I run different versions of TrueNAS on VirtualBox so I can see the same menus as the versions change. It is fine to run as a VM for testing or becoming familiar with the TrueNAS software.
1 Like
I have not yet seen a 10GbE in a PCIe x1 slot card. If you locate one, I’d be curious to know about it. This would free up my x4 slot if the cost is right.
I could use an M.2 to 10GbE adapter but those are not cheap.
Concur
If this is only for storage, you could purchase less expensive parts, and server grade as well. Well I don’t know what you can and can’t purchase where you live. The power supply is okay. The motherboard looks to be a gaming motherboard, maybe that is all you can get? 32GB RAM is very reasonable, is it listed on the QVL? Or do you know of someone else who it reliably using this setup?
Are you still thinking about six 14TB drives? And something else to think about… where will you have a copy of these photos/files located? If the NAS fails, yes they can fail if you do not maintain it or mother nature sends a bolt of lightning to it, are your valuable files still protected?
My important files are way less than 4TB and I use a seperate 4TB NVMe on a USB connected to my main computer to manually transfer those important files. I could automate it but I only connect the NVMe drive when I feel the need to. It is a small risk but any new files are likely on my main computer as well.
I’m probably going to buy this one
1 Like
Aquantia AQC113.
And then we shall brace for impact from RTL8127:
1 Like
Thanks for the reply. I’m just doing research online and YouTube for them parts to be honest. I have no idea really what to specifically for.
What do you mean by server grade? And by less expensive parts, do you have any recommendations or pointers on things I should be looking at?
Copy of files/photos wise, my plan was to run a RAID setup so they’re mirrored across at least 1 or more disks. Is this a resilient method or should I be considering “off site” copy as well?
Thanks all
Interesting! Was not aware of those 2 points. Thanks for the update 
Have a look at this site
‘Server grade’ hardware is typically a lot more expensive when new compared to consumer level hardware. It’s where reliability and up time matters, so they’re built to last.
A lot of enterprise and big corporate companies will swap out hardware as it ages to maintain that reliability. Even if the hardware hasn’t failed yet. Usually when it’s outside of warranty.
They’ll sell them off to places like that for pennies on the dollar. They refurbish them and sell them on for a lot less than what they would cost new.
A RAID is only as resilient as the hardware. While it can reduce your risk of data loss, it never a 100% guarantee.
It depends on how much of a safety net you want. a mirror lets one drive die, but then you only have the single drive left while you replace and resilver (rebuild). A RAIDz2 on the other hand lets you have up to 2 drives fail. You don’t get as much usable capacity, but it helps you sleep at night.
Then for extra protection, you can have another drive as a hot spare. It’s not in use until a drive fails, then it gets automatically added to the array to resilver to.
Multiple layers of mitigation, but there’s always something that could go catastrophically wrong. It’ll all be for naught if say, your NAS is destroyed by a misplaced falling piano
At the end of the day, if your data is important, you should always have an offsite backup as well
1 Like