I don't always (or often) upgrade my system, but when I do, I prefer to do it in a way that would allow it to stay "current" or "future-proof" for several years, even if it involves me doing it progressively throughout the year.
GOAL: Build a system that will include both a NAS and a HTPC, where files stored on the NAS could be any type and accessible (read/write) to any laptop in the house, while the media file types can additionally be served through DLNA and managed by the HTPC. Simply put, the NAS is a place for any files I want to back up and store, but I want to be able to feed the movie/music files to my A/V system for entertainment as well.
DESIRE: If possible, I want to use only NVMe SSDs in the system. I know that these are relatively new and are still costly, but I can start out small like with a few TBs at first, and then pick up more (or bigger) SSDs as they become cheaper. Also, my preference of the connection types for supporting NVMe is: U.2 > M.2 > PCIe (3.0).
QUESTIONS:
1) FreeNAS vs Windows Server 2016. I hear all the raves about FreeNAS and ZFS integrity, but I also hear good things about WS2016 and its ReFS. But the one thing I read and still need confirmation on is does WS2016 really allow adding disks of different sizes to an array and then automatically distributing the data onto the new drives, while FreeNAS cannot do either of these?
2) With FreeNAS, are you stuck to just a few of the plugin's available for handling Plex/DLNA/HTPC functions, while there are a lot more of these types of software on a Windows platform?
3) How much RAM should be used in a NAS with about 40-60 TB, and does it depend on whether FreeNAS or Windows is used?
4) Which motherboards out there have multiple (the more the better) U.2 connectors? Which have multiple M.2 connectors? Which have both U.2 and M.2 connectors, with more than one of each?
5) I see that there are SSDs made for U.2, SSDs made for M.2 and then SSDs that come on a PCIe 3.0 add-in card. And then there are M.2 -> U.2 adapters for people that just want to use 2.5" SSDs. But I have not come across any mentioning of a PCIe 3.0 x16 add-in card that contains 4 U.2 connectors on it. I understand that U.2 and M.2 connections supporting the NVMe protocol uses four PCIe 3.0 lanes each. But with a PCIe x16 bus available on a lot motherboards these days, mathematically the support is there. But why is there not any such a 4-port U.2 add-in PCIe card? I know that that number of lanes available to PCI cards (and other components in a computer) really depends on the number and configuration of HSIO lanes the CPU supports. But that's where boards with multiple CPUs come in to help.
Thank you.
GOAL: Build a system that will include both a NAS and a HTPC, where files stored on the NAS could be any type and accessible (read/write) to any laptop in the house, while the media file types can additionally be served through DLNA and managed by the HTPC. Simply put, the NAS is a place for any files I want to back up and store, but I want to be able to feed the movie/music files to my A/V system for entertainment as well.
DESIRE: If possible, I want to use only NVMe SSDs in the system. I know that these are relatively new and are still costly, but I can start out small like with a few TBs at first, and then pick up more (or bigger) SSDs as they become cheaper. Also, my preference of the connection types for supporting NVMe is: U.2 > M.2 > PCIe (3.0).
QUESTIONS:
1) FreeNAS vs Windows Server 2016. I hear all the raves about FreeNAS and ZFS integrity, but I also hear good things about WS2016 and its ReFS. But the one thing I read and still need confirmation on is does WS2016 really allow adding disks of different sizes to an array and then automatically distributing the data onto the new drives, while FreeNAS cannot do either of these?
2) With FreeNAS, are you stuck to just a few of the plugin's available for handling Plex/DLNA/HTPC functions, while there are a lot more of these types of software on a Windows platform?
3) How much RAM should be used in a NAS with about 40-60 TB, and does it depend on whether FreeNAS or Windows is used?
4) Which motherboards out there have multiple (the more the better) U.2 connectors? Which have multiple M.2 connectors? Which have both U.2 and M.2 connectors, with more than one of each?
5) I see that there are SSDs made for U.2, SSDs made for M.2 and then SSDs that come on a PCIe 3.0 add-in card. And then there are M.2 -> U.2 adapters for people that just want to use 2.5" SSDs. But I have not come across any mentioning of a PCIe 3.0 x16 add-in card that contains 4 U.2 connectors on it. I understand that U.2 and M.2 connections supporting the NVMe protocol uses four PCIe 3.0 lanes each. But with a PCIe x16 bus available on a lot motherboards these days, mathematically the support is there. But why is there not any such a 4-port U.2 add-in PCIe card? I know that that number of lanes available to PCI cards (and other components in a computer) really depends on the number and configuration of HSIO lanes the CPU supports. But that's where boards with multiple CPUs come in to help.
Thank you.
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