article. I started writing the first few sections intending to create a detailed build log for my server. I took pictures and documented every step as well as I could I had been planning this server over the span of several years, so I was understandably excited to get into it. As the article progressed, it started to shift into a combination of a build log and a tutorial. Have any of you used FreeNAS before Do you have any other suggestions for free Network Attached Storage So Redmond is a clear 0 for 2 on its attempts to reign in a life after RAID. Cliche or not, a third time may be the charm that raises eyebrows of the skeptical many. Background. Ive been fascinated by highvolume, faulttolerant data storage systems for a long time. I started my data storage setup in earnest with a 4disk RAID. Youre going to need to do some cutting and drilling. Break out the Dremel I highly recommend that you do some measurements, make some templates and make sure youve. While the exact set of parts and the sequence of their assembly and configuration will likely be fairly unique to the machine I built, I hope that people undertaking a similar project will find helpful information in some portion of this article. My contact information is at the bottom of this article if you would like to get in touch with me for any reason. Contents System Summary. The server is running on Free. I have several servers running Windows 2008 and Red Hat 5 that are capable of hardware RAID. How do I check that hardware RAID is configured Contrary to some peoples thinking, FreeNAS is just that. NAS. Its made to be a storage location and not a content server. It CAN do that after installing a. Ok Ive looked and looked on Google and I just cant figure this out guys. Im trying to run a check to see if a folder exists in windows based on a string. Can Freenas Do Software Raid Windows 10NAS 9. RAID Z2 arrays one array with 8. TB WD Red drives and one with 4. TB WD Red drives for a total of 6. TB of usable space. The drives are connected to 2x IBM M1. I re flashed to run in IT mode. The boot volume is stored on 2x mirrored Intel 5. GB SSDs. The server is housed in a Super. Micro SC8. 46 chassis with two 9. W redundant PSUs. The system is built on a Super. Micro X1. 0SRL F LGA2. Im using an Intel Xeon E5 1. CPU 4 cores8 threads 3. GHz and 4 modules of 1. GB DDR4 Samsung ECCregistered memory for a total of 6. GB of RAM. Im using a Noctua cooler on the CPU and I replaced the noisy stock chassis fans with quieter Noctua fans. I got an APC 1. 50. VA Smart UPS and stuck both it and the file server in a 4. U Dell rack cabinet from Craigslist. I set my primary dataset with recordsize 1. Mi. B to account for data block placement in an 8 drive Z2 array. All the data is shared via SMBCIFS. The system hosts several different Debian based bhyve VMs to run various services I use on a day to day basis including nginx, pi hole, irssi, an Open. VPN server, and an rclone client I use to back up my data to the cloud. I have scripts set up to send SMART and zpool status reports to my email address on a weekly basis and scrubsSMART checks scheduled every 2 weeks. I also have a script that automatically adjust the chassis fan speeds based on live HDD and CPU temps. Of course the primary purpose of the NAS is data storage. The vast majority of the data I store is from the high resolution photography and videography Ive done over the past 1. I could probably go through and delete about 9. I would rather keep everything around so I can pretend that maybe some day, someone will be interested in looking at them maybe Ill have very patient kids. I look at this use case as a modern version of the boxes full photo albums and slides my parents and grandparents kept in their basement for decades and never looked at. Even if no one ever looks at my pictures and videos, its still be a really fun project to work on. By the way, if youre interested in looking at some of my favorite photographs, you can find them here Photos. The front of the server. A few different views of the inside. The strip of black tape on top of the fan wall was added after the first picture was taken. A view of the fan wall, secured with zip ties. The strip on top of the fan wall helps to seal off the two sections of the chassis, making sure air flows through the drive bays rather than back over top of the fan wall. A close up of the HBA cards. Each card handles 8 drives via 2 SFF 8. SAS ports. A view of the front and back of the rack. From top to bottom, I have my home network equipment, my Windows 1. Free. NAS server, an old MBP running Cent. OS to host Nagios, and the UPS for the server. Here is a screenshot of the mounted share. The Free. NAS devs recommend not going under 2. Open. ZFS devs say 1. See here for more info. Parts and Price List. Part. MakeModel. Qty Per Total. From. Chassis. Super. Micro SC8. 46. 12. Bay. Motherboard. Super. Micro X1. 0SRL F12. Amazon. CPUIntel Xeon E5 1. Installing A Bathroom Ceiling Fan With Light. Super. Biiz. RAMSamsung M3. A2. G4. 0DB0 CPB 1. GB48. 03. 18. Amazon. HBAIBM M1. 01. 527. Bay. PSUSuper. Micro PWS 9. P SQ21. 182. 36e. Bay. Backplane. Super. Micro BPN SAS 8. A12. Bay. Boot Device. Intel 5. GB SSD25. Amazon. CPU Cooler. Noctua NH U9. DXi. Amazon. 12. 0mm Fan. Noctua NF F1. 2 i. PPC 3. 00. 0 PWM32. Amazon. 80mm Fan. Noctua NF R8 PWM21. Amazon. UPSAPC SUA1. RM2. U Smart UPS13. Bay. SSD Cage. Super. Micro MCP 2. 20 8. N12. 52. 5e. Bay. SAS Cable. SFF 8. SFF 8. 08. 741. Amazon. HDD Screws. Super. Micro HDD Screws 1. Amazon. Rack Cabinet. Dell 4. 2U13. 003. Craigslist. Server Rails. Supermicro MCP 2. N17. 57. 5e. Bay. Tax, misc. Tax, misc. Data Drive. WD 8. TB Red 8 1 Spare93. Amazon. Data Drive. WD 4. TB Red Already Owned800 Data Drive. WD 4. TB Red Spare11. Amazon. Total No HDD 3,1. Total HDDs 3,0. Grand Total 6,1. Parts Selection Details. My primary objectives when selecting parts were as follows Allow for up to 2. Be able to saturate a gigabit ethernet line on SMBCIFSHave a quiet enough system that it can sit next to me in my office. Redundancy and overall system stability were also obvious objectives and led me to select server grade components wherever appropriate. Heres a breakdown of the reasoning behind each part I selected Chassis Super. Micro SC8. 46 I purchased this used on e. Bay for 2. 00 shipped. It retails for close to 1. I considered the Norco RPC 4. Super. Micro chassis is much higher quality and has better thermal design i. HDD sleds for better airflow. The specific chassis I purchased came with an older version of the SC8. I had to buy a different backplane. The PSUs the chassis came with are really loud, so I purchased some quieter ones. The stock system fans are also loud, so I replaced those too. More information on the replacement backplane, PSUs, and fans below. I currently have 8 open drive bays to allow for future expansion. Motherboard Super. Micro X1. 0SRL F This is Super. Micros basic LGA2.