Computing - general &Flying Nerd recommends 17 Nov 2006 03:29 pm
FreeNAS
As promised, herewith some observations on the FreeNAS Storage Area Network application.
After my bad experience with the Netgear SC-101 (here), I was (again) the owner of two unused 200GB IDE hard drives, and I still wanted to have a free-standing backup location for the family’s computers.
A quick search led me to FreeNAS, an open source project based on the FreeBSD operating system.
In a nutshell, FreeNAS is an integrated package of operating system and storage management application, designed to be quickly and simply installed on any PC-style hardware. I’m using an old P4 3.0GHz – but FreeNAS should be able to run on something much older (less powerful).
I won’t waste electrons here telling you all about the features and specifications of FreeNAS – that information is all on the FreeNAS site. Let me simply report that it just works! After the SC-101, this is a blessed relief.
[I built my FreeNAS server in a cheap Zirco case from IT Estate. It’s a nice, sturdy case for $66, and includes quite an innovative arrangement for tool-less installation of drives. Mind you, it’s no Lian-Li!]