NAS - FreeNAS, LMCE or something else?

[B34N]

I'm looking for a reliable and easy way to store my data so that I can access it from any of the devices in my home while automatically backing up data. I'm in the process of learning about FreeNAS and I like what I see but I'm having a hard time determining if it's a good fit for me.

In order of priority, this is what I'm looking to do:
Critical Data Storage – I currently have ~30GB of data that I would consider critical and irreplaceable. Normally new content is added rather than changed. I currently use a combination of Dropbox and google drive to protect that data but I would prefer something a bit more seamless.

Replaceable Data Storage – The bulk of my content is recorded TV shows or movies for LMCE. That content is generally removed after consumption. It is not irreplaceable but would be a PITA if lost.

Usenet Download Server – I've recently started using sabnzbd, couchpotato and sickbeard on an old P4. I can see myself digging more into them and expanding into more related applications which are available as FreeNAS plugins. I suspect that if I didn't do FreeNAS that I'd be able to run these applications on my LMCE core. (right?)

I like the RAIDZ2 reliability in FreeNAS but considering my limited needs, it seems like it will be overkill...plus the cost of a FreeNAS box with four matching HDs is significant.

What options should I be looking into?

Thank you,
B34N

[Marie.O]

With todays HDD sizes, I put my storage where it belongs, into the core. And the backup is done to an outside server via rsync.

[purps]

I have recently gone centralised with my data and I haven't looked back. Big hard drives in a D-link NAS making up the primary storage, and then I have a second D-link NAS which is effectively a clone.

The 2nd NAS is set up to not show its content in LMCE. Also I wouldn't go near a RAID setup, I have never liked the idea of data being automatically mirrored, also every time I read about RAID it's usually in the context of somebody having issues with it. I use rsync like possy says to backup, run by a cronjob. This way you can decided which folders are backed up incrementally, which ones are mirrored, etc.

Like you I didn't want to back up all of my movies. However a nice compromise is to have the cronjob also run "ls" on the directory in question and put the output into a text file with a date stamp. That way if the hard drive goes down, I at least have a list of what I had.

Cheers,
Matt.

[Marie.O]

I love RAID for what it is meant to be: SWMBO will be able to continue watching whatever she wants to watch even when (not if) one hard drive goes bad. rsync is for backup, RAID is for peace of mind.

[bherbie]

IMHO FreeNAS is the best way to go for several reasons: ease of setup, ZFS, Plug and Play with LMCE, etc.  In my setup, I use FreeNAS setup with RAID 5 and with a dual NIC - one for my personal network and one on the LMCE network.  Once you have your FreeNAS setup, you can add Transmission, Sickbeard and Couch Potato to download media that will automatically show in LMCE...

[Esperanto]

I have http://www.nas4free.org/ running with Raid Z2 and sporadically run a rsync to a drive I plug into the nas and then move to a remote location. I already had multiple drives failing (twice 2 simultaneously) therefor I am happy with a Z2 solution although resilvering takes a long time.

[purps]

I've clearly not understood how RAID works. If you accidentally wipe or corrupt the source, will that not also happen to the copy? Why do you need both RAID and rsync?

I have often thought about a separate server for torrents/security camera/NAS etc, but I haven't really had the need yet, the core does it all!

FWIW I like the separate D-link NAS drives, and I believe they are quite hackable i.e. custom OSs and what not, should anyone want to go down that route.

Cheers,
Matt.

[Esperanto]

RAID just spreads the content over multiple drives in such a way that if one drive (raid-z1) or two drives (raid-z2) fails it can still server the original content like nothing happened. Since it functions like a normal drive if you delete the contents it is gone. It is more a redundancy solution (more uptime) then a backup solution. It makes sure the service keeps running if something fails. You still prefer to have a backup though for cases like accidentally fucking up your data yourself, your house that burns down or somebody who has the insight he has a better use for your hardware....

[Marie.O]

What esperegu said. RAID is for keeping things running in case of hardware failure, rsync is for keeping you alife after you accidentily deleted all those once in a lifetime shots your wife took of you and your kids.

[purps]

OK that's good to know thanks guys. And I'm beginning to see the SWMBO theme here as well :-)

Cheers,
Matt.

[B34N]

I appreciate all of the responses. I'm pretty close to building a FreeNAS solution that support RAIDZ2. Yeah, having four 3TB hard drives will be a cash drain but that will seem low-cost if I lost the data. Thanks to the replies, I will likely also do an rsync for the really important stuff, but not for the other replaceable content. Maybe once a month I'll backup to an external HD that I store off-site or cloud.

I like how FreeNas let's me run some solutions from Jail. I'll use that for my Usenet stuff. I also like how Plex organizes data and am interested if anyone has integrated it with LMCE. I know my SWMBO will prefer the remote controlled access to Fire TV running Plex over the current LMCE offerings. It is hard to argue against the ease of use and snappiness until I get LMCE fully functioning.

B34N

[theteju]

FreeNAS has ridiculous hardware requirements, specially if you want to setup ZFS (better performing NAS).

Can someone get away with UFS setup just for Media contents.(movies High quality and Music)?
Also,
Never used FreeNAS before, in order it tobe LMCE compatible, do we need any specific FreeNAS setup?
I believe someone in the past suggested to have it setup like /public and /user just the way like LMCE likes, is it true? 

[Marie.O]

In general, it makes sense to utilize the LinuxMCE folder structure for any place where you want to store media for LinuxMCE. UpdateMedia works better on that setup afaict.

[Esperanto]

try http://www.nas4free.org/ . It's the fork of the original freenas using php instead of python as the gui but the os is actual and I think it has less hardware requirements.

[Armor Gnome]

I've ran FreeNas, NAS4free and another called "OpenMediaVault" on a networked RAID machine. 

FreeNAS - compared to NAS4free the system requirements are slightly higher but does offer ZFS and other powerful features.  I ran this off a 4gig thumb drive and didn't have to waste a drive bay on a system hdd.

NAS4free - worked better for me and allowed me to experiment with different formats like JFS for mythtv.  I do not believe this offered ZFS but I could be wrong.  I used a hardware managed RAID 5 array via IDE PCIX card and a software controlled RAID 5 via SATA PCIX card.  -- hardware controller limited array size, software controller got around that.

OpenMediaVault - IMO the best user interface.  I was also able to have the NAS watching my UPS via RS232 and other standard features like transmission.