Hi all,
It has been a while since I have put together a parts list and built a server and the dizzying array of hardware options are making my head spin.
I currently have a low-end 4 bay QNAP NAS which works fine (although a bit sluggish even just for backup tasks) but I am getting more concerned with data integrity and it doesn’t have ECC or ZFS etc. It is also just a bit of a pain to use.
I was wondering if anyone might provide some advice on motherboard, CPU and Ram for a new TrueNAS Scale build that is focused on low-power draw and high levels of data integrity, but which does not need top end performance? Some more info:
- For home use. Will service a maximum of 5 computers and a couple of Iphones and be used to store backup data only (family photos and videos, kids school/homework, small business data, personal administration and records etc). Won’t be serving live video, transcoding, calculating blockchain solutions etc. I just need a super reliable backup and recovery vault that is powerful enough to do the task without complaint. Won’t be exposed to the internet - home network use only.
- Only need Gigabit ethernet (supporting cabling run through the house), but happy to future proof to 2.5 or whatever.
- Small form factor (mini-itx seems like what people use for that now?), unless there are power/cost considerations in using a different form factor?
- ECC
- Quiet if possible (noting the drives will have their own noise but not much I can do about that)
- I have 4 x 8TB Ironwolf drives already. I only have about 6TB of data all up - what would the best ZFS configuration be? Can be convinced on getting another drive or two if there is a better configuration for reliability that needs more drives.
I’m guessing I will need some sort of flash storage (or mirrored flash storage) to run TrueNAS from, and a decent power supply. I have a UPS already.
But I am definitely most confused with what Motherboard, CPU and Ram I should consider getting that work together to achieve the above requirements, particularly given all the options available and the want for ECC.
Thanks for any help!