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Odysseus
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Post subject: NAS on a pc?
 Posted: Mar 14, 2010 - 01:14 PM CST
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Joined: Mar 14, 2010
Posts: 2
 
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I have been using an off-the-shelf NAS enclosure which stopped working, so I am planning on replacing it with a pc running a NAS software, such as FreeNAS (assuming that it uses ext3, not reiser [ which I will never knowingly use again]).
Before undertaking this , I thought it might be worthwhile to gather input from others who might have had experience with a pc based NAS. So this is to ask for comment and experiences please?
I know just enough about computers to be dangerous, but want to know more. I currently have a home network with Ubuntu 9.04 (principal computer) and W XP Home.
In case anyone has used FreeNAS, did you use the "stable" version which is dated 2006 (seems rather long in the tooth???) or a later one?
There is a Live CD version. Is the concept here to boot from the live CD which keeps a "clean" boot version in case the running version gets hacked? or what?
Do you know which filesystem FreeNAS uses? (I am looking for it, but in case you know).
Is there another freeware NAS which you recommend over FreeNAS? |
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NetworkGuy
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Post subject: RE: NAS on a pc?
Posted: Mar 14, 2010 - 03:26 PM CST
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Site Admin
Joined: Apr 18, 2005
Posts: 200
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According to wikipedia, FreeNas uses ZFS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeNAS (the page also lists some other free NAS alternatives)
I personally don't have experience with freenas or other freeware nas systems. I have used Samba on my home linux server and it worked well. I suppose it all depends on what you need your NAS to do.
But yeah the liveCD version would be a great way to try it out and see if you like it- I've heard nice things about it for sure. Since it's on a CD it's read-only so no virus or malware can infect core software. |
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Odysseus
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 14, 2010 - 09:28 PM CST
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Joined: Mar 14, 2010
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I have two general objectives. One is to act as a file server for a central repository of working files and also for backup. (This raises a question of partitioning to separate these two functions.) Probably will hook a USB HDD to the NAS as a removable backup for the NAS backup partition for a bit of extra protection.
The other is to act as a media extender for movies through TV (think WD TV Live) and music through stereo. So possibly another partition?
I would like to use RAID1 to reduce the hardware failure risk.
For the first objective, I am assuming that it is more a network connectivity issue than anything else? Are there admin requirements that proggies like FreeNAS do better (GUI) than say, bog standard Ubuntu, might?
For the second, the little $100-150 media extenders are very simple to use. Plug the RYW (composite?) cables into the TV, plug in a USB drive with video, and up pops a simple, easy to use GUI on the TV screen via a little remote. Not sure how one replicates that function with a PC NAS?
I might also want to connect to it over the Internet, so there are security questions here.
Thanks for the Wikipedia reminder. I see, "File systems: ZFS, UFS and ext2/ext3 are fully supported, NTFS read/write and FAT32 read/write supported." I would not want to use any proprietary file system such as Reiser or ZFS, but since ext3 is supported, this should be OK
Any ideas on these? Thanks. |
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