Hey, All, I’m a new NAS builder, transitioning from a Synology 412+. Here’s my build:
Asrock B650D4U
Ryzen 7 7700 CPU
Nemix 32GB DDR5-4800MHz ECC UDIMM x 2
Samsung 990 Pro SSD 1TB M.2 2280 SSD x 2
Fractal Design Node 804 Case
WD Red Plus 6TB NAS HDD x 4
Noctua NH-U12S Redux CPU Cooler
Seasonic GX-650 80 Gold Power Supply
This will not only be a NAS, I will be running VM with Windows 11 LTSC and some financial software that only runs on windows and needs to run 24/7.
The unit is built, but I have not been able to get TrueNAS to install. I’ve started out trying to install from a USB, but all I get is a “Welcome to GRUB!” message. I then tried a headless install, only to find out that the BMC chip had not been flashed with firmware - and I can’t install it. Asrock is sending me a new BMC chip, hopefully IPMI will work then.
Any thoughts on getting TrueNAS installed would be appreciated - looking forward to getting this little beast!
If those are for your boot drive, you’re wasting money. I’d recommend using them for your apps/vms instead of boot. Grab the cheapest, half-reputable >64GB sdd/nvme you can find for your boot drive.
Did you disable secure boot in bios?
Edit: you could still install to one of the 1TB ssds, then, when you get a reasonable boot drive, you can save the config & re-install to a small ssd & load the config. Afterwards you can mirror both 1TB ssds for useful things.
Edit 2: What did you use to flash the iso onto the usb drive? I’ve had an failure or two if I selected the wrong options in rufus; I can’t remember what not to use though.
Boot drive: yes, the cheap sdd is the setup I have in my Synology, I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to do the same in the new build. Easy to do.
Secure boot is disabled in everything I build. I used Balena Etcher running on my Linux desktop. I’ve tried others, none worked. I don’t recall having an option to select mode; I know dd is supposed to be the correct one…..will check again.
But now that i think about it, all my SATA connections are occupied. Plan is to use 1 nvme for OS and apps (yes overkill) and 1 nvme for VM and windows apps.
I’m not familiar with HBA. But no port multiplier will be involved. After reviewing the options, I will likely get a smaller nvme for the OS on the onboard slot, and I have a pci card for the 1TB nvme for VM, apps and associated data. I have several places I can re-purpose the extra 1TB nvme, or return it.
Edit: Looked up HBA. Is a possible future upgrade, but not now. The PCI card I am using is set up for 1 nvme, and has a generous heat sink. No hub, no port multiplier.
I had planned to build a server that handled both NAS and algorithmic trading duties. That plan is gonzo. Couple of reasons: First and foremost, running algo trading and broker software in a VM is not optimal. I made it work, actually pretty well, in a test VM on my Ubuntu desktop. But it was slow and laggy. And multiple OS layers can lead to unintended consequences. For obvious reasons, this trading system does not need extra complications. Second, I had an old PC and a GTX 1070 (for photos/facial recognition) that I could repurpose as a NAS. Third, the Asrock mobo I bought for the server was DOA out of the box, and Asrock has been abysmally slow at replacing it. Ordered it at end of November, and it will be first part of Feb that I will get it back. So the trading server is over 2 months behind schedule, but I wanted the new NAS running ASAP.
So, on to what I’m here for, the new/old NAS build. Primary use is backup of windows development PC & Ubuntu daily driver PC & trading server, plus photos, music. Here is the hardware list:
Crucial 4x8gb, CMZ32GX3M4X1600C10, DDR3, DIMM 4
Mobo Intel DZ87KLT75K SMBIOS 2.80, Revision 4.6
Intel(R) Core™ i7-4770K CPU @ 3.50GHz
Nvidia Radeon GTX 1070
120GB Sandisk ssd
4x6GB hdd
500GB Samsung ssd
Gigabit Ethernet
Asmedia SATA Controller x 6
Everything except the HDDs are from the old PC. When I set up TrueNAS, I consulted a couple of AI bots, with mixed results. One said I should definitely set up logs and cache, which would require more storage. The other said don’t do either under any circumstances. So I thougt I would consult the pool of experts here for advice. Thoughts?
I am guessing you mean SLOG and L2ARC? I would skip both for now. SLOG only helpful in sync writes (and has special requirements for the device like PLP) and with 32 GB of RAM, guessing you are okay without L2ARC, at least for now or proven need by looking at arc_summary in CLI. NVIDIA won’t be supported under default 25.10 Goldeye due to NVIDIA driver changes. See NVIDIA Kernel Module Change in TrueNAS 25.10 - What This Means for You
Attaching info (reasons) on both choices below.
BASICS
iX Systems pool layout whitepaper
Special VDEV (sVDEV) Planning, Sizing, and Considerations
SLOG is not a write cache. You only need it for sync writes. So databases, Block storage (iSCSI, zvols for VMs), and NFS.
Thanks @SmallBarky. Gawd, I’m getting to where I strongly dislike Nvidia. They’ve screwed the entire PC industry with their driver changes - everything I run breaks when they do an update. And AI business has only made it worse. They’ve achieved same status as Microsoft, I guess.
Problem is, they are so dominant they are about the only game in town.
You could run 25.04 Fangtooth for now and the next release is due, approximately, in April. That give you a little bit of time to sort out either a new card or using that work around.
When I built my NAS I installed windows first, registered a license (for kicks) and then I updated the BIOS with the windows utilities which made things easier.
For over 2 years, I ran Truenas on a 3rd gen Intel consumer board with different Gbs of DDR3 RAM, and 3 HDs plus 2 SSDs on an Asmedia controller streaming video over a gigabit network. Although there were only two of us on the network, I was very pleased with the results. Of course, we used the built-in Intel graphics and Truenas has recently added on more features.
