Hello everyone, I wanted to buy NAS from one of the top brands but instead I watched some YT about TrueNAS and I bought cheap S920 AMD GX-424CC | 2GB RAM | 8GB SSD. I know that it require more resources to install nas system. What purchases I need to make to make it work? I have old 120gb ssd somewhere so it will be used for sys storage. Which RAM should I buy? Anything else?
My general interest is to have storage for all my pics and videos, maybe cloud for all family’s phones (iOS and Android) and be able to access it on TV (new Samsung). Maybe some other features I don’t know about?
Just why 
- 8gb ram MAX
- just 1 mSata port and 1 sata port
- Realtek lan
- just 1 pciex x4
put Batocera on it and have some fun, but you really need something better to use Truenas
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A mini PC is hardly suitable for the task.
A bare minimum of 8 GB of memory is necessary with 16 GB recommended.
You need at least two disk or SSD drives - one to install TrueNAS, one for your data. The install drive will hold the NAS firmware (i.e. operating system) and nothing else. Not quite sure if 8 GB is enough, 16 GB will be sufficient.
If you add only a single drive for data you will have no redundancy which is the main feature of TrueNAS and ZFS.
So a recommended minimal setup would be:
- 16 GB of memory, preferably but not absolutely necessarily ECC
- 16 GB or larger (120 GB will do fine if it’s lying around, anyway) drive for the OS
- at least 2 spinning hard drives or larger SSDs for a mirrored storage
Oh, and you cannot use USB drives. At all. That’s the main reason why a mini PC probably won’t work. The drives must be connected to a mainboard SATA controller or a true SATA/SAS HBA.
HTH,
Patrick
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I don’t know if Batocera is a joke, but gaming is not required.
Guy on video claims it is possible to put 2x8gb sodimm ddr3 so it would be 16gb
It looks like recommended requirements are met.
Quite a joke, but not with the intention of offend you somehow. Your choice can have sense, but not if Truenas is in your plan… in this case, absolutely no
The fact you put 2x8gb when the max supported should be [1] 2x4gb, and the system power on… not mean he will be stable. A lot of time folks add to much ram and then experience sistematic system crash.
maybe a deeper research, i didn’t find anything ↩︎
Do some research on this forum and read the official truenas documentation
Im not offended in any way, just new to the forum and topic. Thanks for all your input.
I have option to return this equipment, what do you propose instead at similiar cost?
How much budget do you have exactly?
How much storage do you need?
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Looks like it goes for around $50, which to me even seems a tad high.
I say definitely return, as it was unfortunately a very low performance computer when it was released over 10 years ago, and it hasn’t aged well.
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I am missed that part, but i totally agree… newer Celeron mini pc cost pratically the same, with 6gb ram and small nvme (not that they are better for truneas ahah)
But for 50$, excluding disks, should be viable an old 1155-1150 server platform:
- used i3 and 1220v2-3 are really cheap
- ddr3 ecc, same
But this way require for sure more budget for achieve a case and a PSU.
For stay strictly in budget… an used same gen pc, but with at least an Intel dedicated nic, will do the job (but no ECC)
Hey @js308
As pointed out by some others here, mini-PCs and thin clients like your Fujitsu S920 are not well-suited for TrueNAS as they often have room for only a single storage device - sometimes two, but not usually enough for a proper system to grow into.
You’ve outlined the general use case up here:
This would imply that you need a good degree of protection (a minimum of two drives, better three or four) as well as sufficient compute power and memory to run something like Immich (for your mobile photo syncs) and Jellyfin (to share your media to the TV)
@oxyde has asked the correct questions here:
In addition, I would ask “what general area of the world are you in” because the availability and price of parts on the used market can vary greatly. 
I will try answer all the questions here.
Budget? idk, for start I bought this S920 for around 30$ and I was prepared to buy RAM and 2 SSD’s. It looked like this should be enough judging from YT guide, I saw that ppl fit even 4 ssd after removing unnecessary stuff from case.
Either way disks for storage are a must, so in worse case I will just sell s920 and ram and transfer disks to newer pc. Sometimes I like to get my hands dirty so no real harm for trying right?