Putting together a new TrueNAS build to act primarily as a home file server and a media server running Immich/Jellyfin/Calibre-Web and possibly Navidrome to stream music. This will be my first NAS and replacing a plethora of internal and external HDDs attached to various home PCs. The build is mostly complete except for installing TrueNAS and adding the SATA drives.
I have 8 SATA bays available and three NVMe slots. Assuming I populate all the SATA bays, I have a couple of questions:
-
If I back up the TrueNAS config settings to external storage, such as a USB stick, will a single NVMe suffice as a dedicated boot drive, or should I consider some sort of backup? I would be fine with re-installing TrueNAS and restoring the settings, etc. if needs be.
-
I plan to use the other two NVMe drives as an app pool since I figure I have sufficient memory not to require a cache ssd. Thoughts?
-
Probably the most important question: I want to use raidz2 in a single pool of 8 SATA drives to hold primarily media files. Given the specs below and the anticipated use case (media server and file backup storage primarily) is this the best choice?
Appreciate any guidance the community can provide - I want to make this a once and done configuration. ![]()
Specs:
- Jonsbo N3 case, with Noctua NF-A9 case fans swapped in and Thermaltake Toughpower SFX 750W 80-PLUS Platinum PSU;
- CWWK Q670 8-bay Mini-ITX NAS board (revised white version with modified Yonji1 bios to fix ASPM issues);
- Intel Core i3 14100T CPU and Noctua NH-L12Sx77 low profile CPU cooler
- Crucial Pro Series 128GB (2 X 64GB) DDR5 5600 UDIMM RAM;
- Lenovo Intel X710-DA2 Dual Port 10Gb Network Adapter;
- 1 x Samsung 990 PRO 1 TB SSD NVMe M.2 (intended for boot drive - overkill but I got it on sale.
- 2 x Sabrent Rocket 2TB SSD NVMe M2 (intended for apps pool - pulled from my workstation PC during an upgrade)
- Plan to install 8 x Seagate Exos 28TB CMR Recertified HDDs.