New FreeNAS Server Build

The equipment that I post is not Enterprise Grade hardware. This is 100% consumer-grade hardware that I use. Mostly for cost, but also to help control electric costs and heat.

I am building a new computer system to house my FreeNAS server. My current setup is in a very large case and it is very heavy! This newer FreeNAS will be much smaller as I don't need that many drives, and that was getting too expensive to keep up with. After I get all the parts to my computer I will install FreeNAS and migrate my data over.

Current System:

• FreeNAS is installed on the USB drive
• First set of four 2.5" drives are setup as a RaidZ
• Second set of four 2.5" drives are set up as a Raid10
• The last two 2.5" drives are hot spares (one for each of the raids above)
• The bottom four 3.5" drives are setup as a RaidZ (Using as NFS share for my Proxmox Server)
• The motherboard is from a used Lenovo desktop (Planning on upgrading).
• 10-bay (5.25") AzzA computer case (currently using 6 out of the 10 bays)
• 3 5.25" iStar Hard Drive Backplanes (holds 4 2.5" drives each)
• 1 (3 5.25") Hard Drive Backplanes (holds 4 3.5" drives each)
• Intel Core i5-3470 @ 3.20 Ghz
• 16 GB Ram
• Only has one network port (1GB)

New System (01/21/2020):

• ASRock Motherboard (Z390M-ITX/AC)
• iStarUSA S-35 Compact Stylish 3X 5.25-Inch Bay Mini-ITX Tower
• 1 (3x5.25") iStar Hard Drive Backplane (holds 4 3.5" drives)

Partial FreeNAS Setup

This is a project in progress, but so far it is coming together!

• FreeNAS is installed on the USB drive
• First set of four 2.5" drives are setup as a RaidZ
• Second set of four 2.5" drives are set up as a Raid10
• The last two 2.5" drives are hot spares (one for each of the raids above)
• The bottom four 3.5" drives are setup as a RaidZ (Using as iSCSI Block Storage for my XenServer)

The motherboard is from a used Lenovo desktop (Planning on upgrading).

• 10-bay (5.25") AzzA computer case (currently using 6 out of the 10 bays)
• 3 5.25" iStar Hard Drive Backplanes (holds 4 2.5" drives each)
• 1 (3 5.25") Hard Drive Backplanes (holds 4 3.5" drives each)
• Intel Core i5-3470 @ 3.20 Ghz
• 16 GB Ram (Need more, but need a newer motherboard first)
• Power supply is the same that came with the Lenovo system...doesn't fit in new case (will be replacing)
• Only has one network port (1GB) - Will be replacing with 4-port (1-GB) or a 1-port 10GB Ethernet...upgrading my switch would be necessary.